ATTACHMENT BEHAVIOUR OUT OF DOORS - J. W. ANDERSON
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Reprinted from: N. Blurton Jones (Ed.) (1972). Ethological studies of child behaviour (Chapter 8, pp. 199-
215). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
ATTACHMENT BEHAVIOUR
OUT OF DOORS
J. W. ANDERSON
London
SUMMARY
This paper consists of deductions from observations made out of doors on the interactions between mother
and infant with a view to ascertaining the distances he maintained when he was at liberty in a familiar envi-
ronment. Thus, attachment behaviour, the infant's tendency to maintain proximity to its mother, hypothe-
sized in Bowlby's (1958) account of the child's tie to its mother to be at its strongest during the period 18 to
30 months, came under observation in testing circumstances. It was found that infants whose ages were es-
timated to range from just walking to 2 . 5 y e a r s kept within sight or sound of the mother without 'their
having to be recalled. Since cases in which prolonged feeding and other care-taking behaviour which cause
a mother and infant to remain together had been excluded from the sample, the social basis of the bond
which kept the child within a safe distance could be affirmed. Subjects did not know that they were under
scrutiny; observation periods therefore yielded samples of spontaneous behaviour. For instance, conspicu-
ous gestures of communication occur every now and then, and from them mild states of arousal can be in-
ferred. Since Darwin's time, it has been known that the expression of emotion provides a means of communi-
cation both for animals and for men; modern ethologists describe in detail the signals and gestures that unite
a pair in lasting bonds. This paper isolates some of the communications that occur in a natural setting, thus
preparing for the study of attachment in terms of factors that identify a mother–infant pair.
Introduction count for the proximity of their infant; Smart
and Smart (1967: 146), for instance, state that
This paper gives some results of a study of at- if parents did not set limits on their infants' be-
tachment in human infants out of doors. The study haviour, ` there would be no more babies,
arose from a consideration of the effects on the since babies creep and toddle right into dan-
character of long early separation from the mother ger'.
(Bowlby, 1951); from studies of imprinting; from
work on mother–infant interactions in higher ani- Mothers' statements when presenting a his-
mals, which records the stages by which the infant tory of their child at child guidance clinics were
enlarges his environment while maintaining con- highly material to the general thesis. Some
tact with the mother; and from a reformulation of mothers had noticed a peculiarity in their child's
the psycho-analytical theory of the child's tie to his attachment beginning at the time he had learned
mother (Bowlby, 1958). A further influence was a to walk: how, instead of enjoying the freedom
description of the altered relationships between which his first outings to the park afforded, he
animals when the spatial distances between them would cling close, not mixing with other people,
changed (Hediger, 1955). In contrast to the theo- scarcely ever taking his eyes off his mother. Or,
ries of observers who record the social inter-action in contrast, so far from being anxious when
of the young with its parents, there are views of away from her, a child had persistently sought
writers who emphasize the permissive and re- opportunities to depart; unless she was vigilant,
strictive aspects of parents' behaviour to ac- he would get lost and remain missing until heAnderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
was returned to her by neighbours, apparently ple remain mother-oriented while establishing a
untroubled by the loss of his mother. distance which takes them out of her immediate
control. This is not to say that the mothers relax
Hence, one aspect of attachment, the ten-
vigilance when the children are at a distance, and
dency to remain in proximity to the mother,
it is broadly true that the infant's boundary coin-
presented itself for testing. By making observa-
cides with that which she tolerates.
tions on mother—infant pairs when the infant
had just begun to leave the mother's side, in GENERAL LOCOMOTION
surroundings where opportunities for exploring
Infants move around in bouts which are
remote places might take him out of her control,
typically short and (provided that they are not
it would be possible to isolate the social influ-
close to their mother) stop between each bout
ence of the mother on his behaviour.
for similar brief periods. The distributions of
Method walking and stationary bouts are, for all in-
fants, positively skewed, that is, scores accu-
The results below were derived from tape-
mulate at the short end of the distribution,
recorded commentaries of infants' ` random '
while long bouts tend to be very long and rare
movements around a stationary mother in Lon-
in comparison.
don parks, over observation periods which aver-
aged fifteen minutes, without the subjects' The median for the child with the shortest
awareness. The infants' ages were estimated to bouts of locomotion is 3 seconds, the median
range from 15 to 30 months. The criterion of for the longest 8.5 seconds. The scores for sta-
selection was that a mother should have posi- tionary periods vary independently of the latter
tioned herself so far away from other people range, but the range of medians is similar; the
with children that interruption by them would lowest median is 2 seconds, the highest 9 sec-
be unlikely. The mother was not to be amusing onds.
the child with toys or otherwise deliberately in-
In order to determine whether the differ-
fluencing his behaviour. If she recalled him
ences in infants' bouts of loco-motion signified
with an offer of food, recording was abandoned.
genuine population differences or whether they
It was hoped to exclude every feeding situation,
represented chance variations, the data for
but this requirement would have sacrificed most
fourteen infants were tested by the Kruskal–
of the cases; however, it is not thought that
Wallis One-Way Analysis of Variance (Siegel,
what feeding that occurred biased the locomo-
1956). The resulting H of 67 has a probability
tion scores, for when a child went to his mother
under the null hypothesis ofAnderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
crawl or jump, but most of his walking time is was away from her, but that these periods were
spent drawing nearer to or farther from the fewer in number than those spent further away. (By
mother. ` close to' a distance of some 3 feet is meant: a spot
at which he could be reached by the mother without
Another characteristic of the activity around
her leaving her position.) The median periods
the mother is the tendency to stop after a few sec-
which the sample spent close to the mother range
onds of locomotion rather than to run hither and
from 4 to 37 seconds. In contrast, the bouts spent
thither. This period in which the child is not walk-
away from her are shorter, the medians ranging
ing manifests such a variety of behaviours from
from 2 to 9 seconds. When each infant is compared
immobility to energetic playing that an inventory
for his median period spent close to/away from the
was begun for subsequent analysis; for the present
mother, the result is clear-cut; the longer median
purpose, the terms stationary and stopped are used
bout is spent beside the mother by sixteen out of
simply to mean not walking.
seventeen infants. Then, each child's number of
Since the stationary periods broke up those of stationary bouts was divided into the proportions
locomotion, it was expected that the child's sta- spent close to/away from the mother and the rank
tionary bouts would occupy the largest proportion differences put to the Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs
of the whole observation period. It was further Signed-Rank test (Siege), 1956) : the result is that
hypothesized that since most of the children did fewer bouts are spent close to mother (p=0.01).
not stray from their mothers, the time spent in The hypotheses that infants differed from each
sortie would be approximately the same as that other in the length of their stationary bouts when (i)
spent in return. The data were ranked according close to the mother, and (ii) away from the mother,
to the proportion of total observation time which were tested. Under each of these two conditions,
the infant spent under the three conditions of sor- the scores made by eight infants (for this analysis I
tie, return and stop and these ranks put to the had to exclude cases where another infant inter-
Friedman Two-Way Analysis of Variance test vened, and to separate those able to walk well from
(Siegel, 1956). The result of chi-square r=17.7 those just-walking toddlers, hence the reduced
for fifteen children leads to a rejection of the null number of cases) over a ten-minute observation
hypo-thesis at the pAnderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
TABLE 8 .1. mother's lap he sometimes struggles vigorously to
get away; the mother may be holding, trying to
Evidence of Stimuli to 49 Bouts of
feed or to amuse him, but with no evident motive
Return Made by 7 Infants
other than the wish to be on his feet at a distance
Any event to from her he wriggles free and moves some paces
stimulate Full Incomplete off, there to stand until the next bout of activity
the return Return Return Totals begins. Equally, her trying to send him off by
pointing and exhortation or by throwing objects
Yes 2 0 2
for him to play with is futile when he intends to
No 26 21 47 remain at the base.
Totals 28 21 49 Finally, a feature of the return bouts – their ten-
dency to end in some form of contact with the
Taking the returns first, the records were pe- mother, was recorded. The end result of full return
rused for evidence that the infant had been insti- made by eight infants were grouped according to
gated to approach his mother by being called or whether they terminated in contact, e.g. climbing
signalled, by being frightened, hurt or surprised in on the mother's lap, leaning against her, pulling
any way. Forty-nine return bouts made by seven her hand; near-contact, e.g. handing an object to
infants were divided into full return (a bout that her, leaning against the bench where she is sitting;
took him to his mother's side) and incomplete re- and no contact, e.g. squatting at the mother's feet,
turn (where he had moved towards her but stopped standing in front of her. The result of this grouping
short or walked away again) and tested for inde- is that in 39 returns, the infants initiate 18 contacts,
pendence of events which might have produced the 6 near-contacts and 15 no contacts. With younger
approach (Table 8.1). The resulting fourfold contin- infants, the contact can be a part of the return it-
gency table yielded a x2 which was no larger than self. as when he runs into the mother, throws him-
would arise by chance. In only two instances out of self against her, his two arms striking her knees, or
forty-nine – the mother's being joined by a female flops down upon her when she is recumbent. The
companion – could the observer infer a reason for vigour of the contact, which can evoke the
the infant's being impelled back to her. mother's annoyance, suggests an aggressive ele-
To test the hypothesis that the child had been ment in the return.
stimulated to return to the mother by his seeing EFFECT OF MOTHER'S CALLING CHILD
her do something that might have interested him,
forty-six bouts of return made by seven infants The effect of the mother's calling the child was
were divided into full and incomplete return and put to test and it was ascertained that the majority of
classed according to whether or not the child was mothers do not recall their infant once he has begun
looking at his mother just before he made the ap- his sortie. Out of 26 cases, the mothers of only 16
proach. Another non-significant combination of attempted to summon the child to their side and as
frequencies demonstrates that the infant is as often as not it was reasons other than excessive dis-
likely as not to be facing away from the mother tance which prompted it : when he played with re-
just before his approach is made and therefore no fuse, remained out of sight in bushes or was
specific stimuli emanating from her can be held about to mingle with a passing group she would
to account for his return. try to bring him back by calling. Of these 16
called cases, 12 infants either remained where
There is a similar paucity of evidence of ex- they were or increased the distance from the
ternal events to account for his walking away mother, 2 decreased the distance slightly then
from his mother when the sortie data was scruti- went elsewhere and 2 returned to the mother.
nized. After leaving the mother's side he usually The mothers justifiably place little reliance on
stops to look around; he may approach a passer- the efficacy of a call. The infant, on his side,
by or seek a patch of ground which had interested never called his mother. Indeed, vocalization
him previously, but he so often ignores both was rare : he would sing or talk to himself, or
novel and familiar stimuli that it would be point- squeal with excitement. Whatever inaudible
less to try to count instances of objects that might speech may have been taking place, no child
have attracted him but did not. The mother's addressed, from a distance, a verbal message to
wishes are not effective in stimulating or discour- his mother at the base; talking to her was kept
aging a sortie. When an infant intends to leave his for around contact distance.
4Anderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
At a distance, he remained in contact visu- grasping. Whether the purpose is manipulation or
ally. The extent to which the infants looked at balancing is not always clear. It is not long since
their mothers varied greatly amongst them; these infants will have been making assisted walks
they were recorded more often looking away around a room with furniture as support; their con-
from than towards her, and for briefer periods tinuing dependence on support is demonstrated by
(around two seconds) when looking at mother the extent to which they fall when out of doors :
than when staring at novelties (around eight two falls in ten minutes is the median frequency
seconds). for the sample.
ARM GESTURES DURING NATURAL PLAY Other manipulatory movements are concerned
with the particular object which the infant is han-
The infant's play which results from the ab-
dling, such as pushing his push-carriage to and
sence of customary park equipment, toys and
fro or playing with its working parts, holding up a
food, is best described as experimentation. He
leaf to be blown away by the wind, dusting his
runs a short distance from the mother, stops to
hands with hand open, wiping palm against palm,
look around, fixates the sources of sounds and
after touching (or in resisting the temptation to
visual stimuli and, in some cases, attracts the
touch) the ground, etc.
mother's attention to them. Intermingled with
this scanning of the remote is an examination The second class of gestures occurs when the
of the ground : he handles leaves, grass, stones hands are not grasping an object; the infant is
and refuse; crawls or jumps backwards and most likely to be seen scanning the environment
forwards over verges, and attempts the shaking between bouts of locomotion, fixating the direction
or climbing of obstacles; this section is a sum- of new sounds and nearby sights. Consequently,
mary of activities emerging from a classi- most gestures in this context indicate the direc-
fication of the arm gestures. tion of the stimulus which elicits them. Occurring
particularly in the newly-walking is the gesture of
Dealing with the infant's immediate sur-
one arm straight forward at or a little above
roundings first, the most common gesture in
shoulder level. The simplest context is when in-
the area of manipulation is picking up objects
fants who have just attained the erect posture
from the ground (and, since most infants drop,
walk with one arm forward (an observation made
at least once, what they are holding, the pro-
in an early analysis of walking by Burnside
portion for this category could be considerably
(1927) ). Even when the infant has abandoned
augmented). The retrieved object may be dis-
this balancing aid for ordinary locomotion, it will
membered, put into the mouth, discarded or
recur when he is pursuing or hurrying for any
carried back to the mother. One-half of the
other reason. Preceding an approach, it marks an
whole sample take an object back to the
intention to proceed. It is also a component of
mother. Some infants do not wait for the
reaching - grasping; the fingers may open and
mother to accept it; when she extends a hand,
close whether or not the infant can ever reach the
they carry it off again. Throwing away, in the
object to be seized. The gesture also occurs in
manner of older children, rarely occurs in this
vacua at least once in ten minutes, whether the
sample; the object is more likely to be cast
child is moving, standing still or sitting down,
down and trampled on.
with no identifiable stimulus to elicit it. That it is
When studying a patch of ground, the infant a signal whose meaning is distinct from pointing
usually scrapes his hand and/or foot in it. is apparent from the following three criteria : (1)
Scraping the hand on the ground would be Reaching - grasping can be directed to the
among the commonest gestures, but its fre- mother; pointing is always directed away from
quency cannot be compared with others' since her. (2) It can be made when the infant is walk-
some infants are reproved by the mother if ing; pointing is done when he is still. (3) The
they are about to dirty their hands. body-orienting response is to the stimulus and
not, as in pointing, to the midline between the
Holding on to a fixture which offers support stimulus and the mother.
or a possibility for climbing or shaking is the
second most common movement which could Flapping the extended arm and waving the
be called manipulatory. A bench, railings, tree- hand are, when newly walking, at around 12
cage or push-carriage, besides the mother her- months of age, almost identical movements. The
self, provide a stimulus which infants react to by infant hurrying to his mother, flapping the ex-
5Anderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
tended arm excitedly as he nears her, makes a does not take him on to her lap, the infant tries
similar gesture as he stands in front waving to climb up beside her; failing to do this he re-
‘goodbye’, apparently about to depart on a so- turns to her front, his hands aloft, which he may
journ. The end result, in both cases, is the same - bring down hard upon her thighs. Her attention
the child will be beside his mother in a few sec- secured, she leans forward to talk to him. Then
onds. His parting salute announces but the brief- the child may persist by reaching for the
est sojourn. There is no goodbye sign - or any mother's face.
other - to precede a long sortie. It predicts rejoin-
Besides proximity, the difference between the
ing rather than parting. posture when it is addressed to the mother and
Among infants of the present age-range, the wrist when it occurs in vacuo is the length of time
is unstiffening and the older person's gesture of flap- the arms stay up. When the mother is not in-
ping the hand, rather than the arm, from a stationary volved, the arms can be raised and lowered
position, has become established. within two seconds. If the infant expects to be
lifted, he will maintain the posture, often thrust-
A feature is that, of the gestures recorded in this
section, this is the one most readily imitated. If the ing himself against her at the same time, until
mother waves to him from a distance, the infant the mother acknowledges it.
stops to return the wave and may approach a few Putting a part of the hand into the mouth.
steps to fixate the mother, hand aloft, as if expect- Two-thirds of the infants put a finger or thumb
ing a game of imitation. into their mouth at least once in ten minutes. To
When he is standing against the mother, the find some unity amongst the contexts in which
same wave-flap may be used to strike her knee, the infant does this, positive and negative criteria
must be introduced. He is not making a long sor-
attracting her attention.
tie away from the mother, nor running about en-
However, in the majority of instances, the ergetically. He is not engaged in an easily defin-
observer cannot tell what elicits the gesture and able activity, like scraping a patch of ground or
the child is most often facing away from the arranging small material. If other people are close
mother when he makes it. by, he may stop to watch, but will not engage
Two arms straight up. This is one of the them. He is likely to be facing or be about to face
commonest gestures which, in everyday life, a the mother. He is likely to be stationary, and his
mother leading her child is seen responding to. next walk will take him to or towards the mother.
The child moves to face the mother's front, To generalize : the gesture accompanies vacilla-
looks up and stretches two hands above his tion rather than involvement in a course of ac-
head, whereupon the mother lifts him into the tion and it presages increasing proximity to
carrying position. the mother.
In the present situation (the mother is POINTING: AN ORIENTATION RESPONSE
seated) the occurrence of the gesture was re-
Pointing is the most common gesture made
corded for two-thirds of all infants at least once
in the field. The sight or sound of any remote
in ten minutes, whether the child was close to
object that catches his attention is sufficient to
the mother or not, facing her or facing away,
elicit it. Its most conspicuous feature is that it is
himself being stationary, walking or running. In
done only when the infant is stationary. The fre-
the majority of instances,. the infant can have
quency of the occurrence of pointing varies
had no expectation of being lifted. Nor was
greatly amongst infants, ranging from 0 to 14
there any identifiable stimulus to elicit the ges-
times over ten minutes. The amount of pointing
ture when the child was distant from the mother
is not related to interesting events as an adult
except when it was observed as an aid to bal-
sees them, but to the individual child's tendency.
ancing; if an infant of this age group loses bal-
An observer can seldom identify the source of
ance, he falls back into the sitting position: the
the stimulus; mothers sometimes can, especially
two arms may erect momentarily as he goes
when the child is old enough to talk, but it can
over or rectifies himself.
be imaginary things that engage his attention; a
To evoke a response from the mother, the child will point to a part of the horizon where
child must be close to her, preferably touching, nothing is moving and tell the mother that a
and nearly always en face. If the seated mother man is coming.
6Anderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
Pointing does not often occur in the newly herself. Though the mother may emphasize the ges-
walking, but by 15 months of age it is part of ture and shout, the infant continues to stare blankly
every infant's repertoire. Amongst the features of at her face, and this seems to be the only response
this gesture which distinguish it from other arm that it evokes.
signals are the following. First, the mother her-
The child, in his turn, makes himself highly
self is never pointed at. The hand points out-
conspicuous to her by his orientation response.
wards; and the mother is fixated. Then the ob-
He comes to an abrupt stop, angles himself to
ject is given scrutiny. Second, it is the most re-
the midline between the stimulus and the
liable criterion for the identification of a
mother and raises one arm towards it while his
mother–infant pair. When other criteria fail to
head turns simultaneously towards her. The ri-
apply, the child will always relate the event
gidity of this posture suggests that it should
which surprises him to the mother: when he is
convey information. No obvious emotional state
distant, by looking at her; when he is beside
other than heightened alertness is transmitted.
her, by tapping her with the other hand if she
In the field, states of high arousal are accompa-
does not pay attention. In this respect, it differs
nied by sounds. When distressed, the infant
from waving, smiling and other expressive ges-
cries; when angry, he screams; when frightened,
tures which are directed to strangers as well as
he whimpers; when excited, he , squeals. Other-
to the mother. Third, it is the terminating point
wise, his utterances during natural play consist
of a course of activity. Once an infant has run
of talking to himself. Hence, lack of vocaliza-
outwards, stopped to look at the mother and
tion during the orientation response has a com-
point into the distance, he does not usually pro-
municative significance, i.e. the information is
ceed in the same direction but looks around and
conveyed in the posture; no reinforcement by
goes off else-where. Fourth, it is not mimicked
sound is necessary.
from the mother. She and the child are never
seen to imitate each other's pointing, as they do Something else is communicated by this
some other signals. Indeed, the mother seldom gesture. Although mothers whom I have ques-
pays attention; she is unlikely even to be look- tioned do not give enlightening answers, their
ing when he points, yet the frequency of the own reactions show an understanding of the
gesture does not decrease with age. Nor does its difference between a sign to proceed and one
purpose appear to have been learned imita- of the unlikelihood of proceeding. When a
tively. In everyday life at home, mothers use it toddler is going to move outwards from the
as an intention movement usually to indicate mother, he faces the intended direction and
the involvement that will follow : she will ei- erects one arm: this gesture seems to be a pro-
ther reach for the object he wants, or use it to longation of the habit of putting an arm up for
select amongst alternatives. Infants, on the balance. It is common to see a child being
other hand, do not use it as an intention move- given a smack when, after being reproved for
ment until they are around 3 years of age, by going to a forbidden place, he puts an arm up
which time its conventional, adult applications in that direction. But when the child points,
have come into operation alongside the earlier. the mother is unconcerned. She seems to
know that his pointing will disengage his at-
When a mother rises, looks at the infant and
tention from a source of interest.
points, the effect, is to make herself conspicuous to
him. For example, if she wants the child to come The pointing has a definite referent. It can be
away from one area to go to another, her indication elicited by any disturbance evoking surprise, by
of the desired direction by pointing to it only re- stimuli evoking mild fear, or those which if close
sults in the infant's gazing at her face or hand. It is by would arouse strong fear. An observer who
generally believed (though no data are available) cannot locate the referent will bear in mind the
that the first year of life will pass before an infant lack of veridicality in infant's distance vision:
can detach his gaze from the mother's hand, even in large objects which are far off appear to be small
his own home, to look in the direction indicated. objects nearby. One mother stated that her infant
When he is out of doors, his inability to detach the was pointing at birds; another infant was pointing
gaze lasts longer. He will be around 2 years old at aeroplanes; another at the absence of aero-
before she can expect an adequate response to her planes, because he expected to see them; another
signalled command to move away to another place. at the sound of wind in the trees; another at the
Until then, her pointing only draws attention- to noise of traffic in the distance. Although mothers'
7Anderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
replies are not helpful in explaining the high fre- Continue playing 1
quency of infants pointing, they do indicate a fea-
Make brief approach, then stop 2
ture that accords with the general interpretation of
this gesture: the separateness or inaccessibility of Retreat briefly, then stop 2
the stimulus. Added to this might be the condition
of inaccessibility without the mother's company: Refuse to move, ‘freeze’ 12
some infants point to where they want the mother 17 cases
to take them: if she refuses to go the child does
not proceed in that direction. When the infant is older, there is usually
verbal exchange with the mother before she
The fact that the gesture of pointing has a moves away, so following behaviour, the primi-
sender, receiver and external referent brings it tive animal's response to a parent's departure, is
into the category of a purposive communica- not applicable. When the mother persuades the
tion, the function of which is to relate two per- child to accompany her, especially by making a
sons by way of an independent object in the game of the move off, he follows, though her
environment. It is the first — and only — pur- leading has to be punctuated by stopping to
posive communication at a distance which the wait.
child is able to make until he can vocalize in-
telligibly. What is symbolized by other ges- FATIGUE AND CONFLICT
tures in the field is appropriate to a simpler When an infant is tired (as confirmed by
context, communicable by action, such as pres- some mothers in an arranged sample), he wan-
ence-seeking (by looking), proximity-seeking ders in different directions, not walking for long
(by locomotion), contact-making (by touch), in a straight line nor stopping for long, alert, to
play-seeking (by waving) and other dyadic scan. He looks to and from moving people, but
transactions which bring the pair together to his thumb is often in his mouth, or his hand
prepare for other forms of interaction. When flicks an ear or rubs the head or eyes, and the
the referent is a remote object, however, a new general direction of his locomotion takes him
relationship between the parties is set up. It towards his mother, where he leans against her
has become a learning situation, appropriate to or ` asks ' to be lifted.
other kinds of experience. For instance, were
the family's sojourn taking place in primitive One form of conflict, decision at a choice
territory, it would be important for the mother point, came to light as a result of recording the
not only to be kept aware of possible dangers arm movements of infants following the
in the vicinity, but to be alerted before the mother as she walked. The child's attention
situation developed into an emergency. Ham- captured by an attraction which would take
burg (1969) writes, on the basis of observa- him along a different route to that taken by the
tions on non-human primates: ` The early mother, he would pause to look in each direc-
learning of what to fear, what is dangerous in a tion, touch the back of his head with the flat of
particular environment, seems to be quite his hand, then set off to rejoin the mother. In-
flexible; such fear may attach to different ob- stead of an alternative path, a familiar person
jects, in different circumstances, in different who brings the child to a stop by talking to or
environments ...' The orientation response of offering him something could elicit the same
pointing, which signals minor disturbances in gesture just before he ran to pursue the mother.
the environment, would serve just this func- If the infant tended to suck his fingers, part of
tion. The infant, in turn, learns by the mother's the hand was put into the mouth when the
indifference to his communication what events mother was about to be followed after the in-
are not dangerous. terruption.
FOLLOWING When hesitancy is accompanied by either of
these two gestures, it is resolved by the infant's
If the mother moved off unexpectedly, fol- seeking the mother; if he is going to separate
lowing did not occur among field cases whose himself from her, there is no prior indication of
ages at the time of observation went up to it. When the mother is stationary, the disturb-
about 22 months. Out of seventeen instances ing stimulus is not so easy to identify and the
chosen for observation, the infant's response to gestures are accompanied by vacillation: the
the mother's departure was: child is obviously unsettled.
8Anderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
The appearance of apparently irrelevant chewing, scratching and shaking have been lo-
gestures at this point occurs in the kind of cated in monkeys subjected to mildly stressful
situation which is usually contrived for experi- situations by Rowell and Hinde (1963); it is
mental purposes to produce conflicting alterna- likely that these activities partake, with the
tives. In the full form of the expression move- head-stroking and thumb-sucking of human
ments, the arms are in a position infants com- infants, of a common base in the reaction to
monly adopt in sleep; one hand cradles the increased awareness of discomfort.
head, the other is up to the mouth for thumb-
sucking. Mothers recognize varieties of it as IDENTIFICATION OF THE MOTHER
signs of tiredness: the infant tugs at an ear Although the mothers' activity was mar-
lobe, rubs his scalp or eyes, holds a cloth toy ginal to the topic, one feature was noted which
to his cheek and probably puts a thumb into his distinguished them from other women with
mouth as well. The adopting, at a choice point, whom the infant might mix; that is, the ventral
of a posture indicative of sleep, brings to mind orientation to the infant, which is maintained
the phenomena called ` displacement activities even in those cases where mother and child are
' in lower animals whereby a behaviour pattern not seen to be in contact during the observation
determined by either of two incompatible ten- period. When she is sitting or lying on the
dencies can be superseded by one more often ground, she positions herself and changes posi-
induced in other circumstances. tion to face whatever direction he is playing in.
Behaviour comparable to that of these in-
fants was noted in adults by Tinbergen (1951) If she is sitting on a bench and therefore
who suggested that scratching behind the ear unable to orient her body towards the infant,
and sleep (at low intensity, in the form of she looks round frequently whenever he moves
yawning) occurred as displacement activities about behind her. It can be deduced that a
in situations of conflict. In Grant's (1968) mother is ill at ease unless her child is playing
study of adults and children, scratching and in front of her. This is not through fear of the
head grooming were ` observed in situations distance he might go undetected, for there is
where ambivalence was clearly demonstrated, usually a fence behind the bench she sits on;
these situations consisting essentially of the he may be allowed to go as far as he wishes in
(behaviour sequence) triad approach–X–retreat the forward direction, getting lost to sight
'. From his own and others' experiments on through mingling with people, or pushed over
gulls, cats and rats, Delius (1967) presents evi- by other children without her showing much
dence that grooming or preening, which are concern, but he does not play in the rear for
commonly involved in displacement behaviour, long without her looking round impatiently.
are ` largely controlled by neurophysiological Thus a mother can be singled out amongst a
mechanisms which are also responsible for de- group of women when no other criteria of
arousal and sleep '; the occurrence of some dis- mother–infant identification apply, such as
placement activities would cancel, through the when the child comes under the influence of
activation of an arousal inhibiting system, the age-mates and no longer makes periodic re-
arousal increment generated by conflict or turns to the base.
thwarting. Delius concludes that the occur- Discussion
rence of sleep as displacement in several spe-
cies might be regarded as a regulatory over- There is ample evidence for the view that
shoot, and grooming and other patterns as ac- attachment, assessed' in terms of proximity
tivities which conduce to de-arousal through which the infant maintains to the mother, is
stimulus reduction, switch of attention onto strong at a ` period of life after the child is ca-
stimuli of little novelty, or generation of re- pable of free and independent locomotion but
petitive stimulation. before he is able to fend for himself in an
emergency' (Bowlby, 1958).
Amongst human infants, the evidence for
displacement activity would be stronger if ear- The criteria of attachment in a study of this
flicking and thumb-sucking could be shown to nature are the factors which assist the identifi-
be occurring out of their normal functional cation of a mother-infant pair under field con-
context. ‘Brief skin-care activities’ such as ditions.
9Anderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
In a few minutes of liberty a child will external events like a noise in the distance or
give evidence of his affiliation by: passing animal; only the mother's attention is
sought in such circumstances and the orienta-
(1) frequently running to and from the
tion response, in addition to the purposes al-
mother;
ready mentioned, re-locates, for the infant, the
(2) keeping within sight or sound of the mother's whereabouts when he turns to look at
mother; her.
(3) stopping for longer by the mother's There is probably survival value in the infant's
side than he does when he is away tendency to use gestures out of context and with
from her; no expectation of a response from people. For
there is no evidence that fear of a specific class
(4) glancing at the mother from a distance; of object (strangers, animals) operates in its ab-
on the move he orients him-self to two sence to keep the child close to his mother. Per-
objects simultaneously, looking back sistence 'in the use of gestures such as raising the
to the mother while moving away from arms to be lifted, reaching for unattainable ob-
her or at something afar when he is re- jects and pointing to imaginary novelties suggests
turning to her; a prolongation of that medium of communication
(5) physical contact of a quick make-and- (overlapping with speech development) the func-
break nature, not prolonged, as in the tional significance of which would be to increase
case of other higher primates at a com- the probability of a response from the mother and
parable age. other adults in the vicinity. By rendering con-
spicuous the sight of an unescorted infant, gestur-
These standards can only be disrupted by ing would protect him against some dangers
the presence of other children who come to which his new locomotor ability, coupled with
play in the vicinity. Once the infant has joined inadequate distance vision, could lead him to.
two or three age-mates, he will go farther The identification of a particular infant amongst
from the mother than usual and may stay away his age-mates is, of course, assisted by the sight
until she fetches him. of his arm movements, owing to the individual
The ability to maintain contact also breaks differences between children in this medium of
down if the mother moves away unexpectedly. expression.
Once mother and infant are on the move, an Finally there are some internal conditions of the
illusion of successful following can be given infant, such as being cold, hungry or ready for
when a mother waits frequently on her route, sleep, exerting an influence on proximity-seeking.
for whenever she stops the child's ability to The most obvious one seen in the open is that of
regain contact with a stationary mother takes fatigue, the signs of which are those given by in-
effect. fants at bed-time and which are observed to occur
Other criteria belong to the areas of ex- in some situations of conflict. Behaviours in fatigue
pression and communication. Returning to and conflict may be connected through a common
greet the mother, especially by touching and state which would subserve the function of attach-
putting two arms up to be lifted are behav- ment out of doors. For, although in fatigue, as in
iours rarely directed to anyone but the mother, sleep, the child's interest is withdrawn from exter-
though the newly-walking have been seen to nal stimulation, the mother's taking him on to her
approach and cling to companions of the knee, cradling and talking to him, substitutes an-
mother, and even to strangers. Picking up other kind of stimulation one which is not incom-
small objects from the ground to take back to patible with his going to sleep. The occurrence of
the mother is a good indicator of affiliation, such a common state, recognizable by the signs of
but if another woman offers to accept what the tiredness as the child turned to face the mother
infant has retrieved, he may playfully bring when a remote stimulus competed for his orienta-
back things to her. The infant's waving to a tion during a bout of following, would have an
person is no guide at all to the degree of fa- adaptive value in that stimuli from afar, likely to
miliarity with him. The best way to identify a produce in the child decreased proximity to the
mother-infant pair is to see whom a child mother, would become blocked in favour of stimu-
looks at when he is astonished or startled by lation provided by her.
10Anderson Attachment Behaviour Out of Doors
In work in progress, sequences of behaviour are Smart, M. S. and Smart, R. C. (1967). Chil-
related to finer groupings within the 1 to 3-year-old dren : Development and Relation-ships. New
age range. Besides randomly drawn cases, a sample York : Macmillan.
of infants provided by volunteer mothers who at-
tend Infant Welfare Clinics is under observation in Tinbergen, N. (1951). The Study of Instinct. Ox-
field conditions. ford: Clarendon Press
Acknowledgements
The pilot study reported above forms an intro-
duction to a three-year project on attachment be-
haviour in human infants from walking age to 3-
plus, which is made possible by the award of a
Leverhulme Trust Fellow-ship through the Mental
Health Research Fund. The work is registered for
the degree of Ph.D. under the supervision of Pro-
fessor Brian Foss, Institute of Education and Dr J.
Bowlby, The Tavistock Clinic. For introduction of
the concept of the orientation response into this
study, I am indebted to a suggestion by Professor
R. A. Hinde.
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Burnside, L. H. (1927). Coordination in the
locomotion of infants. Genet. Psychol.
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Delius, J. D. (1967). Displacement activities
and arousal. Nature, Lond. 214, 1259-60.
Grant, E. C. (1968). An ethological description
of non-verbal behaviour during interviews.
Br. J. Med. Psychol. 41, 177-83.
Hamburg, D. A. (1969). Observation of
mother-infant interaction in primate field
studies. In Determinants of Infant Behaviour.
Ed. B. M. Foss, London: Methuen.
Hediger, H. (1955). Studies of the Psychology and
Behaviour of Captive Animals in Zoos and
Circuses. London : Butterworth.
Rowell, T. E. and Hinde, R. A. (1963). Responses
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