attachment

Question 1

Bowlby’s evolutionary theory.

Answer 1

Attachment evolved as it increases survival.

Question 2

Short term survival.

Answer 2

Attachment results in a desire to maintain proximity & leads to anxiety on separation. This ensures that the infant is provided with food, protection & safety.

Question 3

Long term survival.

Answer 3

Early attachments influence emotional development via Internal working model:
This provides template for future relationships. Attachment also provides a secure base for exploration which is important for cognitive development.

Question 4

social releasers.

Answer 4

Theory suggests a role of social releasers such as crying & smiling to cement bond which ensures adult responds to child (& child will survive).

Question 5

Monotropy hypothesis.

Answer 5

One attachment relationship most important. This will be the primary attachment figure (who forms the basis on the internal working model).

Question 6

critical period

Answer 6

The time frame in which an attachment usually occurs. If attachment fails to form within the critical period it cannot readily form.
Critical period for humans: Attachment must form before 2.5 years otherwise there will be long term damage.

Question 7

AO3 - love quiz

Answer 7

Ps who were Secure in childhood rated their adult love experiences as happy & trusting & their relationships lasted longer than insecure types (10 years compared to 5 or 6 years). Ps who were Resistant in childhood experienced obsession, emotional highs & lows and extreme attraction & jealousy in their adult relationships. They worried that their partners would abandon them. Ps who were Avoidant in childhood typically feared intimacy in romantic relationships and they believed that they did not need love to be happy.

Question 8

criticism for the love quiz

Answer 8

Love quiz data is retrospective. This means Ps have to think back many years to their childhood or many months to their last relationship. Consequently, their memories may not be accurate. Ps might also be effected by social desirability bias, Questions about relationships & childhood are very sensitive so Ps may change their answers to be seen in the best light. Sample bias: Ps were volunteers so it is likely that only people who are happy in their relationships will apply. This means that results may lack population validity and may not generalise to other people. As there are problems with the Love Quiz which we have been using to support the Internal Working Model, it suggest that the idea of the IWM & indeed evolutionary theory may in itself be flawed

Question 9

AO3 for Monotropy Hypothesis - efe tribe

Answer 9

Support from Efe tribe (Zaire) for monotropy hypothesis:
Tribe members live in extended family groups, babies breast-fed by different women but sleep with mother at night. By the age of 6 months infants show preference for the mother who is the primary attachment figure. This supports the idea of monotropy theory with the mother being the primary caregiver

Question 10

AO3 for Monotropy Hypothesis

Answer 10

But maybe different relationships fulfil different needs. Fathers may be more playful & provide more challenging situations for the child.
Therefore, the role of the father is also very important. This refutes (goes against) monotropy hypothesis.

Question 11

AO3 Criticism of monotropy theory

Answer 11

Another problem with the monotropy theory is that the critical period is not so absolute as children who are adopted after critical period CAN form attachments. Therefore 2 ½ years should be seen as a sensitive period in which it would be best for the attachment to form

Question 12

Procedure of cross - culture strange situation.

Answer 12

Used a meta-analysis. Looked at various databases to find studies that used the strange situation to assess attachment type. Studies were excluded if they included special groups e.g. Down syndrome or twins. Studies excluded if they had fewer than 35 infants. Examined data from 2000 strange situations from 32 studies in 8 countries.

Question 13

findings of cross - culture strange situation.

Answer 13

Secure attachment most common in all countries. Avoidant was the next most common (particularly common in Germany 35%) in all countries except Japan and Israel. In Japan 27% & Israel 29% resistant was next most common. Therefore little variation between cultures. However, they did find variation within a culture was 1.5 times as much than between cultures

Question 14

Why do you think attachment is similar across cultures?

Answer 14

One strength of cross-cultural studies is that it highlights the universal nature of attachment. The fact that findings were similar worldwide suggests attachment is innate (inherited). Alternatively, it could be argued that such similarities are due to the influence of mass media on parenting styles (as the study suggests).

Question 15

What do you think is the difference between the terms countries and cultures?

Answer 15

The meta-analysis compared countries without considering the different sub-cultures within a country. It was found that the variation of attachment within cultures is 1.5 times greater than between cultures. Therefore, there is a danger of exaggerating differences between countries and minimising differences within a country (as the different sub-cultures are not considered when interpreting the results). This is a problem because different countries are not the same as different cultures: some studies were on rural groups others urban therefore data was actually collected from different subcultures E.g. the Israeli Ps lived on a kibbutz. This would be a very different experience to living in Tel Aviv! Therefore, the differences in attachment that may exist WITHIN Israel have not been considered.

Question 16

Why is there a problem with imposed etic?

Answer 16

SS may be an invalid measuring tool. The use of a technique developed in one culture to study another is known as an imposed etic. There is danger that the US is considered the norm and other cultures that are different are considered abnormal. In fact the measuring tool is invalid. E.g. Japan, Israel, Germany

Question 17

There were 36 Ps in the Chinese study. Why is this a problem?

Answer 17

In some countries sample sizes were too small to make safe generalisations. E.g. only 36 Chinese infants were observed & China has a population of over I.3 billion!

Question 18

Are there any other methodological problems with this meta-analysis?

Answer 18

Half of the studies were carried out in USA. This means the results are likely to be biased and not representative of all cultures. The meta-analysis included studies that had used the strange situation to measure attachment types. However, there are concerns that the SS lacks internal validity.

Question 19

Ao3: Reasons for different attachments

Answer 19

Germany: More avoidant. German culture = keeping distance with children & encouraging independence.
Israel: More resistant, less avoidant. Children in the sample were raised on a kibbutz = used to separation from mother but not used to strangers. (But only 5% of Israelis live on a kibbutz)
Japan: More resistant, less avoidant. Mothers rarely leave infants therefore not used to separation.

Question 20

stranger situation procedure

Answer 20

100 middle class American infants & mothers. Placed in a room with toys. Observed through a one way mirror. Seven 3-minute episodes in which child is in the room with mother, child is left with a stranger or child is left alone. The following behaviours are observed: Separation anxiety (reaction when mother leaves), Willingness to explore (does child play with toys?), Stranger anxiety (how does the child react to the stranger?), and Reunion behaviour (how does the child react when the mother returns?).

Question 21

stranger situation results.

Answer 21

3 types of attachment
Type A: Avoidant (22%): Infant not concerned by mother’s absence, avoids contact on reunion. Doesn’t prefer mother to stranger
Type B: Securely Attached (66%) Infant explores room, upset when mother leaves, easily comforted on return. Prefers mother to stranger
Type C: Resistant / Ambivalent (12%)
Explores little, wary of stranger. Very upset when mother leaves but angry on her return. Seeks & rejects contact.

Question 22

ss - AO3: Strengths - Reliability

Answer 22

Test-retest Reliability:
Most children stay in same category of attachment. German study: 78% stayed in same category aged 1 & 6. Any change in attachment was usually due to change in family structure.
Inter observer reliability: Like many observations, the SS was recorded.
Ainsworth recommended that all SSs be recorded so that it could be re-watched by different people to check for reliability.

Question 23

SS - AO3: Criticisms – population validity

Answer 23

All middle class American families therefore findings may not generalise to other social classes and other cultures. The original study was also ethnocentric as all Ps were American. This means that findings may not generalise to other cultures.
In fact the use of a measuring tool (strange situation) developed in one culture may not be suitable for studying other cultures. Eg The strange situation found many German children to be avoidant. This is not actually true as German children are brought up to be more independent so interact less with their mother in the SS! This problem is known as Imposed Etic.

Question 24

SS - Ethical Issues

Answer 24

No protection from psychological harm. Some babies (secure & resistant) are seen to get upset in the Strange Situation. This is also upsetting for the mother. Mothers may also feel uncomfortable or embarrassed if their child is rated as insecure.

Question 25

Deprivation

Answer 25

when a child has formed an attachment but the bond is broken. E.g. when parent dies or a divorce happens.

Question 26

Privation

Answer 26

the situation where no attachment has been formed. Most common where a child has been institutionalised e.g. in an orphanage.

Question 27

MATERNAL DEPRIVATION

Answer 27

Proposed 1950s – beforehand it was widely believed that only physical care was necessary.
Emotional care is just as important for development as physical care. Breaking bond with the child during early years will have serious effects on their intellectual, social & emotional development. If bond is broken child will have difficulty forming relationships later in life & would be at risk of developing behavioural disorders, Effects will be permanent & irreversible. A child denied maternal care because of frequent & prolonged separation would become emotionally disturbed if this happened before age 2 & a half and there is no mother-substitute. This is because of disruption to the IWM. Continuing risk up until age 5.

Question 28

Supporting Evidence:

44 Thieves

Answer 28

Bowlby interviewed children, and their families, who attended a child guidance clinic where he worked. He compared the backgrounds of 44 juvenile thieves (aged 5 -16) with the background of 44 other non-delinquent children.

Question 29

44 thieves results

Answer 29

14 of the 44 thieves were diagnosed by Bowlby as having affectionless psychopathy, the main symptom of which is lack of moral conscience. 86% of these had experienced separation for at least one week before the age of 5. The other 30 were not diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths & of these only 17% had experienced separations.
Control group = no crime = no separation.

Question 30

44 thieves

Why might there be a problem with researcher bias?

Answer 30

Findings could be biased because Bowlby himself diagnosed children as affectionless psychopaths. There could have been expectancy effects as he was supporting his own theory! This might cast doubts on the actual validity of MDH.

Question 31

44 thieves

How could the findings be applied to real life?

Answer 31

However, findings led to a positive change in infant childcare as physical care was no longer seen to be adequate without care of emotional needs. Care of children in orphanages has also been improved to take account of emotional needs including attempts to keep children with one foster family. Also, provisions were made for parents to be able to stay in hospital with their children plus an increase in visiting hours. Therefore this theory has important real life implications

Question 32

44 thieves

Bowlby’s work was carried out just after WWII. Why might Bowlby’s work have negative consequences for women?

Answer 32

During the war women assumed male jobs. It has been suggested that perhaps Bowlby’s theories were used to make women stay at home with their children, This would free up the workplace for the returning men. Bowlby’s work could therefore be considered to be socially sensitive as it may have impacted on the lives of many women

Question 33

44 thieves
AO3 – Contradictory research
Rutter

Answer 33

Argued Bowlby confused cause & effect with an association i.e deprivation is not the cause of later problems but the circumstances surrounding the separation cause the problems. Isle of Wight study. Over 2000 boys (9 & 11). It was found that: if separation was due to physical illness or death of the mother then there was no correlation with delinquency, if separation were due to discord e.g. divorce boys 4 x more likely to be delinquent. suggests it is discord rather than maternal deprivation that causes the problem.

Question 34

AO1:Continuity Hypothesis

Answer 34

Bowlby’s Attachment theory suggests that early relationships with our caregivers provide the basis on how we will conduct our later adult relationships. This idea is termed the continuity hypothesis. The attachment styles we learn as infants and young children become an internal working model for what we believe relationships should be like which provides us with a template for how to behave in future relationships. The internal working model shapes your expectations within relationships. Therefore, the expectations we have of relationships that form in childhood will continue into adulthood.

Question 35

Attachment Style

Answer 35

Bowlby’s research suggests we develop an attachment style. An attachment style consists of two attitudes. First is an attitude about ourselves, termed self-esteem. Second is an attitude about other people - termed interpersonal trust.
These two attitudes develop from our earliest interactions with caregivers. If our caregiver makes us feel highly valued and we feel that they are dependable and reliable we are likely to develop high self-esteem and trust other people. This is the basis of a secure attachment style. The absence of these conditions might result in the development of an insecure attachment style. According to continuity hypothesis, a child who has a secure attachment style will develop an Internal Working Model that will lead to positive interactions with their friends and romantic partners, and better parenting skills.
But a child with an insecure attachment style will develop an Internal Working Model that will lead to negative interactions with their friends and romantic partners and they will struggle with their parenting skills. In other words, the effects of early attachment styles will continue into adulthood.

Question 36

Support for the internal working model influencing adult relationships

Answer 36

Support for the internal working model is provided by Hazan & Shaver who found that adult romantic styles were related to childhood attachment styles using a love quiz. This questionnaire consisted of 3 parts and asked Ps questions about current relationship experiences, attachment history & attitudes toward love in order to identify current and childhood attachment types. The researchers analysed responses from a cross section of the population who had volunteered to take part in the study.

Question 37

AO3: Support for internal working model influencing childhood friendships

Answer 37

Supporting evidence for the Continuity hypothesis affecting friendships comes from the Minnesota parent-child study. This followed Ps from infancy to late adolescence & found continuity between early attachment & later social behaviour. For example, those classed as securely attached in infancy were rated higher in social competency in later childhood, were more popular and more empathetic.
This therefore supports the theory that early attachment influences later childhood relationships.

Question 38

AO3: Support for internal working model influencing parenting skills

Answer 38

Mothers brought up in care were found to interact poorly with their own children.This is because they had no IWM to provide a template for how to look after their own children effectively. Further support come from Harlow’s motherless monkeys who did not cradle their own babies as they did not know how to.

Question 39

Why is continuity hypothesis deterministic?

Answer 39

Continuity hypothesis implies that early attachments WILL determine future relationships. However, many children with insecure attachments CAN experience happy adult relationships. According to the theory who is to blame if you have problems in your adult relationships? Mother. The deterministic nature of this theory therefore makes it socially sensitive as it blames parents for any later relationship problems. Essentially, the theory argues that the behaviour of the caregiver WILL cause later relationship issues.

Question 40

Imprinting

Answer 40

An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother. Takes place during a specific time in development, most likely the first few hours after birth or hatching.

Question 41

Key study of imprinting

Lorenz: Procedure

Answer 41

Lorenz took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into two groups: One group was left with their biological mother, The other eggs were placed in an incubator. When the incubator eggs hatched the first living (moving) thing they saw was Lorenz. They soon started following him around. To test this imprinting further, Lorenz marked the two groups of goslings to distinguish them and placed them together. Both Lorenz & the biological mother were present.

Question 42

Key study of imprinting

Lorenz: findings

Answer 42

He found the goslings he looked after had imprinted on him despite their biological mother being present. Lorenz also noted that this early imprinting had an effect on mate preferences, This is called sexual imprinting: Animals (especially birds) will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon which they were imprinted. Lorenz noted the process of imprinting is limited by a critical period. If a young animal is not exposed to a moving object during this early critical period (usually the first 2 days), the animal will not imprint and form an attachment.

Question 43

Based on the findings of this study what do you think happened when leghorn chicks were exposed to rubber gloves when being fed?

Answer 43

Support for imprinting comes from a study by Guiton, Found that leghorn chicks exposed to yellow rubber gloves when being fed during their first few weeks, imprinted on the gloves. This shows that young animals imprint on any moving object that is present during their critical period. Guiton also found that male chickens later tried to mate with the gloves showing that early imprinting is linked to later reproductive behaviour.

Question 44

Can animal studies like these explain human behaviour?

Answer 44

Animal studies cannot generalise to humans. Humans are born much more helpless & ‘incomplete’ with a very immature brain compared to birds (who can quickly learn to be independent). In humans bonding & growing takes place over longer periods of time leading to more complex relationships & eventual brain development. Humans are consequently capable of more complex thought processes. Therefore our behaviour is governed by conscious decisions which birds are not capable of.

Question 45

Key study: Harlow’s Procedure

Answer 45

Baby rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers at birth & put in a cage with two artificial ‘mothers’ with different heads. One was made of wire and the other was covered in soft cloth, One of the ‘mothers’ fed the monkey with a feeder bottle. The other versions of the ‘mother’ had no feeder bottle. Eight infant Rhesus monkeys were studied for a period of 165 days. For 4 of the monkeys the milk bottle was on the cloth covered ‘mother’ and for the other 4 monkeys the milk bottle was on the wire ‘mother’. The amount of time each monkey spent with the two different mothers was measured.
Observations were also made of the monkeys’ responses when scared by a mechanical teddy bear.

Question 46

Key study: Harlow’s results

Answer 46

All 8 monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth-covered mother whether or not this had the feeding bottle. Those monkeys who fed from the wire monkey only spent a short amount of time getting milk and then returned to the cloth-covered mother. When frightened, all monkeys clung to the cloth-covered mother . Also, when playing with new objects the monkeys often kept one foot on the cloth-covered mother for reassurance.
Conclusion: these findings suggests infants do not develop an attachment to the person who feeds them but to the person offering comfort.

Question 47

The wire & cloth ‘mothers’ had different ‘heads’. Why might this be a problem? AO3

Answer 47

One criticism is that the wire monkeys varied. The two heads were different which may act as a confounding variable. Perhaps the reason the infant monkeys preferred one mother to the other was because the cloth covered mother had a more attractive head. Therefore the conclusions lack internal validity

Question 48

What are the ethical issues in Harlow’s study?

Answer 48

The study created lasting emotional harm as the monkeys later found it difficult to form relationships with their peers.Therefore monkeys were not protected from psychological harm. However, it could be argued that these animal studies are necessary as they could never be carried out on humans. A human baby can’t be removed from its mother just for the sake of an experiment. Instead we have to rely on very rare cases of extreme neglect such as the case of Genie who was abandoned in a room for the first 13 ½ years of her life. As these cases happen so infrequently, we need to use experiments such as Harlow’s to understand certain aspects of behaviour.