Proximity-seeking Behaviors Research Articles

One-Year-Olds' Proximity-Seeking Behavior in the Strange Situation: Its Links to Hours of Nonmaternal Care

One-Year-Olds' Proximity-Seeking Behavior in the Strange Situation: Its Links to Hours of Nonmaternal Care

A multi-modal approach to the study of attachment-related distress

The present study aimed at providing a comprehensive analysis of individual differences in the regulation of attachment distress as measured through different components of the emotional response, including neuroendocrine reactions, subjectively experienced affect, and proximity seeking behaviour. Emotional responses were measured before, during, and after the induction of attachment distress in a sample of couples. Analyses using multi-level modelling revealed that, in both men and women, attachment anxiety was related to physiological (i.e., cortisol) and subjective emotional distress responses, whereas attachment avoidance most consistently predicted subjective and behavioural responses to distress. In addition to one's own attachment style, partner's attachment style was also found to modulate emotional and behavioural responses to relational stress, in both couple members. Attachment style was also found to moderate the interrelations between emotional indices, revealing interesting information on the regulatory strategies underlying attachment anxiety and avoidance.

Withdrawal emotional-regulation in infant rats from genetic animal models of depression

Children of depressed parents exhibit high rates of emotion-dysregulation, characterized by excessive withdrawal or approach strategies toward the mother in infancy. The understanding of factors affecting the establishment of these behavioral deficits is limited. The current study utilized two genetic animal models of depression, the Wistar–Kyoto (WKY) and Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rat strains. In addition, in order to assess the interactive effects of depressive vulnerability and exposure to early life stress, the subjects were raised either in a standard rearing condition or exposed to mild chronic-stress on postnatal days (PND) 2–9. On PND 10–11, an isolation test examined the pups’ emotion-regulation. WKY pups produced less separation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) and proximity-seeking behaviors, compared to controls. In addition, WKY pups did not show the expected potentiation effect that was evident in control pups (an increase in USV and pivoting behavior after a short reunion with the dam). FSL pups exhibited less proximity-seeking behaviors compared to controls while showing levels of USV, potentiation of USV, and change in proximity-seeking behaviors that were similar to controls. No differences between the strains were found in self-grooming. The early life chronic-stress paradigm had no effect on the behaviors of the pups, indicating either stress-resilience or a limited effect of the paradigm. Overall, the results tentatively imply a tendency of the WKY and FSL pups towards withdrawal behavior instead of approach-behavior when regulating emotion, with a more pronounced pattern in WKY pups. This behavioral profile is reminiscent of avoidant attachment, a characteristic of many children of depressed parents.

The Importance of Emotion Regulation in Understanding Attachment and Intersubjectivity: A Comment on Lyons-Ruth

This discussion provides a commentary on Lyons-Ruth's article examining the interface between attachment and intersubjectivity. First, this commentary posits that it may be useful to conceptualize proximity-seeking behaviors more broadly in order to encompass the types of communicative bids observed in the affective face-to-face interactions of parents and infants. Such a revision to this concept underscores the similarity between primitive proximity-seeking behaviors and the drive for intersubjectivity, which may fundamentally constitute part of the same motivational system. Finally, this article argues that both Lyons-Ruth and others have discussed the role of the attachment relationship as promoting the regulation of affects of all valences as opposed to just distress and that the augmentation and regulation of positive affect within the attachment relationship may be a promising direction for future research and theory.

Behavioral and physiological responses of guide dogs to a situation of emotional distress

The aim of this study was to analyze the behavioral and physiological reactions of guide dogs in a distressing situation which promotes attachment behaviors towards their blind owners, and to compare such reactions with those of untrained or trainee dogs. The subjects were 57 adult Labrador and Golden retriever dogs (14 males, 43 females) belonging to four different groups: 19 Custody dogs, 13 Apprentice dogs, 10 Guide dogs and 15 Pet dogs. Dogs were tested using the Strange Situation Test, consisting in seven 3-minute episodes in which the dogs were placed in an unfamiliar environment, introduced to an unfamiliar woman and subjected to separation from their human companion. Tests were video-recorded and behaviors were scored using a 5-second point sampling method. Polar Vantage telemetric system was used to record cardiac activity. ANOVAs for repeated measures with groups and breeds as independent variables, showed a more anxious reaction in pet dogs, which revealed a high degree of proximity seeking behavior. Cardiac activity increased during episodes characterized by the exclusive presence of the stranger, but this increase was more conspicuous in guide dogs than in custody and apprentice dogs. Golden retrievers showed more behaviors suggesting distress compared to Labrador retrievers. This study showed that guide dogs, when separated from their blind owner, reveal a controlled behavioral reaction that is however accompanied by a stronger cardiac activation.

Relationship between attachment to owners and separation anxiety in pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)

Abstract Dogs' dysfunctional attachment relationships with their owners are assumed to be the underlying cause of separation anxiety. Thirty-two dogs with and 43 dogs without owner-reported separation anxiety (SA) participated in a formal attachment test (AT). After the AT, the dogs were videotaped for 30 minutes while alone at home. Dogs left free in the house were scored on how long they were in proximity to the owners' exit doors. Dogs who were crated or closely confined were scored on several anxiety-related behaviors, which were then compared to those dogs' behaviors during the attachment test. Dogs with SA spent no more time in contact with or proximity to their owners during the attachment test than dogs without SA ( P >0.05). Instead, they tended to jump up on the door after the strangers left the room and remain stationary when alone with their owners ( P P >0.05) between SA and non-SA dogs in the amount of time spent in proximity to the owners' exit doors when left alone at home. Dogs crated at home showed no relationship between the amount of anxiety-related behaviors during the AT or at home ( P >0.05). There was no significant difference in the type of proximity-seeking behaviors exhibited by dogs with and without SA in the home ( P >0.02). These finding suggest that separation anxiety is not based on hyperattachment of the dog to the owner, but that a different attachment style may be present between dogs with and without SA.

Do disrupted early attachments affect the relationship between guide dogs and blind owners?

The study investigated the affectional bond developed by dogs ( Canis familiaris) towards their human companions during the selection process to become guide dogs and compared this bond with that formed by pet dogs with their owners. One hundred and nine dog-owner pairs were tested using a modified version of the Strange Situation Test: custody dogs-puppy walkers ( n = 34), apprentice dogs-trainers ( n = 26), guide dogs-blind owners ( n = 25) and pet dogs-owners ( n = 24). Twenty-six behaviours were scored using a 5 s point sampling method and two vocal behaviours were recorded as bouts. Factor analysis carried out on 24 mutually exclusive behaviours highlighted two different profiles of response. A relaxed reaction characterised by a high play activity was distinctive of custody and apprentice dogs, whereas an anxious reaction characterised by a high degree of proximity seeking behaviours was distinctive of pet dogs. Guide dogs were intermediate between these two extremes, expressing their attachment to the owners but showing a more controlled emotional reaction. This finding suggests that guide dogs can be viewed as “working pets”. Furthermore, the experimental set-up, characterised by the presence of a frightening stimulus, revealed that untrained dogs (pets and custody dogs) were more fearful than trained dogs (guide dogs and apprentice dogs). Finally, differences in temperament emerged between retrievers: Golden retrievers showed a higher level of affection demand while Labrador retrievers were more playful. Overall, these findings show that in spite of separations from previous attachment figures, guide dogs established with their blind owner a rather good and secure affectional bond.

On an Evolving Theory of Attachment

This paper adds a new dimension to the evolution of attachment and of representation formation in the toddler stage. During rapprochement, under appropriate conditions, symbolic activity begins to take prominence over sensorimotor activity to guide and regulate affective experience. We propose that as the toddler comes to increasingly reorganize early sensorimotor experiences under the influence of language, the mother plays a new and vital role in helping the toddler achieve new and higher levels of organization. The intensity of the toddler's proximity seeking-behavior, as described by Bowlby, takes on a new element in light of the toddler's need for mother as an essential interlocutor who helps him or her to verbally articulate and organize experience. The toddler's need to seek proximity with mother particularly pro- found during the rapprochement phase, serves not only to safe-guard the toddler's physical well-being but to ensure the survival of the child's developing mind. Moreover the mother's failure to respond appropriately during this time to this emerging need for her as a verbal interpreter of experience may result in disruption of the toddler's burgeoning ability to make appropriate use of verbally mediated representations of the world, self and others. This paper discusses the rapprochement stage in light of this new developmental perspective.

Separation as a natural cue to danger in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta).

Spotted hyena biology suggests mothers and infants will exhibit one of two alternative responses to separation: (a) Due to prolonged dependency, infants will act similarly to Old World monkeys, displaying distress and proximity seeking behaviors; or (b) because mother-infant separations are frequent in the wild, infants will exhibit little distress or change in reunion behavior. Hence, reunion behavior following mother-infant separation was compared to control periods in captive hyena (Crocuta crocuta) mothers and infants at two developmental periods. Significant increases (p < or =.05) in distress (i.e., agitated arousal and increased vocalization) and proximity maintenance (i.e., cub and maternal approaches, and maternal monitoring) as well as a trend towards increased sibling aggression following separation were observed. Responsibility for proximity maintenance, assessed by the Hinde Index, adhered to patterns common to primates---with cubs assuming increased responsibility later in development. Findings are discussed in light of hyena ecology and Attachment Theory.

Is the dog-human relationship an attachment bond? An observational study using Ainsworth's strange situation

Ainsworth's 'strange situation' procedure was used to investigate the dog ( Canis familiaris ) - human relationship. 38 adult dog-owner pairs were observed in an unfamiliar room, introduced to a human stranger and subjected to four short episodes of separation. The procedure and behavioural analyses were as similar as possible to those used in studying human infants, except for the inclusion of an extra separation period in which the dogs were left alone in the room with articles of clothing belonging to the owner and stranger. A secure base effect was suggested by the fact that the dogs accepted to play with the stranger more in the presence of their owner than during his or her absence. They also explored more in the presence of their owner, but this appeared to be due to diminishing curiosity over time rather than a secure base effect. The dogs also exhibited a range of attachment behaviours, i.e. search and proximity seeking behaviours when separated from their owner, including following, scratching and jumping up on the door, remaining oriented to the door or the owner's empty chair and vocalising. They also greeted their owner more enthusiastically and for longer durations compared to the stranger. Finally, they contacted the owner's clothing more often and for longer durations compared to the stranger's clothing and spent more time next to the owner's chair when the owner's objects were present. Hence, the dogs' behaviour in the strange situation was very similar to that reported in human infants and chimpanzees. However, despite conducting detailed behavioural analyses, the order effects inherent in Ainsworth's procedure prevented the study from providing conclusive evidence that the dog-human bond constitutes an attachment.

The Effect of Attachment Theory in the Development of Eating Disorders: Can Symptoms Be Proximity-Seeking?

The relationship between attachment theory, proximity seeking behaviors and the development of eating disorders was investigated in three groups of adolescent females from various settings; 44 individuals with eating disorders, 28 clinical controls, and 36 non-clinical controls. The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment and the Parental Attachment Questionnaire were both used in this study and both found that the clinical groups demonstrated a weaker sense of attachment quality compared to their non-clinical counterparts. This study also expands upon John Bowlby's concept of proximity seeking, to offer a possible explanation of the function for eating disorder symptomatology. A new measure, the Proximity-Seeking Scale, found that self-reported changes in both the physical and psychological proximity needs of those with eating disorders had transpired since the clinical diagnosis of the disorder.

The Ties That Bind: Attachment between Former Spouses

A context-process-outcome model was proposed to investigate the influence of selected variables on post-divorce attachment to a former spouse for custodial mothers (n = 219). A path model was tested using a series of multiple regression analyses. Coparental support, parental difficult, and length of marriage emerged as significant predictors of attachment. Of particular interest was a positive relationship between coparental support and attachment, supporting the contention that attachment may be a natural outcome of shared parenting. Implications for intervention are discussed. Key Words: attachment, coparental, divorce. Scholars have suggested that an important variable influencing the post-divorce adjustment of individuals is their ability to develop an identity that is separate from the former spouse and the marriage. Although divorce legally terminates the spousal relationship between partners, redefinition of the emotional relationship shared by the two individuals is often a more prolonged process, especially for couples who continue to share parenting responsibilities. This ongoing emotional attachment between former spouses has been identified in both the clinical and empirical literature as a primary source of increased emotional distress during the post-divorce time period (Berman, 1988a; Kitson, 1992; Maccoby & Mnookin, 1992). Yet, little is known about the factors that contribute to levels of attachment between former spouses. Such information is necessary to determine the most appropriate foci for clinical interventions. The purpose of the current study is to begin to gain some insight into this issue by investigating specific contextual and process variables that may trigger an attachment response to a former spouse. Background and Significance Attachment between former spouses has often been explained within the framework of attachment theory (Berman, 1988). Bowlby (1969) initially discussed attachment behaviors as they related to the tendency of infants to seek and maintain proximity to and contact with a primary caregiver. This proximity seeking behavior provided the infant with a sense of safety and security. According to Bowlby, attachment responses are likely to be triggered in situations where the infant feels threatened. The perception of being threatened on the part of the infant could result from an internal condition of the child (e.g. fatigue or frustration), a change in the environmental condition, or the absence or distance of the attachment figure. Although Bowlby's work primarily focused on infants, he believed that adults continue to demonstrate a tendency to form enduring emotional attachments. Expanding on this suggestion, other scholars and theorists have discussed the development and role of attachment behaviors in adult relationships (Ainsworth, 1991; Sperling & Berman, 1994; Weiss, 1976, 1991). Attachment in adults has been characterized as a relatively stable and enduring bond that exists with a specific, unique individual. These relationships are thought to offer a person the possibility of security and safety (Berman & Sperling, 1994). In instances where the attachment relationship is threatened, the natural response is to seek contact with the attachment figure (Weiss, 1991). Situations involving marital separation and divorce result in the ironic circumstances where the emotional withdrawal of the marital partner, the necessary changes in family structure, and the required redefinition of spousal and parental roles often highlight the loss of the attachment relationship with the former spouse, triggering an attachment response. This emotional attachment can be manifested in different patterns of attachment behaviors. In particular, scholars have identified two distinct, yet related, behavioral indicators of attachment: preoccupation with the former spouse and hostility towards the former spouse (Tschann, Johnston, & Wallerstein, 1989; Masheter, 1997; Weiss, 1976). …

Maternally directed orienting behaviors of newborn rats.

We observed an organized repertoire of behaviors performed by newborns of the laboratory rat when placed under suspended artificial surfaces simulating various properties of the awake dam's ventrum. Pups traveled and wriggled, turned on their sides and upside down, ventroflexed and probed into the surface while on side or upside down, and audibly barked, all in a state of heightened behavioral arousal. Within 48 to 72 hr after birth, these behaviors generally increased with the addition to the simulation of more maternal features, including the texture of the dam's ventral fur and odor, separately and in combination. In addition, the behaviors were intensified by 18 hours of maternal deprivation. The possible functional relations among the components of this repertoire, which we refer to as "maternally directed orienting and proximity-seeking behaviors," and between these behaviors and nipple attachment and suckling, are discussed.

Perioral somatosensory determinants of nursing behavior in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus).

Prior to assuming the upright crouching posture over their pups during nursing bouts, lactating rats typically engage in several oral behaviors, including nuzzling, licking and rearranging pups. By acutely depriving dams of various aspects of perioral stimulation from pups (with anesthesia of the mystacial pads or of the tongue, with mouth suturing, or with muzzling), we found the following: (1) Distal stimulation from pups maintains proximity-seeking behavior, but is insufficient to stimulate nursing behavior. (2) Lack of tongue feedback decreases pup licking and hastens the onset of crouching. (3) Snout, but not tongue, contact with pups is required for hovering over them. (4) The position of the dam while hovering over her litter enables the pups to gain access to her ventrum, thereby provoking her upright, crouching posture. (5) Older pups are capable of bypassing the dam's perioral attentions and stimulating crouching directly by burrowing under the dam's ventrum.

Editorial

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> Domestic dogs (<i>Canis lupus familiaris</i>) are remarkably sensitive and responsive while interacting with humans. Pet dogs are known to have social skills and abilities to display situation-specific responses, but there is lack of information regarding free-ranging dogs which constitute majority of the world’s dog population. Free-ranging dogs found in most of the developing countries interact constantly with familiar and unfamiliar humans receiving both positive and negative behavior. Thus, understanding human intentions and subsequent behavioral adjustments are crucial for dogs that share habitats with humans. Here we subjected free-ranging dogs to different human social communicative cues (friendly and threatening – low and high), followed by a food provisioning phase and tested their responsiveness. Dogs exhibited higher proximity seeking behavior as a reaction to friendly gesture whereas, they were prompted to maintain distance depending on the impact of the threatening cues. Interestingly, only the high-impact threatening showed to have a persistent effect which also remained during the subsequent food provisioning phase. An elevated approach in the food provisioning phase elicited the dependency of free-ranging dogs on humans for sustenance. Our findings suggest that free-ranging dogs demonstrate behavioral plasticity on interacting with humans; which provides significant insights into the establishment of the dog-human relationship on streets.

The Effects of Environmental Change on Chicks’ Responses to a Familiar Stimulus

The purpose of the present experiments was to explore chicks’ proximity seeking behaviour in relation to imprinting objects in unfamiliar settings. Experiment I showed that chicks, which were individually imprinted on a stationary imprinting object, displayed reduced proximity seeking behaviour when tested in a pen smaller than the rearing pen. This finding confirmed earlier work on the effects of changed pen size. Experiment II used continuous and intermittent noise rearing and testing conditions, in all possible combinations, and a stationary imprinting object. Increased proximity seeking was found in conditions where the auditory environment was changed from rearing to testing, a result apparently opposite to that obtained in earlier work. It is suggested that the effect of environmental change on proximity seeking may vary with the modality in which change occurs and the salience of the imprinting object.

The effect of brief separations on 2-month-old infants

After a two minute face-to-face interaction with an adult, twenty infants aged 7 to 13 weeks were left alone for one minute. Each infant interacted with and was left by two adults—the infant's mother and an unfamiliar female adult. The order of presentation was counterbalanced across subjects. Coding was done from videotapes by coders who were blind to the hypotheses of the study and to the identity of the infant or the adult. Infants were more likely to extend their arms in the direction of the adult's departure, to cry longer, and to show more distress brow expressions during maternal absence. During stranger absence infants were more likely to yawn or to exhibit a high rate of rhythmic (stereotypic) movements of the mouth. A second study, exactly like the first except that the infants were exposed to the stranger for a 10-minute familiarization period prior to the formal experimental procedure, yielded no systematic differences between mother and stranger separation. These findings suggest that ontogenetic precursors of proximity seeking behavior toward attachment figures may be related to the 2-month-old's capacity to respond to the cessation of interaction with familiar figures in a way which is qualitatively different from his response to the cessation of interaction with unfamiliar figures.