attachment Flashcards
Lorenz imprinting procedure
set ups classic experiment in which he randomly divided a clutch of Goose eggs. half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment. the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was lorenz
Lorenz imprinting findings
the incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the control group followed the mother goose. when mixed together the control group followed the mother Goode and the experimental group followed lorenz
what is imprinting
Lorenz idefinited a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place depending on the species the time imprinting needs to take place depends on the species. if imprinting doesn’t occur within this time Lorenz found that attachment to a mother figure doesn’t form
what is sexual imprinting
observed birds imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans.
in case study Lorenz 1952 described a peacock after hatching had been reared in the reptile house. as an adult the peacock would only show courtship behaviour to tortoises
evaluation of Lorenz - generalisability
mammalian attachment system is different to birds. mammalian mothers show more attachment to their young than birds do
therefore it is not appropriate to generalise attachment style
evaluation of Lorenz- questions of his observation
guiton et al 1966 found chicken imprinted on yellow washing up gloves and would try to mate with them but learnt to prefer mating with other chickens. this suggests mating is not permanent
harlow contact comfort procedure
harlow 1958 tested that soft objects serves some functions of a mother. he reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model mothers. in one condition milk was dispersed by the plain wire mother whereas a cloth covered mother in the second
harlow contact comfort findings
baby monkeys cuddled soft objects in preference to the wire one and sought comfort from the cloth when frightened of which dispensed milk showing contact comfort was more important that food
harlow research into maternal deprived monkeys
followed the monkeys who had been deprived of a real mother to see if early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect
found severe consequences in adulthood/ the monkeys reared with a soft toy or wire were dysfunctional and didnt develop normal social behaviour
as mothers they attacked their children even sometimes killing them
harlow research into critical period
there was a critical period for this behaviour - a mother had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days/ after this attachment was impossible
evaluation of hallows research - theoretical value
harlow showed the importance of contact comfort opposed to being fed by a mother
showed the importance of early relationship for later social development
evaluation of harlows research- practical value
helped social workers to understand the factors of child neglect and how to prevent in Howe 1998
also important in captive monkeys in zoos and also breeding programmes in the wild
evaluation of harlows research- ethical issue
the monkeys suffered greatly from the experiment. the species is considered to be similar enough to humans to be able to generally findings also showing that their suffering was presumably quite similar
the counter argument is that the ethical issues were outweighed by the effects and findings
define learning theory
a set of theories from the behaviourist approach to psychology that emphasise the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour. explanations for learning of behaviour include classical and operant conditioning
who proposed the learning theory of attachment
John Dollard and Neal Miller 1950 proposed that caregiver-infant attachment can be explained by learning theory. their approach is sometimes called a cupboard love approach because it emphasises the importance of the caregiver as a provider of food. put simply they proposed that children learned to love whoever feeds them
what is classical conditioning in the learning theory of attachment
- involved learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way we already respond to the other
- in regards to attachment, food serves as an unconditional stimulus. being fed gives us pleasure and doesn’t have to be learned, an unconditioned response
- a caregiver is a neutral stimulus. when the same person provides the food over time they become associated with food- when the baby sees this person there is an immediate expectation of food
- the neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus. once conditioning has occurred, the caregiver produces a conditioned response of pleasure
what is operant conditioning in the learning theory of attachment
-involves learning to repeat behaviour or not depending on the consequences. If a behaviour produces a pleasant consequence that behaviour is likely to be repeated again. the behaviour had been reinforced. if a behaviour produces an unpleasant consequence it is less likely to be repeated
attachment as a secondary drive
draws on the concept of drive reduction
-hunger is thought as a primary drive
sears et al 1957 suggested that as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. attachment is thus a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive
evaluation of the learning theory of attachment -
counter evidence from animal research
-some studies show young animals don’t necessarily attach to those who feed them- Lorenz experiment and Harlow experiment.
in Lorenz geese imprinted before they were fed and maintained these attachments regardless of who fed them
evaluation of the learning theory of attachment -
counter evidence from human research
-feeding doesn’t appear to be an important factor
-schaffer and Emersons study many of the babies developed a primary attachment to their biological mother even though the other carers did most of the feeding
shows that feeding is not a key element to attachment and so there is no unconditioned stimulus or primary drive
evaluation of the learning theory of attachment -
ignores other factors associated with forming attachments
-the quality of attachment is associated with factors like developing reciprocity and good levels of international synchonry Isabella et al 1989.
-studies have shown that the best quality attachments are with sensitive carers
if attachment purely developed purely or primarily from feeding there would be no purpose for these complex interactions
John bowlby evolution theory
Bowlby put forward an important theory of attachment, based on the work of the ethologists.
- He saw humans as being just like other animals – we need an INNATE tendency to form attachments with a caregiver.
- This tendency gives us an ADAPTIVE ADVANTAGE, i.e., makes it more likely that we will survive.
- He adopted the idea of a CRITICAL PERIOD from ethologists like Lorenz, and applied this to his explanation of how human infants form their attachments.
Bowlby’s theory of evolution
Adaptive
- This means they give our species an ‘adaptive advantage’, making us more likely to survive.
- This is because if an infant has an attachment to a caregiver, they are kept safe, given food, and kept warm
Bowlby’s theory of evolution
social releasers
Babies have Social releasers, which ‘unlock’ the innate tendency of adults to care for them. This exchange of behaviours between infants and caregivers gradually builds a relationship, within the early weeks of life.
These Social releasers are both:
-Physical – the typical ‘baby face’ features and body proportions
-Behavioural – e.g. crying, cooing
Bowlby’s theory of evolution
critical theory
Babies have to form the attachment with their caregiver during a Critical period. This is between birth and 2½ years old.
Bowlby thought that if an attachment is not formed within this time it will be very difficult for a child to form an attachment later on.
bowlby theory of evolution
monotropy
Bowlby believed that infants form one very special attachment with their mother called Monotropy.
Bowlby believed the more time a baby spent with the primary attachment figure the better.
The law of continuity states that the more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better the quality of their attachment.
The law of accumulated separation states that the effects of every separation from the mother add up so “the safest dose is therefore a zero dose” (Bowlby, 1975).
evaluation of bolwby theory of evolution
mixed evidence for monotropy
bowlby believed babies formed one attachment to their primary caregiver and this attachment was special in so way different from later attachment. only after this attachment was established could a child form multiple attachments. this is not supported by schaffer and Emerson 1964 a-the found that a significant minority appeared to form multiple attachments at the same time
bowlby theory of evolution
support for internal working model
Bowlby suggests that children form a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver. This is called an internal working model because it serves as a model for what relationships are like.
It is suggested that IWM will impact on friendship relationships as well as the child’s later ability to parent themselves, as they base their parenting behaviours on their own experience.
Bailey et all 1007 tested this idea. they assessed 99 mothers with one-year old babies on the quality of their attachment to their own mothers using a standard interview procedure. the researchers also assessed the attachment of the babies to the mothers by obersvation. it was found that the mother who reported poor attachments to their own parents in the interviews were much more likely to have children classified as poor according to the observations. this supports the idea that a bowlby said an internal working model of attachment was being passed through the families
evaluation of bowlby theory of evolution
support for social releasers
evidence to show that cute infant behaviours are intended to initiate social interaction and that doing so is important to the baby. brazelton e al 1975 observed mothers and babies during their interactions reporting the existence of interactional synchrony. they then extended the study from an observation to an experiment. primary attachment figures were instructced to ignore their babies signals- in bowlbys terms to ignore their socials releasers. the babies initially shows some distress but when the attachment figures continues to ignore the baby ti responded by curling up and lying motionless. the fact the child responded strongly suggests bowlby increase about the significance of infant social behaviour in eliciting caregiving
who was the strange situation experiment
Mary Ainsworth 1964
what was the aim of the strange situation experiment
To observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a Childs between 9-18 months attachment to a caregiver .
what was the procedure of strange situation
9x9 foot space marked into 16 squares to help monitoring
It was a controlled observation in which the child and the mother were observed interacting in 8 different scenarios (episodes). Controlled observation set up in a laboratory using a two way mirror which Ainsworth used to make her observations.
what were the 5 behaviours being observed in the strange situation
Exploration behaviour - secure base will enable a child to feel confident to explore
Proximity seeking - an infant with good attachment will stay close to the caregiver
Stranger anxiety - signs of being closely attached is anxiety when a stranger approaches
Separation anxiety - sign of becoming attached is to protest at separation from caregiver
Reunion behaviour - response to reunion after short period away from caregiver
what were the findings of the strange situation
Ainsowrth discovered hat there were distinct patterns in the way infants behaved
- insecure avoidant attachment A
- secure attachment B
- insecure resistant attachment C
% of infants in each study
A 12%
B 66%
C 22%
what is insecure avoidant attachment type A
baby explores freely but don’t seek proximity or show secure base behaviour. little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves and makes little effort to make contact when the mother returns. they show little stranger anxiety -about 20-25 % of toddlers
