Attachment Flashcards
Lorenz’s procedure
Goose eggs incubated so that first thing they saw was their natural mother or Lorenz
50% hatched to see lorenz
50% hatched to see goose mother
Lorenz’s findings
Goslings’ imprinted on him and followed him.
Imprinting doesn’t happen after critical period.
32 hour critical period
Long-lasting effects - irreversible and impacts sexual imprinting.
Lorenz evaluation
Research support - imprinting on yellow rubber glove (Guiton et al.).
geese are genetically/socially very different to humans so behaviour is likely to be different
work influenced Bowlby’s research into critical period and internal working model
Harlow’s procedure
Wire mothers, one cloth covered and one with a feeding bottle attached.
Harlow’s findings
Monkey’s spent most of their time with cloth covered monkey even if there was no food.
Critical period of 6 months.
All motherless monkeys were abnormal socially and sexually.
Harlow evaluation
Confounding variables - wire mother’s faces were different and varied systematically with independent variable.
Generalising to humans may not be justified - similar genetically but socially very different.
Ethics - benefits may outweigh costs, but does not challenge findings. intentionally orphaning infant monkeys and causing stress
Learning theory of attachment
All behaviours are learned rather than inherited.
Classical conditioning - new conditioned response learned through association between mother NS and food UCS.
Operant conditioning - the reduction of discomfort created by hunger is rewarding so food is a primary reinforcer, associated with mother who is a secondary reinforcer.
Social learning - children model parents’ attachment behaviour
Learning theory evaluation
Animal studies - lack external validity because of simplified view of human attachment.
Attachment is not based on food - Harlow showed it was comfort
Alternative explanation - Bowlby’s theory
Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment
infants need security to survive (evolutionary)
Critical period - attachments form from 3-6 months and become increasingly difficult afterwards.
Primary attachment figure is determined by sensitivity of caregiver to social releasers. Social releasers (smiling/crying) ensure caregiving and attachment formation.
Monotropy - primary attachment for emotional role and secondary provide safety net.
infant strongly attaches to mother and uses her as base for exploration.
Internal working model - act as template for future relationships.
Bowlby’s theory evaluation - monotropy
A sensitive period rather than critical (Rutter et al.). of up to 2 years rather than 6 months - better for orphans and adoption.
continuity hypothesis suggests internal working model determines adult and generational relationships - people like to have conscious control of relationships.
alpha bias - exaggerating gender differences - suggests mother is best for monotropic attachment which may create stress for single/working mothers.
Strange situation procedure
A systematic test of attachment to one caregiver, situation of mild stress and novelty.
12-18 month infant and mother.
mother would leave and enter room.
Observations every 15 seconds of behaviours such as contact seeking or avoidance.
Behaviours assessed - separation anxiety, reunion behaviour, stranger anxiety, secure base.
Strange situation findings
Secure (65% type B) - don’t cry if caregiver leaves, some stranger anxiety, comfortable socialising and use caregiver as secure base and so is able to function independently.
Insecure-avoidant (22% type A) - avoid social interaction, do not seek proximity with caregiver on reunion, happy to explore without caregiver.
Insecure-resistant (12% type C) - resists intimacy and social interaction, distress on separation, desires for and against contact.
Strange situation evaluation
Oversimplified - Main and Solomon proposed insecure-disorganised type D.
Reliability of observations - inter-observer reliability between judges, 0.94 agreement rate.
only a snapshot of behaviour - doesn’t consider other relationships or homelife.
Cultural variations in attachment
study and findings - efe, germany, japan
Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg - meta analysis of 32 studies using the strange situation, from 8 countries.
Secure attachment was the norm in all countries, greater variation within countries than between them.
Cultural similarities - Efe tribe, breastfed by multiple women but still had one attachment at 6 months.
Cultural differences - more insecure in German sample. No avoidant attachment in Japan sample.
Cultural variations evaluation
Within countries there are cultural differences - such as rural and urban Japan showed different attachment types. study compared america and Japan.
Imposed etic - uses tools developed in one country in a different setting where it has a different meaning.
Japan - dependence when exploring, rather than independence, shows secure attachment.
Culture bias - Rothbaum argues attachment theory generally has a Western bias.
secure attachment develops competence - in america this is based on being independent, but in Japan it is group-oriented.
