Attachment and Parenting Styles Infant Signals

- Crying, smiling, reaching, clinging, bicycling with legs, looking at caregiver

- Babies don’t know the difference between a want and a need

- Babies could get addicted in 6 weeks to something an adult could get addicted to in 6 months What is Attachment?

• Bonding- Biological Reaction which happens during intrauterine life

• Attachment-helplessness and need followed by rescue and love from consistent caretaker

This is the Madonna and Child (aka The Virgin Mary and Child Jesus). I’ve been watching a lot of The Borgias and playing a lot of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Both take place in Renaissance Italy, when much Catholic religious art was being created. However, for historical accuracy, this image was likely created much after the Renaissance pieces… Renaissance Jesus was usually ugly… Don’t @ me. Attachment Theory

- A psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory concerning relationships between humans. - Most important tenet is that young children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal social and emotional development. - Formulated by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby. Attachment Theories: Maternal Deprivation

- Harry Harlow (1905-1981): an American psychologist best known for his Surrogate Mother Experiment (1950’s) on maternal-separation, dependency needs, and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which manifested the importance of caregiving and companionship to social and cognitive development. - Harlow's experiments were controversial (could NOT be done today!!) - included creating inanimate surrogate mothers for the rhesus infants from wire and wool Overview of Harlow’s Attachment and Contact Comfort Experiment

URL if using PDF: https://you tu.be/OrN BEhzjg8I Harlow’s Surrogate Mother Experiments: Findings

- Monkeys preferred contact with the comfortable cloth mother, even while feeding from the nourishing wire mother - Monkeys raised by artificial mothers were terror-stricken when placed in strange situations without their surrogate mothers.

- Harlow concluded that the findings he documented could be used to explain attachment in human infants • Konrad Lorenz (1937): investigated the mechanisms of imprinting, where some species of animals form an attachment to the first large moving object that they meet.

Attachment • This process suggests that attachment Theories: is innate and programmed genetically.

Imprinting • Involved:

• Critical Period

– Do humans have critical periods?

– Do Children Imprint? Attachment Theories: Imprinting

▪ Critical Period

▪ an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

▪ Imprinting

▪ the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life 3 Elements of Attachment

• Body Contact- Harlow’s experiments with Monkey’s. Still true as adults

• Familiarity- Imprinting (humans do not imprint, but we have a preference for people places we know

• Responsiveness- Parenting Styles Types of Attachment: Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Mary Ainsworth (1931-1999): an American-Canadian developmental psychologist known for her work in the development of the attachment theory.

- designed the strange situation procedure to observe early emotional attachment between a child and its primary caregiver.

Video of her “Strange Situation” experiment

URL: https://youtu.be/QTsewNrHUHU Types of Attachment Identified by Ainsworth et al.

3 Types:

1. Secure (Type B) 2. Insecure Avoidant (Type A) 3. Anxious/Ambivalent/ Resistant (Type C) Secure Resistant Avoidant

Separation Anxiety Distressed when mother leaves Intense distress when the No sign of distress when the

mother leaves the mother leaves

Stranger Anxiety Avoidant of stranger when The infant avoids the stranger - The infant is okay with the

alone, but friendly when the shows fear of the stranger stranger and plays normally

mother is present when the stranger is present

Reunion Behaviour Positive and happy when The infant approaches the The Infant shows little interest

mother returns mother, but resists contact, when the mother returns

may even push her away

Other Uses the mother as a safe base The infant cries more and The mother and stranger are

to explore their environment explores less than the other two able to comfort the infant

types equally well

% of infants 70% 15% 15% Attachment Cycles of Secure and Insecure Infants URL: https://youtu.be/dtAyPy1OZCw Deprivation of Attachment

• Romanian Orphanages-emotional scars • Most abusive parents report also being abused (although not all abused become abusive) • Criminal Behavior-only 2 of the 14 waiting execution for criminal behavior did not have histories of brutal physical abuse • Leaves physical scars on the brain

URL: https://youtu.be/VCeWr8OFuEs Signs and Symptoms of

Attachment Disorder

Mild Severe

• Inappropriately demanding • Indiscriminately or clinging affectionate with • Poor impulse control strangers • Superficially engaging, and • Destruction of self, others, charming child things • Has abnormal speech • Infantile Rage patterns • Cruel to animals, siblings • Experiences developmental • Stealing or lying lags • Lacks a conscience • Poor Eye Contact • Lacks cause and effect • Food Issues thinking • Touch Issues • Control battles • Poor peer relationships • Has a preoccupation with fire, blood or gore Does Daycare Affect Attachment?

• Depends on Quality of Daycare; high quality daycare will probably not produce risks for attachment.

• Children need consistent, warm relationship with people whom they can learn to trust.

• Studies reveal slighter higher thinking and language skills, but also increased rate of aggression and defiance. Parenting Styles - Parenting Style: a psychological construct representing standard strategies that parents use in their child rearing. - The quality of parenting can be more essential than the quantity of time spent with the child. - Four Types: - Authoritarian - Permissive - Authoritative - Uninvolved/Neglectful

YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW ALL THE DETAILS! JUST THE GENERAL TRENDS! Take A Parenting Take one of the quizzes below to determine Style Quiz! what type of parent you could become! PsychCentral

- Parenting Style Quiz - Shorter; not as detailed - URL (if using pdf): https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/pare nting-style-quiz/

Psychology Today

- Parenting Style Test - Longer; more detailed - URL (if using pdf): https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/t ests/personality/parenting-style-test Parenting Styles: Authoritarian

Parents: Children of authoritarian parents: - Believe kids should follow the - tend to follow rules much of the rules without exception. time. But, their obedience comes - Say "Because I said so," when a at a price: child questions the reasons - are at a higher risk of behind a rule; are not interested developing self-esteem in negotiating; focus is on problems because their obedience. opinions aren't valued - Use punishments instead of - may also become hostile or discipline. aggressive. - rather than teach a child how to make - may grow to become good better choices, invested in making liars in an effort to avoid kids feel sorry for their mistakes. punishment. Parenting Styles: Authoritarian

URL: https://youtu.be/PPKt8tzKNy0 URL: https://youtu.be/jLciIzfsTaQ Parenting Styles: Permissive

Parents: Kids: - Lenient - often only step in when there's a - more likely to struggle serious problem academically. - forgiving; "kids will be kids." - may exhibit more behavioral - When consequences used, may not problems as they don't appreciate make those consequences stick. authority and rules. - Ex: privileges back quickly, - often have low self-esteem and time-out time “reduced” may report a lot of sadness. prematurely - Higher risk of health problems: - usually take on more of a friend role - obesity, dental cavities, drug than a parent role abuse - will encourage kid to talk about problems, but don’t discourage bad behavior or choices Parenting Styles: Permissive

URL: https://yout u.be/vCPB WUqfIBo Parenting Styles: Authoritative

Authoritative parents: Children of authoritative parents: - have rules and use consequences, but - tend to be happy and successful. also take their children's opinions - more likely to be good at making into account. decisions and evaluating safety - validate their children's feelings, risks on their own. while also making it clear that the - Least likely to report self-esteem adults are ultimately in charge. issues in adolescence and adulthood - invest time and energy into - Researchers have found kids who preventing behavior problems before have authoritative parents are they start. most likely to become responsible - use positive discipline strategies to adults who feel comfortable reinforce good behavior, like praise expressing their opinions.. and reward systems. Parenting Styles: Authoritative

URL: https://youtu.be/0Ru69U_kqGw URL: https://youtu.be/sGg3SOgQN74 Parenting Styles: Uninvolved/Neglectful

Uninvolved parents: Children of uninvolved parents are - tend to have little knowledge of what their children are doing. - likely to struggle with self-esteem - tend to be few rules. issues. - Children may not receive much - They tend to perform poorly in guidance, nurturing, and parental school. attention. - They also exhibit frequent behavior - expect children to raise themselves. - no/little time or energy spent meeting problems and rank low in happiness. child’s basic needs - neglectful but it's not always intentional. - Parent could have mental health issues (i.e. substance abuse) - at times, lack knowledge about child development. - sometimes, simply overwhelmed with other problems like work, paying bills, and managing a household. Parenting Styles: Uninvolved/Neglectful

URL: https://youtu.be/6gobZu44f1k URL: https://youtu.be/lcKZQkPj2r0