Temperament and Attachment

1
Temperament and Attachment

• Many studies have categorized infants into three
  groups
• Easy
• Slow to warm up
• Difficult
• Based on their characteristic patterns of
  reaction to the world

2
Work by Sigelman and Rider

• Suggests that temperament can include individual
  differences in
• Emotionality tendency to become upset
• Activity level vigor and pace of behavior
• Sociability preference to be with others vs.
  shyness or withdrawal

3
They imply a biological interpretation of
temperament

• Twin studies support this view with a high
  correlation of temperament style between
  identical twins
• Other studies show a high level of stability in
  temperament from 21 months to 4 ½ years.
• Inhibited children show higher levels of brain
  activity in novel situations than do uninhibited
  children

4
Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters and Wall (1978)

• Three different types of attachment

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1. Securely attached children

• About 65
• Feel safe and will explore the room or be
  outgoing with a stranger when the mother is
  present

6
2. Resistant children

• About 10 of children
• Are unlikely to explore and are wary of strangers
  even when the mother is present
• Seem uncertain about their mothers distressed
  when she leaves but ambivalent when she returns

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3. Avoidant children

• About 20 seem to be detached from their parents
• Show little distress on separation form their
  mother and avoid contact when she returns
• Not really fearful of strangers but may
  avoid/ignore them as they do their mothers

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4. Disorganized/disoriented children

• About 5 10 of children
• Seem to represent a strange combination of the
  resistant and avoidant patterns
• May be the most insecure
• May acted dazed or freeze when mother returns
• May move closer then abruptly move away
• May show both patterns on different occassions

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Traditional view

• Focused on behavior of mother
• Ainsworth (1979) hypothesis that the infants
  attachment is a function of the kind of mothering
  the infant receives
• Ex. Securely attached children have responsive
  mothers resistant children have inconsistent
  mothers

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Or..can it be the reverse?

• Can a childs temperament affect the development
  of attachment between the child and his/her
  parents?

11
Oris it both?

• Newman and Newman (2003) studies emphasis the
  fit between parent and child temperaments in
  reference to the quality of the parent/child
  relationship