Attachment

Question 1

Early interactions…..

Answer 1

Are Meaningful!!!
- From early ages interactions are meaningful with he quality of these interactions associated with successful development of attachment.
- Two kinds:
1) Reciprocity
2) Interactional synchrony

Question 2

What is reciprocity?

Answer 2

When baby and caregiver take turns responding to and elicit response from each other. Like a dance.

Alert phases:
Feldman and Eidelman
- Babies have alert phases in which they seek interaction. Mothers respond successfully 2/3 of the time. From three months interaction becomes more intense and reciprocal.

Babies have active role:
- Traditional views see baby as entirely passive. But they take active role and can initiate interaction.

Question 3

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 3

Interactions involve synchrony as babies and caregivers mirror each others expressions.
- Synchrony = “The temporal coordination of microlevel social behaviour”

Meltzoff and Moore
- Beginnings of interactional synchrony can be seen in babies two weeks old.

Isabella et al.
- Good levels of synchrony are associated with good quality of attachment.

Question 4

Give a strengths of research carried out into caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 4

Use of filmed observations:
- Usually interactions are filmed from multiple angles with so experimenters in the room so the baby is unaware of being observed.
- Increase validity and inter-rator reliability.

Question 5

Give 2 negatives of research carried out into caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 5

1) Observations don’t tell us purpose of both:
Feldman
- Both reciprocity and synchrony simply happen at the same time
- Observable but what’s the purpose, we cannot be certain they lead to better development - only that there is correlation.

2) Babies are difficult to observe:
- Not coordinated (especially young babies). Hard to work out what minor expressions and gestures mean.
- Cannot be certain interactions are meaningful.

Question 6

Describe the role of the father?

Answer 6

1) Attachment to fathers:
Schaffer and Emerson
- 3% of cases the father was primary attachment.
- 27% joint with mother.
- By 18 months 75% of babies formed attachment with fathers.

2) Distinctive role for fathers:
Grossman et al.
- Longitudinal study concluded attachment between mother and baby more crucial in teen attachment and relationships.
- Quality of father’s play also related to teen attachments. Father is there for play and mother for care.

3) Fathers can be the primary attachment figure:
Field
- When fathers are PAF they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers. Often have better interactional synchrony than secondary-caregiver fathers.
- Key attachment is not the gender but the level of responsiveness.

Question 7

How does research into the role of the father have economic implications?

Answer 7

• Challenges traditional views that just mothers are primary care givers.
• Men can do the job just as good as females. So they may feel they can stay at home meaning they don’t tribute to the economy.

Question 8

Give 2 limitations in to inquiries of the role of the father?

Answer 8

1) Confusion over research questions:
- Is the father primary or secondary caregiver.
- Conflict between two schools of thought means that we cannot clearly answer what the role of the father is.

2) Evidence undermines distinct father role:
McCallum and Golombok
- Children without a father don’t develop differently, though Grossman points out a distinct father role.

Question 9

Give a positive evaluation for the role of the father.

Answer 9

Using findings in parenting advice:
- Advising parents about flexibility in the role of the father. Mothers don’t need to feel pressured into staying at home and quitting their job.

Question 10

What are Schaffer’s four stages of attachment? Mention them in order.

Answer 10

1) Asocial stage:
(first few weeks)
- Same behaviour towards objects and humans.

2) Indiscriminate attachment: (2-7 months)
- Preference for humans; no one is favoured; no stranger/separation anxiety.

3) Specific attachment:
(About 7 months)
- Stranger and separation anxiety when separated from one particular adult.

4) Multiple attachments:
(By 12 months)
- Secondary attachment formed within a month 24% of the time.

Question 11

What was the procedure and findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 11

Procedure:
- 60 Glasgow babies
- Visited at home monthly for a year and at 18 months.
- Separation and stranger anxiety observed by child’s mother.

Findings:
- Babies developed attachment through the outlined stages.
- Baby’s primary attachment was to those who had the best reciprocity with them.

Question 12

Give 2 evaluative strengths of Schaffer’s stages of attachment.

Answer 12

1) External validity:
- In the home, natural environment to babies.
- Behaviour observed by parents, unaffected by researchers.
=> Mothers may be biased with what they reported.

2) Real-world application to day-care.
- In early stages (until 7 months) its fine, but once a primary attachment has been made, day-care can cause distress which causes longer-term problems.

Question 13

Give 1 weakness of the stages of attachment.

Answer 13

Poor evidence for asocial stage:
- Babies have poor co-ordination and so they may only appear asocial.

Question 14

Describe Lorenz’s procedure.

Answer 14

Procedure:
- Large clutch of eggs divided in two.
- Half saw biological mother within hours of attachment.
- Half saw Lorenz.
- Mixed the ducklings to see who they would follow and also viewed their courtship behaviour.

Findings:
- Geese followed who they saw first.
- Critical period of a few hours; after that no attachment is formed.
- Sexual imprinting occurs from a template of desirable characteristics.

Question 15

Give 1 evaluative strength and weakness of Lorenz’s study.

Answer 15

1) Support for imprinting:
Regolin and Vallortigara
- Exposed chicks to simple shape moving objects which they imprinted too and showed preference toward.

2) Generalising from birds to humans:
- Mammals different to birds e.g. mammals show more emotion to young. Attachment in mammals is more complex.

Question 16

Describe Harlow’s procedure
and findings.

Answer 16

Procedure:
- 16 rhesus monkeys.
- (Condition 1) Plain-wire monkey with milk.
- (Condition 2) Cloth covered but no milk.
- Reactions to frightening situations were measured.
- Continued observation into adulthood.

Findings:
- Babies preferred cloth covered mothers.
- When frightened, babies went to the cloth mother.
- Monkeys suffered severe consequences in future: more aggression, killing offspring, less skill mating.

Question 17

Give 1 evaluative strength and 2 weaknesses of Harlow’s study.

Answer 17

1) Practical applications:
- Howe (1998) helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and how to prevent it.
- Understand monkey attachment better too for zoo breeding programs.

2) Ethical issues:
- Monkeys similar to humans and Harlow was aware of damage he was causing.

3) Generalising from monkeys to humans:
- More similar than geese, but humans have more complex cerebral cortex.

Question 18

Describe Dollard and Miller (1950)’s learning theory of attachment?

Answer 18

Importance of food in attachment (cupboard love).

1) Classical conditioning:
- Food is UCS that produces feeling of pleasure UCR.
- Caregiver is NS but when associated with food becomes CS. CS produces pleasure CR and so baby associates mother with pleasure from food. Attachment formed.

2) Operant conditioning:
- Crying reinforced because it produces caregiver response.
- Negative reinforcement as caregiver response stops crying.

Drive reduction:
- Attachment is secondary drive learned by association of caregiver with hunger satisfaction. Hunger is primary (innate/biological) drive to reduce hunger drive.

Question 19

Give 2 negative evaluations of the learning theory of attachment.

Answer 19

1) Counter-evidence from animal studies:
- Lorenz and Harlow.

2) Counter-evidence from human studies:
- Schaffer and Emerson show first attachment is not due to the person who fed them.
- Isabella et al. Found interactional synchrony was what predicted attachment quality.

Question 20

Give 1 strength of the learning theory of attachment.

Answer 20

Some elements of conditioning could still be involved:
- Elements of conditioning could still be involved a caregiver becomes associated with warmth and comfort which leads to attachment.
=> Counterpoint:
It ignores the evidence which supports the babies active role in interaction which develops attachment.

Question 21

Outline Bowlby’s theory of attachment.

Answer 21

Attachment is innate for survival and comes from evolution. Young animals stay close to parents for protection.

Monotropic = One primary care-giver
- In Bowlby’s theory a “mother figure”.

1) Law of continuity = constant care means better quality attachment.
2) Law of accumulated separation = effects of separation add up.

Babies have social releasers/ innate “cute behaviours”.

A critical period up to 2 years for attachment to take place.

The first attachment creates an internal working model of relationships in later life.

Question 22

Give 2 strengths of Bowlby’s theory of attachment

Answer 22

1) Clear evidence of social releasers:
Brazleton et al.
- Told primary caregivers to stop responding to their baby’s social releasers.
- Babies who previously were normally responsive showed distress.
- Social behaviour and role of releasers in initiating social interaction

2) Research support for IWM:
Bailey et al.
- 99 mothers who had poor attachments to their own mum were likely to have poor attachments with their own 1 y/o baby.
=> Counterpoint
- Other influences outside of just the IWM. Genetic inheritance also plays a strong role in development of social behaviour.

Question 23

Give two negative evaluations of Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment.

Answer 23

1) Concept of monotropy lack validity:
Schaffer and Emerson
- Demonstrated that multiple attachments can form (multiple attachment stage) just that they may be different in quality.

2) Feminist/ Economic concerns:
- Law of accumulated separation states that all separations add up, this may confine women to a traditional role.
- With mothers feeling they cannot maintain a job while having a child, they cannot contribute to the economy either.

Question 24

Outline the procedure of the strange situation.

Answer 24

Ainsworth and Bell developed the controlled observation to asses the quality of attachment between baby and caregiver.

Five categories to judge attachment quality:
1) Proximity seeking
2) Exploration and secure base behaviour
3) Stranger anxiety
4) Separation anxiety
5) Response to reunion with caregiver

Seven episodes in the procedure each lasting three minutes:
1) Baby encouraged to explore by CG
2) Stranger enters and approaches baby
3) CG leaves
4) CG returns and stranger leaves
5) CG leaves baby alone
6) Stranger returns
7) CG returns

Question 25

What were the findings of the Strange Situation?

Answer 25

1) Secure attachment:
- 60-75% of British kids.
- Happy to explore, but sought proximity.
- Moderate separation and stranger anxiety.
- Requires and accepts comfort on reunion.

2) Insecure-avoidant:
- 20-25% British kids.
- Explore freely: don’t seek proximity.
- Little/no separation and stranger anxiety.
- Don’t require comfort on reunion.

3) Insecure-resistant:
- 3% British kids.
- Explores less, seeks more proximity.
- Considerable separation and stranger anxiety.
- Resists comfort at reunion.

Question 26

Give 2 strengths of the Strange Situation

Answer 26

1) Very good inter-rater reliability:
Bick et al.
- Found 94% agreement in one team regarding baby’s behaviour.
- Observable behavioural categories, controlled conditions.

2) Predictive validity of attachment types:
McCormick et al.
- Predict later development e.g. secure babies have greater success at school.

Kokkinos
- Insecure-resistant children more likely to be bullies.

Ward et al.
- Insecure-resistant children more likely to have adult mental health problems.

=> Counterpoint
- Strange situation measure something that predicts later development, but that could be genetic differences in anxiety.
- Strange Situation may not actually measure attachment.

Question 27

Give one evaluative weakness of the Strange Situation

Answer 27

1) Culturally bound?:
Takahashi
- Japanese mothers rarely leave their children so may show high levels of separation anxiety.

Question 28

Describe the procedure and findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s meta-analysis.

Answer 28

Procedure:
- Looked at the 3 attachment types across countries and within them.
- 32 studies in total, just under 2000 kids, were used for the meta-analysis.

Findings:
- Secure attachment most common type across the board ranging from 50% in China, 75% in Britain.
- Insecure-resistant rates higher than Ainsworth predicted in collectivist samples.
- Variations between countries lower than within; up to 150% difference.

Question 29

Describe the procedure and findings of Simonelli et al.

Answer 29

Procedure:
- 76 babies aged 12 months assessed using strange situation. All in Italy.

Findings:
- 50% secure and 36% insecure-avoidant. Possibly from mothers working long hours so use more childcare services.

Question 30

Describe the procedure and findings of Jin et al.

Answer 30

Procedure:
- Compared the attachment types of 87 Korean babies to proportions in other studies.

Findings:
- Found similar patterns of secure and insecure attachment to other studies with only one baby avoidant. Similar results to japan.

Question 31

Give two strengths of these analysis/ meta-analysis.

Answer 31

1) Very large samples:
- VI and K used nearly 2000 babies
- Raises internal validity as result aren’t down to bias methodology or unusual participants.

2) Use of native researchers:
- Having the investigators from the same country as the participants helps aid communication to prevent misunderstanding.
- Successful communication improves validity.

Question 32

Give two weaknesses for research into cultural variations in attachment.

Answer 32

1) Compares countries not cultures:
Van Ijzendoorn and Sagi
- Found attachment types in urban Tokyo were similar to Western studies.

2) An imposed etic due to design:
- The Strang Situation was created by an American, based on British theory.
- Tries to apply a technique/theory to multiple cultures.

Question 33

Outline Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation.

Answer 33

Continuous and consistent care is essential.
- Separation may lead to maternal deprivation.

Separation is different from deprivation.
- Separation = child is not physically in the presence of PCG.

• Deprivation = losing emotional care as a result of separation.

Critical period of 2.5 years. If extended separation occurs, there is risk of psychological damage.

Maternal deprivation leads to:
- Lower IQ
- Emotionless psychopathy - inability to experience guilt or strong emotion.

Question 34

Describe the procedure and findings of the 44 thieves study.

Answer 34

Procedure:
- 44 delinquent teenagers accused of stealing.
- Family interviews establishing any prolonged separation from mothers.
- Thieves interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy.

Findings:
- 14/44 affectionless psychopaths, 12 of them experienced prolonged separation during the first two years.
- Only 5 of remaining thirty experienced prolonged separation.

Question 35

Give three negative evaluations for Bowlby’s theory of maternal depravation.

Answer 35

1) Evidence is flawed:
- Bowlby himself interviewed the thieves knowing what to look for. Interviewer bias.

2) Bowlby confused deprivation and privation:
Dr M. Rutter
- Deprivation = loss of caregiver once attachment has been formed.
- Privation = failure to form one at all.
- Many thieves moved from home to home so may have never formed an attachment.

3) Critical period is more of a sensitive period:
Koluchova
- Studied Czech twin boys isolated from 18 months.
-Later looked after by two loving parents and appeared to recover fully.

4) Conflicting evidence:
- Many studies have attempted to replicate Bowlby’s findings but the majority do not find a correlation between maternal deprivation and psychopathy.

Question 36

Describe Rutter et al.’s Romanian orphan study procedure and the findings.

Answer 36

Procedure:
- 165 Romanian orphans adopted in the UK, 52 British adoptees as a control.
- Physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed at different stages in life.

Findings:
- Children adopted before age 6 months had a mean IQ of 102 at age 11.
- Children adopted after 2 years had mean IQ of 77 at age 11.
- Sensitive period, no attachment before 6 months has long-term effects (disinhibited attachment).

Question 37

Describe Zeanah et al.’s procedure and findings regarding the Romanian orphans.

Answer 37

Procedure:
- Assessed group of 95 institutionalised Romanian children using the Strange Situation.

Findings:
- Institutionalised group 19% securely attached, 44% disinhibited.
- Control had 74% and 20% respectively.

Question 38

What are the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 38

1) Disinhibited attachment:
- Equally friendly and affectionless to strangers and well known people.

2) Intellectual disability disorder:
- IDD is extreme for those adopted after 6 months.

Question 39

Give two positive evaluations of the Romanian orphans studies.

Answer 39

1) Real-world application:
Langton
- Led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions.
- More care givers now play a ‘central role’ for children to develop normal attachment.

2) Fewer confounding variables than other research:
- Other research on orphan studies had been done before, but these orphans were in institutions because of past abuse from parents. This was a confounding variable in older research.
- Romanian orphans were institutionalised from the beginning so they did not have a prior history of abuse and neglect.
- High internal validity.
=> Counterpoint
- Quality of care in many of the institutions was poor and so this could have been a confounding variable.

Question 40

Give one evaluative limitations of Romanian orphan studies

Answer 40

1) Long term effects not clear:
- Signs shown by children short-term or long-term?
- Last update was when the orphans were aged 20-25. Don’t know if they ended up “catching up” once adults or how good their later life relationships were.

Question 41

In terms of influence of early attachment on later relationships, describe the IWM.

Answer 41

First attachment is template for later relationships.
- Good early attachment = expected good later attachment and vice versa.

Kerns
- Securely attached infants more likely form better friendships in childhood.
Myren-Wilson and Smith
- Insecure-avoidant children more likely to be victims of bullying; insecure-resistant more likely to be bullies.

IWM affects parenting - base their style on IWM, so attachments are passed on.
- Hazan and Shaver also found a link between early attachment types and quality of adult romantic relationships.

Question 42

Describe Hazan and Shaver’s procedure and findings.

Answer 42

Procedure:
Analysed 620 replies from a love quiz.

Questioned on:
- Current and most important relationships
- Love experiences
- Attachment type

Findings:
- Securely attached adults had long-lasting relationships.
- Insecure-avoidant types tended to be jealous and feared intimacy.

Question 43

Give one positive evaluation about research into the influence of early attachment on later relationships.

Answer 43

Strong research support:
Fearon and Roisman
- Concluded that infant attachment influenced development in many ways. Disorganised attachment was most predictive of later mental disorders.
=> Counterpoint
- Not all evidence supports this. Regensburg longitudinal study found no evidence of continuity of attachment type from age 1 to 16.

Question 44

Give two negative evaluations about research into the influence of early attachment on later relationships.

Answer 44

1) Validity issues with retrospective studies:
- Self reflection interviews and questionnaires require honesty and accurate recall.
- Assumes that the attachment type was still the same in adulthood as it was in infancy.

2) Confounding variables:
- Later parenting style and personality are not the same for everyone and may affect both attachment and later development.