attachment

Question 1

What is meant by reciprocity in terms of attachment?

Answer 1

Mother-infant interaction is reciprocal - both infant and mother respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other.

Question 2

What is meant by interactional synchrony in terms of attachment?

Answer 2

Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and so this is a co-ordinated (synchronised) way.

Question 3

Describe one way in which psychologists have investigated the caregiver-infant interactions. Refer to a specific study.

Answer 3

Meltzof and Moore (1977) observed interactional synchrony in infants. An adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or gestured and the child’s response was filmed. An association was found between adult and child behaviour.
OR: Ainsworth’s strange situation. Baby was observed for behaviours e.g. separation and stranger anxiety, exploration behaviour, reunion behaviour. Ainsworth discovered 3 distinct attachment types.

Question 4

Referring to research, describe the role of the father in development.

Answer 4

Grossman (2002). The quality of infant attachment in adolescence was related to the quality of play with the father. The father is important in a stimulation role, rather than a nurturing role.
OR: Fathers are usually seen as the secondary caregiver (mother being primary). However, this is not to say that fathers can’t be the primary caregiver - Field (1978) found that primary caregiver fathers spent more time nurturing than secondary caregiver fathers. They can play a primary role, however it is the level of response that is important.

Question 5

Outline 1 strength of research into caregiver-interaction.

Answer 5

Due to the controlled nature of the observations it is possible to capture fine detail of interactions. This increases validity.

Question 6

Outline 1 weakness of research into caregiver-infant interactions.

Answer 6

Research involves observing simple gestures and expressions. It is hard to know what is happening and to assume the infant’s intention. This means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in mother-infant interactions are special.

Question 7

Outline 2 weaknesses of research on the role of the father.

Answer 7

Children who grow up in the same sex or single parent households do not develop any different - suggests that the role of the father is not important. Different research questions asked in studies produce inconsistent findings - overall picture is unclear.

Question 8

Outline Schaffer and Emerson’s study into the formation of early relationship.

Answer 8

Aimed to investigate the age of attachment formation and who they are formed with. Mothers of 60 babies from Glasgow report monthly on separation and stranger anxiety. Most babies showed attachment to a primary caregiver by 32 weeks and developed multiple attachments soon after this.

Question 9

What are the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 9

Asocial stage: Happier with humans, lasts the first few weeks.

Indiscriminate attachment: 2-7 months, prefer humans, some recognition.

Specific attachment: From 7 months, stanger and separation anxiety.

Multiple attachments: Shortly after specific attachment, display separation anxiety towards other caregivers, too.

Question 10

Why does Schaffer and Emerson’s study have good external validity?

Answer 10

Because the observations took place in the participants natural environments.

Question 11

What are 2 weaknesses of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

Answer 11

Measuring attachment - just because a child cries when an adult leaves the room does not have to mean attachment.
Conflicting evidence - Van Ijzendoorn et al. found that in different contexts multiple attachments may come first.

Question 12

What is ethology?

Answer 12

The study of animal behaviour.

Question 13

What is imprinting?

Answer 13

Animals attaching to the first moving object they see.

Question 14

What is the critical period?

Answer 14

Imprinting must occur within a few hours/days/weeks after birth.

Question 15

What is sexual imprinting?

Answer 15

Birds show courtship behaviour towards whatever species they imprint on.

Question 16

Outline Lorenz’s research into attachment.

Answer 16

2 groups of goslings - 1 saw Lorenz when they hatched and one saw their mother. He described imprinting and sexual imprinting.

Question 17

What is the importance of contact comfort?

Answer 17

Animals like monkeys prefer a soft toy mother to a wire one regardless of which provides milk.

Question 18

What is maternal deprivation?

Answer 18

Animals brought up without a mother were dysfunctional as adults.

Question 19

Outline Harlow’s research into attachment.

Answer 19

Baby monkeys were given a cloth or a wire mother with a feeding bottle attached. He discovered the importance of contact comfort. The critical period was seen as 90 days - after this attachments wouldn’t form.

Question 20

What did Harlow find out about the effect of maternal deprivation?

Answer 20

Maternally deprived monkeys grew up socially dysfunctional.

Question 21

Describe 1 weakness of Lorenz’s research.

Answer 21

The research lacks generalisability. Birds and mammals have different attachment systems - so Lorenz’s research may not be relevant to humans. Mammalian mothers show much more emotion towards their young.

Question 22

Outline 1 strength of Harlow’s research.

Answer 22

Theoretical value - demonstrated that attachment depends more on creature comfort than feeding.
Practical value - helps us to understand risk factors for child abuse (Howe).

Question 23

what is an emotional bond and what does it lead to

Answer 23

An emotional bond between two people. It leads to a certain behaviours such as clinging and proximity-seeking, and serves the function of protecting an infant.

Question 24

Caregiver

Answer 24

Any person who is providing care for a child,

Question 25

n

Answer 25

b

Question 26

h

Answer 26

uh

Question 27

Multiple attachment

Answer 27

Have one or more attachment figure

Question 28

Primary attachment figure



Answer 28

1. closet
 2. intensity

The person who has formed the closet bond with a child, demonstrated by the intensity of the relationship.

Question 29

Seperation anxiety

Answer 29

The distress shown by an infant when separted from their caregiver.

Question 30

Stranger anixety

Answer 30

The distress shown by an infant when approached or picked up by someone who is unfamilar

Question 31

Classical conditoning

Answer 31

Learning through association. A neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an uncondtioal stimlus so it eventually takes om the properties of this stimulus and is able to produce a conditioned response

Question 32

Learning theory

Answer 32

The name given to a group of explanations (classical & operant) which explain behaviour in terms of learning rather than any inborn tendencies or higher order thinking.

Question 33

Social learning theory

Answer 33

Learning through observing others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded.

Question 34

Continuity hypothesis

Answer 34

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

Question 35

Internal working model

Answer 35

A mental model of the world which enables individuals to predict and control their enviroment. In the case attachment the model relates to a person’s expecations about relationship.

Question 36

Monotropy (monotropic)

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Social releaser

Answer 37

A social behaviour or characteristic that elicits caregibing and leads to attachment.

Question 38

Insecure-avoidant

Answer 38

A type of attachment which describes those children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with others

Question 39

Insecure-resistant

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Secure attachment

Answer 40

This is a strong contented attach of an infant to his or her caregiver which develops as a rsult of sensetive responding by the caregiver to the infants needs

Question 41

Strange situation

Answer 41

A controlled observation desinged to test attachment security

Question 42

Cultural variations

Answer 42

The ways that different groups of people vary in terms of their social practices, and the effects these practices have on development and behaviour.

Question 43

Deprivation

Answer 43

To be deprived to lose something. Loss of emotional care

Question 44

Lorenz (1935) - Animal studies (Procedure)

Answer 44

Took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into two groups. One group was left with their natural mother while the other eggs were placed in an incubator. When the incubator eggs hatched the first living thing they saw was Lorenzo and they soon started following him.

Question 45

Lorenz (1935) - Animal studies (Findings)

Answer 45

The goslings quickly divided themeselves up, one following their natural mother and the other following Lorenzo. Lorenzo’s brood shows no recongition of their natural mother.

Question 46

Lorenz (1952) - Animal studies (Long-lasting effects)

Answer 46

Noted several features of imprinting, ege that the process is irreversibe and long lasting. He describe how one of these geese who imprinted on him, called martina used to sleep on his bed every night..

Question 47

Lorenz (1952) - Animal studies (Long-lasting effects) Sexual imprinting

Answer 47

He also noted that this early imprinting had an effect on later mate preferences, calledd sexual imprinting. Animals (Especially birds) will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon whic they were imprinted.

Question 48

Harlow (1959)

Answer 48

Conducted landmark research on attachment. Named his report ‘The origins of love and sought’ to demonstartate that mother love was not based on the feeding bond between mother and infant as predicted by learning theory.

Question 49

Harlow (1959) Animal studies (Procedure)

Answer 49

Harlow creared two wire mothers each with a different ‘head’. One wire mother additonally was wrapped in soft cloth. 8 infant rehsus monkey were studied for a period of 165 days. For 4 monkeys the milk bottle was on the cloth-covered mother and on the plain wire’mother’ for the other 4 monkeys.

Question 50

Harlow (1959) Animal studies (Findings)

Answer 50

Cloth-covered mother

• All 8 monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth-covered mother whether or not this mother had a feeding bottle. 

Those monkeys who fed from the wire mother ony spent a short amount of time getting milk then returned to the cloth-covered mother.
When frightened, all monkeys clung to the cloth-covered mother, and when playing with new objects the monkeys often kept one foot on the cloth covered mother for reassurance. Findings suggest that infants fo not develop an attachment to the person who feeds them but to the person offering the comfort.

Question 51

Harlow (1959) Animal studies (Long-lasting effects)

Answer 51

Later on the rhesus monkeys noted many consequences of their early attachment experiences and the motherless monkeys were sociallt abnormally even when they had contact comfort.

Question 52

Harlow (1959) Animal studies (Findings) 
Wired mother

Answer 52

Those monkeys who fed from the wire mother ony spent a short amount of time getting milk then returned to the cloth-covered mother.

Question 53

What happened when monkeys were frightened

Answer 53

When frightened, all monkeys clung to the cloth-covered mother, and when playing with new objects the monkeys often kept one foot on the cloth covered mother for reassurance.

Question 54

During interaction, the mother’s infants’s signals?
Caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 54

Synchronise

Question 55

Which of the following activitates is more common in fathers than mother?

Answer 55

Playing

Question 56

Which of these is a strength of research into early interaction?
Caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 56

Controlled observation capture fine detail

Question 57

In the 1964 study which of the following best descibe the participant?

Answer 57

Schaffer’s stage of attachment

60 Working-class children and their families from glasglow

Question 58

Shaffer and Emerson assessed what in the infant?


Answer 58

Schaffer’s stage of attachment

Seperation and stranger anixety

Question 59

In which of these stages does a child first display social behaviour towards all adults?


Answer 59

Schaffer’s stage of attachment

The indiscriminate attachment stage

Question 60

At what age do children start to form a specific attachment?
Schaffer’s stage of attachment

Answer 60

7 months

Question 61

What is the phenomenon, in which early contact influence mate preference called?


Answer 61

Animal studies of attachment

Sexual imprinting

Question 62

Which of these behaviours describes Harlow’s monkeys that were maternally deprived?

Answer 62

Animal studies of attachment

Agressive

Question 63

In which conditon were Harlow’s monkeys most damaged by early experience?

Answer 63

Wire mother from birth

Question 64

In learning theory, which of the following is the focus of a primary drive?

Answer 64

Explanations of attachment:Learning theory

FOOD