Section 6.2

 Attachment behavior ◦ John Bowlby  Close relationship with child and mother is a basic biological need.  Behaviors such as smiling, babbling, grasping and crying are genetically based social signals.  Encourage parental interaction.  Attachment behavior characterized by:  Proximity maintenance  Safe haven  Separation distress  Secure base ◦ e=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1 e=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

 Bowlby ◦ Internal working model  Motivation = biological base  Process = experience  Three elements of IWM  Ideas about attachment figures and what can be expected from them.  Ideas about the self.  Ideas about how the self and others relate.  IWM determines the child’s relationships with other people and the way the child sees him/herself in the future.  Children who experience neglect or rejection may develop a working model based on denial.  To protect themselves, children may see that parents do not love them because they may deserve the neglect.  IWM could contribute negatively to mental health (ex: depression.)  Humans tend to reproduce the working model (ex: families of abuse.)

 Shaffer (1996) ◦ Attachment develops until around 7 months when a child shows specific attachments. ◦ At this age a baby clearly shows separation anxiety when the primary caregiver leaves the child.  Research shows that discrimination between primary attachment occurs around 7 months.  Linked to brain maturation (visual cortex.)  Display of stranger anxiety/object permanence.  Brazleton et al (1975) ◦ Observation of mothers and babies during interactions. ◦ Interactional synchrony (probably facilitated by mirror neurons. ◦ Babies became upset with ignored signals.

 Mary Ainsworth ◦ Worked on the Ganda project in Uganda (1967)  Longitudinal study of naturalistic observations of mother-child interactions in the strange situation.  Consisted of 28 unweaned babies from several villages.  The children began at 15 weeks to 2 years.  Observed every 2 weeks for 2 hours at a time for a 9 month period.  Used an interpreter when interviewing the mothers.  Made rating scales to measure maternal sensitivity to baby’s signals.

 Ainsworth ◦ Replicated study in Baltimore (1971) and found the same distribution of attachment patterns.  26 mother-infant pairs.  Visited every 3 to 4 weeks for the first year of life.  Came up with the Strange Situation Classification (SSC) which has 3 groups.  Type A-Avoidant (20%): child shows apparent indifference when mother leaves the room, and avoids contact when she returns.  Not afraid of strangers.  Mothers tend to be insensitive and not interested with child’s play.  Type B-Securely attached (70%): the child is upset when mother leaves, and happy upon her return.  Easily comforted by mother.  Mothers tend to be very interested in child’s play and actively support it and communicate with kids during play.  Type C-Ambivalent (10%): the child is upset when mother leaves the room and difficult to sooth upon her return.  The child seeks comfort, but rejects it.  Mothers tend to be inconsistent in their reactions to children.  *Type D-Insecure disorganized/disoriented attachment (Main and Solomon (1986)  No particular reaction when mother leaves or comes back.  Associated with childhood abuse and chronically depressed mothers.  ode=1 ode=1

 Ainsworth ◦ Factors about attachment to consider:  Parental sensitivity – secure attachment is particularly dependant on emotionally responsive mothers.  Sensitive mothers tend to have securely attached babies.  Insensitive mothers tend to have insecurely attached babies.  Infant temperament – Kagan (1982) suggests that innate differences in children’s temperaments influence how the environment interacts with them.  Family circumstances – families may not be capable of providing the necessary support to the child (ex: abusive families.)  Mental health seems to be correlated with lack of formation of attachment to important people during childhood.

 Cross-cultural studies ◦ Bowlby and Ainsworth were in western societies. ◦ Main (1990) – secure attachment will be the norm where the social environment is generally supportive of the child, while insecure attachment is the norm in less supportive contexts. ◦ Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) – reviewed 32 worldwide studies involving 8 countries and over 2000 infants.  In Japan, Type A is eliminated and a high proportion of Type C. (important to note that Japanese childred are rarely separated from their mothers.)  Pattern of Type B being most prevalent across cultures.  Type A more common in western cultures.

 Attachment and the formation of relationships ◦ Hazan and Shaver (1987) took Bowlby’s theory and related it to adult relationships.  Could explain positive (caring, intimacy, trust) and negative (fear of intimacy, jealousy, emotional inconsistency) in adults.  Translated Ainsowrth’s three attachment styles to make them suitable for adult relationships.  Devised a “love quiz” and published it in a local newspaper.  620 self-selected participants aged with a mean age of 36.  205 males, 415 females  A second sample included 108 college students.  20% showed anxious-avoidant, 20% anxious-ambivalent, and 60% securely attached.

 The Hazan and Shaver love quiz:  -attachment-quiz.htm -attachment-quiz.htm ◦ Theorized that love is a process that shares important similarities with early attachment relationships. ◦ Theorists warn against drawing too many conclusions between early childhood experience and adult relationships.

 Effects of deprivation or trauma in childhood on later development ◦ Resilient – ability to recover or bounce back from even very stressful events. ◦ Rutter et al. (2001) – longitudinal study on Romanian children.  Attachment problems (with a large percentage of the children.)  No clear differentiation with adults.  “Near autistic features.”  Age of children at adoption mattered.  Rutter argued that normal social functionaing is better the earlier the child leaves the institution.  Those who had the most long-lasting deprivation were functioning normal by the age of 6.

◦ Koluchova (1971, 1991) study on a set of Czech twin boys.  The mother died when they were 11 months and the father remarried when the kids were around 18 months.  The kids were deprived of adequate food, proper exercise or stimulation, a heated room, or interaction of any kind except for with each other from age 18 months to 7 years.  The twins were sent to foster care and a school for the mentally retarded.  Eventually, were able to be introduced to the normal classroom.  Adopted by two caring sisters.  Were estimated to have an IQ of 40 when found, but by 14 both kids had between a 90 and 100 IQ.  The boys are now married and leave normal lives.

 Resilience ◦ Schoon et al (2002) – should be seen as a positive adaptation and not a personality attribute. ◦ Today’s research differentiates between specific risk factors and specific outcomes. ◦ Some attributes that can hinder normal development:  Parental conflict  Collapse of the family  Poverty  Parental drug abuse  Social isolation  Criminal family background  Belonging to a minority group ◦ Positive factors  Intelligence  Sociability  Special talents  Close relationships to a parent or parental substitute  Authoritative parents  Socio-economic resources  Good school  Relationships with pro-social adults

 Three factors that appear particularly important with it comes to protection from the damaging effects of stressful events. ◦ The temperament of the child ◦ A close relationship with at least one parent ◦ Social support in the community  Werner (2005) ◦ Kauai Longitudinal Study  An entire cohort of those born on the Hawaiian island of Kauai investigated at ages 1, 2, 10, 18, 32, and 40.  30% of group had risk factors  Born and raised in poverty  Complications around birth  Family had many problems  Reared by mothers with hardly any education.  66% of children who experienced 4 or more risk factors by age 2 developed learning and behavior problems by age 10 or delinquency/mental problems by 18.

 Building resilience: ◦ The New York Center for Children suggests the following.  Home visit programmes  Teen mother parent education and parent groups  Head start and early head start programmes  After-school programmes in all high-risk communities. ◦ Lowenthal (2001) – important to establish safe and predictable learning environments to maltreated children. ◦ Engle et al (2007) – reviewed programmes in developing countries and found overall gains in skills such as sociability, self-confidence, and motivation. ◦ Walker et al (2007) – studied ways to prevent intergenerational transmission of poverty and suggested:  Food programmes  Child development programmes for children with developmental problems.  UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)  Assisted governments supporting parenting prograames in 60 countries and at least 30 developing countries.  Engle et al (2007) – suggested:  Targeting improved nutrition to prevent stunting.  Stimulation of cognitive and social-emotional skills.  Currie (2001) – in developed countries, long-term benefits are derived from:  High-quality early interventions from centre-based programmes for disadvantaged children.  Results in better school achievement  better employment opportunities  better health outcomes  less welfare dependency  lower crime rates

 Freud’s defense mechanisms ◦ ◦ -defense-mechanisms/ -defense-mechanisms/ *Not responsible for defense mechanisms for exam.