CHYS 2P10
Lecture 9. Parents and Family
March 19th, 2014
Rene Sptiz andAttachment:
- Initially observed infants in hospital settings
- Notices that infants who did not receive regular care from an individual caregiver showed
“affect hunger”
- That is, the infants showed impoverished emotional development and a desire for affection
(early on)
Harlow & The Cupboard Theory:
- The Cupboard Theory of attachment was initially proposed to explain the mother-infant bond
- Infants bonded to the mother because she was a “cupboard” for their needs (e.g., food, water,
heat) (child is like a cupboard, mom with give you blankets, food. Form bond with mother
because of rewards)
- Harlow demonstrated that physical comfort was a critical factor
- Definition of love: security and comfort
Monkey Video:
- No affect which one feeds them
- When you frighten the infant: Love: Comfort and security
- Regardless of going to one that gives them the nutrients of life, they go for the one that gives
them comfort
John Bowlby:
- Infants want some kind of bond with caregiver: attachment
- Bowlby was a psychoanalytical psychologist interested in studying children
- Synthesized evolution, psychoanalysis, and developmental psychology
- Believed that there is an innate psychological mechanism for promoting a bond between
caregiver and infant
Tenants ofAttachment
1. Emotional bond has a basic survival value (particularly for our ancestors) (babies can’t
survive on their own, they are dependent on the caregiver)
2. Bond is mediated by the CNS (part of brain dedicated to this and mediate this bond)
3. Each partner builds a mental working model of the relationship
4. That progression is gradual and sets up later mental models (lasts for a long time for
future templates, when they don’t have it early, it wont grow over time)
Phase 1 of Attachment
- Preattachment (0 - 6 weeks): the infant is indifferent to particular caregivers (i.e., is
indiscriminate) - This is likely due to energetic demands of newborns
- However, there is some evidence that newborns do prefer their mothers (e.g., prefer her smell
over other mothers)
Phase 2 of Attachment
- Attachment in the Making (2-7 months): during this phase infants can discriminate between
caregivers, and start to build a working model of relationships based on experiences
- Begin to learn social rules and norms
- Limited by lack of object permanence (although this is now disputed)
Phase 3 of Attachment
- Clear-CutAttachment (7-24 months): during this phase stranger and separation anxiety appear
- The mother serves as a secure base from which the child can explore his/her environment
- Separation is actively protested
- Will form an attachment to whatever is his/her caregiver
Phase 4 of Attachment
- Goal-Corrected Partnership (2 yrs +): stranger and separation anxiety begin to diminish as a
sense of independent autonomy develops
- Relationship becomes increasingly reciprocal (e.g., negotiation, sharing)
- Anxiety starts to fade
- They learn the relationships and become satisfied
Attachment & Temperament
- Initially believed to be separate concepts
- However, infant temperament has been shown to influence how the parent-child bond unfolds
via differences in interaction qualities (e.g., easier to bond with an easy temperament infant)
- To make a child independent you have to make them dependent
- Often hear: Confidence: treat the baby to be like an adult (WRONG THING TO DO)
- Teach the baby to trust
Attachment & Fathers
- Attachment is independent of the age and sex of the caregiver
- Typically studied in mothers because they are typically the primary caregiver, but fathers,
grandparents, and teachers, can all form attachments
- Attachments can differ from each other (e.g., secure with Mom, not with Dad)
- Attachment can change over time.
Strange-Situation Test
- Developed by MaryAinsworth (Bowlby’s student) after observing mothers in Uganda
- Her goal was to be able to measure attachment
- Involves a parent and infant entering a new room that the child then explores
- The child then has to respond to different situations without the parent
- What is most important is the response of the infant to the returning parent
- If the infant is distressed, and then quiet upon return, the infant is said to have secure
attachment - If the infant does not seem to be disturbed by the parent’s coming and going, it is said to have
avoidant attachment
Strange-Situation Test
- If the infant is distressed, and then is inconsolable upon the parents return, it is said to have
resistant attachment
- Amore recent category is disorganized attachment; it is the label when the child exhibits a
mixture of other categories
- There is evidence that attachment styles predict later relationships
- Example:Alcoholic mother: does not respond right away
Early Social Correlates
“those with histories of responsive care and secure attachment are judged by teachers and
observers to have higher self-esteem, to be more self-reliant, and to be more flexible in the
management of their impulses and feelings. They can be exuberant when circumstances permit
and controlled when circumstances require. They recover quickly following upset. They flexibly
express the full range of emotions in context-appropriate ways. Moreover, they positively engage
and respond to other children, are able to sustain interactions even in the face of conflict and
challenge, and are notably empathic. Though not unduly dependent, they are effective in using
adults as resources, relating to them in an age-appropriate manner. They can also walk on
water.”-Sroufe, 2000
Later Social Correlates
“[Secure attachment patterns] enable them to meet the challenges of autonomous functioning and
successful participation in ever more complex peer groups. In middle childhood, they are able to
form close relationships with friends, as well as to coordinate friendships with effective group
functioning. In adolescence, this evolves to the capacity for intimacy, self-disclosure, and
successful functioning in the mixed-gender teenage peer group. They are peer leaders, noted for
their interpersonal sensitivity.And they can still walk on water.” – Sroufe 2000
TheAttachment
of Parents vs. Attachment Styles of Their Children
The Family as a Social System
- The family is a social system
- Most important function is to socialize children
- Children shape parents
- Children change the brains of their parents
- Family is a network of reciprocal relationships
- Parents influence children and children influence parents
- Nuclear family is the immediate family based around the parents
- Extended family is the rest of the genetic and marriage/adoption-based network
Who Works?
- majority of both parents work Modern Mothers
- Mothers are still the primary caregivers
- Women have almost equal power as men (equal rights)
- However, an increasing number of women are w
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