attachment Flashcards
whats an attachment
an attachment is strong,reciprocal (2 way) emotional tie/relationship between 2 people which is created over time
why is attachment important
attachment is important as it forms care for one another
what is reciprocity between a child and caregiver? give and example
reciprocity refers to when a care giver and an infant both respond to each others signals by taking turns responding
When a baby blinks, the mother blinks back
what is reciprocity also known as
turn-taking
what are alert phrases
give and example
alert phrases are signals which babies make to show they are ready for an interaction
For example, eye contact
when do alert phrases become most frequent ?
at around 3 months old
what is active involvement
active involvement refers to both care-giver and infant being able to take an active role and initiate interaction
why is reciprocity important
Its important for the later development and social skills of a child as it stands to act as an early form of communication
what is interactional synchrony
interactional synchrony is when both care-giver and infant reflect each others actions and emotions in a synchronised way - they mirror each other at the same time
when does interactional synchrony begin
at around 2 weeks old
whats the importance of interactional synchrony
its important for the development of the attachmeent
high level of IS revealed a Better quality of attachment & emotional intensity was stronger
who were the 4 stages of attachment suggested by
Schaffer
what are the 4 stages of attachment and when do they start
- asocial stage- first few weeks of life
- indiscriminate attachment- 2 to 7 months
- Specific attachment- around 7 months
- multiple attachments
explain staffers 1st stage of attachment
- babys behaviour towards inanimate objects & humans can be seen to be asocial (avoid interaction)
- but still shows signs that they prefer to be with people they’re familiar with and enjoy comfort
explain staffers 2nd stage of attachment
- display more obvious signs of social interaction
- show a clear preference of being w people they familiar with, but will take comfort from anyone
explains staffers 3rd stage of attachment
- signs of attachment towards one person are shown
- begin to show separation anxiety when away from specific person
- show stranger anxiety
explain staffers 4th stage of attachment
- begin to show attachment to more people, who’m they spend regular time with
- these are called secondary attachments
explain Schaffer and Emersons study of attachment
- 1964
- observational study
- study involved 60 babies, all from middle-class working families
- visited their homes every month for first year then again at 18 months
- asked care-giver questions about there child e.g any signs of operation anxiety when they left the room/ stranger anxiety w new people
-from this they developed 4 stages of attachment
what are the strength and weaknesses of Schaffer and Emersons research
S:Good external validity
most observations were made by care-giver from ordinary experiences, allowed for the research to not effect the babies behaviour as they may have distracted them–> making it likely the behaviour was natural
W:Low population validity The infants in the study all came from Glasgow and were mostly from working class families, not therefore tasking into account cultural factors the could change attachment style. In addition, the small sample size of 60 families reduces the strength of the conclusion we can draw from the study
what are the main roles of the father
- playmate, stimulation related
- primary caregiver
- secondary caregiver
what did shatter and Emerson find out about the role of father
they found that in only 3% of cases the father was the primary care-giver, suggested its much less likely for the father to be the babies first attahment figure
what did Grossmen et al find about the role of father
- that its less important than a mother
- The quality of the fathers play with babies related the quality of their adolescent attachment
is the fathers role more emotional or stimulation related
stimulation
what does evidence state about the father as a primary attachment figure?
evidence suggests that when a father takes on the role of the primary care-giver they are able to adopt the emotional role usually associated w the mother.
what did Tiffany field found about the father
that fathers have the potential to. be the primary attachment figure but only when they given the role
evaluation on the research into the role of father
s:REAL WORLD APPLICATION
-can be used to offer advice to parents
pressure within families over who becomes the primary caregiver can sometimes cause there to be no primary caregiver.: Mothers may feel obliged to stay at home, fathers may feel obliged to work. Research can provide support whcich states the both are capable of becoming primary attachment figure
Helping to reduce parental anxiety
W:Conflicting evidence
-findings have been found to vary according to methods used
-Grossmens study suggests fathers as secondary attachment figures play important roles in their childrens development. However, in same-sex parent families we would therefore expect children to turn out different from those in hetro fans.
Therefore, acting as a weakness of research into fathers role
who was Lorenz and what did he do
Lorenz was an ethologist, meaning he studied animal behaviour and he observed imprinting
explain Lorenz procedure on imprinting
- set up a classical experiment
- divided a large of clutch of Goose eggs into 2 halves: the first group were hatched w the mother, the second were hatched where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz
what did Lorenz find
Lorenz found that the group which saw Lorenz when they were first hatched followed him everywhere, and the other group followed the mother
When the groups were mixed they still copied the same person
this is known as imprinitng
what is imprinting
imprinting is when bird species follow the first moving thing that they see
what did Lorenz find was important for imprinting
he found that there was a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place
whats the critical period for imprinting
a few hours after a birth
what did Lorenz find if imprinting did not occur within the critical period
he found that they did not attach themselves to a ‘mother figure’ at all
what is sexual imprinting
sexual imprinting is when birds display courtships behaviour towards humans they have imprinted on
whats are the strengths of Lorenz’s study
S:Other evidence to support Lorenz’s idea of impriting & high reliability
Regolin, supports idea that animals are born with innate mechanisms to imprint, therefore suggesting that Lorenz’s data is reliable as other evidence has been provided.
what are the weakness of Lorenz study
W: Lacks genrilisability
Difficult to generalise the findings from birds to humans, as attachment style within human is much more complex than in birds, humans develop emotional 2 way bond, birds attachment isn’t 2 way.
what did Harlow look at and what animal did he use to experiment on?
Hafrlow looked at contact comfort and used 8 rheus monkeys
explain harlows procedure
Harlow placed 8 rhesus monkeys within cages from infancy. Set up 2 wired monkeys and there were 2 conditions
1.In one condition there was a soft cloth covered wired monkey which dispensed milk
2In the other condition there was a plain wired monkey that also dispensed milk
what did Harlow find and what does it suggest
He found that the baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother monkey, seeking preference in it when they were scared.
Suggesting that contact comfort was more important to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour.
What consequences did Harlow study have on the monkeys, and what does this show
He found that the monkeys which were placed with only the plain wired monkeys were the most dysfunctional but those with the cloth covered also did not develop normal behaviour
He found that they were more aggressive,less social and unskilled at mating. Some even killed there own children later in the futrure
SHOWING CONSEQUENCES OF MATERNAL DEPRIVATION
strengths and weaknesses of Harlows study
s:Important for real world applications
helped psychologist and social workers understand that a lack of bonding experience may effect child development and lead to poor outcomes, showing importance of attachment figures.
Adding value to hallows study, as shows it practical not just theoretical
W:Difficult to generalise findings from monkey ton humaan
Even though rheus monkeys are similar to humans, humans are still much more complex in terms of behaviour
W: Ethical issues,
Caused long term and severe stress to monkeys, being cruel
who was the strange situation developed by
Ainsworth
what is the strange situation and what was the aim
the strange situation is a controlled observation which aim was to observe key attachment Behaviors as a means of assessing the quality of a baby attachment to a caregiver
what was the procedure of the strange situation
All were put in a room, with chairs and toys and in the room it went:
(1) Mother and baby alone in room
(2) A stranger joins the mother and infant in the room
(3) Mother leaves baby and stranger alone in the room.
(4) mother returns, stranger leaves.
(5) mother leavesinfant left completely alone in the room
(6) Stranger returns to the room
(7) Mother returns and stranger leaves the room.
how old were the infant being used within the experiment
12-18 months
what was Ainsworth testing at each both
(1) Mother and baby alone
=exploration and secure base
(2) A stranger joins the mother and infant.
=stranger anxiety
(3) Mother leaves baby and stranger alone.
=seperation and stranger anxiety
(4) Mother returns and stranger leaves.
=reunion behaviour/ exploration, secure base
(5) Mother leaves; infant left completely alone.
=seperation anxiety
(6) Stranger returns.
=stranger anxiety
(7) Mother returns and stranger leaves.
=reunion behaviour
what di Ainsworth find
Ainsworth found that there were distinct patterns in the ways babies behaved and identified 3 main types of attachment
what are the 3 types of attachment (in terms of strange situation)
- secure
- insecure resistant
- insecure avoidant
explain a secure attached baby (in terms of strange situation)
- show moderate separation distress
- show moderate stranger anxiety
- accept comfort from caregiver in reunion stage
- explore happily but regular got back to base
explain a insecure avoident baby (in terms of strange situation)
- explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour
- little stranger anxiety
- little or no reaction when caregiver leaves
- no reaction when caregiver returns
explain and insecure-resistant baby (in terms of strange situation)
- seek great proximity
- explore less than others
- high levels of stranger anixety
- high levels of separation nicety
- resits comfort when reunited with caregiver
strengths of Strange situation
S:High Internal Validity
- Ainswoth controlled many factors within her experiement, such as; Same Stranger for each child, same amount of time with ,without the child, Mother’s behaviour was controlled, how much time with and without the child.Allowing for reliable data to be taken from it
S:Predicts a number of aspects of the babies later development
Weakness of the strange situation
w:Doesn’t take into account temperament of the baby
Baby may have been tired, not fed prior or stressed due to an artificel and unusual environment affect the results
w:Doesn’t take into account cultural differences
the study was only performed on American Mothers and babies. This reduces the representativeness of the data again- In Germany insecure-avoidenrt babies would be seen as independent. Different cultures bring children up differently
w: Low External Validity - The experiment occured in an artifical envrioment, which may have caused the child distress, and affect the results. The data from the study cannot be easily appiled to the outside world
w: Missed out a 4th type - Disorganised attachment
Solomon found that some babies behave inconsistently and respond different known as ‘disorganised’
what can cause difference in attachment
- sensitivity to mother
- the more sensitive, caring a mother is, the more Lilley it is for the children to be securely attached
2.Tempermeant of baby
the type of baby, easy- difficult-slow to warm up to- can depend of their attachment type
s and weakness of caregiver/ infant interactions
s:Filmed observations
care-giver/infant interaction usually filmed in lab-allowing for other things which may change babies behaviour to be controlled-therefore unlikely for researchers to miss key behaviour
allowing for data + observations to have good reliability
w:Difficult to observe babies behaviour
difficult to be sure that babies are giving interactions or if they’re bodies are just moving e.g smiling or passing wind.
therefore cannot see that care-giver infant interactions have important/special meaning
what’s bowlby by mono tropic theory
bowlbys mono tropic theory is a theory which places great emphasis on a childs attachment to one particular care-giver.
He stated that a childs attachment to one particular care-giver is more important that the rest of them. He called this care-giver the ‘mother’ but it doesn’t actually have to be the biologically mother or a female.
whats the internal working model
the internal working model is something that a child forms. Its a mental representation of their relationship to their primary attachment figure.
It serves a model for what relationships are like.
what does the internal working model effect
- future relationship
e. g if a child grows up with a loving relationship with their care giver, they’ll be more likely to form loving relationships (vise-versa)
s and weakness of blowsy montropic theory
S:Evidence support for importance of social releasers
evidence that cute behaviours are designed to attract interaction from careigvers
study where care-giver were told to ignore babies’ social realeasers, in which to they were previously shown normal responses. Babies became stressed and some lay motionless.
Illitrustrates importance of social releasers for emotional development
w:concept of mono trophy lacks validity
Schaffer and Emerson found that although babies did sttacht to one person at first, a minority also formed multiple attachments at the sam time.
The first attachment does appear to be stronger, but doesn’t make a difference to childs development.
therefore weakness as bowl by may be incorrect
whats bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
a theory which focused on the idea that the continual presence of a mother or mother-substitute is essential for the psychological development of a child and both emotionally and intellectually
He stated that there is serious consequences of separation
what was the critical period in the maternal deprivation theory
bowl by stated there was a critical period which was the first two and a half years of life. he stated this time was the most important for psychological development to occur.
If a child was frequently separated from a mother in this time then psychological damage was inevitable
how does maternal deprivation affect development
- effects intellectual development
- lack of MD could result in low IQ and delayed intellectual development
2Effects on emotional development
deprivation of mother could effect a childs emotional development: known as ‘affectionalles psycopathy’
what is affection less psycopathy
affectionless psychopathy is the inability to feel guilty or remorse
what was bolwbys research on psychopaths/ MD
- Interviewd 44 criminal tens accused of stealing.
- Interviewd criminal to see signs of psychopathy and interviews parentd to see if there was an signs of prolonger seperation
what did bowl by find in his research on MD
-Found that 14/44 thives were described to be affectionlesspsychopaths and 12 of these has experienced prolonged separation.
bowl by concluded that separation causes affection less psycopathy
s and w of bowlbys maternal deprivation theory
s: no strengths
w:based on flawed evidence
44 thieves study-he was testing those who he knew would be more likely to have affection less psycopathy, ‘open bia’
theory would not be taken seriously now as evidence is flawed.
romanian orphan studies:institutionalism
what is privation?
complete lack of psychical and emotional care, where the basic needs of a child are not being met.
e.g children are living in overcrowded conditions
what is emotional deprivation
where a child doesn’t receive enough emotional attention
whats institutionalisation
a term for the effects of living in an institutional setting such as a orphanage
explain rutter et al’
aim: to study institutionalisation and weather good care and early adoption could compensate for the privation children had suffered for orphanages
- natural experiment
- followed 165 Romanian orphans who has been adopted by British fmamiles
- assed cognitive, emotional and physical development at ages 4,6,,1,15 and 22
- 53 British kids acted as control group
what were the findings of rutter et all stud
-when children first arrived in the uk they all showed signs of delayed intellectual development and undernourishment
-at age 11 children showed signs of recovery- but this depended on the age they were adopted at
-attachmenrt also different depending on what age they were adopted at.
After 6 months=signs of disinhibited attachment . Before 6 months- rally displaced signs of disinhibited attachment
what is disinhibited attachment
disinhibited attachment refers to behaviours such as clinginess/attention seeking
what were the conclusions from rutter et all study
suggests that long term consequences may be less serve if children are submitted with good care earlier
adopted after 6 months-lower IQ,dishibited attachment
adopted before 6 months-higher IQ, no disinhibited attachment
evaluate rutter et al study
w::Ethical issues- hard to keep up with peoples life within longitudinal study- may be infringing privacy/socially sensitive as assessment is on going
s:real life application
results from studies such as rutter et all have led to improvement of institutional care. For example, children given two key workers who play central roles
what is zeahnah et als study
aim: to test attachment types in Romanian orphans
procedure:
assesment attachment type of 95 orpahnns who spent life in institutional care- compared with control group. Assesed using strange situation.
what were the findings + conclusion from zeahnah et als study
74% were classified as securely attached in control
19% were in institution
44% institiuoanl showed DA
less than 20% in control group
supports maternal deprivation theory
evaluation of zeahnah et all study
s: findings upport rutter et als
w: only follows children into teens, may be improvement in layer years
what are the s and w of romsorphan studied
s:s:real life application
results from studies such as rutter et all have led to improvement of institutional care. It has helped to improve condtionsFor example, children given two key workers who play central roles, avoid having too many children in one home
allows children to develop normal psychological behaviour and attachment behaviour
w:lack of adult data.
Many of the studies taken out only look at childrens development up till there 20’s.therefore lacks data on the research into the effects of long-term institutionalisation. afting a weakness, leaving questions unanswered/
