attachment

Question 1

what is reciprocity?

Answer 1

a description of how two people interact. caregiver- infant interactions is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to each others signals and each elicit a response from the other.

Question 2

what are alert phases?

Answer 2

babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ in which they signal eg. making eye contact. that they are ready for a spell of interaction.
research shows that mothers typically pick up on and respond to their babies alertness around two thirds of the time- feldman and eidelman 2007- although this varies according to the skill of the mother and external factors like skills.

Question 3

what is active involvement ?

Answer 3

traditional views of childhood have portrayed babies in a passive role, receiving care from the adult. , however it seems that babies take quite an active role like caregivers.

brazelton 1975 described this interaction as a dance as they respond to one another.

Question 4

what is interactional synchrony?

Answer 4

caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co ordinated (synchronised) way.

Question 5

when does synchrony begin ?

Answer 5

meltzoff and moore 1977 observed the beginning of IS in babies as young as two weeks old.
an adult displayed one of three distincts facial expressions or one of three distinct hand gestures.

Question 6

why do IS and reciprocity have importance for attachment?

Answer 6

isabella 1989 observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony. the research also assessed the quality of mother baby attachment. they found that high levels of IS were associated with better quality. mother baby relationship.

Question 7

what are the different stages of attachment ? -

Answer 7

1. asocial stage - inanimate objects and human response is similar - first couple of weeks
2. indiscriminate attachment- 2-7 months show a clear preference of being with humans - prefer company of familiar people.
3. specific attachment - from around 7 months - show attachment towards one person - show anxiety to separation and strangers
4. multiple attachment - shortly after babies show attachment behaviour. 29% of babies formed more then one attachment a month after there first attachment.

Question 8

who developed the stages of attachment?

Answer 8

schaffer and emerson

1964

Question 9

what is the attachment to fathers?

Answer 9

schaffer and emerson 1964 found that the majority of babies first became attached to the mothers. at around 7 months.

only 3% of cases the father was the first attachment.

27% of cases the father was the joint first attachment.

75% of the babies found secure attachment with father by 18 months.

Question 10

what is the distinctive role of fathers?

Answer 10

grossmann 2002carried out a longitudinal study where babies attachments was measure until their teens. - looked at both parents behaviour.

babies attachment with mothers but not fathers affected adolescent attachment.

grossman found that quality of fathers play was related to quality of later attachment

fathers have different role the mothers

Question 11

what are fathers as primary attachment figures?

Answer 11

distinction between secondary and primary caregivers.

primary attachment has important emotional attachment. and significance.

babies later attachment is based on the quality of the primary attachment bond.

tiffany field 1978 filmed four month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers.
primary caregiver mothers like primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and and holding babies then secondary caregiver fathers.

potential to be more emotionally focused

Question 12

what are animal studies?

Answer 12

these studies are created out on non human animal species rather then on humans either for ethical or practical reasons.

Question 13

what is lorenz research?

Answer 13

lorenz 1952 first observed the phenomenon of imprinting when he was a child and a neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling that then followed him around.

Question 14

what was the procedure of lorenz research?

Answer 14

set up a classic experiment in which he randomly divided a large clutch of geese eggs. half the eggs were hatched with the mother and the other half in the incubator where the first movement they would see would be lorenz

Question 15

what was the findings of lorenz study?

Answer 15

the incubator group followed lorenz everywhere whereas the control group - the mother geese group, followed her.

identified a critical period where imprinting takes place - depending on the species this can be as critical as hours.
other wise mother figure would not be made.

Question 16

lorenz - what is sexual imprinting?

Answer 16

investigated how imprinting affected mate preferences.

imprinted babies on humans would then display courtship to the humans- mate preference.
case study 1952 - described a peacock that had been reared in a reptile house of where the first moving object they saw was a giant tortoise

courtship only towards tortoises - sexual imprinting

Question 17

what was harlow’s research?

Answer 17

harlow carried out on of the most important animal studies - forming our understanding of attachment

rhesus monkeys - much more similar to humans then lorenz birds.

Question 18

harlow- what is the importance of contact comfort?

Answer 18

harlow found that newborns kept in a cage alone in a bare cage often died but that they usually survived when given something to cuddle like a cloth

Question 19

what was harlow’s procedure?

Answer 19

1958 tested the idea that soft objects serves some functions of a mother.
one experiment he reared 16 monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’
in one conditions milk was dispensed by the plain wire monkey and other was dispensed by cloth monkey.

Question 20

what were harlows findings?

Answer 20

the baby monkeys cuddled the cloth mother in preference to the plain wire - even if the wire mother was dispensing milk. - contact comfort more important than food when it came to attachment.

Question 21

what happened to the maternally deprived monkeys as adults?

Answer 21

permanent effects...
most dysfunctional 
more aggressive 
less sociable 
bred less
unskilled at mating 
when they did become mothers- they would neglect or even kill their young.

Question 22

what is the critical period for normal development - harlow’s research ..

Answer 22

a mother figure had to introduced to a baby 90 days for a attachment to form. after this attachment was impossible and the damage was irreversible

Question 23

what is the learning theory in relations to attachment ?

Answer 23

a set of theories from the behaviourist approach that emphasises the roles of learning in the acquisition of behaviour - CC and OC

Question 24

who came up with the learning theory as an explanation of attachment?

Answer 24

dollard and miller 1950

approach called ‘cupboard love’ - emphasises the importance of an attachment figure as a provider of food.

Question 25

what is classical conditioning in the relation to attachment?

Answer 25

food serves UcS
being fed gives us pleasure - UcR
a caregiver starts as a NS
when the caregiver provides food over time they become associated with food.
NS ( caregiver) turns to CS
and the UcR ( pleasure of being fed) turns into a CS
pleasure response is then love - attachment is formed

Question 26

what is operant conditioning in relation to attachment?

Answer 26

operant conditioning involves learning something from the consequences of behaviour. 
pleasant consequence = reinforced behaviour 
unpleasant consequence (punishment) = less likely to be repeated

explains why babies cry for comfort.
crying = unpleasant consequence for caregiver
crying initiates feeding, cuddles or interaction for the baby = reinforces the behaviour of crying

Question 27

what is attachments secondary drive? in the learning theory…

Answer 27

concept of drive reduction theory
hunger - primary drive -innate biological motivator
sears 1957 suggested that caregivers provide food - drive of hunger become generalised - attachment is thus secondary attachment

Question 28

what is Bowlby’s theory in the terms of attachment?

Answer 28

bowlby 1988 rejected learning theory as an explanation of attachment. - looked at the work of lorenz and harlow- evolutionary explanation.

attachment is an innate system that gives a survival advantage.

monotropic theory

Question 29

what is monotropy- in attachment

Answer 29

1958-1969 is described as monotropic because he placed emphasis on a child’s attachment to one particular person.

bowlby called this the ‘mother’ but didn’t need to be the biological mother or even a female.

Question 30

what were the two laws of Bowlby’s monotropy?

Answer 30

the law of continuity - stated that more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better quality of their attachment.

the law of accumulated separation - stated the effects of every separation from the mother adds up ‘ and the safest dose is therefore zero dose’

Question 31

what are the social releasers and critical period?

Answer 31

bowlby suggested that babies were born with a set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours. wg. smiling , cooing and gripping adults. this is social releasers.

critical period around 6 months when the infants attachment system is active. - which may extend to the ages of 2.

Question 32

what is the internal working model?

Answer 32

bowlby proposed a baby creates a mental representation of their relationship with their own primitive figure. - IWM

a child whose first attachment is loving and reliable tend to form these expectations in later relationships.

Question 33

what is ainsworth’s strange situation?

Answer 33

strange situation is developed by mary ainsworth and silvia bell in 1969. the aim was to be able to observe key attachment behaviours.

Question 34

what was the procedure of ainsworths situation?

Answer 34

controlled observation, designed to measure the security of babies attachments. eg laboratory environment.

with a two way mirror and cameras from which the researchers observed the babies behaviour.

Question 35

what were the behaviours being judged?

Answer 35

proximity seeking- a baby with good quality attachment would stay fairly close to the caregiver.

exploration and secure base behaviour- good attachment enables a baby to feel confident to explore.

stranger anxiety - protest separation from the caregiver

separation anxiety - protest against separation.

response to reunion- babies who are securely attached greet their caregiver when they return.

Question 36

what are the seven episodes (that last 3 minutes) of ainsworths procedure?

Answer 36

baby and caregiver enter play room

2. baby is encourages to explore
3. the stranger comes in and talks to the caregivers
4. the caregiver leaves the stranger with the baby
5. the caregiver returns and the stranger leaves
6. the caregiver leaves the baby alone
7. the stranger returns
8. the caregiver returns and is reunited with the baby

Question 37

what were the findings of ainsworth’s study?

Answer 37

1978 three main types of attachment:

secure attachment (type b) 60-75% british babies 
insecure avoidant attachment (type A) 20-25%  
insecure resistant attachment (type C) around 3%

Question 38

what is Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

Answer 38

earlier then his monotropic theory bowlby also proposed the theory of maternal deprivation.
1953- - ‘ mother love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as vitamins and proteins are for psychical health.

Question 39

what is separation vs deprivation in bowlby’s maternal deprivation?

Answer 39

separation means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure

this only becomes a problem if the child becomes deprived of emotional care- which can happen even if the mother is present such as depression.

Question 40

what is the critical period in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation?

Answer 40

saw the first two and half years of a child’s life asbein being the critical period. he also suggested that there was continues risk until the age of 5.

Question 41

what are the effects on development of maternal deprivation?

Answer 41

intellectual development and emotional development is effected.
abnormally low IQ level and this has been demonstrated in studies of adoption. william goldfarb found lower IQ in children who had remaindered i a institution as opposed to those who were fostered.

emotional development is effected. affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions from others. this prevents a person from developing a normal relationship.

Question 42

what was Bowlby’s research in maternal deprivation?

Answer 42

1944 44 thieves study. consisted of44 teenage criminals accused of stealing all thieves was interviewed off characteristics of affectionless psychopathy
14 out of 44 were suggested to have affectionless psychopathy and 12 of those 14 havehad prolonged separation from their mothers.

Question 43

what is the internal working model?

Answer 43

our mental representation of the world eg representations we have our relationship to our primary attachment figure this modeleffects our latr relationships.

Question 44

bowlby 1969 and his suggestion of the internal work-in model.

Answer 44

quality of first attachments important as it effects their adult relationships.a child with a bad experience as their first attachment will bring bad experiences on later relationships

Question 45

wilson and peter smith 1998 relationships in childhood…

Answer 45

smith and wilson assessed attachment type ad bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 in london. secure children were unlikely to involved in bullying ad insecure avoidant is most likely to be the victims ad insecure avoidant are more likely to be the people doing the bullying.

Question 46

effects of attachment in relationships through adulthood.

Answer 46

mccarthy 1999 studied 40 adult women who had been assessed when the were baisto establish there early attachment. those who were securely attached they found had the best adult friendships.

there early attachment may also make it more difficult for them o raise their own children.