Transcript Attachments Revision The Essential Guide!!

Attachments Revision
The Essential Guide!!
Name FOUR things about
Attachment
Attachment – What is it?
• 1. An affectional tie between two people or
animals
• 2. A two-way process that endures over time
• 3. Leads to certain behaviours such as:
Clinging – Proximity seeking – Crying Smiling
• 4.Serves the function of protecting the infant
or young animal
(Mary Ainsworth 1970)
What do we mean by these
Behaviours
• And how are they essential to the
development of a healthy creature?
• Proximity Seeking
• Secure Base Behaviour
• Separation Anxiety
• Stranger Anxiety
Key Terms
• Proximity Seeking – Staying close to the
attachment figure
• Secure Base Behaviour – Regularly returning
to an attachment figure when exploring
• Separation Anxiety – Anxiety at being apart
from an attachment figure
• Stranger Anxiety – Anxiety in the presence of
strangers
Why are Psychologists so
interested in
Attachment?
Why are Psychologists so
interested in Attachment?
• Because ALL psychologist believe that the
attachment we form with our primary carer
(usually our mother) forms a TEMPLATE for
all future relationships - with friends, with
teachers, and, in the future, with husbands and
wives and in turn, OUR FUTURE CHILDREN.
If our attachment with our mother is not good,
psychologists believe our whole life could be put
at a disadvantage.
Explain Attachment using the
Learning Theory
Explanations of Attachments N0. 1
• LEARNING THEORY
• Dominated psychology for the first half of 20th
Century:• All behaviour is learnt rather than inborn
• Children are born blank slates and everything they
become is dependent on what they experience
• Learning theory is put forward by BEHAVIOURIST
psychologists who say that all behaviour, including
attachment is learnt by:
• Classical and Operant Conditioning.
Classical Conditioning
• We learn through Association.
• Ivan Pavlov – Early 20th C. Russian scientist
• Conducting research on Salivation reflex in
dogs
• Recorded how much they salivated when fed
• Noticed they started salivating BEFORE being
fed
• Dogs began salivating as soon as the door
opened
• Signalling the arrival of food.
What did that mean?
• The dogs had come to Associate the sound of
the door with food and had learnt that the
sound of the door meant food was coming .
• This is Classical Conditioning.
Operant Conditioning
• Because their behaviour (salivating) was
rewarded with food, or REINFORCED, they
started to salivate when they heard the door. This
reinforcement behaviour is called OPERANT
CONDITIONING –
• We tend to repeat behaviours when rewarded
and not repeat them if we’re punished.
• Operant Conditioning is learning by the
experience of being rewarded (reinforced) and
punished.
So What has the Learning Theory
Got to do with Attachment?
What’s the Learning Theory to do
with Attachment? Here it is!!
• All behaviour is learned.
• Classical Conditioning – food produces
pleasure. “Feeder” (mother) becomes associated
with food/pleasure so baby becomes attached to
her.
• Operant Conditioning – food is the primary
reinforcer, “feeder” becomes the secondary
reinforcer – both food and mother reduce
discomfort, and therefore reward the infant and
so the baby becomes attached to the mother.
Evaluating the Learning Theory
(Sometimes called the “Cupboard Love” Theory!)
• Strengths 
• Learning theory suggests that the attachment develops
between infant and carer because the carer provides food.
And it’s true – we do learn through association and
reinforcement.
• Weaknesses 
•  We do learn through association and reinforcement but it
may not be the food that is the reinforcer, it may be the
responsiveness and attention of other carer.
•  If the learning theory is true:
• How come babies often develop strong attachments to
people who don’t feed them?
• The Harlow Monkey Experiment.
Name, date and describe Two
research studies which cast
doubt on the
Learning Theory
The Harlow Monkey Experiment
• Harry Harlow, 1959 conducted research in to learning
using young rhesus monkeys, kept alone.
• He created two “mothers”, one with made of wire but a
full feeding bottle of milk, and the other wrapped in a
soft cloth but without food.
• According to the learning theory the young monkeys
should have become attached to the wire mother.
• In fact the monkeys spent most of their time with the
cloth-covered mother and would cling to it, especially
when frightened.(a proximity-seeking behaviour,
characteristic of attachment)
Schaffer and Emerson 1964
• Whilst the Harlow Monkey experiment used animals,
the above study used human infants.
• 60 babies (from mainly working-class Glasgow homes)
were observed for a year.
• Schaffer & Emerson found that infants were not most
attached to the person who fed them but became
attached to the person who was most responsive to them
and who interacted most with them.
• This reinforces the Harlow Monkey experiment and
suggests that “cupboard love” is not likely to be the best
explanation for attachment, although association and
reinforcement may be part of the story.
Describe the
Evolutionary Perspective
- Bowlby’s Theory of
Attachment
Explain Bowlby’s theory of
Attachment using the following
terms
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Survival Value
Reproductive Value
Innate Drive
Imprinting
Pre-programmed Social Releasers
Adaptive
Sensitive Period
Monotropy
Template
Internal Working Model
Continuity Hypothesis Responsive Mother
Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment
• Bowlby’s theory is an Evolutionary theory
• In his view attachment is a behaviour that has evolved
because of its survival value and, ultimately, its reproductive
value.
• According to Bowlby, children have an innate drive to
become attached to a caregiver because attachment has
long-term benefits. He proposed that normal psychological
development requires the development of a secure
attachment between a baby and its main carer.
• He also proposed the concept of imprinting – an innate
readiness to develop a strong bond with a mother figure.
Pre-programming!!
• John Bowlby said that babies are preprogrammed to behave in ways that encourage
adult attention
• He called these behaviours social releasers
• These include “cute” behaviours such as
smiling and cooing and are the child’s
contribution towards an attachment. The
mother’s contribution is that she must respond
and react to these behaviours
• He suggests these instinctive behaviours
enhance survival and and are protective for the
infant. He called these behaviours ADAPTIVE.
Sensitive Period
• Bowlby said there is sensitive period from when
the baby is born to around the age of 2, when the
baby is programmed to form a special attachment.
He called this monotropy. If something happens
to damage or break this attachment, the child may
develop and insecure attachment its development
may well be damaged.
• For a secure attachment to take place, the child’s
main carer (usually the mother) needs to be
present and attentive and responsive to the
child’s needs, during this sensitive period.
More about Bowlby’s theory
• Bowlby said the child develops a model or
template from the attachment with its mother
which influences all future relationships and
future parenting style. It is a prototype of all
future relationships. He called this the internal
working model.
• The internal working model indicates a big link
between early emotional experiences and later
relationships. He called this the continuity
hypothesis – the idea that early experiences
continue to influence throughout life.
Give some 
Strengths of
Bowlby’s theory of Attachment
Evaluating Bowlby’s theory of
Attachment - Strengths
• It is considered the dominant explanation of how
and why attachment develops.
•  Imprinting is supported by Lorenz’s ducks
•  Bowlby suggests that attachment evolved to as
an aid to survival. If this is true then attachment
and caregiving behaviours should be universal, in
all cultures, despite differences in child-rearing
practices. There is evidence to support
this.(Tronick et al 1992)
Give Some Research Evidence
Supporting Bowlby’s Theory

Research Evidence for Bowlby’s Theory
•  Schaffer and Emerson, 1964, observed that
strongly attached infants had mothers who
responded quickly to their demands and who
offered the child the most interaction whereas
weakly attached infants had mothers who failed
to interact with them.
•  The Minnesota longitudinal study (Sroufe et al
2005) followed children from infancy to
adolescence and found continuity between their
early attachment styles and their later emotional
and social behaviour. This supports the
continuity hypothesis.
And the Harlow Monkey
Experiment
•  Supports Bowlby’s theory that a
responsive mother is needed for good,
lifelong psychological health. The
monkeys were not only psychologically
damaged, but proved incapable of
becoming effective and loving parents,
themselves.
Give some Weaknesses 
Bowlby’s Theory
of
More Evaluation of Bowlby’s theory
Weaknesses
•  The idea that attachment behaviours have
evolved to promote child development has good
face validity. But evolutionary ideas are very
difficult to test and so difficult to prove or
disprove.
•  Bowlby’s theory focuses on the role of the
mother. There is evidence that in two-parent
families, the quality of attachment of the father
can also have a big effect on the child’s
development. (Grossmann and Grossmann,
1991)
Give an Alternative Explanation
for
Attachment
More Evaluation of Bowlby’s theory
Weaknesses
•  The idea that attachment behaviours have
evolved to promote child development has good
face validity. But evolutionary ideas are very
difficult to test and so difficult to prove or
disprove.
•  Bowlby’s theory focuses on the role of the
mother. There is evidence that in two-parent
families, the quality of attachment of the father
can also have a big effect on the child’s
development. (Grossmann and Grossmann,
1991)
More Evaluation - An Alternative
Explanation
• A key feature of Bowlby’s theory is the continuity
hypothesis – the idea that there are continuities between
early attachment and later social/emotional
development. However Kagan, 1984 proposed the
Temperament Hypothesis, in which he proposed that
we are all born with our distinct, innate temperament,
and it is this that is the big factor in determining our
attachment style and our subsequent emotional and
social development. In other words, to some extent, our
development is pre-determined by our genetic makeup.
And there is evidence to support this------
More Evaluation of Bowlby’s theory
Weaknesses
•  The idea that attachment behaviours have
evolved to promote child development has good
face validity. But evolutionary ideas are very
difficult to test and so difficult to prove or
disprove.
•  Bowlby’s theory focuses on the role of the
mother. There is evidence that in two-parent
families, the quality of attachment of the father
can also have a big effect on the child’s
development. (Grossmann and Grossmann,
1991)
More Evaluation - An Alternative
Explanation
• A key feature of Bowlby’s theory is the continuity
hypothesis – the idea that there are continuities between
early attachment and later social/emotional
development. However Kagan, 1984 proposed the
Temperament Hypothesis, in which he proposed that
we are all born with our distinct, innate temperament,
and it is this that is the big factor in determining our
attachment style and our subsequent emotional and
social development. In other words, to some extent, our
development is pre-determined by our genetic makeup.
And there is Research Evidence to support this------
Belsky and Rovine 1987
• Assessed babies aged one to three days
old and found a link between certain
psychological behaviours and later
attachment types. They found that
infants who were calmer and less anxious
were more likely to be securely attached.
Name and date the procedure
which aimed to test the nature
of attachment systematically.
The Strange Situation – Which is
Ainsworth and Wittig 1969
• Laboratory Procedure using
• Observation Techniques
• Designed to measure the security of
attachment a child displays towards its main
care giver
• What is being assessed?
• Secure base behaviour, proximity seeking,
separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, response
on being reunited with care giver.
What is the Procedure of the
Strange Situation
The Strange Situation –it gets its name from the fact
that the baby is placed in an unfamiliar – that is, a
strange room
Stage
Situation
1.
The child and carer are placed in an empty room.
2.
The child is free to explore-encouraged if necessary
Proximity-seeking and
secure base behaviour
3.
A stranger enters, greets the carer and attempts to
play with the child
Stranger Anxiety
4.
The carer leaves the child with the stranger
Stranger anxiety +
Separation distress
5.
The carer re-enters and the stranger leaves
Reuniting response
6.
The carer leaves the child alone
Separation distress
7.
The stranger re-enters
Stranger Anxiety
8.
The stranger leaves and carer re-enters
Reuniting response
Designed to
measure
What were the findings of the
Strange Situation
Behaviours displayed by infants in The
Strange Situation (Ainsworth et al 1978)
Secure
attachment
(Type B)
Insecure
Avoidant
(Type A)
Insecure
Resistant(Ambivalent)
(Type C)
Insecure Avoidant/
Resistant.
“Disorganised”
Willingness to
explore
HIGH
HIGH
LOW
Alternate
between A & C
Stranger
Anxiety
HIGH
LOW
HIGH
Often prefer
strangers’ company
Separation
Anxiety
Reasonably
easy to soothe
INDIFFERENT
DISTRESSED
Alternate
Between A & C
Behaviour at reUnion with carer
ENTHUSIASTIC
AVOIDS
CONTACT
SEEKS AND
REJECTS
Often afraid of
carer
% of infants in
this category
66%
22%
12%
Minority of
Infants display
(Type D)
this disorganised
behaviour
How did Mary Ainsworth
account for the
Variations in attachment
types?
Explaining Attachment Types
• Mary Ainsworth believed variation in
attachment types is a result of the main
carer’s behaviour towards the child.
Maternal Sensitivity Hypothesis
• High levels of maternal sensitive responsiveness =
Secure attachment
• Mothers who “pick up” signals and respond =
Secure attachment
What is Secure Attachment?
What did Ainsworth believe caused
it?
Secure Attachment
• This is a strong and contented attachment
of an infant to its caregiver, which
develops as a result of sensitive
responding by the caregiver to the
infant’s needs. Securely attached infants
are comfortable with social interaction
and intimacy. Secure attachment is
related to healthy subsequent cognitive
and emotional development.
What is Insecure Attachment?
What causes it? What can it lead
to?
What is the difference in the various
insecure attachment types?
What is Insecure Attachment?
• Insecure attachment – This is a form of attachment
between infant and caregiver that develops as a result of
the caregiver’s lack of sensitive responding to the infant’s
needs. It may be associated with poor subsequent
cognitive and emotional development.
• Insecure Avoidant Type A– children who avoid social
interaction and intimacy with others.
• Insecure Resistant Type C – Children who both seek and
reject intimacy and social interaction.
• Insecure Disorganised Type D– Children whose
behaviour patterns are inconsistent and a mix of types A &
C.
What Research Methods
Were Used?
Research Methods used
• The research room was a novel environment
• A 9 X 9 foot square marked off in to 16 squares to help
the recording of the infant’s movements
• Research methods used were Laboratory procedure
using covert and controlled observation
• Using covert observation (One-way mirrors were used to
prevent participants being aware they were being
observed). Knowing your behaviour is being observed is
likely to alter it.
• It used Controlled observation because it involved structuring the
behaviour of the participants as well as the observers –the
participants had to follow 8 episodes and the observers had a
checklist of 5 behaviours that they had to rate every 15 seconds.
Give 2 Criticisms of the
Strange Situation
1. Is it Valid?
• Validity – means are we measuring what we meant to
measure. This lab procedure intended to measure the
attachment types of children. Did it? A criticism is that
it only measured the strength of one particular
relationship, and this wasn’t necessarily with the main
carer.
• Others say this doesn’t matter, since Bowlby said the
relationship with the main carer becomes internalised
and is reflected in all other relationships-so if the child
appeared insecurely attached, even if the main carer
wasn’t present during the Strange Situation, the
attachment type given to the child is a reflection of what
is happening at home with the main carer.
2. Is it Ethical?
• The intention of the Strange Situation was
to cause mild distress. Is this acceptable?
Ainsworth claimed that the whole procedure
was not intended to be any more disturbing
than ordinary life experiences, yet in
episode 6 (The carer leaves the child alone)
20% of infants reportedly “cried
desperately”.
What did Prior and Glaser (2006) find
between attachment types and later
childhood development?
• Secure attachment is associated with positive
outcomes such as less emotional dependence and
higher achievement and interpersonal harmony.
• Avoidant attachment is related to later
aggressiveness, and generally negative emotional
behaviours.
• Resistant attachment is associated with greater
anxiety and withdrawn behaviour.
• Disorganised attachment is related to hostile and
aggressive behaviour.
And what did Hazen and Shaver
1987 find about Adult Romantic
Relationships in their
Newspaper Love Quiz?
Love Quiz Findings
Attachment
type
Secure adults
Insecureavoidant adults
Insecureresistant adults
Current love
experiences
Relationships
Are
Positive
Fearful of
closeness
Preoccupied
by love
Attitudes
towards love
Trust others
Love is not
and believe in lasting nor
enduring love necessary for
happiness
Fall in love
easily but
have trouble
finding true
love
Name and date the Research that
aimed to study
Cross-Cultural Attachments
What were the Aims and
Procedure?
Cross-cultural patterns of attachment –
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg,
1988
• Aim – To investigate global attachment
patterns
• Procedure - This was a meta-analysis (the
data from 32 Strange Situation studies from
eight countries was collated and analysed)
What were
The Findings?
Findings
In all countries, secure attachment was the most common –but…….!!!!!!!!!!!
Secure Attachment (Type B) -Most common in all cultures. The
The Lowest proportion was in China (50%)
The Highest (approx 75%) –GB & Sweden.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avoidant Attachment (Type A) More common in W. Germany
than other western countries.
Very rare in Israel and Japan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resistant Attachment (Type C) - Common in Israel, China &
Japan.
Lowest proportion was in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden
What Conclusions
Can be drawn?
Conclusions
• Globally, secure attachment was the most common
and we could conclude, the “best” for healthy
social and emotional development.
• The variation in percentages, particularly between
types A and C suggest that child-rearing practices in
different countries may affect the attachment of
babies -------and/or
• It may be that the Strange Situation does not work
well in all cultures.
Give a Criticism of the
Cross-cultural Strange Situation
Big Criticism: Is the Strange
Situation Culturally Biased?
• The Strange Situation was developed in the
U.S, an individualist country.
• But in Japan for example, which is a collectivist
country, the cultural norm is for mothers and
babies to rarely be separated, which means we
might expect to see high levels of separation
anxiety and might explain the high % of Type C
in the SS. Many of the differences in the crosscultural SS concern collectivist countries.
More on Culture Bias
• Rothbaum et al 2000 said that attachment theory and
research is not relevant to other cultures because it is
so rooted in American culture. Why did they say
this? Here are two examples.
• 1. The Continuity Hypothesis (Ainsworth said that
those infants who are securely attached grow up to
be socially and emotionally competent adults)people who are independent and able to express
their emotions. BUT!! ….. In Japan being a
socially and emotionally competent adult means
being group orientated and someone who is able to
inhibit (not show) their feelings.
We must be so careful when
interpreting data!!
• What we call “avoidant” behaviour in the
UK and USA, might well be called
“independent” in Germany, an
individualist country, but where
independence is very highly valued. And
just look at the graph and you will see that
there are a higher proportion of type “As”
in Germany.
So why are there such crosscultural similarities?
• Van Ijzendoom and Kroonenberg sugest that
the apparent cultural similarities they found
might be explained by the effects of the mass
media, with TV and internet, which spreads
ideas about parenting so that children all over
the world are exposed to similar influences.
• This means that the cultural similarities may
not be due to innate biological influences but
are because of our increasingly global culture.
Methodological Issues (can also be used
for evaluation)
• 1. Meta-analysis (the results of 32 S.S studies were
analysed)
• 2. Substantial study and large sample size (over
2000 babies)
• 3. But half of the 32 studies studied were carried
out in the US, reflecting the dominance of US in
psychology studies.
• 27 were carried out in individualistic cultures
• Only 5 in collectivist cultures, implying that the
sample was not truly representative.
More Methodological Issues
• 4. Ainsworth’s Strange Situation was developed in
the US so we can only make valid interpretations
in cross-cultural studies if we really understand the
attitudes to child-rearing in that culture.
• 5. Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg found that the
variation within cultures in attachment was oneand-a-half times greater than between cultures.
This shows clearly that it is a mistake to assume that
all children are brought up in exactly the same way
in a particular country or culture.
What does all this mean?
• When looking at attachment behaviours crossculturally, some might question Bowlby and
Ainsworth’s view, that attachment is a universal
factor in human development. However, whilst
there are differences, and to some extent,
attachment theory is culture-bound, the
impressive fact is that in in all 8 countries
involved in the meta-analysis of the Strange
Situation, secure attachment was the most
common, by far, and we could conclude, the
“best” for healthy social and emotional
development.
• Certainly research has shown that secure
attachment is associated with good psychiatric
health in adulthood.
What is Disruption of the
Attachment Bond?
Disruption of the Attachment
Bond
• Deprivation - temporary or
permanent disruption of the attachment
bond.
• This means there was an attachment to
start with but it’s been broken in some
way, perhaps due to hospitalisation or
death of the mother.
Identify some effects that
disruption of attachment has on
A child’s social and emotional
development
Provide Research support
Effects of Disruption.
• Robertson and Robertson observed John and Laura
sufferering when they experienced physical disruption
with no substitute emotional care. But Jane, Thomas,
Lucy and Kate coped well when given substitute
emotional care at the Robertson’s home .
• Spitz and Wolf 1946, observed that 100 “normal”
children placed in an institution became severely
depressed within a few months.
• Skeels and Dye 1939, found that the intellectual deficits
of the institutionalised children recovered when they
were transferred to a home for mentally retarded adults
and given lots of T.L.C.
Evaluate the
Robertson Research
Evaluation of the Robertson
Research
• 1.  High validity – films were made of
John and Laura. These were naturalistic
observations in a realistic setting.
• 2.  Low validity – The conclusions were
based on case studies of only a few
children, who may not have been typical of
the majority of children.
So what factors effects whether
A child will recover from
Disruption?
Bowlby concluded..
• Children cope better and recover better
from disruption if they were securely
attached to start with.
• Bowlby 1956 – 60 children under the age of
4 who had TB
• They were put in a hospital, no substitute
emotional care was given.
• When assessed in adolescence. 63% were
maladjusted, leaving 37% who were not.
So What is
Privation?
Privation
• Privation – when there was
never any attachment bond to
begin with.
• This can be due to extreme abuse
or Institutional care, or in rare
cases, children kept in total
isolation.
Can you describe some real-life
cases?
• Genie and the Czech twins, handout N0. 8
• AlSO it is essential to revise The Affects of
Privation, Hodges and Tizard, 1989 also
Handout No. 8
What do most of the studies on
Privation
Show?
The Findings suggest..
• The findings suggest that early privation
had a negative effect on the ability to form
relationships even when children were
given good subsequent care.
• This supports Bowlby’s view that the failure
to form attachments during the sensitive
period has an irreversible effect on
emotional development.
What are some of the effects of
Privation and
Institutionalisation?
The Effects are….
• Attachment Disorder – There are two types:
• Reactive or inhibited – when the child is unable to
cope in most social situations
• Disinhibited - Over-friendly and attention seeking to
people the child hardly knows.
• Deprivation Dwarfism – Gardner 1972, suggests
emotional disturbance may effect the production of
growth hormones which may explain why children in
institutional care tend to be physically small.
The research suggests that some
Children are able to
recover from privation.
How come?
Evaluation
• Some research suggests that children who do
not form an attachment within the sensitive
period are unable to recover.
• But this is not true of all children. How come?
• One reason is because we really don’t know
enough about the children in the studies. For
example in the Hodges and Tizard study -Why
were some adopted and others not? Could it be
that some were easier children to start with –
that’s why they were chosen for adoption, so of
course, their outcomes were better!
1.Why are we interested in day
care?
2. What is Day care?
Day Care is • A form of temporary care (not all day and not
all night) that is not provided by family
members and takes place outside of the home.
• Why are we interested in day care?
• Because day care involves the very thing
psychologists are interested in – disruption of
the attachment bond with the primary carer
which may affect the child’s social and
emotional development.
What do we mean by
Social Development?
Social Development
• The development of sociability,
learning to relate to others and
acquiring appropriate
knowledge & skills of how to
integrate socially.
You may be asked for research
evidence on social development
and aggression in children
In Day Care.
Here it is.
Research on the impact of Day Care
• Negative effects on social development    
• Bowlby said prolonged separation from mother figure could cause
long-term maladjustment. Many studies of day care have
supported this.
• Violata & Russell, 1994 did a meta-analysis of the findings of 88
studies of day care and concluded that regular day care of more
than 20 hours p/w had a negative effect on the social and emotional
development of young children.
• Increased Aggressiveness (NICHD 2003) 

• The NICHD in America started a longitudinal study in 1991, using
1000 children from mixed backgrounds and locations. Assessed
aged 5, the data found that, irrespective of quality, the more time
spent in day care, the more aggressive and disobedient they were
deemed to be by adults. Belsky, 2007 looked at the same children
at the end of primary school education, and still found these
children more aggressive than children who hadn’t been in day
care.
On the other hand…
• This same NICHD study found that a mother’s
sensitivity to her child is a better indicator of
whether a child had behavioural problems, than
was time in child care. Sensitive mothering was
linked to fewer problem behaviours. Higher
maternal education and family income also
predicted lower levels of problem behaviours.
So this same data suggests that children’s
development is more strongly affected by factors
at home, than by day care.
Peer Relationships   
• Bowlby’s theory of attachment and his
Continuity Hypothesis predicts better peer
relationships for securely attached children.
There is evidence that children in day care are
less securely attached. Belsky & Rovine, 1988,
assessed infants in day care for more than 20
hours p/w using the Strange Situation. They
found these children were more likely to be
insecurely attached than children at home. We
could hypothesise that their peer relationships
would also suffer too.
On the other hand…  
• Day care allows children to develop social strategies,
such as the ability to negotiate and make friends. Field,
1991, found the amount of time in full-time day care
was positively correlated to the number of friends the
children had once they were at school.
• However we can’t assume that experiences in day care
cause later sociability - there is a link; it could be that
shy and unsociable children have mothers who are like
that too (temperament is inherited) and these mothers
prefer to stay at home to care for their children. The
outgoing mothers send their outgoing children to day
care, which explains why they’re more sociable.
Mediating Factors
• A mediating factor is something that connects two other
things, in this case it is intervening between the effects
of day care and social development.
• Quality of care - A NICHD study (1997) reported that
low-quality day care was associated with poor social
development.
• Individual Differences – The above NICHD study
found that insecurely attached children did less well in
day care. On the other hand, Egeland & Hiester, 1995,
found that insecurely attached children did best in day
care and it was the securely attached ones who became
aggressive. This might be due to the fact that the
insecurely attached children needed the care and
attention that they weren’t getting at home.
More Mediating Factors
• Child’s age and number of hours
• Gregg et al, 2005, found that the negative effects
of day care were more likely to be found in
children placed in day care before they were 18
months old. On the other hand, Clarke-Stewart
et al, 1994, found no difference in attachment
between spending a lot of time in day care (30
hours or more a week from 3 months of age).
Implications of research into
attachment and day care
• Now we must look at how research translates into the
practical issues of childcare provision in the UK. What advice
can be given to governments and to parents?
• Attachment Research
• In previous handouts we discovered that James and Joyce
Robertson (remember little John and Laura in hospital?) found
that the negative effects of emotional disruption could be avoided
if substitute emotional care was provided. This entailed specific
adults spending time with the children and responding to their
needs in a sensitive way in the same way that a primary care
giver would. The characteristics of quality day care do just
that and psychologists have identified the following key
characteristics needed for high-quality day care.
Characteristics of high-quality day care
• 1. Low child-to-staff ratio – NICHD study 1999,
identified this was absolutely necessary for high-quality
care.
• 2. Minimal staff turnover – Schaffer, 1998, identified
consistency of care as one of the most important factors in
high-quality care.
• 3. Sensitive emotional care – The NICHD study found
that 23% of infant-care providers give highly sensitive
care, 50% give moderately sensitive care and 20% are
emotionally detached from the infants in their care.
• 4. Qualified Staff – Sylva et al 2003, reported that the
higher the qualifications of the staff, the better the
outcome for the children in terms of their social
development.
What are the most important
factors to consider
When looking at Day Care?
The most important factors in day care with regard to the
welfare of children are:
• 1. QUALITY of the day care Research indicates positive effects for good
quality day care but negative effects for poor quality care. Quality
encompasses having sufficient stimulation, such as toys, sufficient and verbal
interactions between staff and children and sensitive emotional care to
provide a substitute for the break in the mother-child relationship. A rapid
turnover of staff can have a profound effect
• 2. CHILD-TO-STAFF RATIO This affects results tremendously as it
determines how much attention each child gets.
• 3. AGE of the children in care. Research indicates day care can be
detrimental to very young babies.
• 4. NUMBER OF HOURS the child is in care This has a big effect on
whether the bond with the primary care giver is disrupted.
• 5. The strength of the bond between each child and its primary care giver is
very important. Securely attached children are less likely to be affected by
the separation that day care entails. (The Strange Situation study)