Attachment Flashcards
What is meant by the term attachment ( 2 marks)
Attachment is an emotional bond between two people
Types of attachment
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Plan
A01- Paragraphs
- Procedure
- placed the babies into 7 different episodes, each one was about 30 seconds - observed the babies using a two-way mirror
- another observer present to assess attachment type
- they observed things like exploration, reunion behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety
Para 2 - Findings: Type A, Type B and Type C
AO3: strengths
Good reliability: P: Good reliability/ E: Bick et Al watched trained observers of the strange situation s 94% gave the same response E/ high inter-rater reliability, is due to babies behaviour is easy to observe and be categorised, could give example /L: this can be used across different cultures
Good internal validity: It was done in lab/ E- controlled how long the episodes were /E-can show a cause and effect relationship baby behaviour and the situation/ L-study has high internal validity. CP- lacks ecological validity/ demand characteristics by mothers
Good predictable validity: ward said secure babies more emotionally stable etc
A03: Limitations
Ethnocentric: P: ethnocentric E-Takahehsi and his findings/ E- child-rearing is different in Japan, an example of why/ L:
Attachment Type 4: Main and Solomon/ E: found that disorganised attachment was a mix of resistant and avoided behaviours/ E- this raises the question that Ainsworth attachment types incomplete, but its an unusual attachment type, due to neglect and abuse/ L- so could be agreed that due to its unusualness that Ainsworth attachment categories are correct for normal attachment types
Temperament- Kagan e Al said that babies behaviour may be due to high levels of anxiety/behaviours seen may have not been representative of attachment type but rather of temperament. L/ what does Ainsworth study actually measure
Other points ethical etc
cultural variations in attachment
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AO1: Van injenzodorn and Kronenberg- meta-analysis based on 32 studies of the strange situation around the world. 18 was in America,
Para 2: Findings/ there is more intraspecific variation rather than interspecific. Secure attachments are the most common across all countries studied/give examples like China and the UK etc
Para 3: Other studies of cultural variation/ Simonella et al/ more tye A in Italy because mothers are going to work. Grossman et Al found more type As in Germany because germans prefer independent children. Jin et al only one Type As in south korea because children don’t separate from mothers
AO3- Strengths
P-less cultural bias E: Researchers from a country of origin example Takahashi is from japan /E-they understand their culture and will be able to correctly classify children and overcome any language barriers/L- increases the validity of data collected
A03 - Limitations
P: confounding variables E: Studies are not matched for methodology, for example, environmental factors, poverty etc/E- the room or area the study was done may have been small so it would be hard to observe proximity seeking behaviour, as the baby may not return so could be called avoidnet/L: hard to compare attachment types across culture because results may be heavily influenced by confounding variables
P: there may be imposed etic. E: in SS in the UK or Us being clingy to the mother may be classed as insecure resistant whereas in Japan it may be normal as the child is always with their mother. E: This is bad because it would be hard to compare attachments across cultures as some behaviours may be seen as normal to one culture but abnormal to another/L-researchers should find another way of comparing attachments types as using the strange situation may be meaningless
Bowlby: attachment styles are universal and innate. Hence why secure attachment was the most common across all cultures. CP- Van ijenzndoon and kroonenberg say that it may be due to conformity
Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment
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Outline (AO1)
- based on harlow and lorenz
- has evolunatry basis
- attach in order to survive
Para 2
Monotropic theory- Infants attach to one person usually the mother, they show safe base behaviour towards the mother etc
Social realses- babies coo,cry in order to get attention
Para 3- critical period is up to 2 and 1half years, if attachment is not formed then it can affect the internal working model
internal working model- cognitive framework based on your first attachment with your primary caregiver. How you attached with them will give an indication of how you will approach future relationships etc
Evaluate (AO3)
- conflcting evidence of multiple attachments schaffer and emerson
- bailey et al for internal working model 99 mothers
- social sensitivity- feminist, says too much pressure on women, but CP- Bowlby illustrated importance of mothers so may have helped many people in custordy battles
- evidence for social relases-brazelton et al - babies lie motionless, show how important social relaes are
Learning theory
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Outline (AO1)
Dollard and Miller came up with the learning theory of attachment
Classical conditing explanation- food (stimulus) response (pleasure) then the mother is paired with stimulus and response, long story short mother is now associated with pleasure.
Operant conditioning- if the baby cries (primary reinforcement) then the reward will be food. If the mother hears a baby cry, then she will give the baby food an example of negative reinforcement, as given food will stop something unpleasant which is crying
Sears et al suggested the idea of drive reduction theory. Hunger is a primary drive, it is innate etc. But the secondary drive will help you receive your primary drive, meaning attachment. So a baby will form an attachment in order to satisfy their primary drive.
AO3-
Strength - face validity: it’s easy to understand. As some conditioning may be involved a baby may associate comfort with a certain attachment figure and therefore when sad will go to that attachment figure in order to feel better. Link/this shows how LToA can be used to understand everyday behaviour.
Limitation- conflicting evidence from animal studies ( Harlow and Harlow) - 22 hours a day on cloth mother, babies want to love more than food. CP- hard to generalise finding studies done on animals/different cognitive framework need etc
Limitation- Conflicting evidence: Schaffer and Emerson- human babies- attached to a person who responded to their cues, not the person who spent the most time with them or fed them. E/shows how factors like food do not form the basis of an attachment, babies need more L/questions the validity of this explanation
SLT- Hay and Vespo could a better explanation. SLT does not reduce attachment down to food and pleasure, for example, they believe that love can be modelled, by things like hugging. This theory can help explain things like reciprocity and international synchrony. However, SLt finds it hard to explain how these are important, or why this thing like reciprocity and international synchrony are found among humans and animals. This presents the question of whether the attachment is based on nature and not nurture
Effects of institutionalisation.
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A01- Rutter- found that adopt below 6 months will catch up by 4 years, after will take longer, low IQs at 86 compared to about 102 on the control group. Also found that orphans were undernourished and showed signs of disinhibited attachment
Zeanah et al- did the strange situation and found compared to the control group only 19% were securely attached compared to 74%, also found that 44% had a disinhibited attachment
findings compared to 20% of controls - disinhibited attachment, more clingy due to neglect, during the critical period were unable to form an attachment (privation)
A03
fewer confounding variables compared to other studies, CP- institutions had inadequate care so may not be representative of all institutions in general, so hard to generalise findings. Findings show what happens when there is poor care
real-life application- institutions have key workers, also fostering is more desirable than care homes
limitation- does not tell us about long term effects of parenting, relationships
social sensitivity - people may not choose to adopt over a certain age range etc
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory
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Plan
AO1- para 1: separation and deprivation, so what is separation and what si deprivation, give examples also include the law of calculation and law of continuity
para 2- 44 thieves study and control group, 14 out of 44 were affectionless psychopaths, also 12 spent more than 6 months away in the first 2 years of life Only 1 person in the control group.
Para 3- Intelluctal development - so low IQ support from Goldfarb’s study
-affectionless- psychopathy found it hard to show guilt
AO3-
strength- real-life applications, changed rules on mothers visiting hospitals as time way could be detrimental on babies, so positive effect on life
Conflicting evidence on critical period- Kolochova- Czech twins -18 months to 7 years abuse, with help they recovered fully but the time they were teenagers, so instead of critical; period its a sensitive period
flawed evidence- Bowlby carried out his own study, may have been open to bias, as he knew who would show psychopathy. Also, correlation is not causation there could confounding variables as to why they showed this and it may have not been due to maternal deprivation
lewis et al- unable to replicate the study, looked at 500 young people found no association so questions validity of md, CP: more recent research Gao et al found an association between poor maternal care psychopathy.
Animal studies Harlow
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Harlow wanted to see whether a baby could survive without love. Monkeys cloth and wire, split monkey into different groups. Wire monkey provided food only, cloth provided comfort. when shown scary mechanical figure monkeys would run to cloth mother for comfort, not wire mother.
Harlow said that there is a critical period of 90 days/if not attachment/damage is done. Also found that monkeys who were only with cloth mother, or failed to attach, when placed with other monkeys were social outcasts, would mutilate themselves, rock back and forth, also female mothers would find it difficult to mate or be a decent mother.
Real-life applications for harlow- Helped clinical psychologist and social workers understand the importance of bonding. Howe said able to intervene before lasting damage happens to children, also used in zoos, l/harlows evidence has a practical understanding
ethical issues- some of the Rhesus monkey’s went through psychological trauma, and stress. This then caused long term effects on the monkies which raises the question as if using monkies was justified. It could be argued that the cost outweighs benefits because search like harlows has practical application and made us understand the importance of bonding
or generalisability
Animal studies: Lorenz
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Lorenz-half eggs hatched incubator who saw him first, other half hatched in a natural environment with their mother. Experimental group imprinted onto Lorenz
next para- findings- geese have a critical period of 90 days if they don’t become attached then they won’t survive. Also, sexual imprinting, Lorenz peacock, tortoise, peacocks and tortoise try to mate
for Lorenz there is supporting evidence; Regolin et al showed geese shape combinations that moved like a moving triangle, when shown other shapes they would only follow the moving triangle. this shows how chicks have an innate need to imprint. CP- that this can be reversed within the critical period
Then generalisability
caregiver interactions
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AO1
-Reciprocity: interaction between a caregiver and baby respond to each other. Babies have alert phases, which mothers pick up on 2/3 of the time (Feldman and Eldeman). Active involvement. Brazelton says it’s like a dance.
-Interactional synchrony: Interactional synchrony is when two people interact and tend to mirror each other. Synchrony starts as young as 2 months (Meltzoff and Moore). Isabella et al found that higher levels of interactional synchrony were associated with a better mother-quality relationship.
Evaluation
Filmed observation: filmed in labs. Increases inter rater relatability, also babies won’t show demand characteristics. So there is good reliability and validity.
Hard to observe babies
the limitation is it is hard to interpret a babies behaviour. Babies lack coordination. Movement observed are small hand movements or facial expressions. hard to know if hand twitch is intentional or something the caregiver did.
Research can be socially sensitive, for example Isabella et al research can be used to restrict freedom of choice – in this case the choice of mothers of when to return to work. However the research can also help improve a mothers relationship with her baby.
Research does not tell us how it is important for development. Reciprocity and synchrony tell us what kind of behaviour the baby is showing, but not how it is useful for child development. CP- Isabella et al made a link with high synchrony and quality of attachment. Shows how important caregiver intercations are.
the role of the father
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Father as primary caregiver
Field et al, filmed 4-month-old babies interactions with father. Found that primary caregiver fathers showed signs of reciprocity and synchrony like smiling and imitating the baby. This shows how the fathers can take on the role of the primary caregiver and provide a close emotional attachment.
Other research believes that fathers have a distinctive role. Grossman et al found that how the father played with babies linked to their attachment as an adolescent. Father had a play and stimulate role and that there were long term benefits of this.
Schaffer and Emerson found that fathers were the sole attachment 3% of the time, and 27% it was both mother and father. By 18 months 75% became attached to their father by showing signs of protest when they left.
Evaluation
Although grossman has suggested that the role of the father is important for adolescence life. Research by McCallum and Golombok found that children growing up in single or same sex families didn’t develop differently from those in two parent families. CP: perhaps parents taken on ‘role of the father’ which suggests perhaps there’s a distinct role.
Biological factors
Some researchers believe that men seem to lack the emotional sensitivity to infant cues (Heerman, et al. 1994) that women offer. This could be due to the fact that women produce a hormone, oestrogen which increases emotional response to others’ needs. CP: Frodi et al, found that men’s physiological response was the same as women’s. This suggests that men have the ability to take on the role of primary caregiver
Social sensitivity
It may also make fathers feel insignificant for example Hrdy (1999) said that fathers may not be able to detect low levels of infant stress, therefore they may not be suited to being a primary caregiver. This research may be sensitive to single fathers as they are the primary caregiver.
Benefits to understanding the role of the father
A strength is the economic one, women may feel pressured to stay at home because research and that mothers are vital for healthy attachment, however because of research showing how fathers being primary caregivers, plays an important role in development and attachment, means that mothers can go out to work. Therefore it will have a positive effect on the economy.
Social interactions
Verssiomo assed relationships of infants with mothers and fathers. Verrisimo found that a strong attachment to father predicated high ability make friends in nursery. This shows how social interactions are important to a child’s development
Role in adolescence
supports Grossman, Freeman et al, found that children are more likely to be attached to their father during their late childhood to early adolescence. Infants and young adults are less likely to seek attachment to their fathers.
Influence of early attachment on later relationships
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Bowlby suggested that the internal working model acts as a template for future childhood and adult relationships. –Babies who are secure will seek functional relationships and are functional
- Type A would be uninvolved and emotionally distant
- Type C would be controlling and aggressive
para 2: relationships in childhood
Kerns said securely attached babies were more likely to form best quality friendships whereas insecure would have problems. Wilson and smith conducted a questionnaire with 7-11 year old and found Type A were more likely to be victims of bullying, Type C the bullies and type b not involved.
Para 3: Relationships in adulthood
-McCarthy followed 40 women from childhood to adulthood. Found that TB had the best relationships and friendships. TA struggle with intimacy in romantic relationships and TC has difficulty maintaining relationships.
AO3
- Confounding variables (dispositional, situational factors that can affect relationships, hard to make a causal link)
- Validity issues (love quiz) asks people to talk about their childhood, which relies on honesty and accurate perception. Most studies may be meaningless because of this
- Research support like bailey et al (99 mothers) CP: researcher assed 43 ppts from 1 to 16. Found at 16 no continuity of attachment type.
- Reductionist : social sensitivity, self fulfilling prophecy, etc
