Attachment and Newborn Behavior

A two-way enduring, emotional bond with another person characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity.

Being born helpless and requiring parental care.

Babies show preference for faces and can identify mother within one minute of birth.

Proximity seeking, separation distress, and secure base behavior.

Attempting to stay physically close to the primary caregiver.

Displays of anxiety when separated from caregiver.

Seeking regular contact with the person when going to explore.

Develop and maintain the attachment bond.

Responsive and Sensitive.

Caregiver's ability to respond promptly to the infant's needs - builds trust and security and promotes secure attachment

Caregiver's ability to accurately interpret and meet the infant's needs - involves empathy and understanding being emotionally in tune with baby needed for emotional regulation in the infant

Babies produce alert phases that signal to the caregiver when they are ready for interaction and the baby and caregiver pay attention to verbal and facial cues - it is a two way interaction where one performs a behaviour and the other gives a response e.g. baby smiles and the mother smiles back - RESPONSE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THE SAME

Signals that occur in unison - the caregiver and infant mirror each other's behaviours and emotions - RESPONSE AND BEHAVIOUR ARE THE SAME

Adults displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions and the babies response was filmed, observers found an association between baby actions and caregiver expressions - supporting reciprocity and international synchrony

Research methods have high internal validity - controlled observations + filmed + no demand characteristics for babies and they don't change their behaviour when being observed High real life application - in hospitals babies and mothers placed together after birth which they were not originally - suggesting psychological findings are useful in enhancing positive patient outcomes

based on assumptions - especially in very young infants it is challenging to know what is taking place in an infant's brain so inferences have to be made research findings are socially sensitive - imply low levels of caregiver-infant interaction lead to insecure attachment so mothers are hesitant to go to work which reinforces gender stereotype and risks economic consequences for family and workforce

To assess whether attachment formation is universal.

Longitudinal study. Monitored in first year and at 18 months, observation + interview (mother asked questions about baby's behaviour when left alone in a room, with others, in their pram etc)

60 babies from working class families in Glasgow

50% babies 5-7 months showed separation anxiety, 39% of primary attachment figure was not primary carer (attachment based on sensitivity and responsiveness), By 10 months 80% had specific attachment and 30% had multiple attachments

50%

39%

10 months

10 months

important for evolution as if primary attachment figure dies there are others to rely on and provides skills to form and maintain social relationships and allows them to form attachments with daycare providers which is useful for parents

Asocial stage, Indiscriminate stage , Specific stage , Multiple attachments

up to 6 weeks after birth

preference develops for humans over objects, at start babies respond in the same way to any caregiver but by the end recognise familiar people, communication based on reflex, no attachment

6 weeks - 6 months

babies begin to show preference for familiar adults. accept comfort from any adult, no separation or stranger anxiety, more observable social behaviour, by end of stage they are more easily comforted by familiar adults

7 - 9 months

babies show clear preference for primary attachment figure (person that most frequently responds to infant with the most skill), start to display stranger anxiety and separation anxiety from PAF

10 months onwards

strong emotional ties to other people baby spends time with and who accurately respond to their needs, babies seek comfort and security from these people, separation anxiety from secondary attachment, stranger anxiety decreases but preference for PAF

The age of 1

High ecological validity - occurred in mother and babies own homes high internal validity - carried out longitudinally which is better than a cross sectional study as there is no confounding variable of individual differences between participants in terms of parenting style etc

low generalisability - target population was all babies and mothers as they were looking for universal behaviour however they just used babies with w/c mothers in Glasgow - findings not applicable to other areas or social classes

Issues studying babies' behaviour during the asocial stage Conflicting evidence Attachment is difficult to measure limited behavioural measures of attachment

poor coordination and immobile so difficult to make judgements about behaviour + not always accurate

Bowlby - most if not all babies form attachments to single primary carer before becoming capable of developing multiple attachments Van IJzendoorn - cultural contexts where multiple caregivers are norm e.g. collectivist societies believe babies form multiple attachments from the outset Therefore Schaffer and Emerson not applicable of generalisable to diff cultures

based on inferences which can be inaccurate as we are unsure as to what the baby is actually thinking e.g. a baby getting distressed when someone leaves the room does not mean they are the 'true' attachment figure Bowlby - children have playmates as well as attachment figures and may get distressed when they leave

able to carry out a scientific study of attachment development because they used simple behaviours e.g. stranger anxiety and separation anxiety to define attachment however some believe these are too simplistic in order to accurately measure attachment

the extent to which research findings remain true over time.

a person's biological nature

women produce more oestrogen which is the nurturing hormone, Fleming et al said men with lower testosterone (aggression hormone) are more sensitive to a child's needs and quicker to respond when a child cries

cultural and social expectations that child rearing is feminine and this stereotype is hard to overcome, structure of societies placed men as sole provider which creates disparity in bonding opportunities

children have one primary attachment figure which is almost always their mother

3% of times the father is the primary attachment figure, 27% it is both mother and father who is primary attachment figure

their role is the playmate not caregiver as they have different interaction styles that heavily focus on physical play

the conclusions are outdated and contemporary research shows males are very quick to develop sensitive responsiveness and it is individual

more women have demanding jobs with longer hours = fathers taking on responsibilities or child in childcare economic implications - better economic growth for country as both parents are working + paying taxes Dual income households = disposable income non-traditional families are more common

father's degree of sensitivity, the child's temperament, father's attachment with own parents, marital intimacy between parents, gender of the child, supportive co-parenting