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A Level Psychology > Attachment > Flashcards

Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

What is developmental psychology

A
  • branch of psychology concerned with progressive behaviour changes that occur in individuals across their lifespan
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2
Q

What is attachment

A
  • emotional bond between two people
  • two way process that endures over time
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3
Q

What are ways caregivers and infants interact

A
  • reciprocity
  • interactional synchrony
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4
Q

What is reciprocity

A
  • two way mutual process where each party responds to other’s signals to sustain interaction
  • behaviour of each party elicits response from the other
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5
Q

Reciprocity in more depth

A
  • studies demonstrated infants coordinate actions with caregiver’s actions in conversation (Jaffe et al. 1973)
  • regularity of an infant’s signals allows caregiver to anticipate infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately
  • sensitivity to infant behaviour lays foundation for later attachment between caregiver and infant
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6
Q

What is interactional synchrony

A
  • adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication
  • caregiver and infant interact in such a way that actions and emotions mirror each other
  • research carried out by Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
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7
Q

What did Meltzoff and Moore find about interactional synchrony

A
  • infants as young as 2 weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures they saw adults do
  • adult model displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements
  • dummy was placed in baby’s mouth during display to prevent response
  • after displays, dummy was removed and infant’s expression was filmed
  • found there was an association between infant’s behaviour and adult model
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8
Q

What are positive evaluation points of caregiver and infant interactions

A
  • Meltzoff and Moore (1983)
  • Murray and Trevarthen (1985)
  • Abravanal and DeYong (1991)
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9
Q

What are negative evaluation points of caregiver and infant interactions

A
  • inferences
  • expressions
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10
Q

How is Meltzoff and Moore (1983) a positive evaluation point for caregiver and infant interactions

A
  • interactional synchrony has been demonstrated in several studies
  • Meltzoff and Moore found infants as young as three days old displaying this behaviour
  • suggests that the imitation behaviours are not learned and instead are innate
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11
Q

How is Murray and Trevarthen (1985) a positive evaluation point for caregiver and infant interactions

A
  • got mothers to interact with their babies over a video monitor
  • next part of the study, the babies were played a tape of their mothers so she was not responding to them
  • babies tried to attract their mother’s attention, but when this failed, they gave up responding
  • shows babies want their mothers to reciprocate
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12
Q

How is Abravanal and DeYong (1991) a positive evaluation point for caregiver and infant interactions

A
  • observed infant behaviour when interacting with a puppet that looked like a human mouth opening and closing
  • infant’s made little response to this
  • shows they are not just imitating what they see; Interactional synchrony is a specific social response
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13
Q

How are inferences a negative evaluation point for caregiver and infant interactions

A
  • babies cannot communicate
  • psychologists rely on inferences
  • cannot be sure infants are actually trying to communicate
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14
Q

How are expressions a negative evaluation point for caregiver and infant interactions

A
  • expressions tested are ones infants frequently make
  • they may not have been deliberately imitating what they saw
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15
Q

How are there difficulties investigating caregiver and infant interactions

A
  • babies’ attachment behaviours stronger in lab, studies should thus take place in natural setting to increase validity
  • studies are observational and can have observer bias, counter through interrater reliability
  • practical issues => infants often fall asleep or need feeding so observation periods are short
  • extra care needed for ethics
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16
Q

Who researched into the stages of attachment

A
  • Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
  • investigated development of attachment using longitudinal study
  • followed 60 infants and mothers for two years
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17
Q

What are the different stages of attachment

A
  • pre-attachment
  • indiscriminate attachment
  • discriminate attachment
  • multiple attachment
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18
Q

What is the pre-attachment stage

A
  • 0 to 3 months
  • from 6 weeks of age, infants become attracted to other humans, preferring them to objects and events
  • preference is demonstrated by their smiling at people’s faces
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19
Q

What is the indiscriminate attachment stage

A
  • 3 to 7 months
  • infants begin to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people
  • smiling more at familiar people
  • still allow strangers to handle them
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20
Q

What is the discriminate attachment stage

A
  • 7 months onwards
  • infants develop specific attachment to primary attachment figure, staying close
  • show separation protest and display stranger anxiety
  • Schaffer and Emerson found infant’s primary attachment figure was not always person they spent most time with
  • concluded it is quality of relationship that matters
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21
Q

What is the multiple attachments stage

A
  • 7 months onwards
  • very soon after developing first attachment, infants develop strong emotional ties with other major caregivers
  • known as secondary attachments
  • fear of strangers weakens but their attachment to their primary attachment figure remains the strongest
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22
Q

What are evaluation points for stages of attachment (all negative)

A
  • reliability
  • sample
  • temporal validity
  • individual differences
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23
Q

How is reliability an evaluation point for stages of attachment

A
  • data collected by Shaffer and Emerson may be unreliable as it was based on mothers’ reports of infants
  • some mothers may have been less sensitive to infant’s protects
  • therefore been less likely to report them
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24
Q

How is sample an evaluation point for stages of attachment

A
  • sample biased as it only included infants from working class population so findings may not be applicable to other social groups
  • sample only includes infants from individualist cultures so findings are not applicable to infants in collectivist cultures
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25
Q

How is temporal validity an evaluation point for stages of attachment

A
  • study lacks temporal validity
  • conducted in 1960
  • parents care of children has considerably changed since
  • many women go out to work and more men stay at home
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26
Q

How are individual differences an evaluation point for stages of attachment

A
  • stage theories are inflexible and do not account for individual differences
  • some infants might form multiple attachment first, rather than starting with a single attachment
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27
Q

What is the role of the father in attachment

A
  • inconsistency in research into role of father and whether he plays a distinct role
  • some show fathers provide play and stimulation to complement role of mother and both are crucial to child’s wellbeing
  • however other research shows no such distinction
  • research investigating effects of growing up in a single female or same sex parent family shows no effect on development and suggests role of father is not important
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28
Q

What did Schaffer and Emerson find about the role of the father

A
  • fathers less likely to be primary attachment figure
  • may be because less time spent with infant
  • men may not be as psychologically equipped to form intense attachment because they lack emotional sensitivity => biological factors => women have oxytocin underlying caring behaviour
  • could be due to societal norms
  • found 75% of infants studied formed attachment with father at 18 months
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29
Q

What did Field (1978) suggest about the role of the father

A
  • fathers can be primary attachment figures
  • role of father in single parent family is more likely to adopt the traditional maternal role, to be the primary caregiver and a nursing attachment figure
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30
Q

What are positive evaluation points for the role of father (2)

A
  • children without fathers often do worse at school and show high levels of risk taking and aggression
    => suggests fathers can help prevent negative developmental outcomes
  • fathers are important for mothers as well as children
    => fathers who help with childcare allow mothers to have time for themselves, reducing stress, increasing self esteem and enabling mothers to interact positively with their children
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31
Q

What are negative evaluation points for the role of the father (2)

A
  • inconsistency in findings
    => researchers are interested in finding out about different questions
    => some want to see role of father as secondary and some as primary attachment figure
    => difficult to answer what the role actually is
  • MacCallum and Golombok (2004)
    => found children growing up with only mothers or same sex couples do not develop different to children reared in two parent heterosexual families
    => findings suggest role of father is not important
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32
Q

What was the Strange Situation

A
  • methodology used by Ainsworth et al. (1970)
  • investigated differences in attachments between infants and caregivers
  • controlled oberservation
  • took place in a room that had been furnished with toys
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33
Q

What were the mini episodes observed in the Strange Situation

A
  • mother and baby
  • stranger enters
  • mother leaves
  • mother returns
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34
Q

What did investigators record in the Strange Situation

A
  • proximity seeking
  • stranger anxiety
  • separation protest
  • reunion joy
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35
Q

What were the types of attachment found in the Strange Situation

A
  • insecure avoidant
  • secure attachment
  • insecure resistant
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36
Q

What is insecure avoidant

A
  • classified in 20% of babies
  • babies largely ignore caregiver and explore room
  • show no separation protest when caregiver is absent
  • continue to ignore caregiver when they return (no reunion joy)
  • distressed when complexly alone but comforted by stranger easily showing no stranger anxiety
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37
Q

What is secure attachment

A
  • classified in 70% of babies
  • play happily when caregiver is there
  • use caregiver as a safe base while they explore
  • distressed when caregiver leaves => separation protest
  • seeks immediate contact when caregiver returns => reunion joy
  • wary of strangers showing stranger anxiety but accepts some comfort
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38
Q

What is insecure resistant

A
  • classified in 10% of babies
  • will not explore room as they are clingy
  • show extreme separation protest but show no reunion joy
  • show extreme stranger anxiety
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39
Q

What is a positive evaluation point for strange situation

A
  • replicated
  • has been replicated many times
  • easy to replicate
  • high control and standardised procedures
  • been carried out in many different cultures showing no culture bias
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40
Q

What are negative evaluation points for strange situation

A
  • culture bias
  • proximity seeking
  • gender bias
  • ecological validity
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41
Q

How is culture bias a negative evaluation point for strange situation

A
  • methodology developed in US
  • attachment behaviour seen as healthy in US may not be in all cultures
  • in Germany, very few mothers worked but children encouraged to be independent and self reliant
  • German parents view some behaviour exhibited by securely attached (separation anxiety) as being spoilt
  • explains why they showed less separation anxiety and been classed as avoidant
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42
Q

How is proximity seeking a negative evaluation point for strange situation

A
  • validity of some measures has been questioned
  • e.g. it could be argued that proximity seeking could be a measure of insecurity rather than security
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43
Q

How is gender bias a negative evaluation point for strange situation

A
  • only been carried out using mothers as caregivers
  • children may be insecurely attached to mothers but securely attached to fathers
  • therefore not a measuring of a child’s overall attachment style but instead attachment to one individual
  • Main and Weston (1981) found children behave differently depending on which parent they are with
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44
Q

How is ecological validity a negative evaluation point for strange situation

A
  • artificial
  • may not reflect infant’s real world behaviour
  • studies have found that babies’ attachment behaviours are much stronger in lab setting than home environment
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45
Q

Who investigated cross cultural variations in attachment

A
  • Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)
  • Ainsworth (1967)
  • Simonella (2014)
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46
Q

What were the studies investigated by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) for cross cultural variations in attachment

A
  • all studies included strange situation to measure attachment
  • studies looked at relationship between mothers and babies
  • babies under 24 months
  • studies were conducted in eight countries
  • individualistic cultures => USA, UK, Germany
  • collectivist cultures => Japan, China, Israel
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47
Q

What were the findings of the meta analysis carried out by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)

A
  • secure attachment most common in all eight countries
  • second most common attachment was insecure avoidant, except in Israel and Japan where avoidant was rare but resistant was common
  • lowest percentage of secure attachment was in China
  • highest percentage of secure attachment was in UK
  • highest percentage of insecure avoidant was West Germany
  • overall variations within cultures were 1.5 times greater than the variation between cultures
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48
Q

What do the findings of the cross cultural variations in attachment meta analysis suggest

A
  • caregiver and infant interactions have universal characteristics, so may be partly instinctive
  • however variations between cultures show cultural differences in child rearing practices play a role
  • variations within cultures indicate sub cultural differences, such as social class
  • these factors are possibly more important than culture
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49
Q

What was the study carried out by Ainsworth (1967) into cross cultural variations of attachment

A
  • conducted a two year naturalistic observation of mother infant interaction in Uganda
  • participants were 26 mothers and infants living in 6 villages
  • observed some mothers were more sensitive to infants needs and these mothers tended to have securely attachment infants
  • secure attachment led the infant to have increasing competence and independence
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50
Q

What was the study carried out by Simonella (2014) into cross cultural variations of aggression

A
  • study in Italy
  • sample of 76 12 month olds using strange situation
  • 50% were securely attachment, 36% avoidant
  • lower rate of secure than other studies
  • researchers argue there is an increase in women in work who use professional childcare
  • findings suggest cultural changes can make a dramatic difference to patterns of secure and insecure attachment
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51
Q

What is a positive evaluation point of the meta analysis into cross cultural variations in attachment

A
  • study is a meta analysis
  • includes large sample
  • increases validity of findings
  • findings can be generalised
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52
Q

What are examples of negative evaluation points of the meta analysis in cross cultural variations in attachment

A
  • culture bias
  • Israel
  • subcultures
  • gender bias
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53
Q

How is culture bias a negative evaluation point for the meta analysis into the cross cultural variations in attachment

A
  • strange situation methodology developed in US
  • may not be valid in other countries
  • e.g. Ainsworth assumed willingness to explore means a child is securely attachment
  • not the case in other cultures
  • thus methodology culturally biased
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54
Q

How is Israel a negative evaluation point for the meta analysis into the cross cultural variations in attachment

A
  • infants from Israel lived on a Kibbutz (closed community)
  • did not come into contact with strangers
  • could be the reason for showing severe distress when confronted with strangers and so were classed as resistant
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55
Q

How is subcultures a negative evaluation point for the meta analysis into the cross cultural variations in attachment

A
  • study was not comparing cultures but countries
  • e.g. USA and Japan both have different subcultures with different child rearing practices
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56
Q

How is gender bias a negative evaluation point for the meta analysis into the cross cultural variations in attachment

A
  • all studies in meta-analysis looked at infants’ attachments to mothers
  • children may have different attachment to both mother and father
  • therefore strange situation is not measuring child’s attachment style but attachment to one individual
  • Main and Weston (1981) found children behave differently depending on which parent they are with
57
Q

How does learning theory suggest attachment is learnt

A
  • all behaviour is learned rather than innate or inherited
  • people learn through classical and operant conditioning
58
Q

What is classical conditioning in attachment

A
  • infant born with certain reflexes
  • stimulus of food is unconditioned stimulus producing unconditioned response of pleasure
  • person providing food is neutral stimulus but become associated with pleasure gained from food over time
  • person becomes conditioned stimulus producing conditioned response of pleasure
  • according to classical conditioning, this is how attachment bond develops and reason children feel pleasure in caregiver’s presence
59
Q

What is operant conditioning in attachment

A
  • strengthens attachment
  • baby receives positive reinforcement for crying when they are hungry as caregiver feeds them
  • caregiver receives negative reinforcement for feeding baby when they cry ad feeding baby makes crying stop
60
Q

What is a positive evaluation point for learning theory in attachment

A
  • plausible and scientific
  • founded in established theory
  • likely the association between provision of needs and person providing those needs can lead to strong attachments
61
Q

What are negative evaluation points for learning theory of attachment

A
  • Harlow (1959)
  • Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
  • explanation
  • environmental
62
Q

How is Harlow (1959) a negative evaluation point for learning theory of attachment

A
  • separated infant Rhesus monkeys from mothers and put them in cages
  • milk was provided either by a wire mesh surrogate mother or one made of cloth
  • monkeys clung to soft cloth mother
  • especially when scared by aversive stimulus
  • even if it did not provide milk
  • suggests comfort is more important than food in determining whom a baby will attach to
63
Q

How is Schaffer and Emerson (1964) a negative evaluation point for learning theory of attachment

A
  • found food is not necessary for attachment to form
  • discovered that babies are often attached to people who play with them, rather than feed
  • in 39% of cases, even though mother was the one who fed the baby, the baby was more attached to someone else
64
Q

How is explanation a negative evaluation point for learning theory of attachment

A
  • theory explains how attachments form but not why they form
  • according to Bowlby’s theory of attachment, infants form an attachment to their caregiver to ensure they are protected
65
Q

How is environmental a negative evaluation point for learning theory of attachment

A
  • environmentally reductionist
  • explains complex behaviour in overly simplistic way
  • infant caregiver relationship is varied, sophisticated and complicated
  • many different types of attachment
  • therefore unlikely attachment is merely result of caregiver providing food
  • environmentally deterministic
  • states early learning determines later attachment behaviours
66
Q

What does Bowlby’s monotropic theory suggest as to why attachments form

A
  • fundamental principle of Bowlby’s theory is that attachment between infants and caregivers is an instinct that has evolved
  • increases chance of babies’ survival and parents’ passing genes => adaptive
67
Q

What does Bowlby’s monotropic theory suggest as to how attachments form

A
  • infants have innate drive to be attached to adult
  • Bowlby proposed attachment is determined by caregiver’s sensitivity => strongly attached infants have responsive, cooperative and accessible caregiver
  • social releasers ensure attachments develop between caregiver and infant
  • argued infants have one special emotional bond => monotropy => biological mother but not always
  • infants form secondary attachments providing important emotional safety net vital for healthy psychological and social development
68
Q

What does Bowlby’s monotropic theory suggest about innate behaviours

A
  • innate behaviours have critical period which they must occur => 2 years of age for attachment
  • if infants do not form attachment then they will have difficulty forming later attachments
69
Q

What does Bowlby’s monotropic theory suggest about social releasers

A
  • important during this time to ensure that attachments develop between caregivers and infants
  • include smiling and crying
  • behaviours that elicit care giving
  • babies display them to encourage caregivers to look after them
70
Q

What are the consequences of attachment according to Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • infant uses this relationship to form mental view of relationships => internal working model
  • secure relationships in childhood ensure a positive working model => current and future relationships will be positive and secure
  • continuity hypothesis proposes that individuals who are securely attached in infancy continue to be socially and emotionally competent => secure childhood leads to positive internal working model
71
Q

What are different laws associated with Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • law of continuity
  • law of accumulated separation
72
Q

What is the law of continuity for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • the more constant and predictable a child’s care is, the better the quality of their attachment
73
Q

What is the law of accumulated separation for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • the effects of every separation from the mother add up
  • “the safest dose is zero dose” (Bowlby, 1975)
74
Q

What are examples of negative evaluation points for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
  • socially sensitive
  • Tizard and Hodges (1989)
  • unscientific
  • Kegan (1984)
75
Q

How is Schaffer and Emerson (1964) a negative evaluation point for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • suggested that multiple attachments are more common in babies than monotropy
  • found by 18 months, only 13% of infants had only one person they were attached to
76
Q

How is socially sensitive a negative evaluation point for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • feminists suggest monotropic theory is socially sensitive
  • places burden of responsibility on mothers => take blame if anything goes wrong in child’s life
  • also puts pressure on mothers to stay home and give up careers
  • Bowlby also underestimated role of father
  • saw role of father as primarily economic
  • outdated view as many families view both parents equally responsible for childcare and many families have father as primary caregiver
77
Q

How is Tizard and Hodges (1989) a negative evaluation point for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • found children who never had any attachments by 4 and were then adopted could still form attachments to new adopted parents
  • goes against idea of a critical period before 2 years during which an attachment must form or it never will
78
Q

How is unscientific a negative evaluation point for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • impossible to test Bowlby’s argument that attachment has persisted in same form throughout our evolutionary history, making it unscientific
79
Q

How is Kegan (1984) a negative evaluation point for Bowlby’s monotropic theory

A
  • disagreed with Bowlby about the quality of an infant’s attachment being determined by caregiver’s sensitivity
  • explained infant’s attachments to caregivers in terms of innate temperament
  • according to his theory, some infants are better suited to form attachments than others due to innate characteristics
  • Rovine (1987) found infants who had been judged to have signs of behavioural instability between one and three days were later more likely to have an insecure attachment
80
Q

What is Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

A
  • children who suffer from prolonged emotional deprivation, caused by absence of primary attachment figure will have long term issues
  • intellectual (low IQ), social (delinquency) and emotional difficulties (affectionless psychopathy) and mental health (depression)
  • according to continuity hypothesis, effects are irreversible and continue into adulthood due to lack of internal working model => inability to be a good parent
81
Q

When does maternal deprivation occur

A
  • could occur before critical period => child is 2.5 years old
  • risk of occurring up to sensitive period if there is no substitute mother figure available to take over emotional care of child => 5 years old
82
Q

What was Bowlby’s methodology behind the maternal deprivation theory

A
  • analysed case histories of patients in clinic where he worked
  • all children attending clinic were emotionally maladjusted
  • studied 88 => 44 thieves (caught stealing) and 44 control
  • Bowlby suggested 14 of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths => lacked affection, shame and responsibility for actions
83
Q

What were Bowlby’s findings behind the maternal deprivation theory

A
  • individuals diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths experienced frequent early separations from mothers
  • 12 of 14 affectionless psychopaths experienced frequent separation from mothers compared with only 5 of the 30 thieves who were not classed as affectionless psychopaths
  • almost none of control group experienced early separation from mothers
84
Q

What are positive evaluation points for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

A
  • practical applications
  • Spitz (1945)
  • Skodak and Skeeles (1949)
85
Q

What are negative evaluation points for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

A
  • Tizard et al. (1989)
  • privation
86
Q

How is practical applications a positive evaluation point for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

A
  • before Bowlby’s (1953) theory, hospitals would not allow parents to visit children staying
  • often had profound and damaging effect on child
  • nowadays parents are actively encouraged to stay
87
Q

How is Spitz (1945) a positive evaluation point for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

A
  • examined children raised in poor quality orphanage in South America
  • staff were overworked, under trained and rarely gave children attention/affection
  • children displayed anaclitic depression => loss of appetite, sleeplessness, sadness
88
Q

How is Skodak and Skeeles (1949) a positive evaluation point for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

A
  • found children placed in institutions that only looked after them physically scored poorly on intelligence tests
  • however when same children transferred to different institution giving emotional care, IQ scores improved by almost 30 points
89
Q

How is Tizard et al. (1989) a negative evaluation point for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

A
  • effects of maternal deprivation have been shown to be reversible
  • children who had never formed attachments and were adopted after age of 4 were still able to form attachments to new parents
90
Q

How is privation a negative evaluation point for Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

A
  • Bowlby did not distinguish between deprivation and privation
  • deprivation => attachment figure is lost
  • privation => child never formed an attachment
  • could be privation causing extreme negative effects observed in some studies
91
Q

What is institutional care

A
  • a child’s living arrangements are outside of the family
  • some children are raised in institutions => children’s homes, hostels, hospitals
  • children raised in institutions can adopt rules and norms of the institution
  • could impair functioning and lead to a loss of personal identity (deindividuation)
92
Q

Who carried out a study into institutional care

A
  • Rutter et al. (2010)
  • studies of Romanian orphans
93
Q

What was the procedure by Rutter et al. (2010) into institutional care

A
  • involved 165 Romanian children who spent early lives in Romanian orphanages before being adopted
  • thus suffered from effects of institutionalisation
  • adoptees were tested at regular intervals (ages 4, 6, 11 and 15)
  • tested to assess physical, cognitive and social development
  • progress compared to control group of 52 British children adopted in UK before age of 6 months
94
Q

What were the findings by Rutter et al. (2010) into institutional care

A
  • at time of adoption, Romanian orphans lagged behind British counterparts on all measures of physical, cognitive and social development
  • by age 4, Romanian children adopted before age of 6 months had caught up to British counterparts
  • however a significant number of individuals adopted after age of 6 months still had significant deficits at age 4
95
Q

What was the conclusion by Rutter et al. (2010) into institutional care

A
  • study suggests that long term consequences of institutionalisation may be less severe than once thought if children are adopted before 6 months and receive sensitive parenting
  • however if children are adopted after 6 months, consequences of institutionalisation are likely to be severe
96
Q

What are the effects of institutionalisation

A
  • delayed intellectual development
  • disinhibited attachment
  • emotional development
  • lack of internal working model
  • quasi autism
  • delayed physical development
97
Q

How is delayed intellectual development an effect of institutionalisation

A
  • children raised in institutions can have a low IQ and concentration problems
  • means they may struggle at school as they cannot learn new behaviours and concepts as quickly
  • can also have delayed language development
98
Q

How is disinhibited attachment an effect of institutionalisation

A
  • children raised in institutions may not know what appropriate behaviour towards strangers is
  • they can be overly affectionate and attention seeking
99
Q

How is emotional development an effect of institutionalisation

A
  • children raised in institutions can have difficult managing their anger
  • e.g. they have more temper tantrums than other children
100
Q

How is lack of internal working model an effect of institutionalisation

A
  • children raised in institutions may have difficulty interacting with peers and forming close relationships
  • as adults they will have impaired adult relationships and can struggle to parents their own children
101
Q

How is quasi autism an effect of institutionalisation

A
  • children raised in institutions develop quasi autism as they struggle to understand the meaning of social contexts and can have obsessional behaviours
  • they can have a lower frequency of pretend play and reduced empathy
102
Q

How is delayed physical development an effect of institutionalisation

A
  • children in institutional care are usually physically small
  • research shows lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of deprivation dwarfism
103
Q

What are positive evaluation points for the effects of institutionalisation

A
  • practical applications
  • studies investigated effects of institutionalisation have enhanced understanding of potential negative consequences of institutional care and led to establishment of key workers in institutions to provide emotional care for children
  • additionally, studies led to changes in adoptions process => previously mothers encouraged to nurse children for as long as possible before giving up children but now most babies are adopted within first week of life
104
Q

What are negative evaluation points for the effects of institutionalisation

A
  • generalisation
  • Le Mare and Audet (2006)
  • characteristics
105
Q

How is generalisation a negative evaluation point for the effects of institutionalisation

A
  • problems when generalising findings of studies of Romanian orphans as standard of care was particularly poor in Romanian orphanages
  • Romanian orphans faced with much more than emotional deprivation
  • physical conditions were appalling, and there was a lack of cognitive stimulation
  • likely that long term damage from institutional care only occurs when there are multiple risk factors
106
Q

How is Le Mare and Audet (2006) a negative evaluation point for the effects of institutionalisation

A
  • possible that negative effects of institutional care can be reduced by sensitive parenting
  • Le Mare and Audet conducted longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada
  • adopted orphans were physically smaller than a matched control group at age 4
  • but this difference disappeared by 10
  • same was true for physiological health
107
Q

How is characteristics a negative evaluation point for the effects of institutionalisation

A
  • adoptions and control groups not randomly allocated to conditions in studies of Romanian orphans
  • means participants variables between children could influence findingds
  • children may have been adopted due to personal characteristics (resilience/sociable)
  • may explain why they were less affect by institutional care, lowering validity of research
108
Q

What did Harlow (1959) do

A
  • conducted landmark study on attachment
  • Origins of Love
  • sought out to demonstrate mother love (attachment) was not based on the feeding bond between mother and infant as suggested by learning theory
109
Q

What was the procedure of Harlow (1959)

A
  • created two wire mothers with different heads => one wrapped in soft cloth
  • 8 infant rhesus monkeys separated from mothers at birth and studies for 165 days
  • placed in cage with two wire mothers
  • 4 received milk from cloth mother, 4 from wire
  • during 165 days, time spent with each mother measured
  • observations made of monkey’s responses to being frightened by mechanical teddy bear, and coping with exploring new room with unfamiliar toys
110
Q

What were the findings of Harlow (1959)

A
  • all 8 monkeys spent more time with cloth mother even if it was not feeding milk
  • monkeys fed by exposed wire mother only stayed long enough to get milk then returned to cloth
  • when frightened by mechanical teddy bear, all monkeys clung to cloth mother
  • when playing with new objects, monkeys kept one foot on cloth
  • when placed in new environment, they were not confident enough to explore room unless cloth mother was with them
111
Q

What were the long term effects of Harlow (1959)

A
  • Harlow continued to study monkeys as they grew up
  • monkeys developed abnormally => froze or fled when approached by other monkeys
  • did not show normal mating behaviour and did not cradle their own babies
  • if monkeys spent time with other monkeys they could recover but only if this happened before they were 3 months old
  • having more than 3 months with only a wire mother was not something they could recover from
112
Q

What are positive evaluation points for Harlow (1959)

A
  • Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
  • found food is not necessary for attachment
  • found babies often attachment to people who play with them rather than feed them
  • in 39% of cases, even though mother was the one who fed the baby, they baby was more attachment to someone else
113
Q

What are negative evaluation points for Harlow (1959)

A
  • ethical issues
  • extrapolation
  • complexity
114
Q

How are ethical issues a negative evaluation point for Harlow (1959)

A
  • monkeys removed from mothers which could be traumatic
  • deliberately scared to see how they reacted
  • led to long term emotional harm
  • when older and encountered other monkeys, they froze or fled
  • had difficulty caring for their own young (did not cradle them) as they had not been cared for themselves
115
Q

How is extrapolation a negative evaluation point for Harlow (1959)

A
  • problematic to extrapolate findings from this to attachment in human infants
  • what applies to non human species does not necessary apply to human infants
  • humans are physiologically very different from monkeys
  • several influences monkeys do not have
  • e.g. culture, society, peers, upbringing
116
Q

How is complexity a negative evaluation point for Harlow (1959)

A
  • attachment bond between human infants and their attachment figures is far more complex than it is in monkeys
  • e.g. there are several different types of attachment styles human infants can have => secure, avoidant, resistant
117
Q

What did Lorenz (1935) do

A
  • Lorenz was an ethologist => studied animal behaviour in their natural environment
  • investigated imprinting => instinct in several species of animals to attach to first moving thing they see after they are born
118
Q

What was the procedure of Lorenz (1939)

A
  • took a clutch of gosling (geese) eggs
  • divided into two groups
  • one hatch with natural mother others played in incubate
  • eggs in incubator would attach to Lorenz as he was the first moving thing they saw
  • Lorenz marked two groups to distinguish between them and placed them all together
119
Q

What were the findings of Lorenz (1939)

A
  • goslings divided themselves up => followed mother or Lorenz
  • those in incubator showed no recognition of mother
  • found process of imprinting is restricted to a very definite period of a young animal’s life => critical period
  • if young animal not exposed to moving object during critical period then animal will not imprint
  • imprinting occurs in first 2 days
  • similar to attachment => binds to caregiver in special relationship
  • Lorenz had to teach goslings to swim and they would return to him when called
120
Q

What were the long term effects of Lorenz (1939)

A
  • noted several features of imprinting => irreversible and long lasting
  • one geese used to sleep on his bed every night (Martina)
  • discovered early imprinting had effect on mate preferences => sexual imprinting
  • animals choose to mate with same kind of object upon which they imprinted
121
Q

What is a positive evaluation point of Lorenz (1935)

A
  • Gutton (1966)
  • other studies support idea that animals are born with an instinct to attach to the first moving object they see
  • Gutton demonstrated chickens exposed to yellow rubber gloves during feeding in first few weeks of life imprinted on the gloves
122
Q

What is a negative evaluation point of Lorenz (1935)

A
  • Gutton (1966)
  • imprinting is more reversible than Lorenz thought
  • Gutton found he could reverse imprinting in chickens that had initially tried to mate with the yellow rubber gloves
  • after spending time with their own species, they were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens
123
Q

What did Sroufe et al. (2005) do

A
  • investigated the influence of early attachment on childhood relationships
  • Minnesota Parent Child Project
  • began in 1975 and is still being studied
124
Q

What was the procedure for Sroufe et al. (2005)

A
  • since 1975, mothers’ and children’s behaviour has been assessed using questionnaires and observations
  • e.g. mothers and children were videotaped (intra observer reliability) while playing for a period of 10-15 minutes at home
  • mothers aware of videotaping (social desirability bias)
  • two observers analysing recordings (inter observer reliability)
125
Q

What were the findings for Sroufe et al. (2005)

A
  • children classed as securely attached were
    => rated highest for social competence
    => less socially isolated
    => more popular with peers
    => more empathetic
  • infant’s early attachment creates internal working model of what relationships are, how partners behave towards each other and expectations of a relationship
  • those who are secularly attached have a positive internal working model for relationships => better at forming and maintaining relationships
126
Q

What were the long term effects for Sroufe et al. (2005)

A
  • if infants do not have an early attachment during critical period, this would result in lack of an internal working model for attachment
  • could lead to attachment disorder => no preferred attachment figure and inability to interact/relate to others
  • becomes evident from age of 5
  • usually caused by severe neglect or frequent change of caregiver
127
Q

What is a positive evaluation point of Sroufe et al. (2005)

A
  • reliable
  • Simpson et al. (2007) found similar results
  • assessed infants attachment styles at one year of age
  • several studies have found children who were secularly attached as infants were rated as having higher social competence as children and were closer to their friends aged 16
128
Q

What are negative evaluation points for Sroufe et al. (2005)

A
  • deterministic
  • Tizard and Hodges (1989)
129
Q

How is determinism a negative evaluation point for Sroufe et al. (2005)

A
  • study claims early experiences have a fixed effect on later childhood relationships
  • therefore children who are insecurely attached as infants are doomed to experience emotionally unsatisfactory relationships as children
  • there ignores role of free will and is deterministic
130
Q

How is Tizard and Hodges (1989) a negative evaluation point for Sroufe et al. (2005)

A
  • lots of studies contradicting claim that early attachment affects later childhood relationships
  • Tizard and Hodges found children raised in care who had never formed any attachments by age of 4 and were then adopted could still form attachments to new adopted parents
131
Q

What are theories investigating the influence of early attachment on adult relationships

A
  • Bowlby’s monotropic theory
  • Hazan and Shaver (1987)
132
Q

What does Bowlby’s monotropic theory suggest about the influence of early attachment on adult relationships

A
  • infants have on special bond (monotropy)
  • infants uses this to form internal working model
  • secure relationships ensure positive working model
  • so current, future and romantic adult relationships will be positive and secure
  • continuity hypothesis proposes individuals who are sexually attached in infancy continue to be socially and emotionally competent => secure childhood leads to positive internal working model
133
Q

What did Hazan and Shaver (1987) do to investigate the influence of early attachments on adult relationships

A
  • designed a study to test the connection between a person’s infant attachment style, internal working model and adult attachment style
134
Q

What was the procedure for Hazan and Shaver (1987)

A
  • placed a Love Quiz in the newspaper
  • quiz asked question about relationship with parents (identify infant attachment style), attitudes towards love (assess internal working model) and current relationship experiences (determine adult attachment style)
  • analysed 620 responses => 205 men and 415 women
135
Q

What were the findings of Hazan and Shaver (1987)

A
  • when analysing adult attachment style, found prevalence of adult attachment styles was similar to infant attachment styles
  • 56% classified secure, 25% avoidant and 19% resistant
  • suggests most people’s infant attachment is same as adult
  • also found relationship between individual’s internal working model and adult attachment style => positive internal working model tended to be securely attached adults
  • found positive correlation between adult attachment and love experiences
  • securely attached adult described love experiences as happy/friendly/trusting
  • emphasised being able to accept and support partner despite faults
  • these relationships were most enduring => ten years on average compared 6 years for avoidant and 5 years for resistant
136
Q

What are negative evaluation points for Hazan and Shaver (1987)

A
  • reliability
  • correlational
  • validity
137
Q

How is reliability a negative evaluation point for Hazan and Shaver (1987)

A
  • study is unreliable
  • several other studies failed to find strong correlation between infant attachment style and adult attachment style
  • Farley (2002) conducted review of 27 samples where infants were assessed in infancy and later reassessed
  • ranging form 1 month to 20 years
  • found correlations ranging from 0.5 to 0.1
138
Q

How is correlational a negative evaluation point for Hazan and Shaver (1987)

A
  • study is correlational rather than experimental
  • cannot determine cause and effect
  • impossible to say infant attachment styles determine adult attachment styles
  • could be the presence of third variable affecting both
  • e.g. person’s innate temperament
139
Q

How is validity a negative evaluation point for Hazan and Shaver (1987)

A
  • study relies on participants’ memories about their early lives in order to assess their infant attachment style
  • such recollections are likely to be flawed because memories of the past are not always accurate
  • making study invalid

A Level Psychology (12 decks)

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