Attachment & Parenting
Early Social Development
Mr. Koch
AP Psychology
Forest Lake High School
Attachment
• A deep and enduring relationship with the person
with whom a baby has shared many experiences
• Typically begins forming during 1st year of life
– John Bowlby
• British psychoanalyst drew attention to importance
of attachment after observing depression and other
emotional scars in children orphaned in WWII
– Inspired researchers to study how attachments are formed
and what happens when they’re absent or broken
Imprinting
Konrad Lorenz (1937)
• Some animals (i.e. ducks, geese)
develop attachment during a
“critical period” shortly after birth
– Imprinting – instinctively
becomes attached to first
moving thing seen at this time
Konrad Lorenz - Imprinting
Harry Harlow (1959)
• Tested two opposing hypotheses on what
leads to developing attachment:
1. Attachment occurs because mothers feed their babies
2. Attachment is based on the warm, comforting contact
from the mother
Harlow Monkey Studies
clip #1
Harlow Monkey Studies
clip #2
Harlow Monkey Studies
• Also investigated what happens when
attachments do not form
– Isolated some newborn monkeys from all
social contact – dramatic disturbances after
one year
• When visited by normal monkeys, huddled in
corner and rocked
• Unable to have normal sexual relations
• Artificially inseminated females tended to ignore
own babies
– Would sometimes abuse/kill them when babies
were distressed
• Tragically similar situations observed in
Romanian and Russian orphanages
Harlow Monkey Studies
Mary Ainsworth (1978)
(student of John Bowlby)
• “Strange Situation” experiment
– Infant interacts with mother and
stranger in unfamiliar room
• Plays with both → mother leaves
briefly → baby alone briefly →
mother returns
Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation”
• “Secure Attachment” – most infants
– Use mother as home base, leave side to explore,
but return periodically for comfort/contact
– When mother returns from separation, infant
happy to see her and receptive to contact
Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation”
• “Insecure Attachment”
1. Avoidant – avoid or ignore mother upon return
2. Ambivalent – upset when mother leaves, switch
between clinging and angrily rejecting mother
upon return
3. Disorganized – behavior is inconsistent,
disturbed, and disturbing (i.e. – cry after mother returns
and comforts; reach out for mother while looking away from her)
• Secure attachments correlated with more
positive social relationships later in life
Mary Ainsworth – “Strange Situation”
Parenting Styles
Parenting Styles
• Authoritarian
– Strict, punitive, unsympathetic
• Value obedience from child and authority for selves
• Try to curb child’s will, discourage independence
• Detached and seldom praise
– Their children tend to be:
• Unfriendly, distrustful, withdrawn, less empathic, more
aggressive, more likely to cheat, less likely to feel guilty
or accept blame
Parenting Styles
• Permissive
– More affectionate, give lax discipline, great deal of
freedom
– Children tend to be:
• Immature, dependent, unhappy, prone to tantrums, act
helpless
Parenting Styles
• Authoritative
– Fall between previous two extremes
• Reason with child, encourage give and take, sets limits
but encourages independence, firm but understanding,
demands are reasonable and consistent, give children
more responsibility as they mature
– Children tend to be:
• Friendly, cooperative, self-reliant, socially responsible,
better in school, more popular
Parenting Styles
• Uninvolved
– Indifferent to their children
• Invest as little time, money, effort as possible
• Focus on own needs before child’s
– Children tend to be:
• Less likely to form secure attachments, more impulsive,
aggressive, noncompliant, moody, low in self-esteem
Parenting Styles
• But, research is correlational
– Does parenting cause traits in child? or do child’s
traits influence parenting style used by parents?