11.1 Attachment Flashcards
What were the two theories about why children share a special bond with their parents?
- behaviourist theory: children learn to stay close to parents to get food
- attachment theory: children need comfort from parents
Which experiment did Harlow do, what were the results, and what did these results show?
- experiment:
- put baby monkeys with soft cloth vs metal wire “mothers”
- recorded how much time they spent on each one
- results:
- all monkeys spent more time on cloth mothers
- monkeys fed by wire “mothers” increased time spent on cloth mothers as they got older
- interpretation:
- monkeys need comfort from parents
- babies need more than just physical needs met
What did Harlow’s propose about the purpose of children’s attachment to their parents?
- in new situations, monkeys self-soothe if alone, but cling to mother then explore if with soft cloth “mother”
- children use parents as “safe base” in new situations
How did Bowlby extend Harlow’s ideas about the purpose of children’s attachment to their parents?
- infants want to become competent
- so they use their parents to feel secure as they explore their environment
- to learn new knowledge and skills
- but when they feel threatened, they go back to their parents to feel safe again
What benefits does attachment have ?
- survival: keeps food and protection close
- security: feeling of safety to explore word
- co-regulation: helps regulate emotions
- internal model: gives understanding of relationships in general
How does the development of attachment depend on nature and nurture?
- nature: learning biases, e.g. tendency to look at faces, is the basis from which attachment develops, so everyone will always develop some kind of attachment
- nurture: which kind of attachment develops depends almost entirely on parents
What is an internal working model of attachment?
- general idea about how relationships work in general
- based on how much a child thinks they can trust their parents to give them what they need
- influences
- adjustment
- social behaviour
- perceptions of others
- self-esteem
How does parents’ behaviour affect their children’s internal working model of attachment?
- If parents accessible and responsive, then children
- expect relationships to help them
- feel they deserve care and love
- become adults who expect relationships to be secure
- If parents unavailable or unresponsive, then children
- have negative ideas of relationships
- feel that they are not good enough
What is attachment?
a measure of how a child thinks and feels about an adult
How is attachment measrued?
- observing children’s behaviours with a certain adult (e.g. in the strange situation)
- interviewing the child and the adults in their life about behaviours and quality of relationship
What did Ainsworth say were the two factors that measure the quality of an infant’s attachment to their parent?
- how good of a secure base the parent is for the infant
- how the infant reacts when taken away from or put back together with the parent
Which procedure did Ainsworth design?
- Strange Situation
- child and parent come together into room with toys
- child exposed to episodes
- together with parent
- parent goes away (separation)
- parent comes back (reunion)
- interactions with stranger with and without parent
- observers rate child’s behaviours
- asking parent for comfort
- avoiding parent
- interactions with stranger
- language and gestures to parent
Which patterns of attachment did Ainsworth describe?
- secure
- insecure-resistant
- insecure-avoidant
- disorganized/disoriented
Which behaviours do children with a secure attachment style show?
- explore
- check on parent
- only a little sad when parent leaves
- glad to see parent at reunion
- parent calms them
Which behaviours do children with an insecure-resistant style show?
- do not explore, stay with parent
- cry a lot when parent leaves
- goes to parent when they come back, but rejects parent’s comforting
Which behaviours do children with an insecure-avoidant attachment style show?
- avoid parent
- do not go to parent when they come back
- comforted equally by strangers as by parent
Which behaviours do children with a disorganized/disoriented attachment style show?
- want to approach but are also afraid of parent
- confused and contradictory actions
- afraid while still approaching parent
- at first calm but then suddenly angry
- look like they don’t know where they are/what is going on
- freeze and remain still for a long time
What are some criticisms of Ainsworth’s strange situation?
- lots of resources
- attachment is not categories but instead a spectrum of different dimensions
- situation is not “strange” anymore because children usually have babysitters, daycares, etc.
What effect does going to childcare (садик) have on children’s attachment styles?
- normal- and high-quality childcare does not decrease secure attachment
- low-quality childcare can decrease secure attachment
- high-quality childcare can actually increase secure attachment (compensate) if parents are insensitive and unresponsive
What are the three reasons for differences in attachment?
- genetics
- parental sensitivity
- culture
Which parental behaviours cause secure attachment?
- responsive
- sensitive
- affectionate
- expressive
- hugging, holding, etc.
Which parental behaviours cause insecure-avoidant attachment?
- insensitive
- avoids contact
- rejects child’s hugs, holding, etc.
- angry, irritable (раздражительный), impatient (нетерпеливый)
Which parental behaviours cause insecure-resistant attachment?
- inconsistent
- awkward
- overwhelmed (подавленный)
Which parental behaviours cause disorganized/disoriented attachment?
- intrustive (навязчивый, назойливый)
- unavailable
- confuses and frightens the child
- harsh (суровый, жесткий, резкий) and abusive
