REL ATIONAL

INFLUENCES

YOU ARE YOUR MOTHER

 ATTACHMENT
SYLLABUS:

LEARNING INTENTIONS:
Students will be able to describe the key
features and conclusions of Harlow’s Monkey
attachment experiments by completing a flow
diagram of the experimental details.
RELATIONAL
INFLUENCES
Socialisation

• Throughout our lives we acquire the beliefs,

values and behaviours that are though to be
important and appropriate to function
effectively in society.

• This process is called socialisation.

RELATIONAL
INFLUENCES
Socialisation
• We acquire these concepts over time and from
a variety of factors.

• These factors that affect our socialisation are

known as agents of socialisation.
RELATIONAL
INFLUENCES
Socialisation

• Different agents of socialisation apply at different times in

your lives.

• Think about the different factors you have experienced from:

– Pre-school
– High-School
– Young adult-hood
RELATIONAL
INFLUENCES
Some examples include:
WHAT IS
ATTACHMENT?
• Think, pair, share
ATTACHMENT
Defined as a close and enduring bond
between a child and their caregiver.

Empirical evidence;
• Harlow
• Bowlby
• Ainsworth
HARLOW
• Harry Harlow – leading theorist in early Attachment
theory.
• Experimented on young Rhesus monkeys.
• Testing predominant idea of the time – that
attachment was formed due to the provision of food by
the mother.
YOUR TASK
• Breakdown the experiment and its key
features into a flow diagram.

• Helpful for your current assessment – pulling

out the key information from scientific reports!
HARLO
W
ATTACHMENT -
HARLOW
Harry Harlow and Robert
Zimmerman (1959)
• Monkeys were removed from their
mothers around 8 hours after birth
• Infant monkeys were “raised” by
two surrogate “mothers”;
– One made of wire
– The other was cuddly, cloth-
covered
• Observations were made about
how much time the monkeys spent
with each surrogate mother.
ATTACHMEN
T - HARLOW
• All the infant monkeys
demonstrated preference for the
foam rubber and terrycloth
“mother,” even when their food
came from the wire mother
• More specifically the monkeys spent
only about one hour a day with the
wire mother
• Harlow’s research demonstrated
that contact comfort is a more
powerful contributor to
attachment in monkeys than
feeding.
• Therefore attachment is not just
about having physical needs
met but also emotional needs.
REVIEW
• Write a 200 word abstract for Harlow’s
research.
 3 MINS TO DOT POINT WHAT YOU
REMEMBER ABOUT THIS RESEARCH
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
• Attachment theory was formulated by British psychiatrist
John Bowlby by building on Harlow’s work and elaborated
by American developmental psychologist Mary
Ainsworth.

• Bowlby defined attachment as a strong affectional tie

that binds a person to an intimate companion.

• Bowlby had an evolutionary perspective of

attachment. He thought that children who were always
close to their mothers would have avoided danger and
thus be more likely to grow up and have children of their
own.
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
• Both adults and infants have behaviors that promote the
formation of attachments.

• Babies will
– Follow (proximity-seeking behavior)
– Suck and cling
– Smile and vocalize
– Express negative emotions such as fretting and crying

Adults respond to infants’ signals

• The hormone oxytocin promotes attachment

How is this different to Harlow’s theory?

ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
• Aim: To investigate the long-term effects of maternal
deprivation on people in order to see whether
delinquents have suffered deprivation.

• Participants: 88 children were selected from the clinic

where Bowlby worked.
– Of these, 44 were juvenile thieves
– The other 44 children acted as ‘controls’
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
Procedure:
• Each child had their IQ tested by a psychologist who also
assessed the child’s emotional attitudes towards the tests.

• At the same time a social worker interviewed a parent to

record details of the child’s early life (e.g. periods of
separation).

• A psychiatrist (Bowlby) then conducted an initial interview

with the child and accompanying parent (e.g. diagnosing
affectionless psychopathy).

• Affectionless psychopathy describes individuals who cannot

exhibit caring behaviors, concern, or affection for other
people.
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
Results:
• More than half of the juvenile thieves had been
separated from their mothers for longer than six
months during their first five years. In the control group
only two had had such a separation.
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
Conclusion:
• Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
• Suggests if the early attachment bond is broken
between mother and child this can have serious long
term consequences for the child.
• There is a ‘critical period’ or ‘sensitive period’ where
this bond must be formed.
• Needs to occur in the first 12 months of the child’s life.
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
Conclusion:
• If this does not occur the child may show signs of:
– delinquency
– inability to form healthy relationships
– reduced intelligence
– increased aggression
– depression
– affectionless psychopathy (they were not able to care
about or feel affection for others)
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
The child’s attachment relationship with their primary
caregiver leads to the development of an internal working
model (Bowlby, 1969).

Bowlby’s Internal Working model

• A cognitive framework comprising mental representations
for understanding the world, self, and others.
• A person’s interaction with others is guided by memories
and expectations from their internal model which influence
and help evaluate their contact with others.
• Basically – your view of the world is influenced by how
people/events have occurred in the past.
BOWLBY’S INTERNAL
WORKING MODEL
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
Bowlby’s Internal Working model
• According to Bowlby (1969), the primary
caregiver acts as a prototype for future
relationships via the internal working
model.

• There are three main features of the internal

working model:
– a model of others as being trustworthy
– a model of the self as valuable, &
– a model of the self as effective when
interacting with others.
ATTACHMENT -
BOWLBY
Bowlby’s Internal Working model
• The child’s internal working model guides their
responsiveness to others, i.e. their future
social and emotional behavior.
• The mother treats a child in a particular way –
this influences the three factors
– Is my mum trustworthy?
– Am I valuable?
– Can I have effective interactions with others?
• Depending on the interaction with the mum –
the child adjusts their perception of the world
and thus how they interact with it.
ATTACHMENT
A study by Sroufe and colleagues showed that
children who were securely attached to their
mothers in infancy were more likely to:
• Be self-reliant youths
• Have fewer problems
• Perform better at school
• Have more successful peer relationships
KEY WORDS
Harlow Bowlby
• contact comfort • critical/sensitive
hypothesis period
• nourishment • primary caregiver
• infant mother • prototype/model
attachment • maternal deprivation
• physical and hypothesis
emotional needs • delinquency
• affectionless
psychopathy
• internal working
model
o trustworthy
o valuable
o effective
REVIEW
• Write a 200 word abstract for Bowlby’s
research.
ATTACHMENT -
AINSWORTH
• Ainsworth and her associates developed the
Strange Situation Classification as a
procedure for measuring how attachment
varies in children.

• Pariticipants: 100 middle class families, infants

aged 12 – 18 months

• Procedure: Infants are subjected to eight

episodes (each approx. 3 mins long) of
gradually escalating stress as adult strangers
ATTACHMENT -
AINSWORTH
ATTACHMENT -
AINSWORTH
Observations: from this study she classed infants
into three different attachment categories:

• Type A – anxious avoidant infants – showed

insecurity by ignoring their mothers and failing to
look at her
• Type B – secure infants, used mother as secure
base and explored the room
• Type C – anxious resistant infants, showed
insecurity by often clinging to her but also kicking
and pushing her away.
 Anxious
Classification Secure Anxious
Attachmen
of behaviour in Attachmen Attachment
t–
strange t – Resistant
Avoidant
situation (Type B) (Type C)
(Type A)
Caregiver’s May ignore Sensitive Ambivalent
behaviour infant and
responsive
Willingness to High High Low
explore

Anxiety towards Low High High

stranger

Separation Indifferent Some, Distressed

anxiety easy to
soothe
Behaviour at Avoid Enthusiasti Seeks and
reunion with contact c rejects
caregiver
ATTACHMENT -
AINSWORTH
A – anxious avoidant
• Up to 15% of 1-year-olds have avoidant attachments.
• They seem uninterested in exploring, show little
apparent distress when separated from their mothers,
and avoid contact, ignore or seem indifferent when their
mothers return
• Insecurely attached infants are not particularly wary of
strangers but sometimes avoid or ignore them, much as
they avoid or ignore their mothers
ATTACHMENT -
AINSWORTH
Type B – secure infants
• About 60-65% of 1-year-olds in our society are securely
attached to their mothers or primary caregivers
• The securely attached infant actively explores the room
when alone with his mother because she serves as a
secure base
• When his mother is present, the securely attached child is
outgoing with a stranger
• Upon return of mother was quickly consoled and returned
to using mother as secure base and explored the room
ATTACHMENT -
AINSWORTH
Type C – anxious ambivalent/resistant

• About 10% of 1-year-olds show a resistant attachment, an

insecure attachment characterized by anxious,
ambivalent reactions
• The resistant infant does not venture off to play even
when his mother is present, probably because she is not a
secure base for exploration
• Resistant infants are also wary of strangers, even when
their mothers are present
 Primary Carer’s Behaviour
Towards Child

Child’s ‘Working Model’ of Itself

Positive & Loved Unloved & Rejected Angry & Confused

Secure Avoidant Ambivalent/Resistant

Ainsworth saw the most important feature of a mother’s

behaviour as sensitivity.
A sensitive mother would be constantly accessible
responding to baby’s needs as they arrived; while an
insensitive mother interacts with the baby on her own
terms often ignoring baby’s signals.
ATTACHMENT -
AINSWORTH
Criticisms of Strange Situation
• Does this method really measure attachment or is it measuring
the “strangeness of the situation”.
• Created and tested in USA – culturally biased?
• Lacks ecological validity - Artificial situation – may distort
behaviour
• Causes distress - ethical?
• What classifies ‘soothing/calming’ child
• Is the classification valid? – Main and Solomon (1986) added
fourth attachment type called disorganised attachment
• Durkin found that Japanese children find the separation difficult as
they are rarely separated from their mother but children who
spend time in day-care like in Western cultures found it normal.
CROSS-CULTURAL
VARIATION
• Child rearing practices vary considerably from place to
place
– Environment
– Traditions
– Beliefs about children

• Does this result in different attachment patterns?

• In Western, individualistic cultures, such as Germany,

optimal development means becoming an autonomous
being.
• In Eastern, collectivist cultures, such as Japan, the goal is
to become integrated into the group.
CROSS-CULTURAL
RESEARCH
Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)
• Meta analysis of studies of attachment in different
countries to see if Ainsworth’s attachment types occur in
different cultures.
• Looked at proportions of different SSC attachment types

• They looked at eight different countries and found evidence

of all three types of attachment in all of them.
• Secure attachment always the most common, but
significant variation
CROSS-CULTURAL
RESEARCH Secure
Avoidan Resistan
t t
65% 21% 14% Regular close contact
USA

57% 35% 8% Independence is

Germany valued

64% 7% 29% Communal care in

Israel kibbutz

68% 5% 27% Mother & child rarely

Japan separated

Type B (secure) is the most common in all countries.

Type A (anxious avoidant) is more common in Western countries,
particularly Germany. (individualist).
Type C (anxious resistant) is more common in Japan and Israel
(collectivist).
CULTURAL VARIATION
Abraham Sagi
• He studies Kibbutzim in Israel.
• In a traditional Kibbutz, infants are moved to an “infants
house” at 6 weeks of age.
• Here they are cared for by a group of professional carer’s
while mothers’ visit to feed and bathe them.
• At night, two watchwomen care for all the children which
means there might be a delay in attending to the child’s
cries and there is no stable adult relationship at night.
CULTURAL VARIATION
Abraham Sagi
• Sagi thought that this arrangement might lead to
insecure ambivalent attachments being formed (Type
C).
• He then compared his traditional kibbutz results with
home-based kibbutz (the only difference is the children
sleep at home with their parents).
• The results found that 52% of children raised in a
traditional kibbutz experienced Type C attachment as
opposed to 20% of children in a home-based kibbutz.
CULTURAL VARIATION
• Many studies have limited samples
– Cannot claim to be representative of each culture
– E.g. in Israel kibbutz vs. urban kibbutz
– SSC may not be best tool for cross-cultural research as it
assumes behaviour always has same significance as in
US/UK

• However findings suggest attachment has some

universal features, e.g. there is variation both between
and within cultures.
RELATIONAL
INFLUENCES

• Simpson et al. (2007) found that relationship quality at

each step in development affects relationship quality at
the next step
AINSWORTH TASK
To explain Ainsworth’s contributions to attachment by;
1. Completing Activity 5.5 pg 112 in Nelson Book Unit 1 & 2
2. Using the information to create a summary table of her
three types of attachment (Name and describe).
3. Identifying three criticisms of Ainsworth’s research.

Extension task:
Compare the dominant types of attachment in Individualistic
cultural groups to Collectivist cultural groups. You will need
to conduct some research on this – textbook page 55 or
search Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988).
2. AINSWORTH
ATTACHMENT TYPES
Attachment Explanation
type
Type A – Anxious the child ignores their mother, fails
Avoidant to look at them, and tries to not be
close
Type B – Secure the child uses the mother as a
secure base
Type C – Anxious the child resists their mother, then
Resistant clings to them, whilst also kicking
and pushing her away
1. AINSWORTH
CRITICISMS
• Her methodology doesn’t accurately assess attachment,
it’s measuring the “strangeness of a situation”.
• Low ecological validity – carried out in a lab.
• Her research was conducted on American’s only,
therefore initial results culturally bias.
• The temperament of the child leads to attachment
types.
• The temperament of the child and the way the parent
responds leads to their attachment type.
PARENTING STYLES
• Parenting Styles can greatly influence the socialisation
of a child.

• Four type of parenting styles as originally set out by a

researcher named Diana Baumrind

– Authoritative
– Permissive
– Authoritarian
– (Uninvolved) – not part of syllabus
PARENTING STYLES

Authoritative Parent
• high in control
• Set boundaries and limits
• high in warmth/responsiveness
• makes reasonable demands
• explanation for rules are provided
• child’s viewpoint taken into consideration
• affectionate and nurturing
PARENTING STYLES
Children of Authoritative Parents
• Appear happy and content.
• Are more independent.
• Achieve higher academic success.
• Develop good self-esteem.
• Interact with peers using competent social skills.
• Have better mental health — less depression, anxiety,
suicide attempts, delinquency, alcohol and drug use.
• Exhibit less violent tendencies.
PARENTING STYLES
Authoritarian Parent
• high in control
• Set boundaries and limits
• low in warmth/ responsiveness
• demands complete obedience
• no explanation for rules are provided
• child’s viewpoint not considered
• harsh and inflexible
PARENTING STYLES
Children of Authoritarian Parents
• Tend to have an unhappy disposition.
• Are less independent.
• Appear insecure.
• Possess lower self-esteem.
• Exhibit more behavioral problems.
• Perform worse academically.
• Have poorer social skills.
• Are more prone to mental issues.
PARENTING STYLES
Permissive Parent
• low in control
• high in warmth/ responsiveness
• set no clear boundaries
• set no limits
• have inconsistent expectations
• want to be a friends to their child
• provide little structure or direction
PARENTING STYLES
Children of Permissive Parents
• Cannot follow rules (delinquency)
• Have worse self-control.
• Possess egocentric tendencies.
• Encounter more problems in relationships and social
interactions.
SUMMARY
• Identify the type of parenting style illustrated below and
compare it to the other two types.