PSYC10004 Lecture 6: PSYC10004 6. Social & Emotional Development – Attachment
6. Social & Emotional Development — Attachment
Henry Harlow’s Rhesus Monkeys
Findings established that perceived security, not, food is the crucial element in forming attachment
relationships in primates
Contact comfort: the ties that bind an infant to its caregivers
The Origins of Attachment
• emerges gradually over first several months of life
• peak some time during second year
• diminish in intensity as children become more confident in their independence
• 6-7 months infants show separation anxiety: distress at separation from their attachment figures
• around the same time for all cultures
• around the same time crawling starts
• blind children show similar pattern; becomes anxious when don’t hear familiar sounds/mother’s voice
and movements
• ∴ suggest maturational basis for separation anxiety
Attachment Patterns
Attachment: “A close emotional relationship between two people, characterised by mutual affecting and a
desire to maintain proximity” –Eysenck
“an emotional bond with a specific person that is enduring across space and time.”
Affectional ties or emotional bonds that children form with their primary caregivers
Includes:
• a desire for proximity
• a sense of security
• feelings of distress when the person is
absent
• ties endure beyond infancy
Mary Ainsworth found children respond to mothers’ absence in three ways:
o secure attachment style: infants who welcome mother’s return and seek closeness
o avoidant attachment style: ignore mother when she returns
o ambivalent attachment style: angry and rejecting while simultaneously indicating a clear desire
to be close to the mother
Document Summary
Findings established that perceived security, not, food is the crucial element in forming attachment relationships in primates. Contact comfort: the ties that bind an infant to its caregivers. Attachment: a close emotional relationship between two people, characterised by mutual affecting and a desire to maintain proximity eysenck. An emotional bond with a specific person that is enduring across space and time. Affectional ties or emotional bonds that children form with their primary caregivers. Includes: a desire for proximity, a sense of security feelings of distress when the person is absent ties endure beyond infancy. Parents tend to produce children with similar style of their own. Attachment patterns have considerable stability because internal working models tend to change slowly, but as circumstances change, so can attachment styles. Socialisation: a process in which children learn the rules, beliefs, values, skills, attitudes and behaviour patterns of their society.
