PSYCH 2AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Cognitive Development, 18 Months, Strange Behaviour
Post-Infancy Attachment
November 21, 2016
Phase 4 (early childhood):
- Starting at about age 2, attachment behaviours become less observable
- Cognitive development changes nature of relationship with attachment figure
o “eparatio aiet o’t e terrifig use of mental representations during separation
o Social referencing instead of running to mom or dad in scary settings
▪ Does mom look scared? Does she look worried?
▪ If she looks perfetl happ, a assue the do’t hae to e sared
▪ Collaborative planning
• They and the parents make deals together
• If o is leaig, she’ll sa I’ll e ak i 5 iutes
• Dad drops off to shool ad sas I’ll e ak to pik ou up after shool
ad the e a go ad do
• Making agreements to make scary situations less scary
Middle Childhood
- By age 4-5, attachment behaviours become even less observable
- Parents are your template to know how valuable you are and relationships with other people
- BUT still seek physical proximity when under stress
Attachment Style
Individual differences in quality of attachment
- Refers to: gie ou’e attahed to our attahet figures, hat does that attahet tell ou
about yourself and others
- Expected to developed your models of relationships at age 5
- Internal working models of relationships:
o Cognitive construction of how relationships work
o Expectation of affection if they need it or rejection
o Attachment figure is safe base
o Based on experiences with parents
▪ If you have unfortunate experiences with your parents before age 5 – can get
problematic
- Internal working models provide us with
o What to expect from relationships with others
o Rules for interacting with others
o Model tells us that if something goes wrong with someone else, how to interpret it and
move forward
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