1.3 - Attachment (set C Strange Situation, Istitutionalisation and Early Attachment) Flashcards
Explain the role of Mary Ainsworth regarding Bowlby’s research?
Provided important evidence for his theory - eg the concept of the attachment figures as a secure base
- Ainsworth was particularly focused on different attachment types - her method of assessing attachment types continues to be the standard test
Explain the aim of the strange situation?
Ainsworth (1971-1978) devised the strange situation to be able to systematically test the nature of attachment
- aim to see how infants aged between 9 and 18 months behave under conditions of mild stress
Outline the procedure of the strange situation?
Consists of 8 episodes - each designed to hilight certain behaviours (secure-base behaviour, separation anxiety, reunion behaviour and stranger anxiety)
- data recorded using one way mirror, observations were of 12-18 month olds and their mothers
Outline what took place between each stage of the strange situation and the behvaiour recorded - Give steps 1 - 3?
1 - mother and infant go into room together
2 - mother sits down, placing the child on the floor where its free to explore - tests secure-base
3 - stranger enters the room and talks to mother, before leaning towards infant and trying to engage with them - tests for stranger anxiety
Outline what took place between each stage of the strange situation and the behvaiour recorded - Give steps 4 - 6?
4 - mother leaves baby alone with stranger, who tries to comfort it and play with it - tests for separation anxiety
5 - mother returns, stranger leaves - tests reunion behaviour
6 - mother leaves the room, infant is alone - tests separation anxiety
Outline what took place between each stage of the strange situation and the behvaiour recorded - Give steps 7 and 8?
7 - the strange returns, tries to comfort the child - tests stranger anxiety
8 - mother returns, stranger leaves - tests reunion behaviour
Outline the finings of the strange situation experiment?
clear distinct patterns in the way infants behaved - developed and classified infants into 3 groups (insecure avoidant, secure attachment and insecure resistant)
Give the 3 types of attachments - give the percentage of infants for each one?
- insecure avoidant attachment - 20%
- secure attachment - 68%
- insecure resistant - 12%
Outline features of insecure avoidant attachment (type A)?
- explores but does not come back and use mother as a safe base (secure base)
- Infant shows no signs of distress when mother leaves (separation anxiety)
- Infant is not distressed with the stranger and plays with the stranger (stranger anxiety)
- infant shows no interest and avoids contact when mother returns (Reunion behaviour)
Outline features of secure attachment (type B)?
- will use mother as a safe base to explore the environment (secure base)
- Mildly distressed when mother leaves (separation anxiety)
- Wary of stranger when alone but friendly when mother is present (stranger anxiety)
- Happy when mother returns (reunion behaviour)
Outline features of insecure resistant attachment (type C)?
- infant does not explore (secure base)
- Infant shows signs of intense distress (separation anxiety)
- Complete avoidance with stranger, significant distress when interacting with the stranger
- Child seeks/approaches mother, but resists contact, pushes her away (reunion behaviour)
Give the 4 types of behaviours assessed?
- use of parent as secure base
- separation anxiety
- stranger anxiety
- reunion behaviour
Give 2 strengths for Ainsworth strange situation experiment?
- observations are reliable - high inter-observer reliability (almost perfect agreement between panel of judges)
- real world application - intervention strategies can be developed to tackle situations where disordered patterns of attachment develop
Give 2 weaknesses for Ainsworth strange situation experiment?
- low internal validity - criticism over wether it measures the attachment type of a child or wether it measures the quality of one particular relationship (may be different between father and mother)
- later research found Ainsworth overlooked a fourth attachment type - original conclusion were oversimplified and did not account for all attachment behaviours
Explain how cultural variations contrast to Bowlby’s theory?
Bowlby suggested attachment evolved to provide protection for the infant, enhancing its survival - this would imply secure attachment should be the optimal form for all humans - not the case, type of attachments varies in different cultures
Explain a major way culture can differ between regions - give an example of two types of cultures?
Individualist culture (western) values independence and the importance of the individual - collectivist cultures (Japan) emphasise the importance of group and community
Eg insecure avoidant more common in individualist culture
Studies of cultural variations experiments
Explain the procedure of the meta-analysis experiment carried out by van IJzendoorn and kroonenberg?
Conducted meta-analysis of the findings from 32 studies on attachment behaviour (over 2000 strange situation classifications in 8 countries)
- observing wether there would be evidence of inter-cultural differences (differences between different cultures/countries) and intra-cultural differences (differences within same cultures)
Explain the findings from the meta-analysis carried out by van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg?
- Secure attachment was the most common classification in every country
- insecure-avoidant attachment was second most common in every country - expect Japan and Israel (collectivist)
What can be concluded about attachment types from van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s meta-analysis?
Global pattern across cultures is similar to that found in the US - secure attachment is the ‘norm’, most common in all countries
- suggests secure attachment is ‘best’ for healthly social and emotional development
- supports view attachment is innate and biological
What 2 strengths of IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s meta-analysis?
- overall the sample size is large - less chance of confounding variables affecting results (involved 1990 babies)
- Secure attachment were the most common in all cultures studies - showed the findings were consistent
What 3 weaknesses of IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s meta-analysis?
- 18 out of the 32 studies were carried out in America - skewed sample / unrepresentative of global population
- Strange situation was designed for US, ethnocentrism (designed around a certain culture and does not represent the global population)
- The socio-economic status of the infant may influence results
Outline findings from Grossman and Grossman study on cultural differences?
Found higher levels of insecure attachment amongst German infants than in other cultures
- German culture involved keeping some interpersonal distance between parents and infants - so infants do not engage in proximity-seeking behaviours in the stranger situation so appear insecurely attached
Outline findings from Takahashi’s study on cultural differences?
- found similar rates of secure attachment to ainsworth
- found 0 infants were insecure avoidant and that infants were particular distressed being left alone (90% didn’t compete the whole procedure due to extreme stress)
what can be concluded from Grossmanns and Takahashi’s study on cultural differences?
- there are cross-cultural differences in raising children producing different reactions to the strange situations
- the strongest attachments are still formed with the infants mother
Explain how Grossmanns and tekahashis study on cultural differences is evidence that Ijzendoorn and kroonenbergs study is not generalisable?
Findings show cross-cultural differences in raising children produce different reactions to the strange situations
Eg - prominent collectivist culture meant infants were not exposed to being alone much and therefore struggle when they experience it
Outline Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
- proposed that prolonged emotional deprivation would have long term consequences in terms of emotional development
- Deprivation from main caregiver (mother) during critical period (5 years) will result in harmful effects
Explain Bowlbys beliefs regarding maternal deprivation?
- believed continuous care from a mother is essential for normal psychological development
- Separation from this adult causes serious damage - as the internal working model may be impacted - leading to inability to be a good parent ext
Explain the procedure of Bowlbys 44 juvenile thieves study?
He studied 88 children at his clinic (44 had been caught stealing) and the other 44 were the control group
- Bowlby suggested some of the ‘thieves’ were psychopaths as they lacked normal signs of affection, shame or responsibility which enabled them to be thieves
Explain the findings of the 44 juvenile thieves study conducted by bowlby?
- those diagnosed as affections thieves had experienced frequent early separations from their mothers (86% of the affectionless thieves)
- 39% of all thieves experienced early separations
- almost none of the control participants experienced early separations
What can be concluded from the 44 juvenile thieves study conducted by bowlby?
Early separations are linked to affection-less psychopathy - lack of continuous care may cause emotional maladjustment
What did bowlby say was the long term consequence of maternal deprivation?
Emotional maladjustment or event mental health problems (eg depression)
- supported by the findings from the 44 thieves study - 39% of all thieves had experienced separations (consisting of continual or repeated visits in foster homes or hospitals with little family visits)
What did Bowlby say about the critical period regarding maternal deprivation?
Denial of care and separation towards the infant will only lead to emotional damage if it is during the critical period (2.5 years)
- risk can be up to 5 years if their is no substitute mother person
What did Bowlby say about the value of maternal care?
Well-feeding and keeping the infant safe and warm is not enough instead they need a ‘warm, intimate and continuous relationship’ with the mother to ensure normal mental health
Outline the real world application of Bowlbys work on maternal deprivation - mention spitz and wolfs research as evidence?
Changed how children were looked after in hospitals - no longer separated from parents
Spitz and wolf research found that babies separated from mothers in prison at 3 months but received regular visits thrived, while those that received no visits in the orphanage displayed development delays
Outline 4 consequences of maternal deprivation?
• risk of becoming an affection less psychopathy
• Turing to delinquency and committing small crimes eg vandalism,antisocial behaviour ext
• Lower cognitive abilities
• Problems forming relationships
Explain the findings from Bowlby and Robertsons further research on maternal deprivation?
Observed children experiencing intense distress when separated from their mothers - found three progressive stages of distress
- protest
- despair
- detachment
Outline the 3 different stages of distress investigated by Bowlby and Robertson - explain the features of each?
- protest - child cries, and protests angrily when the parent leaves , tries to cling onto the parent
- despair - child’s protesting begins to stop appear calmer although still upset, refuses other attempt to comfort
- detachment - child begins to engage with other people, reject caregiver on return
Outline the advantages/strengths of Bowlby’s work on maternal deprivation?
- provides research support for his maternal deprivation hypothesis
- His research is influential in this area of attachment
- Has impact child care practises (eg adoption or orphanages)
Outline the disadvantages/weaknesses of Bowlby’s work on maternal deprivation?
- research for the 44 thieves is only correlational - can’t say the separations from the mother caused the behaviour
- Failed to explain why the two in the control (who had prolonged separation) did not become delinquent
- Investigator effects - Bowlby got the children from his clinic to participate - could have tried to prove his hypothesis
outline the problem of Bowlby’s research on maternal deprivation regarding the fact it was conducted at his own clinic - how could he have avoided this?
Investigator effects - he got the children from his clinic to participate - may have picked the children he thought would best prove his hypothesis is true
- could have overcome investigator bias by using random sampling or having someone else pick the names
