Child psychology Development of attachment Social OCR Psychology

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Child psychology Development of attachment (Social) OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016

Child psychology Development of attachment (Social) OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Background OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder &

Child psychology Background OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology What is attachment? • An attachment is a close social bond that

Child psychology What is attachment? • An attachment is a close social bond that is formed between one person and another person. • We are going to focus on the attachment that develops between a child and their main carer. • Previous research has tended to focus on the child–mother attachment as the main carer. • We will be looking at theories of attachment, different types of attachment and the stages of how attachments are formed. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Theories of attachment • There are many reasons why a newborn baby

Child psychology Theories of attachment • There are many reasons why a newborn baby would want to create a close attachment with a carer immediately. • Write down as many reasons why forming attachments for children is positive for them. • We will be focusing on two theories of attachment: – The behaviourist theory – The evolutionary theory OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology The behaviourist theory of attachment • • Behaviourists believe that all people

Child psychology The behaviourist theory of attachment • • Behaviourists believe that all people are born as blank slates and our behaviour is formed solely by which behaviours are reinforced or punished. Babies learn to become attached to their carer as the carer provides them with positive reinforcement for their actions. For example, when a baby cries, the carer will try to put right whatever has gone wrong. A carer is the primary feeder for the baby. A carer plays with the baby and makes them laugh. A carer helps remove unpleasant feelings (e. g. a wet nappy). All but one of these examples are positive reinforcement. (Which example is negative reinforcement? ) Behaviourists would argue that the attachment between carer and baby is formed through simply association and positive reinforcement. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology The evolutionary theory of attachment • • • John Bowlby was a

Child psychology The evolutionary theory of attachment • • • John Bowlby was a psychoanalyst who studied attachment very carefully. One theories of attachment that he proposed was that forming an attachment is an evolutionary mechanism that helps to ensure the survival of a newborn baby. He suggested that this need to form an attachment is biological and innate, rather than learned like the behaviourist theory. The carer also has an innate response to form an attachment as they will feel the need to respond to babies’ cries and smiles on an innate, preprogrammed level. Some research has supported this idea: Bushnell et al. (2011) found that newborn babies can almost immediately recognise their mother. MRI scans of mothers’ brains have also shown that certain areas of the brain respond to their own babies cries, but not other babies – suggesting an innate response. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Types of attachment • • • The attachment that is formed between

Child psychology Types of attachment • • • The attachment that is formed between the parent and child is not the same for everyone. Factors that can change the way the attachment is formed depend on how the parents respond and develop their own parenting style. There are generally four types of attachment that can be formed: 1. 2. 3. 4. Secure – The parent is caring and loving, leading to the child seeing closeness with the caregiver. Insecure avoidant – The parent becomes annoyed and may resort to rejecting the child, resulting in that child avoiding the care giver in times of need. Insecure resistant – The parent is insensitive and prone to mood swings leading to overreactions or putting themselves before the child. This could lead the child to exaggerate their own problems to make sure the parent responds. Insecure disorganised – The parent is frightening, abusive (physically, verbally or sexually) and insensitive to the child. The parent can be neglectful (degrading and pushing away the child) and withdrawn, making communication errors (e. g. laughing at child’s distress). This may lead to the child either running from the parent or freezing on the spot and growing up with emotional and social problems (Main and Solomon 1986). OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Stages of attachment • • The attachment between carer and child does

Child psychology Stages of attachment • • The attachment between carer and child does not appear immediately but develops steadily. Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964) studied 60 babies over 18 months. Through observations between the carer and child, as well as the child on their own, they identified four stages in which an attachment develops: 1. Indiscriminate attachments – Up to 3 months old babies will respond equally to anyone that gives them care. 2. Specific attachments – After 4 months the baby will still accept care from anyone but will recognise primary and secondary caregivers. 3. Single attachment figure – The baby after 7 months now looks to a person as a source of care and will show fear and unhappiness when separated from them. 4. Multiple attachments – After 9 months the baby is more independent and forms several attachments with adults who they have spent significant time with. Scaffer and Emerson state that the attachment figure doesn’t have to be with the mother but any significant caregiver who can respond best with what the baby needs (sensitive responsiveness). The cognitive approach could also help explain how attachment develops – once the baby has achieved object permanence, they will understand that their carer still exists even when they cannot see them and the acquisition of language helps the child understand when the parent will be there and won’t be there (e. g. at work) which helps them to be away from their carer for short periods. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Short-term effects of failed attachments • • We have looked at the

Child psychology Short-term effects of failed attachments • • We have looked at the different reasons why attachments are important for children, however what can happen when attachments are harmful (insecure disorganised) or don’t happen at all? Some research suggests even separating a child from the carer for a short time can have negative effects. The Robertsons filmed what happened to children in hospital care between 17 months and 3 years. In this time their mothers would leave for periods up to 2 weeks at a time (in 1948 parents were discouraged from visiting their children for too long). The Robertsons identified three stages of short-term deprivation: 1. 2. 3. Distress – The child will protest, cry and become angry when the carer leaves. This can last for days. Despair – When the child realises the carer is not coming back they become quiet and just sit, maybe with a cuddly toy. Detachment – The child would still be upset but would now ignore the carer and try to get away from them. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology The impact of long-term failed attachments • • • If the short-term

Child psychology The impact of long-term failed attachments • • • If the short-term effects of attachment are negative, then what will happen to children who spend significant time away from their carers? Bowlby (1944) interviewed 44 juvenile criminals (thieves) who were at a guidance clinic as well as their parents. Participants were given assessments on intelligence, emotional attitude and psychiatric history. Bowlby found several had a lack of affection for others, lacked feelings of guilt and shame as well as empathy for their victims. He called this ‘affectionless psychopathy’. Looking at the backgrounds of the criminals he saw some proportion of them (14) had been separated from their mothers at some point. He concluded that the reason for this affectionless psychopathy was due to their lack of attachment with their mothers. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Attachment deprivation • • • Bowlby suggested no child should be separated

Child psychology Attachment deprivation • • • Bowlby suggested no child should be separated from their mother (even for day care or nurseries) as it would cause problems later in life. He also stated that there was a ‘critical period’ where attachments had to be formed successfully. Spitz and Wolfe (1946) found that children who had been raised in orphanages showed more symptoms of depression than other children, seemingly supporting this deprivation hypothesis. However, not all research confirms Bowlby’s ideas. Hodges and Tizard (1989) researched children from a children’s home who were either adopted or returned to their biological parents at the age of 4. They found that it was actually the adopted parents who were better at forming attachments – rejecting Bowlby’s significance of the biological mother. However, the institutionalised children still had long-term effects such as bullying, having fewer friends and fewer positive relationships with their siblings. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Other research • • • Rutter (1981) investigated the idea of privation

Child psychology Other research • • • Rutter (1981) investigated the idea of privation (where no attachment is formed at all). This can be due to the children being raised by a series of different carers. Rutter found that unlike other children, these children showed no signs of distress when their carer left. Long-term effects of privation could be attention seeking, inability to stick to rules and an inability to form good relationships. Cockett and Tripp (1994) looked at children who had either suffered from the death of a parent, or children whose family had been reordered from divorce. They found that children who had been in a reordered family showed higher levels of academic and economic problems compared to ‘intact’ families. However, in reordered families with low levels of discord (fewer confrontations) there were lower levels of negative outcomes than intact families who had high levels of discord. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited