attachment Flashcards
what are the two examples of caregiver-infant interactions in humans
interactional synchrony
reciprocity
what research supports reciprocity between caregiver-infant interactions
Still face
Tronik
after 3 minutes of attempted interaction the infant begins to turn their body away in distress
what research supports interactional synchrony in caregiver-infant interactions
Meltzoff and Moore
6 babies 12-27 days old
12 babies 16-21 days old
shown facial gestures(tongue) and manual gestures(finger)
from 12 days old babies can imitate behaviour which shows it is a key behaviour from birth
how is the still faced experiment Practically applied
measure atypical behaviour if no distress shown suggest something is wrong with the relationship or babies mental processing so accurate help can be put in place to help development
what is a negative of the research in which supports caregiver-infant interactions
socially sensitive
what are the 4 stages of attachment?
asocial 0-5 weeks
indiscriminate 6 weeks to 7 months
specific 7-11 months
multiple +11 months
who’s research supports the stages of attachment?
Schaffer and Emerson
why does schaffer and emerson’s work support the stages of attachment
7 months = 29% of children had more that 1 attachment
10 months = 50%
18 months = 87%
what is the methodological issue with Schaffer and Emerson’s study
conducted in their own homes so acted more comfortable or differently to make themselves appear better
limited sample of 60
ethnocentric (Scotland) therefore individualistic culture
how can the stages of attachment be practically applied?
infants behaviour can be measured to check for abnormalities in infancy development so early diagnosis to aid development
a problem with the types of stages of attachment is that its culturally specific why?
taken place in individual culture so immediate family set up
in collectivistic cultures children are brought up by the community so may not reflect these stages
what are the stages of attachment by schaffer and emerson?
asocial
indiscriminate
multiple
specific
what was the role of the father
to go out and work to provide for the family so minimal time was spent in bringing up the children by the father as it was the role of the mother as they go through child birth
what is the modern day role of the father
10% fathers are now stay at home whilst mother works
9% fathers are single parents
what factors effect the role of a father to a child?
interaction, accessibility and responsibility
what love hormone is found in both women and MEN
Oxytocine
what did Frodi’s research suggest about the role of the father?
there is no physiological difference between response of mother and father when watching videos of a crying child (measured via brain scans) so differences in gender roles are not biological
what did Geiger’s research suggest about the role of the father?
there are different roles during play
mothers are more caring and nurturing
fathers are more exciting
what did Hrdy’s research suggest about the role of the father?
that fathers are unable to detect low levels of infant distress like mothers so aren’t suitable to be the primary caregiver
what did Lamb’s research suggest about the role of the father?
fathers who became primary caregivers became more sensitive to the children’s needs
who’s research suggests the role of the father is complementary to the mother
Geiger
what is wrong with the conclusions of research into the role of the father?
they are socially sensitive
What are the practical applications of the role of the father?
Outline Frodi’s research
as their is no difference shared maternity leave can now be taken
the primary breadwinner doesn’t have to be the father and the mother can return to work
how is the research into role of the father Ethnocentric?
research is taken place in individualistic cultures
what did Lorenz conduct his study on
Goslings
what did Harlow conduct his study on
Rhesus monkey babies
what is evolutionary discontinuity?
differences between behaviours and characteristics on non human animals compared to humans therefore in research they cannot be generalised to the human population
how and why is Lorenz’s study reliable
standardised procedures
clutch of gosling eggs separated into two groups 1 raised by mother and 1 raised by human
What are the practical applications of Lorenz’s research?
can be applied to support theories such as Bowlby’s monotropic theory and one of the key principles of the sensitive period which an attachment can only be formed in 3 yrs for a human and the first 25hrs for a gosling that’s why they went to Lorenz
what is ethically wrong about Lorenz’s research
some goslings were raised without their mother
there for produced an internal working model to humans and tried to reproduce with humans so are unable to form relationships with same species
why can Lorenz’s study NOT be generalised?
evolutionary discontinuity
why can Harlow’s study NOT be generalised?
evolutionary discontinuity
how and why is Harlow’s research reliable?
standard procedures
rhesus monkeys are put in a cage with 2 surrogate mothers one is a wire mother that can feed and another is cloth mother which can not
what are the practical applications of Harlow’s research?
can support the idea that behaviour is innate like in Bowlby’s monotropic theory not learnt link in the learning theory as monkeys spent the most time with the cloth mother and had high exploration behaviour
why does Harlow’s study lack ecological validity?
lab experiment
not like in the wild
why is Harlow’s research ethically wrong
monkeys were taken away from their real mothers
monkeys were purposefully distressed which lead to them producing dihorrea
what does the learning theory imply
that attachment’s are learnt through association of food and consequences
what is the only strength of the learning theory?
it has face validity as it makes evolutionary sense to form attachments to caregivers who provide us with food for survival
what animal research disproved the learning theory as an explanation for attachment
Harlow
2 surrogate mothers
monkeys preferred cloth mother to feeding wire mother
what other research disproved the learning theory as an explanation for attachment
Schaffer and Emerson
infants still formed primary attachments to those who didn’t feed them but were most responsive to them
39%
what is the alternate theory to the learning theory as an explanation for attachment and why may it be better?
Bowlby’s monotropic theory
suggests how we have evolved to form attachment rather then learnt (Nature>nurture)
so attachment is more biological as learning theory is reductionist and ignores DNA
what are the 5 key principles of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
monotropic innate and adaptive social releasers sensitive period internal working model
MAISSI
monotropic adaptive innate social releasers sensitive period internal working model
who’s research supports Bowlby’s monotropic theory and specifically what key principles?
Harlow….Innate
Lorenz… sensitive period
however what is wrong with the research that supports Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
evolutionary discontinuity
what is the practical applications of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
improvements in child care
key workers never used to be able to form bonds with children
in nurseries now 1 key worker for an infant to make an attachment
stops damaging negative influences
who provides an alternative explanation to Bowlby’s monotropic theory
Kagen
what did Kagen suggest as an alternative explanation for explanations of attachment?
that in Bowlby’s research the continuity of early attachments could be due to other factors for example
personality difference between caregiver and child
nature of the relationship between caregiver and child
what are the 4 measures of behaviour in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
P R E S S
who were the Pt’s in ainsworths study
100 American families with an infant aged 9-18 months old
what are the attachment types presented by ainsworths strange situation?
insecure avoidant
securely attached
insecure resistant
what % of the uk are insecure avoidant
15%
what % of the uk are securely attached
70%
what % of the uk are insecure resistant
15%
why can ainsworths strange situation be described as reliable?
follows the standard procedures of:
1min introduction
3min child plays with caregiver present
3min stranger talks to caregiver and attempts to play w child
3min caregiver leaves child with stranger
3min caregiver returns stranger leaves
3min caregiver leaves child alone
3min stranger re-enters to interact
3 min stranger leaves and caregiver returns
what research supports ainsworths strange situation?
Hazen and shavers love quiz
showed that securely attached babies now are loving and trusting in a relationship
insecure avoidant = avoid intimacy
insecure resistant = on and off relationships
why does ainsworths situation lack ecological validity?
artificial environment
novel environment with different toys to home and hadn’t experience room before so not normally like day to day life
how does ainsworths situation have internal validity?
no extraneous variables allows establishment of cause and effect
why can ainsworths strange situation not be generalised?
ethnocentric
individualistic culture vs collectivistic
who investigated the cultural variation of attachment
using ainsworths strange situation
Van ljzendoorn
what is a meta-analysis
analysing differences between data across a large body of evidence
what did Van ljzendoorn’s meta-analysis try to assess
the mother-child attachment types within different cultures A B or C
in Van ljzendoorn’s meta-analyses what did the attachment type % show for Japan
A- 5%
B- 68%
C- 29%
in Van ljzendoorn’s meta-analyses what did the attachment type % show for GB
A 22%
B 75%
C 3%
in Van ljzendoorn’s meta-analyses what did the attachment type % show for Sweden
A 15%
B 75%
C 15%
How does Van ljzendoorn’s research support universal laws?
secure attachment is the most common
(give examples)
this suggest BMT is correct as shows attachment is innate
why does Van ljzendoorn’s research have high reliability?
standardised procedures
ainsworth procedure
how does Van ljzendoorn’s research lack validity
culturally bias and mostly western countries selected
how can Van ljzendoorn’s research not be generalised?
hard to generalise a whole culture
25 pts in China study
1.5x greater variation within cultures
what is the continuity hypothesis of the IWM
the idea that there is consistency between early emotional experiences and later relationships, and it sees children’s attachment types being reflected in these later relationships
what are the findings of childhood relationships when securely attached?
closer more meaningful relationships such as a best friend
more reciprocal relationships
what are the findings of childhood relationships when insecurely attached?
Avoidant- more likely to be bullied
Resistant- more likely to be a bully
what are the findings of adulthood relationships when securely attached?
empathic
meaningful loving relationships
high self esteem
what are the findings of adulthood relationships when insecurely attached?
A: fear of intimacy, not emotionally invested, untrustworthy, doesnt share feelings
C: avoids closeness but wants closeness leading to jealousy, worries of feeling unloved, distraught when relationships end
how does Kern’s evidence support attachment types on childhood and adult relationships
his results showed securely attached babies form the best quality childhood relationships
whereas insecurely attached have more challenging relationships
showing the long lasting effects on attachment types
how does Hazen and Shaver’s love quiz support attachment types on childhood and adult relationships
56% secure attached had happy and trusting relationships
29% avoidant feared intimacy
19% worried about feeling loved
how is the research/theory of attachment types on childhood and adult relationships seem deterministic
out of our control
some people behave behave differently to parents
therefore pessimistic
how is the research/theory attachment types on childhood and adult relationships seem reductionist
focus on parental relationships ignoring wider social influences
other influence could be maturity and puberty
what are the practical applications of attachment types on childhood and adult relationships
shows the importance of caregiver influence encouraging a strong, secure attachment relationship
increasing levels of adoptive parents need to be sensitive to infants needs and may have to partake in parental classes
this shows the importance of early relationships for later life
