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Attachment Behaviors:

Attachment: An enduring emotional tie that unites one person to another, over time and across space . Attachment Behaviors: Behaviors that function to bring the infant/child physically closer to the caregiver Exs: crying, following, clinging. Why is parent-child attachment important?

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Attachment Behaviors:

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  1. Attachment: An enduring emotional tie that unites one person to another, over time and across space

  2. Attachment Behaviors: • Behaviors that function to bring the infant/child physically closer to the caregiver • Exs: crying, following, clinging

  3. Why is parent-child attachment important? • First relationship that infants experience • May serve as a model for other relationships • May affect the development of self-concept

  4. Normative Development of Attachment: Ethological Attachment Theory (J. Bowlby) • Attachment behavior evolved because it is adaptive for survival • Keeps infants physically close to caregivers and away from danger • Increases the chances of infant survival and reproductive success

  5. Evidence (Ethological Attachment Theory): • Animals that stray from a group are much more vulnerable to attack • Attachment behavior in animals and humans: • Occurs more frequently in those most vulnerable to predators (e.g., the young) • Increases in frightening situations

  6. Individual Differences in Attachment Security Infancy: Strange Situation • Mother and infant in laboratory playroom • Stranger enters, talks to mothers, engages infant • Mother leaves (stranger stays) • Mother returns (stranger leaves) • Mother leaves (baby alone) • Stranger returns • Mother returns

  7. Secure (B) • About 60-65% of American middle-class samples • May or may not be distressed by separation • Respond positively to parent’s return • If distressed by separation, easily comforted by parent and able to return to play (parent = secure base)

  8. Insecure-Avoidant (A) • 15-20% of American middle-class samples • Usually not distressed by separation from parent • Avoid the parent during reunion (to different degrees)

  9. Insecure-Resistant or Ambivalent (C) • 10-15% of American middle-class samples • Usually distressed by separation • Show a combination of angry, resistant behavior and proximity-seeking behavior during reunion with parent • Have difficulty being comforted by parent and returning to play

  10. Insecure-Disorganized (D) • 10-15% of American middle-class samples • More common in infants who have been maltreated • Infants’ behavior does not reflect an organized strategy for dealing with the stress of separation • Contradictory behaviors • Expressions of fear or disorientation when caregiver returns

  11. Influences on Infant Attachment Security • According to attachment theory, the major influence is parental behavior (especially sensitivity) during infancy • Sensitivity: Consistent, prompt, and appropriate responses to infant signals

  12. Infants’ behavior in the Strange Situation is hypothesized to reflect their past experiences with that parent • Secure infants expect caregiver to be sensitive • Insecure infants expect caregiver to be insensitive

  13. Evidence for Parental Behavior as the Major Influence on Infant Attachment Security: • Parental sensitivity is correlated with infant attachment security, but the correlation is not strong • Disagreement about the importance of parental sensitivity in influencing attachment security • Other factors also affect attachment security

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