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Psychology revision > Attachment > Flashcards

Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the difference between the learning theory and evolutionary theory to attachment?

A
  • According to learning theory, infants learn to be attached to their primary caregiver.
  • Evolutionary theory explains attachment is an innate behaviour that has evolved over millions of years because it increases chances of survival.
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2
Q

What is a bond?

A
  • A set of ‘feelings’ that tie one person to another. E.g. parents often feel strongly ‘bonded’ with their new born babies.
  • we can’t see this…we can’t see feelings.
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3
Q

what is an attachment?

A
  • Attachment is a close 2-way emotional bond between 2 individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
  • Takes longer to develop than a bond (may take a few months).
  • We can see this when we observe behaviours.
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4
Q

What 4 characteristics of attachment did Maccoby (1980) identify?

A
  • seeking proximity
  • distress on separation
  • joy on reunion
  • orientation of behaviour
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5
Q

Why do attachments form?

A
  • Important for survival as infants are physically helpless.
  • Short term: need adults to provide food, comfort and protection.
  • Long term: Emotional relationships
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6
Q

What is reciprocity?

A
  • Caregiver-infant interaction is a 2-way, mutual process: the behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other.
  • Each party responds to the action of another’s signal to sustain interaction (turn-taking).
  • The responses are not necessarily similar as in interactional synchronicity
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7
Q

What has research on reciprocity shown?

A
  • research demonstrated that infants coordinated actions with caregivers in a kind of conversation. Mothers respond to infant alertness around 2/3s of the time.
  • Feldman: around 3 months this interaction tends to be increasingly frequent.
  • Babies move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult almost as if they were taking turns.
  • Brazelton et al suggested this rhythm is important to later communications. Regularity of infant’s signals allows caregiver to anticipate infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately
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8
Q

What is interactional synchrony

A
  • slightly different interaction from reciprocity between infants/caregivers which is when 2 people interact in a mirror pattern in terms of their emotional/facial/body movements.
  • This includes imitating emotions as well as behaviours.
  • Feldman defines it as ‘the temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour
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9
Q

List the features of Meltzoff and Moore’s research on synchrony:

A
  • Observed beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks.
  • An adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or 1 of 3 distinctive gestures.
  • child’s response filmed and identified by observers. An association found between expression/gesture the adult displayed and the actions of the babies.
  • In later study, Meltzoff and Moore demonstrated the same synchrony with infants only 3 days old
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10
Q

List the features of Isabella’s et al research on synchrony:

A
  • Found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment.
  • Suggests that strong emotional attachments are associated with high levels of synchrony
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11
Q

List the evaluations of research on reciprocity and synchrony:

A

Positive:
- controlled observations capture fine detail

Negative:
- difficulty observing infants
- observations do not show purpose of synchrony/reciprocity

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12
Q

Explain how controlled observations capturing fine detail is a positive evaluation (strength) of research on reciprocity/synchrony

A
  • observations are video taped from different angles to capture all details.
  • Babies do not know or care that they are being observed - they will not change their behaviour (demand characteristics).
  • Improves validity
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13
Q

Explain how difficulty observing infants is a negative evaluation (weakness) of research on reciprocity/synchrony

A
  • It is difficult during observations to see the infant’s perspective.
  • unclear whether behaviour is conscious and deliberate.
  • We cannot assume the interaction has a specific meaning
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14
Q

Explain how observations not showing the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity is a limitation of research on reciprocity and synchrony

A
  • Feldman suggests that synchrony simply describes behaviors that occur at the same time.
  • Observations do not tell us their purpose.
  • HOWEVER: there is evidence suggesting that reciprocity and synchrony are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment as well as helpful stress responses, empathy, lang and moral development
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15
Q

Explain features of Grossman’s research on the role of the father

A
  • longitudinal study looking at parent’s behavior and quality of children’s attachment into their teens.
  • Quality of fathers’ play with infants related to quality of adolescent attachment, suggesting play and stimulation was an important role for fathers and not nurturing
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16
Q

List the different researchers who studied the role of the father in attachment

A
  • Grossman
  • Schaffer an Emerson
  • Field
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17
Q

explain Schaffer and Emerson’s research on the role of the father (father-infant attachment)

A
  • Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies became attached to their mothers first (at around 7 months) and within a few weeks or months, formed secondary attachments.
  • 75% attachment was formed with the father by age 18 months
18
Q

explain Field’s research on the role of the father (fathers as primary carers)

A
  • Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers (SCF) and primary caregiver fathers (PCF).
  • PCF more likely to smile, hold and imitate baby behaviors than SCF
  • conclusion: key to attachment is the level of responsiveness, not gender
19
Q

list the evaluations of research on the role of the father:

A

negatives:
- inconsistent findings
- research cannot be generalized
- biological factors / traditional gender roles
- social sensitive research (working mothers)

20
Q

how are inconsistent findings a limitation of research on the role of the father?

A
  • Role of the father is not easy to define as the research asks different questions.
  • e.g. role of the father as the Primary care giver vs secondary? + what is the role of the father overall?
21
Q

How is lack generalization a limitation of research on the role of the father?

A
  • Grossman: father has distinct role to do with play/stimulation.
  • HOWEVER: MacCallum and Golombok (2004) children who grow up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently.
22
Q

How are biological factors / traditional gender roles a limitation of research on the role of the father?

A
  • traditional gender roles may limit/confound the role of the father.
  • Estrogen: results in higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically pre-disposed to be primary attachment figures
23
Q

How is socially sensitive research a negative evaluation (limitation) of research on the role of the father?

A
  • Research suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices, e.g. authoritarian, authoritative and permissive (strict parenting?).
  • Mothers who return to work quickly after giving birth, restrict the opportunity for achieving interaction synchrony.
  • HOWEVER: Kassamali and Rattani (2014) - results revealed that maternal employment itself does not enhance or deteriorate attachment with the child.
  • It is a combination of factors that revolve around attachment which impacts on their bond
24
Q

Give the key features of the Schaffer and Emerson study on stages of attachment (1964):

A
  • Aim: to investigate formation of early attachment, specifically age of this development, emotional intensity and to whom this was directed to.
  • Method: Observed 60, Glaswegian babies for 18 months, mostly from working class families.
  • Mothers/babies visited once a month for 1 year and then again at 18 months.
  • asked parents to observe child in different circumstances, e.g. separation anxiety, stranger anxiety.
  • Longitudinal study
25
Q

give a strength and weakness of a longitudinal study (Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment)

A
  • strength: captures data over a long period of time.
  • weakness: influence of extraneous variables (lack of control)
26
Q

Give examples of the different circumstances in Schaffer and Emerson’s study on stages of attachment:

A
  • child left alone in a room, left alone with a stranger, left alone in their cot.
  • Stranger anxiety also directly observed by Schaffer and Emerson when they visited the families.
27
Q

What were the results of Schaffer and Emerson’s study (used to develop stages of attachment)?

A
  • Between 25-32 weeks, 50% babies showed separation anxiety towards particular adult, esp mothers (links to specific attachment).
  • Attachment tended to be to caregiver most sensitive to infant’s signals + facial expressions (reciprocity) = primary attachment figure.
  • not necessarily to person who spent most time with infant.
  • 40 weeks, nearly 30% formed multiple attachment (formed once specific attachment formed). Called secondary attachments.
  • 80% formed specific attachment
28
Q

List the stages of attachment and the age range of these stages (Schaffer and Emerson):

A
  • Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
  • indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks - 6 months)
  • specific attachments (7 months onwards)
  • multiple attachments (10/11 months onwards)
29
Q

what are the characteristics of the asocial stage:

A
  • 1st few weeks.
  • Infant forming bond with and recognises carers.
  • Behaviour similar to human and non-human objects.
  • Babies happier in presence of other familiar human
30
Q

What are the characteristics of indiscriminate attachments?

A
  • 2-7 months: Display observable social behaviours.
  • Preference for people rather than inanimate objects.
  • Babies accept cuddles and comfort from any adult, and do not usually show separation or stranger anxiety
31
Q

What are the characteristics of specific attachments?

A
  • Around 7 months, majority of babies start to show anxiety towards strangers or when separated from a specific adult (65% biological mother in S+E study).
  • Adult is primary attachment figure but not necessarily the person they spend most time with, but one who offers most interaction
32
Q

What are the characteristics of the multiple attachments stage?

A
  • Secondary attachment to the people babies spend a lot of time with.
  • Normally occurs before one year.
33
Q

list the evaluations of the Schaffer and Emerson study on the stages of attachment:

A

Positive:
- Good external validity
- use of Longitudinal design

Negative:
- limited sample characteristics
- Issues with studying the asocial stage
- Conflicting evidence for multiple attachments
- Problems with measuring multiple attachments

34
Q

Explain how good external validity is a strength of the Schaffer and Emerson study on the stages of attachments

A
  • Study conducted in participants’ own homes and most of the observations were done by the parents during normal activities.
  • Behaviour of babies not effected by researchers.
  • Babies behaved naturally
35
Q

Explain how the use of a longitudinal design is a strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s study on the stages of attachment

A
  • The same children were observed over a period of time.
  • cross-sectional design: different children observed at different ages.
  • longitudinal design has better internal validity as they do not have confounding variables of individual differences between ppts.
36
Q

Explain how limited sample characteristics are a limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s study on the stages of attachment

A
  • Research is limited due to ppts being from the same town, same social class and carried out over 50 years ago.
  • Child rearing practices vary from culture and historical events
37
Q

Explain how limited sample characteristics are a limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s study on the stages of attachment

A
  • Research is limited due to ppts being from the same town, same social class and carried out over 50 years ago.
  • Child rearing practices vary from culture and historical events
38
Q

Explain how issues with studying the asocial stage

A
  • difficult to gather any meaningful data from infants at this age as they’re immobile and have little coordination.
  • Evidence shown that infants ARE social at this age, e.g. Melzoff + Moore: babies have ability to imitate at 2 weeks.
  • Evidence has also shown that babies prefer their mother’s face/voice to that of stranger
39
Q

Explain how conflicting evidence for multiple attachments is a limitation of the Schaffer and Emerson study on the stages of attachment.

A
  • Some (Bowlby) agree with assumption that an attachment with a primary attachment figure needs to come before developing multiple attachments.
  • HOWEVER only reflects cultures where child reared by 1 person (usually mother).
  • In meta analysis, van Ljzendoorn found in collectivist cultures, multiple attachments are the norm and are formed much earlier than S&E suggested.
  • E.G. Uganda: infants cared for by several adults and form multiple attachments very young
40
Q

Explain how difficulty measuring multiple attachments is a limitation of the Schaffer and Emerson study on stages of attachment

A
  • How do we measure ‘true’ attachment?
  • Bowlby (1969) pointed out that children have playmates as well as attachment figures and may get distressed when a playmate leaves the room, which does not signify attachment.

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