PSYC 3684 1st Edition Lecture 11Outline of Last Lecture I. Attachment TheoryII. Harry Harlow and John BowlbyIII. Separation AnxietyIV. Mary Ainsworth and Strange Situation taskOutline of Current Lecture II. Mary Ainsworth and Strange Situation task continuationIII. 4 categories of Attachment and descriptions of eachCurrent LectureStrange Situation Task Cont’d:- Measuring children’s ability too Explore (secure base)o Degree of separation anxietyo Be comforted by their motherAinsworth’s Baltimore Study: (Ainsworth, Bell, Stayton 1974)- N = 26 newborn – 1 yr.- In-home observational study (64 in home visits)- Lab  strange situation- Identified 3 categories of attachment and one was added later4 Categories of Attachment:- Secure- Insecureo Avoidanto Ambivalento Disorganized (by Main)- Secure 60%  secure baseo Secure base, separation anxiety and early comfortThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. Grade Buddy is best Used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- Maternal behavioro Responsiveness to infant signals, warm and consistent responsesAvoidant: 15%- Indifferent, may or may not show distress, don’t look at mom for comfort and may actually even seek a stranger for comfort- Cutting off emotions to hide from their selves and their moms- Moms: rejecting and colderAmbivalent: 10%- Child is anxious and distressed and clingy- Not easily comforted  sends mixed signals- Moms: unpredictable and inconsistent with responding to infantMain  Disorganized (15%) Main and Solomon 1986, 1990- Child  absence of organized strategy to cope!- Sometimes will go up to a stranger instead of mom- Parents: abusive, frighteningChallenges to Attachment Theory- Behaviorism- Correlational data- Child contributionsBehaviorism Challenge:- Do I need to respond to my crying baby or do I not?- Attachment theory: response builds security and confidenceBehavioral: responding will reinforce the behavior (operant conditioning) and could lead to spoiling, crying and dependenceBell and Ainsworth (1972)- NO relationship between maternal response and frequency of crying in the first 4 months of life- Babies cried less from 4th month – 1 year when moms responded promptly in first four months- Ignoring led to a vicious cycle- Responding decreases infant readiness to use crying as a signal- Responsiveness doesn’t create dependency but enables autonomy and confidenceCausal Data for Responsiveness – Intervention Studies:- If you teach mom to be a responsive mother will she have a securely attached infant?- Van den Boom 1994o Low SES, mom = primary caretaker N- 100o 2 groups, 3 two hour sessions from age 6-9 monthso Intervention- taught moms how to be responsive motherso Control- attention only (give both groups attention and just one group training)o Strange situation at a year oldo Intervention infants are more securely attached at 12 months than controls wereo Doesn’t take much to make HUGE differencesWhat does the child contribute?- Behavioral genetics approacho Attention classifications equally similar for monozygotic and dizygotic twins (about 70%) suggesting V small role of genetics (O’Connor and Croft 2001) Roisman and Fraley 2006- Molecular genetic approacho Gene-environment interaction involving 5-HTT and responsiveness (Berry et al. 2008)o Maternal responsiveness associated with secure attachmento BUT, a long allele can facilitate resilience when mom’s response is lowo Nature vs. Nurture- Genes don’t matter UNLESS mom is low respondingThe role of Fathers- “Monotropy” (Bowlby): only the principal attachment figure has an impact on social and emotional development  usually mom- Hierarchy of Attachment: both parents can be attachment figures for children (Lami 1979 and Bowlby 1984)- Babies actually can form many attachments- Mother is probably on top (if baby gets hurt, goes over to mom)o Can change though, depends on who is home the most with the infantModified Strange Situation (Geiger 1996):- Primary caretaker is on TOP!Continued in next