Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

define reciprocity

A

a two way process (or mutual interaction) where an action happens one after another

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2
Q

define interactional synchrony

A

a simultaneous process where behaviours or emotions are mirrored

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3
Q

define attachment

A

an emotional bond between two people shown in their behaviour; a two way reciprocal process which endures over time

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4
Q

what did meltzoff and moore study

A

interactional synchrony and reciprocity

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5
Q

how many stimuli were shown in meltzoff and moore’s study

A

3 facial expressions, 1 hand gesture

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6
Q

describe meltzoff and moore’s method

A

an adult model displayed one of 4 stimuli to a baby with a dummy in its mouth (to prevent response), the dummy was removed and the baby’s expression filmed

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7
Q

what made meltzoff and moore’s study a controlled observation

A

the babies’ behaviour was recorded and watched in real time, slow motion and frame by frame, and judged by observers who had not seen the behaviour the baby had seen, observers had 4 categories to record

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8
Q

what were the 4 conditions observers recorded in meltzoff and moore’s study

A

tongue protrusion and termination of, mouth opening and termination of

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9
Q

describe meltzoff and moore’s results

A

there was an association between infant behaviour and the adult model’s, interactional synchrony was present as early as 3 days, reciprocity was present as early as 2/3 weeks

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10
Q

+ evaluation for innate attachment (point 1)

A

research support for innate attachment from controlled observations

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11
Q

+ evaluation for innate attachment (evidence 1)

A

meltzoff and moore, found a relationship between infant behaviour and what they had seen an adult model, controlled environment, baby filmed

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12
Q

+ evaluation for innate attachment (explain 1)

A

babies do not know/care that they are being observed, no response bias, inter-observer reliability and reliable footage

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13
Q

+ evaluation for innate attachment (link 1)

A

the laboratory and controlled environment is not representative of real life, the babies may not have responded in the same way that they would respond to their own mothers or in a real life setting, lacking ecological validity

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14
Q
  • evaluation for innate attachment (point 3)
A

it is hard to know what is going on in an infant’s mind

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15
Q
  • evaluation for innate attachment (evidence 3)
A

many studies looking into early attachment behaviour use infants, such as meltzoff and moore’s research, however the observations made are only based on the surface level, visible behaviour of infants, not the reasoning, thought processes or emotions behind

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16
Q
  • evaluation for innate attachment (explain 3)
A

because the participants in these studies are infants, they lack the ability to communicate, we can never know the true meaning or purpose behind behaviour such as reciprocity or interactional synchrony as it cannot be explained to or fully understood by us

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17
Q
  • evaluation for innate attachment (link 3)
A

while we may not fully know what factors affect the behaviour of babies in terms of interactional synchrony and reciprocity, we can still study babies as only an infant sample can provide information about infants, they cannot speak for themselves and explain their behaviour but controlled observations can give us a pretty good insight

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18
Q
  • evaluation for innate attachment (point 2)
A

the same caregiver-infant interactions are not found in all cultures

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19
Q
  • evaluation for innate attachment (evidence 2)
A

research (le vine et al) has found that kenyan mothers have little physical interaction/contact with their infants but most infants still have a secure attachment

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20
Q
  • evaluation for innate attachment (explain 2)
A

meltzoff and moore’s research could be ethnocentric, ignores how attachments may be formed in other cultures, interactional synchrony and reciprocity may not be valid across other cultures as a universal attachment behaviour, it is not seen in kenya, physical interaction may not be necessary for attachment

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21
Q
  • evaluation for innate attachment (link 2)
A

however, kenya is only one place in the world, others may use physical interaction, reciprocity and interactional synchrony may just be one way of attaching (through physical interaction and mirroring), not the only way of attaching

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22
Q

what did schaffer and emerson study

A

stages of attachment

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23
Q

what was schaffer and emerson’s sample

A

60 babies from Glasgow, visited at home monthly for the first year then again at 18 months

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24
Q

what two behaviours were observed in schaffer and emerson’s research

A

seperation anxiety and stranger distress

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25
Q

describe schaffer and emerson’s method

A

use of triangulation (interviews and observation), at visits they would approach the baby to observe signs of distress, mother was interviewed about various situations, asked to rate babies’ response on a 4-point scale

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26
Q

describe schaffer and emerson’s results

A

mother was the main attachment figure (65%), only 3% were attached to father, by 18 months 32% had multiple attachments and 75% formed an attachment to the father

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27
Q

what are the 4 stages of attachment

A

asocial, indiscriminate, specific and multiple

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28
Q

describe the characteristics of the asocial stage of attachment

A

occurs between 0-6 weeks, similar responses to people and objects but bias to human-like stimuli, discriminate familiar people by smell and voice

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29
Q

describe the characteristics of the indiscriminate stage of attachment

A

occurs between 6 weeks- 6 months, more sociable, do not prefer specific individuals, no fear of strangers, recognise difference between people and objects

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30
Q

describe the characteristics of the specific stage of attachment

A

occurs at 7 months+, separation anxiety, fear of strangers, attachment formed with main caregiver

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31
Q

describe the characteristics of the multiple stage of attachment

A

occurs at 10/11 months+, multiple attachments formed soon after first, attachments behaviours towards different people

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32
Q

+ evaluation for stages of attachment theory (point 1)

A

the research support holds high validity

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33
Q

+ evaluation for stages of attachment theory (evidence 1)

A

schaffer and emerson used triangulation, a combination of observation and interviews

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34
Q

+ evaluation for stages of attachment theory (explain 1)

A

multiple ways of investigating creates increased validity using a variety of data collection methods, the study is also high in ecological validity, research was conducted in homes of the babies, replicative of real life

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35
Q

+ evaluation for stages of attachment theory (link 1)

A

study lacks in temporal validity, conducted in 1967, mothers still expected to stay home and care for child, now mothers are more likely to go back to work and more non-nuclear families (single parent/same sex parents), research is not representative of this

36
Q
  • evaluation for stages of attachment theory (point 2)
A

the research support may be biased, questioning validity

37
Q
  • evaluation for stages of attachment theory (evidence 2)
A

schaffer and emerson’s study involved observations of the babies by their mother and the researchers

38
Q
  • evaluation for stages of attachment theory (explain 2)
A

mothers may be personally biased or feel pressure from the desirability bias to lie or exaggerate, researcher may interpret behaviour incorrectly or manipulate results in order to skew their results the way they want (researcher bias)

39
Q
  • evaluation for stages of attachment theory (link 2)
A

???????????

40
Q

research support for father having a role in attachment (1)

A

bowlby and grossman similarly suggested that the father’s role in attachment is in play rather than in nurturing aspects, the father is more likely to become a child’s play companion, this is still important to attachment but just in a different way

41
Q

research support for father having a role in attachment (2)

A

field and brown et al similarly found that fathers can take on a more nurturing role, the key to the attachment relationship is level of responsiveness and involvement not gender of the parent

42
Q

research support against father having a role in attachment (3)

A

mccallum and golombok found that children growing up in a single or same sex parent family did not develop differently from those in heterosexual two parent families, father does not have distinct role

43
Q

research support against father having a role in attachment (4)

A

it is possible that most men are just not psychologically equipped to form intense attachments, lacking in emotional sensitivity compared to women and lower oestrogen levels which underlies caring behaviour

44
Q

economic implications of father having a role in attachment

A

paternity/maternity leave, stay at home parents, child support, gender pay gap

45
Q

what did lorenz study

A

animal attachment (in goslings)

46
Q

describe lorenz’ method

A

goslings were either hatched with their mother or in an incubator, where the first moving object they saw was lorenz

47
Q

describe lorenz’ results

A

goslings followed their respective mothers (imprinting), a critical period of 13-16 hours, even after mixing goslings stayed the same

48
Q

what did lorenz believe about imprinting

A

that imprinting cannot be reversed, nor can the animal imprint upon anything else

49
Q

how were lorenz’ geese affected later in life

A

affected ability to display normal social and sexual behaviours (sexual imprinting)

50
Q

+ evaluation of lorenz’ study

A

research support for imprinting, guitton’s chicks imprinted on yellow rubber gloves, males tried to mate with gloves later, removing animals from their natural habitat and relations is unethical

51
Q
  • evaluation of lorenz’ study
A

imprinting not as permanent as lorenz thought, it is ‘plastic’, guitton reversed chicks imprinting by socialising them with their own species, animal studies can only represent animals, not humans

52
Q

what did harlow study

A

animal attachment (rhesus monkeys)

53
Q

describe harlow’s method

A

harlow separated 8 infant monkeys from their mothers and placed them in cages with two surrogate mothers made of either wire or cloth, either fed by the cloth or wire mother, harlow scared the monkeys to see which mother they would go to for safety

54
Q

describe harlow’s results

A

all monkeys preferred the cloth mother, spending more time with her even if not feeding and seeking her if frightened

55
Q

how were harlow’s monkeys affected later in life

A

more timid, didn’t socialise well with other monkeys, were easily bullied, difficulty mating, inadequate mothers, aggressive behaviour

56
Q

could the effects on harlow’s monkeys be reversed

A

monkeys kept in isolation for 3 months were least affected and effects could be reversed, over a year the monkeys never recovered the effects of privation

57
Q
  • evaluation of harlow’s study
A

highly unethical, frightened monkeys and created irreversible negative effects in some, sometimes necessary to breach ethical guidelines, couldn’t be carried out with humans, monkeys are similar

58
Q

+ evaluation of harlow’s study

A

influential research with important real life application, guidelines for child care, shows how infants seek comfort over food, animal studies cannot be generalised to humans due to huge biological differences

59
Q

in learning theory (classical conditioning) what is the unconditioned stimulus?

A

food

60
Q

in learning theory (classical conditioning) what is the unconditioned response?

A

happiness/satisfaction (infant)

61
Q

in learning theory (classical conditioning) what is the neutral stimulus?

A

mother

62
Q

in learning theory (classical conditioning) what is the conditioned stimulus?

A

mother

63
Q

in learning theory (classical conditioning) what is the conditioned response?

A

happiness/satisfaction (infant)

64
Q

in learning theory (operant conditioning) what is the primary reinforcer and why?

A

food- directly satisfies hunger

65
Q

in learning theory (operant conditioning) what is the secondary reinforcer and why?

A

caregiver- associated with the primary reinforcer (food)

66
Q

according to learning theory (operant conditioning) why does attachment occur?

A

the child seeks the person who can supply the reward (food)

67
Q

what is positive reinforcement in the context of learning theory attachment?

A

infant receiving food creates feeling of pleasure (reward)

68
Q

what is negative reinforcement in the context of learning theory attachment?

A

hunger is taken away from the infant by the caregiver

69
Q

what is punishment in the context of learning theory attachment?

A

the child does not attach to the caregiver as it does not receive food and suffers hunger

70
Q

+ evaluation of learning theory of attachment (point 1)

A

explains some aspects of attachment

71
Q

+ evaluation of learning theory of attachment (evidence 1)

A

infants do learn through association (classical conditioning), mother (neutral stimulus) is associated with food (unconditioned stimulus), child attaches to mother because food elicits pleasure (unconditioned response), child pairs food and mother so over time loves mother without food (conditioned response)

72
Q

+ evaluation of learning theory of attachment (explain 1)

A

food may not be the main factor, comfort and responsiveness may be more important rewards, theory does have some value in explaining attachment

73
Q

+ evaluation of learning theory of attachment (link 1)

A

reductionist to think that attachment is solely due to food, classical conditioning is not a full explanation of attachment, not based on human behaviour

74
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (point 2)
A

lack of research on humans learning by classical conditioning

75
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (evidence 2)
A

classical conditioning is based on animal studies, pavlov’s dogs salivated (ucr) at the presentation of food (ucs) until a bell (ns) was introduced with the food causing the bell (cs) to become a trigger for salivation (cr)

76
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (explain 2)
A

it is not possible to generalise conclusions made about how dogs learnt to how humans attach, it ignores huge biological and social factors, humans have more complex brains, social structures and language

77
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (link 2)
A

learning theory (classical conditioning) has little value, it reduces human behaviour to a species lower on the evolutionary scale

78
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (point 3)
A

too simplistic to assume children only love parents because of food

79
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (evidence 3)
A

harlow found that rhesus monkeys preferred comfort over food, monkeys sought mother that was comforting (cloth) even if the wire mother fed them

80
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (explain 3)
A

if learning theory was correct, the monkeys would have chosen the wire mother to spend more time with as she fed them, the opposite was found in harlow’s study

81
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (link 3)
A

learning theory could be considered to be wrong

82
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (point 4)
A

bowlby contradicts learning theory

83
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (evidence 4)
A

his theory superseded learning theory, infants attach to a monotropic figure due to comfort and attention not food

84
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (explain 4)
A

secure base is more important than food provided

85
Q
  • evaluation of learning theory of attachment (link 4)
A

however, learning theory can explain why infants may have multiple attachments, multiple people may regularly feed an infant, while bowlby can’t

86
Q

explain ‘innate’ in the context of bowlby’s monotropic theory

A

infants have an inborn need to attach to one main attachment figure