1) Attachment - Evaluation Flashcards
Give two limitations to Lorenz’s animal research
P - His research involved birds which cannot be fully generalised to humans.
E - The mammalian attachment system is different from birds.
E - e.g Mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to their young.
L - This means that it is inappropriate to generalise Lorenz’s research to humans.
P - Lorenz’s observations has been questioned.
E - With the idea that imprinting has a permanent effect on mating behaviour; Guiton et al found that chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults but with experience they eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens.
L - This suggests that the impact if imprinting may not be as permanent as Lorenz believed.
Give a limitation for Harlow’s research
P - There are ethical issues
E - The monkeys which were raised without a mother would have experienced trauma.
E - Monkeys are considered similar to humans so they would share the same kind of suffering.
CA - Could be justified as Harlow’s research is very valuable.
Give two strengths of Harlow’s research
P - There is theoretical value t the research.
E - Showed that attachment does not form by food but by contact comfort.
E - Through this, the importance of the quality of early relationships for later social development was also shown.
P - Harlow’s research has a lot of application value.
E - e.g Has helped social workers understand the risk of neglect and abuse.
E - Therefore they help prevent it.
Give two limitations of the learning theory of attachment
P - There is counter evidence from animal research.
E - Lorenz’s geese showed that they imprinted regardless of being fed.
or
Harlow’s monkey’s attached to the cloth monkey instead of the wire monkey.
E - Since learning theorists believe that these theories could be applied to humans and animals, it should be clear that feeding is not required.
P - There is counter evidence from human research showing that feeding is not required.
E - Schaffer and Emerson’s study showed that babies developed primary attachment to their biological mothers although other carers did more feeding.
E - Contradicts learning theory as it shows that there is no UCS or primary drive.
Give a strength to the learning theory of attachment
Newer learning theory
P - Attachment can be explained by social learning theory.
E - Behaviours are the result of modelling
E - Children can learn to love their parents by modelling attachment behaviours and then rewarding them with approval.
Give two strengths of Bowlby’s monotropic theory
Support for Social Releasers
P - Clear evidence showing that cute behaviours are intended to initiate interaction so they are important for the infant.
E - Brazelton et al observed the interactions between mothers and babies and reported cases of interactional synchrony.
The observation became an experiment where the primary attachment figures were instructed to ignore the social releasers.
Initially they showed distress but after some time they curled up and laid motionless.
E - This strong response supports Bowlby’s ideas about the significance of social releasers.
Support for Internal Working Model
P - IWM is testable as it predicts that attachment patterns will be passed on from one generation to the next.
E - Bailey et al assessed 99 mothers on the quality of attachment through interviews.
The attachment to the mothers own children was also observed.
E - Mothers that described their attachment to their mothers as poor were most likely to have children who are poorly attached.
L - This supports Bowlby’s theory of an IWM being passed down through families.
Give a limitation for Bowlby’s monotropic theory
Mixed evidence for Monotropy
P - Schaffer and Emerson’s study shows mixed evidence for monotropy.
E - They reported that they found that most babies did attach to one person at first but a significant minority were also able to form multiple attachments at the same time.
It is also unclear if the first attachment is unique as studies of attachment to mother and father show that the mother is more important. Although it could mean that it is stronger not different in quality.
E - This contradicts Bowlby’s theory.
As it states that only one attachment is formed and it is unique.
Give two strengths of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Support for Validity
P - Attachment type defined by the SS is strongly predictive of later development.
E - Secure infants typically to be more successful in many areas (e.g relationships) unlike insecure-resistant infants.
E - This provides validity for the SS as it can explain subsequent outcomes.
Good Reliability
P - Shows high inter-rater reliability.
E - When other observers watch the SS they usually agree on the same attachment type.
Confirmed by Bick et al where he found that 94% of the time, trained SS observers agreed.
E - This is due to it being controlled and because the behavioural categories are easy to observe.
L - Therefore we can be confident that the attachment type of an infant is not too subjective.
Give a limitation of the Strange Situation
Culture-bound
P - Could be culture bound.
E - Cultural differences in childhood experiences mean that children respond differently to the SS.
Also
Caregivers respond differently in the SS.
E - Takahashi states that the test does not work in japan as mothers are rarely separated from their babies.
This leads to high levels of separation anxiety.
Give a strength of the cultural variations of the SS
Large Samples
P - A strength is that a large sample is gathered.
E - This is done by combining the results from many attachment studies.
Van Ijzendoorn’s meta analysis involved 2000 babies and their attachment figures.
E - This increases the internal validity of the data gathered as it reduces the effects of bad methodology and individual differences.
Give two limitations of the cultural variations of the SS
Unrepresentative Samples
P - Samples can be unrepresentative of culture
E - Was found by Ijzendoorn that attachment type in Tokyo was similar to western studies than a rural simple.
E - This shows that there could be cultural variations within countries.
L - Meaning that when comparing results between countries, the characteristics of that culture must be specified.
Biased Assessment Method
P - Data may not be able to be applied to other cultures.
E - Uses a British theory (Bowlby) designed by an American (Ainsworth).
By applying theories/assessments to other cultures is a form of imposed etic.
E - This means that results can be interpreted differently; in Germany insecure attachment can be seen as independence rather than a sign of insecurity.
Give two limitations of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation
Poor Evidence
P - Used WWII orphans and children who grew up in poor quality orphanages.
E - War orphans were traumatised and had poor after-care.
Orphaned children were deprived of many aspects of care not just maternal care.
E - The features of a MD child could be due to this which contradicts the theory.
Design Flaws
P - Bowlby’s 44 thieves study has serious design flaws.
E - One is that he conducted the assessments for affectionless psychopathy and family interviews.
E - This reduces the internal validity as he conducted this while knowing what he hoped to find.
Sensitive not Critical Period - Cupboard case
P - Research shows that damage is not inevitable if separation takes place during the critical period.
E - In Czechoslovakia twin boys were isolated from the age of 18 months until 7yrs as they were locked in a cupboard by their step-mother.
Subsequently they were looked after by two loving adults and appeared to fully recover.
E - This suggests that the period identified by Bowlby may be more of a sensitive period than a critical one.
Give two strengths of the Romanian Orphan Study
Real-life Application
P - Enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation
Children can now be cared for better in institutions.
E - Orphanages and children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child, now only one or two key workers.
E - Through a key worker, children are able to develop normal attachments which helps avoid disinhibited attachment.
L - This shows that this research has been impactful through application.
Fewer extraneous variables than other orphan studies
P - Many orphan studies before this involved children who had experienced trauma/loss before institutionalised
E - Such as neglect, abuse or bereavement.
E - It was hard to observe the effects of only institutionalisation as the children were dealing with multiple factors that acted as extraneous variables.
L - Here, it was possible to study this without confounding extraneous variables meaning that there is high internal validity in this study.ss
Give a limitation of the Romanian Orphan study
Cannot be applied
P - It is possible that the conditions could be so bad that results cannot be applied to understanding the impact of institutionalisation.
E - These orphanages had poor standards of care, especially with forming relationships with children.
E - The unusual situational variables mean that the studies could lack generalisability.
Give a strength of the Internal Working Model
Mixed Evidence on Continuity of Attachment Type
P - There is mixed evidence for the effects of an infant’s attachment type on later relationships.
E - Some studies support the IWM such as by McCarthy but studies such as Zimmerman’s do not. HIs study assessed infant attachment types and adolescent attachment to parents .
E - Little evidence of a relationship between quality of infant attachment and adolescent attachment was shown.
L - This shows that the IWM may be inaccurate and other factors may be involved.
