Early Socialisation

Sociability and Attachment

Cara Flanagan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• eBook ISBN: 9781134663637
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Early Socialisation looks at sociability and attachment and how they relate to emotional and cognitive development. Topics covered include: bonding, attachment, deprivation, separation and privation, as well as enrichment. Social and cultural variations are considered, and theories of attachment and loss are described and evaluated.

1
Introduction

The focus of this book is on how you came to be who you are. It deals with the way in which early childhood experiences shape a person’s psychological nature. A key part of your personality is your emotional self, and this aspect of self has a critical influence on all other aspects of development. An unhappy child finds it difficult to focus on learning because emotional tension interferes with his/her ability to process information systematically. An insecure child doesn’t want to wander away from the home environment and explore the world. Therefore, one of the first ‘tasks’ for the infant is to find an emotional starting place, a secure base, and to begin his or her emotional development.

The infant’s early social experiences are the means by which it develops emotionally. Infants are generally sociable—they like people and want to interact with them. Some of these social relationships are special. That is to say, people form special bonds with certain others. For example, the infant is likely to form a special bond or attachment with its caregiver(s). Attachments provide security and this enables the infant to explore the world around him or her.

The study of early sociability and attachment is not carried out just for understanding the developmental process. It also enables us to advise people who care for young children about how to improve early experiences.

Some early views of childhood

The attitudes that we, in Britain, hold about how young children should be treated have changed remarkably in the last 100 years. Consider the following advice given to parents in a book on childcare, ‘Never hug and kiss [your children], never let them sit on your lap. If you must, kiss them on the forehead when they say goodnight’ (Watson, 1928). Such advice would not appear today.

Our attitudes are the product of our history and our culture. In the ancient past, children were treated very differently in this country and elsewhere. For instance, to take an extreme example, in Sparta around the ninth century boys aged 7 were removed from their homes and raised in public barracks. This undoubtedly was an important factor in turning them into the warriors who were vital to the Spartan nation. So we can see that childrearing methods were, and are, related to a culture’s view of what is desirable in adulthood.

Philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries helped to change Western views of childhood. One ‘school’ of thought was that children are born inherently selfish and their base instincts had to be controlled by society. In other words, they had to be socialised into caring adults. In contrast, Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, claimed that we are born with an innate sense of right and wrong. We should respect the inherent goodness of children and give them the freedom to develop naturally. Each of these views had important effects on the way children were, and continue to be, treated and educated.

The beginnings of childhood

Throughout history adults have recognised childhood as a distinct and important period of development. In fact until recently it was regarded as the only period of development! More recently psychologists have begun to talk about ‘lifespan development’ and to describe how adults continue to ‘grow’, psychologically speaking. This book, however, will focus mainly on emotional development during childhood.

In the past, children were generally expected to take on many adult responsibilities. They went to work and/or helped at home. Very few were educated or, if they were, this was an outside-of-hours activity. Compulsory schooling first appeared as recently as the second half of the nineteenth century. Around the same time the first case of child abuse was brought to court, signalling a recognition that children were not simply their parents’ possessions but individuals with their own rights. The actual case concerned a child called Mary Ellen, who lived in New York. Her neighbours objected to the way she was being treated by her parents and used the only laws available at the time— which protected animals from abuse—to argue that the child was a member of the animal kingdom and deserved the court’s protection as much as any non-human animal.

This century

The next phase in our changing views was to look at the effects that deprivation might have on the developing child, particularly in terms of emotional development. Freud had introduced the idea that early experiences may well have lasting consequences especially in terms of adult maladjustment.

The maternal deprivation hypothesis

Around the time of the Second World War a variety of psychologists published research about the effects of separation and deprivation— could it be that early separation between parents and children leads to lasting emotional disturbance? Spitz and Wolf (1946) studied 100 infants who had been separated from their mothers, and found that the infants did become severely depressed. Skeels and Dye (1939) and later Skodak and Skeels (1945, 1949) observed the negative effects of emotional deprivation. They found that children in orphanages suffered impaired intellectual development but that this could be avoided if they were given increased adult attention, by being moved from the orphanage to a home for mentally retarded adults. In other words, these studies showed that children will suffer lasting consequences if deprived of care and attention during their early years.

Spitz and Wolf used the term anaclitic depression to describe the maladjustment associated with prolonged separation. Bowlby called it affectionless psychopathy, a lack of ability to experience affection or emotion. John Bowlby was the author of the most influential theories of the effects of emotional deprivation (the maternal deprivation hypothesis and his attachment theory). He conducted his own research (Bowlby, 1946) using data collected in a Child Guidance Clinic. He found that those children who experienced early and prolonged separations from their caregiver were more likely to become delinquents (lacking empathy for others) whereas other child patients, who had not experienced early separations, were ‘just’ emotionally disturbed rather than being without emotion (affectionless).

These were revolutionary concepts at the time. They suggested that maternal deprivation was a cause of mental illness and cognitive impairment. In 1953, the World Health Organisation commissioned John Bowlby to write a report, which was entitled Maternal care and child health. He subsequently summed his hypothesis up in a famous quote: ‘prolonged deprivation of a young child of maternal care may have grave and far reaching effects on his character…similar in form …to deprivation of vitamin(s) in infancy’ (Bowlby, 1953).

Evaluation

Some people might say that these studies were conducted a long time ago and the methodology used is open to question. For example, we cannot be sure that all of the observed ill-effects were due to separations or that institutional effects were due to psychological rather than physical deprivation.

Another way to assess the value of this research is to consider the positive effects it had. First of all, Bowlby’s theory has generated a considerable body of empirical work, such as studies by Mary Ainsworth (who originally worked with Bowlby), and a longitudinal study of Scottish infants by Schaffer and Emerson (which contributed to later modifications of Bowlby’s theory). This research is examined in later chapters of this book.

Bowlby’s work also had important political effects. He said that bad homes were better than good institutions and felt that some case workers ‘live in the sentimental glamour of saving neglected children from wicked parents’ (Bowlby et al., 1952). Such sentiments helped turn the tide against institutional care for children.

Bowlby’s work was also used to argue that the absence of mothers led to disturbed children, a point which had important implications for child care. If mothers must be present to ensure the happiness of their children then mothers should stay at home and not work. Such a policy may well have suited the government of the day because women had worked during the war but now men needed their jobs and this was a way to get women to stay at home. Some psychologists, such as Rodman (1987), felt quite cynical about this and warned Bowlby that his views were being misused by politicians.

Imprinting and bonding

Research using non-human animals was fundamental in the later development of Bowlby’s theory. Two key figures are Konrad Lorenz, an ethologist who studied geese, and Harry Harlow who studied rhesus monkeys.

Lorenz suggested that goslings were innately programmed to imprint on the first moving object they saw on hatching. This imprint (or lasting impression) created a bond between hatchling and caregiver which was important for survival and future reproduction. It occurs most easily in a sensitive period after hatching.

Harlow’s work demonstrated that infant monkeys who were deprived of interactive physical contact suffered severe permanent consequences such as being unable to form successful reproductive relationships in adulthood. The image of Harlow’s isolated, frightened monkeys clinging to cloth-covered models conveys a powerful message about the need for early bonding. (See Figure 3.2 on p. 32.)

Imprinting, bonding and attachment

The distinctions between imprinting, bonding and attachment are not easy to make and sometimes the terms are used rather interchangeably. Reber (1995) defines bonding as:

The forming of a relationship…specifically between the mother and her newborn. Some use the term as a synonym for attachment; others distinguish it as a separate process that occurs during the first few hours after the birth of the infant.

Reber defines attachment as ‘an emotional tie’. Harlow talks about both bonding and attachment bonds in relation to his work on monkeys. Imprinting is generally accepted to be a specialised form of learning which takes place rapidly during early development but

whether or not mammals show imprinting is contentious. Lambs and young goats (kids) appear to imprint, and Bowlby’s theory of attachment in human young certainly drew heavily on ideas from imprinting theory and research.

(Cardwell, 1996)

My suggestion is to use the term imprinting when considering precocial animals, that is those animals who are mobile from birth such as geese; to use the term ‘bonding’ to describe some non-human animal relationships or the tie between very young infants and their caregivers; and to reserve the term ‘attachment’ for the emotional bonds which develop rather more slowly in higher mammals and older infants.

Each of these concepts (imprinting, bonding and attachment) will be discussed in separate chapters of this book.

Bowlby’s theory of attachment

Bowlby’s original theory was one of maternal deprivation, influenced by his training in Freudian psychoanalysis. It has been suggested that there are parallels between Bowlby’s concept of maternal deprivation and Freud’s concept of oral deprivation; both lead to predictable negative outcomes in adulthood.

In the light of empirical research on imprinting and bonding described above, Bowlby reshaped his theory into one with a more ethological perspective. The key characteristic of ethology is a focus on observing the whole organism in the context of its interaction with other animals and its environment. It is a science of observation and an analysis of the function of particular behaviours. Ethologists look at the effects of behaviours, in particular at the extent to which the behaviour makes the individual and species better adapted to its environment. Adaptiveness is an evolutionary concept which describes behaviour in terms of its survival value and states that any behaviour which increases survival (and future reproduction) is adaptive. The implications of this concept are that we are more likely to observe adaptive behaviours than non-adaptive ones. This is because individuals who have the latter characteristics are less likely to reproduce and so their characteristics die out!

In this book I have dealt with the theory of attachment by looking at the empirical evidence first, in Chapters 3 to 6, and then reviewing and assessing the whole theory in the light of this evidence.

Sociability

Before even looking at the evidence related to deprivation and attachment, we need to consider sociability. You may ask ‘Why’? Bowlby argued that attachment is adaptive and innate. The basis of this innate predisposition is found in the infant’s ‘pre-programming’ to respond to social situations and to elicit caregiving. Adults are similarly ‘programmed’ to respond. These innate behaviours, or innate sociability, lead to the formation of mutual attachments which maintain proximity and promote survival. The next chapter looks at research on sociability.

Cross-cultural research

We began this first chapter by looking at how attitudes towards children have varied over time and culture. Our concept that attachment is vital to healthy development is not shared by all cultures. There have been many studies looking at attachment and emotional development in other cultures, and these are discussed in Chapter 7. Such research gives us a perspective on the universal nature of the effects of deprivation and attachment.

Summary

The aim of this chapter was to outline our changing attitudes towards emotional development in childhood and to provide a framework for the rest of this book. Attitudes towards childhood differ historically and culturally. These differences are due to changes in attitudes and philosophical orientations as well as empirical research. Central influences have come from research with deprived children in the 1940s, which led John Bowlby to develop a theory of maternal deprivation. Other influences came from the research by Lorenz and Harlow on imprinting and bonding, which helped Bowlby to further his theory of attachment. The later version emphasised how innate social behaviours (sociability) led to the formation of reciprocal attachments which were highly adaptive. There are key distinctions to be made between imprinting, bonding and attachment, as well as deprivation and privation.

Further reading

Berryman, J.C., Hargreaves, D., Herbert, M. and Taylor, A. (1994) Developmental psychology and you. Leicester: BPS Books. An accessible introductory textbook for developmental psychology, including chapters on early relationships and influences.

Schaffer, H.R. (1995) Early socialisation. Leicester: BPS Books. Part of a series of Open Learning Units designed to give short introductions to key areas in psychology. Clearly written though lacking in depth because it’s a short book (45 pages).

—— (1996) Social development. Oxford: Blackwell. A textbook by the same author which contains material relevant to the whole of this book.

2
Sociability

Introduction

Sociability is the tendency to seek the company of others, to be friendly. Some people are more sociable than others but pretty much everyone shows some signs of sociability. Babies love interactions with people, animals and things. Our central interest in this book is the importance that these interactions have in the formation of emotional relationships. An infant who elicits and responds to social interactions is more likely to form such relationships. An unsociable baby will form fewer attachments. The infant’s sociability is determined by both nature and nurture.

Innate social abilities

Social abilities ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Sociability
• 3 Imprinting and Bonding
• 4 The Attachment Process
• 5 Privation
• 6 Separation
• 7 Social and Cultural Variations
• 8 Theories of Attachment
• 9 Enrichment
• 10 Study Aids
• Glossary
• References