area 5 child psychology Flashcards
what is an attachment?
an affectional tie that one person or animal forms between himself and another specific one.
what do western cultures see attachment as?
between mother and child as mother plays main role in child rearing
what is the critical period for developing an attatchment?
first 3 years of a child life
can be a sensetive period after after 3 y/o
how did Dollard & Miller (1950) used the concepts of classical conditioning to explain attachment?
Using food as an unlearned response in the baby (UCS) and pleasure is the UCR. Mother is the NS and eventually becomes the CS and pleasure again to the mother is the CR.
how did Dollard & Miller (1950) used the concepts of operant conditioning to explain attachment?
behaviour that produces a pleasurable consequence is likely to be repeated.
Baby crying – mother feeds – baby finds pleasurable so crying is reinforced and behaviour will occur again (positive reinforcement)
By feeding or comforting the baby the caregiver gives relief from an unpleasant stimuli (crying), this is negatively reinforced and makes the caregiver’s reponse more likely to be repeated.
how did dollard and miller explain attatchment in terms of drive reduction?
Attachment is explained in terms of motivations.
Babies have an innate, biological drives that motivate their behaviour
Primary drives: hunger & thirst
Caregiver is a secondary reinforcer as baby learns to associate them with the primary drive.
Attachment is therefore secondary (learned) drive thought its association with an innate primary drive.
what is the cupboard of love theory?
by freud/ainsworth
baby wants the mother so cries to get her attention
A baby will cry when it is uncomfortable, hungry, tired lonely. As the child cries the main carer responds and put right whatever is wrong.
The child then associates (classical conditioning) the carer with the feeling good and so eventually the carer produces that ‘feel good’ response even if not providing food etc.
The child is reinforced by crying as the carer appears and removes something unpleasant (negative reinforcement) and so learns to produce the crying again to get the positive response.
what is lorenza’s theory of imprinting?
attachment was innate and genetically programmed through studies on geese.
suggests there is critical period for attachment and there is survival instinct for attachment. Once attachment is formed it cannot be reversed.
how did lorenza study imprinting?
Half were placed in an incubator and half under mother goose. The first thing the goose saw would be the mother if under the mother and Lorenza if they were in the incubator
Lorenza found that the geese that who were in the incubator followed Lorenza and the ones under the mother followed the mother
how does harlow believe attatchemnts are formed?
attachments are formed with their mothers through ‘tactile comfort’.
This suggests that infants have an innate need to touch or cling to something for emotional comfort.
how did harlow study his ‘tactile comfort’ theory of attacthment?
by studying monkeys
what did harlow find?
Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother (even if she had no milk). The infant would only go to the wire mother when hungry.
If a frightening object was placed in the cage the infant took refuge with the cloth mother (its safe base).
early maternal deprivation leads to emotional damage but that its impact could be reversed in monkeys if an attachment was made before the end of the critical period.
what is bolwbys core belief of attachment?
believed attachment was innate behaviour used to ensure the survival of the baby, we are re disposed to form attatchments
wha are the 2 main parts to bowlbys theory of intelligence?
monotropic hypothersis
maternal deprivation hypothersis
what is the monotropic hypothersis?
atattchment is formed between child and 1 primary caregiver only
there is a critical period of 2 years, and there is a risk of child forming affectionless psychopathy if not
attacthment relationship is a model for future relationships an internal working model known as the continuity hypothesis
what is the internal working model?
is child is loved and has positive relationship they have a secure attatchment
if child is unloved and rejected they have a avoidant attachment
if child is treated angry and confused by parents they have a resistant attatchmen
what is the maternal deprivation hypothersis?
where the child forms a bond with the mother but this was took away, there is less risk that they will become an emotionless psychopath but still some risk
this can be due to death in young years, adoption, care, mother in prison
how did bowlby study his theory fo maternal deprivation?
in his 44 theives study where he found that more than half juvenille delinquents had been seperated form their mothers during their first 5 years. some even displayed affectionlees psychopathy
how did rutter extend the maternal deprivation theory?
said that there could be maternal privation where no bond ahs been formed at all can be in cases such as death in childbirth.
what did schaffer and emmerson find about stages of attatchment?
up to 3 mo- indisriminate attachments
after 4 mo- specific attatchments (multiple)
after 7 moths- single attachment figure
9 mo- multiple attachments
how did shcaffer and emerson study stages of attachment?
carried out a longitudinal study on 60 babies at monthly intervals from birth to 18 months. From the observation of infant – carer interactions and the behaviours when carers left the child alone, they identified a series of stages for the development within the sample.
what did emerson find that opposed bowlby?
main attachment figure was not always the mother; it was the person who responded most accurately to the baby’s signals and this was not necessarily the person they spend the most time with. This is known as sensitive responsiveness .
what is the continuity hypothersis?
Based upon Bowlby’s idea of an internal working model of relationships
It proposes a direct link between the internal working model and future relationships.
