2/23 Pg 201-214

Question 1

Attachment style

Answer 1

pattern of relating to significant others that is based on expectations about how they will respond and that affects perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in close relationships

Question 2

Strange situation

Answer 2

Mary Ainsworth

• examines infant’s reactions in certain unusual and mildly threatening situations, both in the mother’s presence and when the mother has left the room, how the child responds when mother returns
• 1-2 years old
• Same response with repetition

Question 3

Insecure/avoidant attachment

Answer 3

20% of middle-class

• Spontaneously explore more than others do when they are in room alone with mother
• No upset when mother leaves
• Less or no concern toward strangers without mother
• Actively avoid contact with mother when mother returns
• Unconcerned with mothers

Question 4

Secure attachment

Answer 4

70%

• Actively explore when mother is present
• Clearly distress when mother leaves and quite apprehensive toward strangers when alone
• When mother returns, delighted to see her and be friendlier to strangers
• Don’t seem to worry about getting into difficult social situation

Question 5

Insecure/resistant attachment (anxious attachment)

Answer 5

10%

• Much more likely to show distress (especially when mother leaves)
• Less prone to explore even when mother is present
• Initially be more clingy to mother in unfamiliar situations
• Angry when mother returns, despite maintaining close proximity to her
• Seem anxious about whether they can rely on mother

Question 6

Disorganized attachment

Answer 6

• few than 10%, later found
• Insecure and unusually controlling with their parents at same time
• come from homes in which they have been maltreated
• aggressive behavior at preschoolers
• predicts psychopathology in adolescence

Question 7

Indiscriminate attachment

Answer 7

• affectionate and receptive to complete strangers as they are to their primary caregivers
• can be quite unrelated to security of attachment

Question 8

Parent effects on insecure attachment

Answer 8

*Father’s role are more influenced by their attitudes about infants and maternal roles
Mother’s ability to accurately perceive negative emotional states, social cues, maternal anxiety, depression

Question 9

Child effects on insecure attachment

Answer 9

• Traits that make them insecure/behave in ways that cause their parents to respond in ways that then influence the child’s attachment style -> feedback loop
• Difficult to consistently find simple temperament effects
• Traits to extreme arousability/irritability/impulsivity -> reactions to people and situations -> how their parents react -> quality of attachment
• Studies of families with two children and two parents, each child’s attachment style typically stays constant across both parents instead of each parent’s style staying constant across both children
• > children shape styles themselves

Question 10

Interaction of Parent effects and child effects

Answer 10

DRD4: dopamine-related gene help create a temperament

*Caregivers communicate poorly-> increase infant’s risk of showing disorganized attachment style under DRD4

Question 11

Internal working model

Answer 11

Bowlby: mental representation of the self and others and how they might interact in different circumstances

• Different expectations and social cognition
• Securely attached: seek comfort and caregivers respond
• Insecure/resistant: seek comfort and caregivers will not respond
• Insecure/avoidant: avoid seeking comfort and caregivers will not provide
• Expectations-> role of feedback-> strengthen particular kind of attachment style

Question 12

Correlations between infant attachment styles and children’s social interactions

Answer 12

*Secure attachment of Type B
->more successful social abilities
->engaged in more reciprocal interactions with peer
->more positive emotions with stranger at age 3
->more positive emotions, less withdrawn
*Insecure attachment are less desirable in others’ perceptions ->lower interaction skills
*Infant’s temperament causes social difficulties and insecure attachment
(Certain environmental conditions cause insecure attachments and later social patterns

Question 13

Cross-cultural differences in attachment styles

Answer 13

• Japanese has no avoidant attachment but 3 times likely to be anxious
• Strange situation is inadequate across cultures measure due to the degree of “strangeness” that children experience