Attachment

Question 1

Meltzoff and Moore

Answer 1

Wanted to investigate whether interactional synchrony was present in babies as young as 3 weeks old.
Three images of adults were displayed with 3 different facial expressions. They found an association between the facial expressions displayed and the facial expressions made by the infant.

Question 2

Interational synchrony

Answer 2

Caregiver interacts and infant mirrors. For example, mother sticks her tongue out and baby also sticks their tongue out

Question 3

Reciprocity

Answer 3

Caregiver interacts and infant responds. For example, mother makes silly face and baby laughs.

Question 4

Meltzoff and Moore Strengths

Answer 4

A strength to Meltzoff and Moore’s study is that the observations were filmed, meaning that the study can be rewatched as many times as need be. Inter-rater reliability can be therefore established by the researcher who can compare their findings with another researchers’ findings.
Lab Experiment- Controlled environment means that extraneous variables can be limited, such as noise or temperature which may also affect babies’ behaviour. Overt studies can also be carried out without the normal affects which cause a change in behaviour.

Question 5

Meltzoff and Moore limitations

Answer 5

Difficulty observing babies can be an issue. Babies’ facial expressions may not be a direct effect of synchrony itself or rather actually just the baby’s movement. Afterall correlation does not mean causation. Babies are immobile and lack co-ordination. Do not know from a baby perspective.
A further limitation is simply observing behaviour does not tell us about developmental importance.
Feldman points out that ideas such as synchrony are simply just patterns and behaviours. A phenonium.

Question 6

Russella Isabella Study

Answer 6

A counterpoint to Felman’s argument is Isabellas study which followed 30 mothers and children and level of synchrony also assessed. They found that higher degrees in synchrony led to better quality of attachment.

Question 7

4 Stages of attachment according to Shaffer

Answer 7

Asocial
Indiscrimitive
Specific
Multiple

Question 8

Asocial Stage

Answer 8

0-6 weeks.
Babies are immobile and lack co-ordination, they show little stranger and separation anxiety.
Easily comforted by people

Question 9

Indiscriminate stage

Answer 9

6 Weeks- 6 Months
Babies become more aware of their surroundings; they have a similar preference to certain people but now show stranger and separation anxiety yet

Question 10

Specific Stage

Answer 10

7 months-11months
Babies now have a clear preference to a caregiver (65%), typically the mother. They begin to show stranger and separation anxiety

Question 11

Multiple Stage

Answer 11

12 months+
Babies form secondary attachments such as father and grandparents.
29% of babies form multiple attachments within the same month as specific

Question 12

Shaffer and Emersons stages of attachment

Answer 12

wanted to study the change in attachment as a baby grows
Study was carried out on 60 babies in Glasgow, mostly working-class families. 29 females and 31 males. Researchers visited monthly and at 18 months. They asked the mother a series of questions, a measure of separation anxiety.

Question 13

Shaffer and Emersons stages of attachment strengths

Answer 13

Good external validity as most of the observations were made by parents in Everday activities. Unlike in a lab, the tasks are not artificial and do not therefore cause artificial behaviour. Researchers are not present which also could affect validity of the results because babies’ behaviour may change.
Real life application may also be used in day-care because knowledge of the asocial and indiscrimative stage has found that babies are easily comforted but when babies grow could become problematic

Question 14

Shaffer and Emersons Weaknesses

Answer 14

There is firstly a lack of knowledge on the asocial stage which means that we assume that anxiety levels are low when actually from a baby’s perspective we do not know this. It is also hard to observe the asocial stage as an objectively. Also, the fact parents carry out the observation is also a limitation because they could easily lie or become bias, affecting the validity further.
Lastly, the study is highly ethnocentric meaning that findings generalized, and study was carried out on very specific people

Question 15

Animal studies- (Harlow)

Answer 15

Harlow anted to study if monkeys referred food or comfort i.e., which was the most important in forming an attachment?
Procedure: 16 baby monkeys were used. ‘2 mothers’, one cloth and one wire monkey, the wired monkey provided food and the cloth monkey provided comfort.
Harlow found that monkeys preferred the cloth monkey, even though the wired monkey provided food.
Found that maternal deprivation is a thing, these monkeys were anti-social, aggressive and not good at attracting potential mates

Question 16

Harlow A03

Answer 16

One weakness to Harlow’s study is that it has many ethical issues attached to it. Most of the monkeys involved in the study died or became maternally deprived. Some even died. It physically and psychologically harmed the monkeys.
A strength of Harlow’s monkeys is that it was conducted as a lab experiment meaning extraneous variables were limited and cause and effect can be established. External Validity is poor however because of factors such as ecological validity and the environment was artificial causing monkeys’ behavior to be too.
Can be put into practice- zoos- social workers and clinical- Howe and importance of attachment in child development

Question 17

Animal studies-Lorenz

Answer 17

Lorenz wanted to investigate imprinting and attachment on baby geese.
He separated geese eggs into 2 groups, incubated and a group in which naturally hatched with the mother. The group in which hatched with the mother followed her but the other group, which saw Lorenz first, followed Lorenz. This is called imprinting, an attachment in animals, Lorenz found a critical period of 90 days in which imprinting needed to occur.

Question 18

Lorenz A03 Strength

Answer 18

Lorenz’ research was very influential to other researchers such as Bowlby, who went onto investigate the critical period in more depth (monotropic theory). This means that Lorenz’ research further expanded the field of attachment in psychology. A supporting piece of research Regolin et al. chicks were exposed to shapes combinations in which moved, shows there is an innate mechanism to imprint ion the moving object.

Question 19

Lorenz A03 weakness

Answer 19

A study from Guiton where chicks imprinted ion yellow washing up gloves showed that imprinting is not a permanent phenomenon but rather temporary because as chicks grew older, they sexually imprinted on the yellow gloves first. Lorenz concluded sexual imprinting when a peacock only showed courtship behaviour towards giant tortoise in a reptile house.
Another weakness is that cannot generalise findings because animals and humans are psychologically different.

Question 20

The Role of the father A01

Answer 20

There has been debates on what the father’s role is in attachment, in Shaffer’s and Emmerson’s stages of attachment study they only found 3% of fathers became the Primary attachment figure and more over only 27% of cases was this equal to the mother. Grossmann’s research was a longitude study on babies into their teens, he found that fathers were mostly there to play and stimulate and therefore have a different role. However, the role of the father as a primary attachment figure is arguably the same because in Tiffany fields study where she filmed 4-month-old babies face to face, she found fathers to undertake primary role typically adopted by mother.

Question 21

The Role of the father Weaknesses

Answer 21

One limitation to the role of the father is that there is a lack of clarity over the research question, most research focuses on fathers as a secondary attachment figure, however this may not be the case as it is proven, in Tiffany Fields research as an example, that the role of the father can be based on a primary attachment as well. This means that there is not enough clarity on research and counts as anomalies for fathers who primary attachment figures. A further limitation is that it does not take account for different scenarios, for example Grossman suggested play and stimulation but what about for gay and lesbian couples? McCallum et al. shows that these children consistently do not develop any different from heterosexual couples’ children.

Question 22

Role of the Father strengths

Answer 22

A counterpoint to McCallum’s argument is that whether which gender parents are, the parents adapt to one of each role but when the father is present, he has a distinct role. Families without fathers can simply adapt to not having a father. A real-life application can also be brought from this, mothers in particular may feel that they do not want to have children because of stereotypical views surrounding the fact that they may have to stay at home, research has shown that this does not affect child’s development ultimately reducing anxiety

Question 23

Learning Theory of attachment (Dollard and Miller)

Answer 23

It is a behaviourist view, learn by classical and operant conditioning, through association and reinforcing. In this example is food. That is why sometimes referred to as ‘cupboard love’

Question 24

Learning Theory of attachment (Dollard and Miller) A03 weaknesses

Answer 24

In Harlow’s study on animal comfort or food, finding contradict this theory as monkeys preferred comfort over food. Lorenz also found that imprinting was the main cause of attachment.
In human studies this can be argued the same, Shaffer and Emmerson founnd that multiple attachments were formed regardless of who fed them. Isabella et al… Babies aren’t seen to have an active role, research shows active role in interactants

Question 25

Learning Theory of attachment (Dollard and Miller) A03 strengths

Answer 25

Some conditioning still may be involved, the baby in Shaffer and Emmerson’s stages of attachment still had a preference. Biological babies feed from a caregiver.
Social learning theory-teach to love through imitation

Question 26

Monotropic Theory Bowlby

Answer 26

Proposed the theory of monotropy. This means “one” refers to the attachment figure, mostly the mother 65% of cases. Two theories, the law of continuity, if the child’s care is consistent, attachment is more predictable, and the law of accumulated separation- all abandonment adds up.
-Social Releaser- cute and innate. Activate social interaction. Sensitive period= 2.5 years
Internal Working Model: A template of what a child bases their future relationships on

Question 27

Bowlby’s monotropic theory A03

Answer 27

Internal Working Model- Hailey Baileys study where she assessed attachment types of 99 mothers. COUNTERPOINT- other factors, such as anxiety and parenting style etc.
Proof of social releasers- T. Berry Brazelton, observed babies, primary attachment figure ignored them- lay curled up motionless.
Shaffer and Emmerson: That around 30% of babies formed multiple attachment in same month as single, may be important but is it as significant?
-Alpha Bias

Question 28

Ainsworth Strange situation

Answer 28

-Controlled observation to measure the level of attachment.
Secure-60-75%
-insecure avoidant- 20-25%
resistant-3%

Question 29

Wilson and Smith

Answer 29

Insecure resistant- most likely to be bullies
insecure avoidant-most likely to be bullied

Question 30

Ainsworth Strange situation A03

Answer 30

-good predictive reliability- Wilson and Smith bullying, securely attached better health
-Love quiz- that better outcome in relationships romantically
COUNTERPOINT could just be genetics-anxiety related. Is it even linked to attachment?
Reliable- Controlled observation, all extraneous variables are controlled, can be replicated. Inter-rater observation was also carried out- Bick agreement on 94% of cases. Large movements are easy to observe. #
Culture bound-Not a valid measure in other cultural contexts. Valid in certain cultures. what is the norm in Western cultures may be different in more collectivist cultures
-Other attachment types- attachment type D- mix of avoidant and resistant- neglect or abuse.

Question 31

Bowlby’s maternal Separation A01

Answer 31

Bowlby proposed the monotropic theory in attachment. The monotropic theory was the most important attachment the child forms. Separation is only when caregiver is not present, deprivation is when no attachment is formed. The critical period is 2.5 years, after this Bowlby said psychological damage was inevitable.
Emotional- 44 thieves. 14/44 emotionless psychopaths-prolonged separation
intellectual- IQ was lower in Goldfarb’s IQ study on institutions

Question 32

Bowlbys Maternal Deprivation A03 limitations

Answer 32

One limitation of this theory is that Bowlby himself proposed it. This is methodological. He could become bias to his findings in (44 thieves study)
Another limitation is that his theory was partially based on Goldfarb questionnaire, the children had experienced early trauma and institutional care as-well as prolonged separation.
Deprivation and privation
Another limitation is the distinction between privation and deprivation. Deprivation is when the attachment has been formed but caregiver is not present. Privation is when the attachment has not been formed at all. This means that the children is Goldfarbs study may have been privets rather than deprived. This means Bowlby over exaggerated deprivation on child’s development.
Critical vs sensitive- contridicting evidence such as Genie

Question 33

Bowlby maternal deprivation strengths

Answer 33

A new line of research on rats showed that separating from their mother had an effect on rats social development. Although flawed evidence there is evidence that supports his ideas

Question 34

Conflicting evidence Bowlbys maternal deprivation

Answer 34

Most attempts to replicate 44 thieves study has failed. Hilda Lewis- 500 young pple no association between separation and psychopathy. Gao- found that poor maternal care was associated with high levels of psychopathy

Question 35

Romanian orphan study A01

Answer 35

Researcher Rutter followed a 165 Romanian orphans for many for years, who had been adopted into UK families. Intervals 4,6,11,15,22 and 25. Physical, cognitive and emotional development. A group of 52 children used as a control group.
The mean IQ for orphans adopted before 6 month was 102, after 6 months but before two years 86, and after 2 years 77. Disinhibited attachment was found after 6 months old

Question 36

Zeanah supporting study

Answer 36

Used the strange situation to assess institutional care. One group was a control group, the other was 95 Romanian orphans. 74% of control group attached securely compared to only 19% of institutionalized children and 44% of institutionalized children were disinhibited compared to only 20m in control

Question 37

Romanian orphan A03

Answer 37

RLA- many care institutions can improve their conditions within, for example Rutter did conclude that disinhibited attachment may have been caused by multiple attachment figures and not being able to form one specific (link to Shaffer and Emmerson) Now they may have key workers who plays a central role in child’s emotional care.
There are few confounding variables, the children had experienced a great degree of trauma so unlikely that any other variable as the factor influencing results. Higher internal validity.
COUNTERPOINT- the Romanian orphans may be introduced to other variables, the institutions sued were not good quality of care. Measures poor institutional care and not institutions themselves.
Lack of adult data, most drop out, do not want to relive past, strengths of longitude studies include getting vast data over time but high dropout rates also no data past 20.
social sensitivity- can study topics not normally ethical.
Also, could cause a self for filling prophecy-lowered expectations

Question 38

Attachment later relationships

Answer 38

Internal working model, discussed by Bowlby’s in his monotopic theory- child’s template. mental representation of what a relationship looks like. Affect nature of future relationships. Smith and Wilson, that insecure resistant most likely to be bullies and insecure avoidant- to be bullied. Secure more likely to get along with peers well.
Adults- McCarthy- studied 40 woman who has been assessed when they were babies. Avoidant-intimacy issues and resistant-maintaining friendships.
Can use Heily Bailey Aswell (99 mothers)

Question 39

Love Quiz

Answer 39

620 replies. Association between attachment and adult relationships. First assessed most important attachment. Second number of relationships and third, attachment type. 56 secure, 25 resistant, 19 avoidant. That avoidant struggled with intimacy

Question 40

Attachment later relationships A03

Answer 40

Studies have strong association with later attachment, emotional wellbeing and own children. A lack of a maternal figure such as 44 thieves. How strong attachment depends on aspect of development i.e., avoidant mild issues but disorganized may be more severe
COUNTERPOINT- a study followed 43 individuals from 1 year o age to 16. There was no evidence of continuity
More important factors.
Assessed retrospectively is an issue, not longnitudal, these consist of asking adult questions about relationship, relies on honesty, could be relying on adult attachment.
mcCarthy study does meaure both child and adult attachment but again confounding varibiables, parenting type, or biology. Deterministic factors.