Attachment

Question 1

Define Attachment

Answer 1

An emotional bond between two people. It is a two way process that endures over time. It leads to behaviours such as proximity seeking and serves the function of protecting the infant

Question 2

Define interactional synchrony

Answer 2

An interaction between two people where they mirror one another in terms of facial or body movements, this includes emotional mirroring as well as behavioural

Question 3

Define reciprocity

Answer 3

Responding to the action of another with a similar action, where the actions of one partner elicit the actions of another

Question 4

Meltzoff and Moore

Answer 4

Studied intercational synchrony and found that infants as young as two weeks old imitate specific facial expressions and hand gestures. The fact this happens so early shows that imitation is not a learnt behaviour but rather an innate one

Question 5

Meltzoff and Moore… Evaluation

Answer 5

• Failure to replicate, other studies have failed to replicate the results of this study
• Individual differences, Isabella et al showed that stronger attachments between caregiver and infant showed greater interactional synchrony

Question 6

What are the stages of attachment

Answer 6

1- Indiscriminate attachments
2- the beginnings of attachment
3- discriminate attachment
4- multiple attachments

Question 7

Explain “Indiscriminate attachments”

Answer 7

From birth until two months infants produce similar responses to all objects, inanimate or animate. Towards the end they show preference for social stimuli.

Question 8

Explain “begging’s of attachment”

Answer 8

Around 4 months the infant becomes more social, they prefer human company to inanimate objects and can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people. However they don’t yet show stranger anxiety

Question 9

Explain “discriminate attachment”

Answer 9

By seven months most infants show stronger attachment to a particular caregiver. The infant begins to display stranger anxiety and separation anxiety

Question 10

Explain “multiple attachments”

Answer 10

Very soon after the primary attachment forms, the infant also begins to form secondary attachments

Question 11

Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 11

studied sixty working class Glasgow families for a year.
the mothers were visited every 4 weeks and asked to report the infants response to separation and stranger anxiety was measured by the infants reaction to the researcher

Question 12

Schaffer and Emerson… Evaluation

Answer 12

• Unreliable data, data is based on mothers reports some of which may be less inclined to report protests
• Biased sample, only studies working class population (not applicable to all families) and conducted in the 60’s (differences in modern day parenting)
• cultural differences, collectivist or individualist cultures

Question 13

Lorenz

Answer 13

• Tested imprinting by dividing goslings into two groups, the first thing the goslings saw was either Lorenz or their mother
• Lorenz found that imprinting is an innate process that occurs during a critical period, and if it does not occur at this time it will not occur at all

Question 14

Lorenz… Evaluation

Answer 14

• Research support, for example Guiton exposed chicks to a rubber glove and found they imprinted on the glove, this shows that animals do not imprint on a specific object but anything that moves
• Criticisms, Imprinting is reversible, if Guitons chicks spent time with their own species they were able to interact and mate with their own species

Question 15

Define separation anxiety

Answer 15

The distress shown by an infant when separated from their primary caregiver.

Question 16

Define stranger anxiety

Answer 16

The distress shown by an infant when approached by somebody unfamiliar

Question 17

Lorenz long lasting effects

Answer 17

• The process of imprinting is irreversible and long

- Imprinting also had an effect on mating preferences

Question 18

Harlow

Answer 18

• Two wire “mothers”, one with cloth body and one with a milk bottle
• found that most spent time with the cloth body “mother” than the mother with the bottle
• This suggests that infants do not develop attachments to the person who feeds them but to the person offering them comfort

Question 19

Harlow…. Evaluation

Answer 19

• Confounding variable, the conclusion of this study lacks internal validity as the two head were different meaning the reason the monkeys choose that could be that they preferred that “mothers” face
• Generalising animal studies to human behaviours, Humans behaviours are governed by conscious thought

Question 20

Classical conditioning in terms of attachment

Answer 20

Learning through association.

• food is an UCS and pleasure is the UCR and the mother is the NS
• After conditioning the mother becomes the CS and elicits pleasure, the CR

Question 21

Learning theory… Evaluation

Answer 21

• Learning theory is based on animal studies, the explanations lack validity because they present an oversimplified version of behaviour
• Attachment is not based on food, Harlow’s study disproves learning theory

Question 22

Define continuity hypothesis

Answer 22

The idea that emotionally secure infants go on to be emotionally secure, trusting, socially confident adults

Question 23

Define critical period

Answer 23

A biologically determined period of time, during which attachments form, outside of this window such development is not possible

Question 24

Define internal working model

Answer 24

A mental template for all the child’s future relationships, as it generates expectations of what relationships should look like

Question 25

Define monotropy

Answer 25

The idea that the one relationship that the infant has with their primary attachment figure is of special significance in emotional development

Question 26

Define social releasers

Answer 26

A social behaviour or characteristic that elicits caregiving and leads to attachment

Question 27

Bowlby’s monotropic theory… Evaluation

Answer 27

• Sensitive not critical period, Rutter et al showed that it is less likely attachments will form after the critical period but not impossible
• Multiple attachments, Secondary attachments contribute to healthy social development, however there must be one “higher” attachment

Question 28

Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 28

Watched for an infants response to separation from caregiver, reunion behaviour, response to a stranger and a new environment
- found three main patterns in behaviours which added up to three different types of attachment: secure, avoidant, resistant

Question 29

strange situation… Evaluation

Answer 29

-Type D, Main and Solomon analysed the strange situation video tapes and proposed the attachment type Insecure-disorganised, characterised by a lack of behavioural consistency
-High reliability, Ainsworth found an almost perfect inter-observer reliability meaning the observations can be accepted as reliable
-

Question 30

Define secure attachment

Answer 30

This is a strong and contented attachment of an infant to their caregiver. Securely attached infants use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore and is able to function independently

Question 31

Define insecure-avoidant

Answer 31

A type of attachment which describes those children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with the caregiver and others. They show no distress when left by the caregiver

Question 32

Define insecure-resistant

Answer 32

A type of attachment which describes those infants who both seek and reject proximity and social interaction.

Question 33

Which countries have the highest: Resistant, Avoidant & Secure

Answer 33

secure- UK
Avoidant- West Germany
Resistant- Israel

Question 34

Van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg

Answer 34

• Meta analysis of the strange situation results of 8 different countries
• found that the most common attachment type across all countries is secure

Question 35

Van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg

Answer 35

• Cultural bias, the model that secure attachment is based of is based on American culture,
• some cultural similarities may be based of mass media and the portrayal of correct parenting, this means children across the worlds are exposed to similar influences

Question 36

What is maternal deprivation theory

Answer 36

Bowlby proposed that prolonged maternal deprivation would have prolonged emotional consequences, such as depression and affectionless psychopathy

Question 37

Bowlby’s maternal deprivation experiment

Answer 37

• 44 juvenile thieves
• Bowlby suggested that some of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths
• The study showed that affectionless thieves were frequently separated from their mothers at a young age

Question 38

Define institutionalisation

Answer 38

The effect of institutional care, including social, mental and physical development