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Types of attachment

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Icons key: For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation

Teacher’s notes (in Notes Page) Accompanying worksheetFlash activity (not editable)

Extension activity Sound VideoWeb links22

By the end of this section students will be able to:

Identify stages in the development of attachment

Identify and explain different types of attachment and the characteristics associated with them

Identify and explain cross-cultural differences in attachment

Evaluate research on cross-cultural differences in attachment

Learning objectives

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Bowlby (1969) argues that early attachment relationships influence emotional development by

providing an internal working model for relationships. This acts as a template for relationships the

child will have in the future.

Development of attachment

Schaffer (1993) described it as“A close emotional relationship

between two persons, characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity (closeness).”

Which individual do you think an infant is most likely to form its first attachment to?

Attachment is a close reciprocal emotional bond

between two people.

The earliest attachments occur between an infant and his/her caregivers, and this has a special role to play in development.

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Development of attachment

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In small groups, discuss these questions about phases in the development of attachment.

Do you expect that all babies will move from phase to phase at the same age? Give your reasons.

Is it inevitable that the strongest attachment will always be with the mother? Give your reasons.

Do you think that every baby develops the same type of attachment to its mother? Give your reasons.

Discussion: development of attachment

When you have finished, feedback to the rest of the class. Did you have the same ideas?

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The Strange Situation

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Attachment types

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The Strange Situation

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Attachment types

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Class vote

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Can you think of any more strengths or weaknesses?

Evaluation of the Strange Situation

The reliability of the Strange Situation experiment is supported by a study carried out by Wartner et al (1994), which found that 78% of children were classified as having the same attachment type at the ages of one and six.

There are problems with the validity of the Strange Situation, because it can be argued that it only measures specific relationships, not general characteristics. Lamb (1977) found that an infant may be classified as securely attached with their mother, yet be classified as avoidant with their father.There are ethical issues with the procedure because it purposefully causes infant distress.

+ Strengths - Weaknesses

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Cross-cultural variation in attachment

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Cross-cultural variation in attachment

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Class discussion

In groups, consider the following questions regarding the Strange Situation and Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s meta-analysis:

Which countries’ studies are most different from the findings of Ainsworth et al?Are the countries studied representative of the world’s cultures? Give reasons for your answer.What influence do you think the child rearing practices in different countries might have had on the findings from cross-cultural studies?How appropriate do you think it is to use the strange situation for assessing attachment outside the USA?