Attachment Flashcards
Adaptive
Forming attachments help to ensure the survival of the child
Social releases
Unlock an inmate tendency in adults
Physical - babies face
Behavioural/Emotional - baby crying or smiling
Critical period
Between birth and 2 1/2 years
If no attachment formed then child would be physically and psychologically damaged
Monotropy
Baby forms a special attachment, usually with the mother
Internal Working Model
Makes sure the child makes a good relationship during adulthood
Lorenz
Group 1 - left geese eggs with real mother to hatch
Group 2 - Separated geese eggs from mother and placed them in incubator to hatch
Lorenz made sure that he was the first moving thing that the geese saw when they hatched, they continued to follow him around even after being placed back with real mother
Group 1 followed real mother around
Supports Bowlby’s mono tropic theory as it shows the critical period
However, it’s an animal study so can’t generalise to humans - birds imprint and human attachment is more complicated
Hazan and Shaver - ‘The love quiz’
Examined current attachment experiences and attachment history
620 people responded to the questionnaire that was published in an American newspaper
There was a positive correlation between attachment type in childhood and later love experiences
Supports Bowlby’s idea of an internal working model
However, volunteer sample so demand characteristics, lacks population validity and no evidence of early attachment - their memory could be incorrect
Rutter et al
Measured impact of attachment over time from 165 Romanian orphans
111 adopted before 2
54 adopted after 2
52 British adopted children = control
Children adopted before 2 caught up with the British children
Children adopted after 2 had significant cognitive, social and psychological problems but managed to form attachments, it just took them longer
Against Bowlby’s theory as attachments were formed outside the critical period - was remanded the sensitive period
Strength - longitudinal study, increased ecological validity
Limitation - extraneous variables, participant attribution - could drop out and data may be important
The learning theory
Classical conditioning UCS UCR MILK HAPPY BABY NS NO RESPONSE MOTHER. BABY UCS + NS UCR MILK + MOTHER HAPPY BABY CS CR MOTHER HAPPY BABY
Attachment formed through breastfeeding
Harlow
8 Rhesus monkeys were placed in a cage with two surrogate mothers
1 = wired with food
2 = cloth with no food
Monkeys spent the most time on the cloth mother = 22/24 hours a day
Against learning theory as it shows attachment is based on contact comfort not food
Supports critical period - monkeys that were allowed to go into adulthood struggled to form good adult relationships as they didn’t form mother relationships
CAN’T relate findings to humans
Stages of attachment
Asocial
Indiscriminate attachment
Discriminate attachment
Multiple attachment
Asocial
0-6 weeks
Infant shows similar responses to objects and people
Don’t show preferences to faces or eyes
Indiscriminate attachment
6 weeks - 6 months
Infant now shows preference for human company over non-human company
Ability to distinguish between different people but are comforted by anyone
Discriminate attachment
7-12 months
Infant shows a preference to one caregiver, displaying separation and stranger anxiety
Infant looks for a particular person for security, comfort and protection
Multiple attachments
1 year +
Attachment behaviours are ow displayed towards several different people
e.g siblings and grandparents
Schaffer and Emerson
60 Glasgow working class babies
Visited babies homes every month for a year then at 18 months
Interviewed mothers and observed Childs behaviour
25-32 weeks 50% showed operation anxiety towards mother
40 weeks 80% of the children had specific attachment and 30% started to form multiple attachments
Strength - high internal validity
Limitation - lacks population validity, frequent presence of researcher = used to strangers, lacks ecological validity, demand characteristics and temporal validity
The strange situation - Ainsworth
1) Child and caregiver enter the room
2) Caregiver reads magazine and child plays
3) Stranger toys to interact with infant
4) Caregiver leaves and stranger toys to interact
5) Caregiver returns and stranger leaves
6) Caregiver leaves child alone
7) Stranger returns and interacts with child
8) caregiver returns
Set up in a lab = controlled variables = high internal validity but low ecological validity
One way mirror = overt observation for parents = social desirability = demand characteristics
= covert observation for children = won’t change behaviour
Controlled observation = event sampling and inter-rater reliability
Secure
66% Mother = safe base Moderate separation anxiety Moderate stranger anxiety Joy on reunion
Insecure avoidant
22% Mother = not safe base Low separation anxiety Low stranger anxiety No joy on reunion
Insecure resistant
12%
High separation anxiety
Stranger anxiety
Rejection on reunion
Van Lizendoorn and Kroonbenberg
Meta-analysis of 32 studies using Ainsworth strange situation
Secure attachment in all countries
Japan and Israel = high levels of insecure resistance - babies raised by mothers and hardly left
Germany = high levels of insecure avoidant - value independence
Biased sample = 27/32 individualistic western cultures
Cultural bias = not valid as child may not be used to day care
Large sample size
Rothbaum et al
Interviewed 14 mothers from Tokyo and US on their views of attachment
Both cultures agreed that secure was the best type
Japanesse mothers saw crying as a positive whereas US did not
Also Japaneese saw exploration as a negative and US did not
Interview = researcher bias
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation
88 kids between 5 and 16 years who were referred to a guidance clinic
44 were thieves - 16 of these were affectionless psychopaths
44 were a control who committed no crime
Interviewed kids and their families about early life experiences - 86% of affectionless psychopaths experienced prolonged separation anxiety
Attachment
An emotional tie between two people that is reciprocated
