Briefly summarize evidence on the role of (a) feeding, (b) contact-comfort, and (c) caregiver responsiveness in the formation of infant-to-caregiver attachment

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

(a) Freud, traditional learning theorists, and Erikson all emphasized the role of feeding in the development of attachment. Freud emphasized the pleasure received from oral activities. Learning theorists emphasized the establishment of the parent as a conditioned reinforcer who has become associated with the reduction of biological drives. Erikson also saw feeding as important but stressed the importance of overall caregiver responsiveness in feeding and other contexts. (b) The notion that contact-comfort is a determinant of attachment comes out of Harlow and colleagues' research on infant monkeys with surrogate mothers. In spite of being fed from a "wire" mother, the monkeys displayed strong attachment to the "terry cloth" mother that never fed them. In normal adult-infant relationships, contact-comfort implicitly includes providing warmth to the infant, vocalizing softly to the infant, soothing, cuddling, rocking, and so on. All are believed to contribute to the formation of infant-to-caregiver attachment. (c) The issue of caregiver responsiveness to the infant was emphasized by Erikson as essential to the infant's acquiring a basic sense of trust. Ainsworth's caregiving hypothesis echoes Erikson's emphasis on caregiver responsiveness. Ainsworth's work (and that of others) indicates that prompt, effective responding to the infant's signals is associated with the pattern of secure attachment during the "strange situation" procedure.