McCartney & Dearing (2002): Attachment
Attachment development follows four phases in infancy:
1. <3 months: no discrimination among caregivers
2. 3-7 months: infants show preferences for familiar caregivers (e.g. parents)
3. ~9 months: first evidence of attachment relationships (including distress
w/separation)
4. Later on: partnerships emerge between children and their caregivers that
continue throughout life
Brief History/Important People:
- Freud: first stage theory of development; infants develop relationships w/mothers
b/c mothers supply hunger (BUT monkeys prefer cloth-covered surrogate to a
bottle surrogate)
- Erik Erikson: emphasized importance of children’s ability to trust parents to
meet their needs as basis for later social and emotional development
- John Bowlby: developed attachment theory based on his experiences with
children in orphanages who had experienced separations from their caregivers
(especially mothers)
Attachment Theory:
1. Infants’ emotional ties to caregivers can be viewed from an evolutionary
perspective (i.e. closeness with adults is adaptive)
2. Attachment is grounded in a motivational control system: children’s primary goal
is to feel safe and secure (these feelings depend on caregiver’s responses)
3. Early experience guides later behaviors and feelings (especially social
interactions) via internal working models of attachment
*These factors are assumed to operate outside of conscious experience
Strange Situation Paradigm (Ainsworth):
30 min procedure consisting of series of separations and reunions among a caregiver, a
child, and a stranger to determine if attachment is
1. Secure = children display a balance between exploration and seeking proximity
with their mothers; display some distress when separated and easily soothed by
mothers when reunited (most children)
2. Insecure-ambivalent = few exploratory behaviors, very upset during
separations, angry/resistant or ambivalent when reunited
3. Insecure-avoidant = explore freely, pay little attention to their mothers, not
bothered during separation and avoid mothers during reunions
4. Insecure-disorganized = extreme distress over separations and disorganized,
disoriented, and confused behaviors during reunions
*Lots of evidence that security status in Strange Situation is related to parenting
behaviors
Attachment Q-Sort = another method of attachment assessment involving card sorting
Adult Attachment Interview = semistructured interview in which adults reflect on early
attachment experiences
Other Important Points:
- some evidence for concordance among multiple attachment relationships
- some evidence for stability of attachment status over time
- failure to form attachment relationships can lead to serious mental health
problems
- assumption that attachment is universal is controversial