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Attachment
• Cases like “Baby Jessica”
– Children are resilient
CHAPTER 14
– Negative early experiences rarely ruin
ATTACHMENT AND SOCIAL them for life
RELATIONSHIPS • Close Relationships Provide:
– Learning experiences
– Social support (social convoy)

Attachment Theory Ethology

• Bowlby: A strong affectional tie that binds a • Konrad Lorenz: Imprinting
person to an intimate companion – An innate form of learning in animals
• Helps regulate distress by proximity seeking – Critical period
– By about 6-7 months – Irreversible
• Ainsworth: Special, irreplaceable people • Humans: Attachment
– Desire to maintain proximity – Sensitive period
– Derive a sense of security – Predisposed
• Bowlby: Normal environment important

Childhood Peers
• Important for social development
• Piaget: Equal power among peers
– Requires cooperation, negotiation skills
• Sullivan: Peers important after age 6
– Changing interpersonal needs
• Harris: Parental influence is overrated
– Peers more important for development

• The combination of a depressed mother and a premature infant means low

odds that a secure attachment will form.

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Emotions in Infancy
• Timing of emotions biologically programmed
– Tied to cognitive maturation
– Evolved to ensure that caregivers respond
• Social referencing by 10-12 months
– Monitor reactions in others to help define
situation, regulate behavior and emotions
– Modeling, imitation, reinforcement
• Emotion Regulation: Learned throughout
infancy and childhood

• The emergence of different emotions. Primary emotions emerge in the first six months of life,
secondary or self-conscious emotions emerge starting about 18 months to 2 years of age.

Caregiver’s Attachment to Infant Infant’s Attachment to Caregiver

• Early contact not crucial nor sufficient • Social Responsiveness
• Neonatal reflexes endearing: e.g., smiling – At birth: undiscriminating
• Cooing and babbling: Early conversations – 2-6 mo: preferences develop
• Synchronized routines • Proximity Seeking
– “Peek-A-Boo” – 6 mo to 3 yr
• Sensitive responding a must – Attachment figures
• Over-stimulation/under-stimulation not good – Mental representation abilities needed

Attachment-Related Fears
• Separation Anxiety: 6-8 mo
– Peaks around 14-18 mo
– Gradually wanes
• Stranger Anxiety: 8-10 mo
– Declines during 2nd year
• Ainsworth: Secure base for exploration

• The wire and cloth surrogate “mothers” used in Harlow’s research. This infant monkey has
formed an attachment to the cloth mother that provides “contact comfort,” even though it
must stretch to the wire mother in order to feed.

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Quality of Attachment
• Caregiver provides “contact comfort”
• Ainsworth: Strange Situation Test
– Secure attachment: most
– Insecure attachment categories
• Inconsistent care = Resistant
• Insensitive stimulation = Avoidant
–Rejection, impatient, resentful
–Intrusive
• Abusive = Disorganized/Disoriented

Infant Characteristics Context of Attachment

• Must acquire person permanence • Culture
• Temperament a factor – Individualistic: encourage independence
• Reaction to parenting style • e.g., Western
– Goodness-of-fit between parenting style • Avoidant
and infant temperament – Collectivist: encourage group conformity
• e.g., Japan
• Resistant

Effects of Social Deprivation Later Outcomes

• Infants grieve when separated from caregiver
– Recover when reunited or upon forming
new attachments
• A series of separations more harmful
• Romanian orphans
– Insecure, anxious
– Difficulty coping with stress
• Need sustained interaction with responsive
caregivers – one or a few
• Securely Attached Child
– Cognitively and socially competent
– Expect positive reactions
• Insecurely Attached Child
– Withdrawn, dependent, fearful
– Less competent
• Patterns last through adolescence

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Some Conclusions
• Attachment to fathers, grandparents, etc.
– Can compensate for poor attachment
• Secure attachments may change
– Stressful events: divorce, illness
• Insecure attachments may change
– Lifestyle improvements
Other Conclusions
• Capacity to form attachments is part of
human evolutionary history
• Sensitive period: Nature & Nurture important
• Early relationships important for development
– Affect quality of later relationships
• Mechanism: Internal working models of self
and other

Peer Relations
• 18 mo: First Peers
– Turn taking
– Reciprocal play
• Age 2-12: Increasing Time Spent
– Same sex peers
– Similar age and play preferences

Play Peer Acceptance

• Age 1-2: Pretend play • Results from sociometric techniques
• Age 2-5: Social play – Most popular kids
• Age 5-6: Rule-based games • Attractive, intelligent
• By age 11-2: Rule flexibility • Socially competent
• Play is Beneficial – Rejected kids
– Cognitive development • Highly aggressive
– Social skills • Socially isolated, overly sensitive,
submissive

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Peers or Parents?
• Harris: The Nurture Assumption
– Peers more important than parents
– Parental influence overrated
– Socialization by neighborhood peers
– Individuality comes from genes
Adolescents
• Parents still important
• Boy-girl friendships and dates
– Dating: Dunphy’s phases
• Initiation, status, affection, bonding
• Friendships: More intimacy
– Friends similar psychologically
• Cliques and crowds
– Increased conformity

• In the study by Simpson er al, (2007) relationship quality at each step in development
affected relationship quality at the next step.

The Adult
• Social networks shrink
• Closer to family
• Romantic attachments remain
• Adult friendships valued
• Important to have at least one confidant