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A-Level Psychology > Attachment > Flashcards

Attachment Flashcards

1
Q

What is attachment?

A

A close two way bond between two individuals. Each person will feel more secure when with each other. An attachment will take a few months to develop.

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2
Q

What is proximity attachment behaviour?

A

People try to stay physically close to those they are attached to.

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3
Q

What is separation distress attachment behaviours?

A

People are distressed when an attachment figure leaves.

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4
Q

What is secure base behaviour attachment behaviour?

A

Explore the environment but return to attachment figure for comfort.

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5
Q

What is reciprocity?

A

It is how two people interact. They are both active contributors and both respond to each other. Reciprocity helps to affiliate an attachment.

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6
Q

What is infant reciprocity?

A

The mother has the alert signal and the baby responds.

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7
Q

What is mother reciprocity?

A

The baby has the alert signal and the mother responds.

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8
Q

What did Feldman conclude about attachment in 2007?

A

From 3+ months, interaction tends to be more frequent and involves close attention to each other verbal and facial expressions.

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9
Q

What did Brazelton et al conclude about attachment in 1975?

A

Described an interaction between mother and child as a ‘dance’ because each partner responds to the other’s moves.

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10
Q

What is international synchrony?

A

When two people interact. One tends to mirror what the other is doing and this is co-ordinated. For example, when an infant smiles the caregiver smiles back to the infant.

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11
Q

What are 3 advantages of Meltzoff and Moore’s study in 1977?

A
  • Consistent patterns of results.
  • Well controlled procedures
  • No social desirability
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12
Q

What are 2 limitations of Meltzoff and Moore’s study in 1977?

A
  • Could it be coincidence
  • Piaget believes that imitation only develops after one year
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13
Q

What was the method used in Schaffer and Emerson’s study on attachment in 1964?

A
  • The aim was to study the development of attachment.
  • Observed 60 infants from working class families in Glasgow for 18 months.
  • Visited once a month for 1 year and then again at 18 months.
  • Mothers were asked to observe their children and keep a diary of behaviours.
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14
Q

What was measured in Schaffer and Emerson’s study on attachment?

A
  • Stranger anxiety
  • Separation anxiety
  • Social referencing
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15
Q

What are the 4 stages of attachment and at what ages do they occur?

A
  • Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
  • Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks- 6 months)
  • Specific (7 months)
  • Multiple (10/11 months +)
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16
Q

What is the asocial stage of attachment?

A
  • Infants procure similar responses to objects and people.
  • Preference for faces/eyes.
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17
Q

What is the indiscriminate attachments stage of attachment?

A
  • Enjoy human company
  • Respond equally to any caregiver
  • Get upset when an individual ceases to interact with them
  • From 3 months, infants smile more at familiar faces
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18
Q

What is the specific attachment stage of attachment?

A
  • Infants show a preference for one caregiver
  • Infant looks to particular people for security, comfort and protection
  • Infant shows fear of strangers
  • Shows unhappiness when separated from a special person
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19
Q

What is the multiple attachment stage of attachment?

A
  • Infant becomes increasingly independent and forms several attachments.
  • Attachments were likely to form with those who respond accurately to the infants signals, not the person they spent more time with.
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20
Q

What is a longitudinal study?

A

A study that consists of the same group and it is over a long period of time.

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21
Q

What is imprinting?

A

An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother which takes place during a specific time in development (usually the first few hours after birth).

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22
Q

What were the stages to Lorenz’s imprinting theory study?

A
  • Took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them with the mother and the incubator.
  • Incubator eggs saw Lorenz first
  • Mother eggs saw the mother first
  • The behaviour of the goslings was then recorded
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23
Q

What were the results of Lorenz’s study on imprinting?

A

Once the eggs hatched they followed the first moving object that they saw during their first 12-17 hours. This suggests that attachment is innate and programmed genetically.

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24
Q

What were the results of Guiton’s study in 1966?

A

Found that chicks, exposed to yellow rubber gloves feeding them during the first few weeks of birth, became imprinted on the gloves. The chicks then later tried to mate with the gloves, which supports sexual imprinting.

25
Q

What were the results of Harlow’s study in 1959?

A

Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother (even tho it didn’t have milk). The monkey’s would only go to the wire monkey when hungry. If a frightening object was placed in the cage, the monkey’s took refuge with the cloth mother.

26
Q

What did Dollard and Miller suggests about attachment in 1950?

A
  • Attachment is a learned behaviour
  • Learnt through classical and operant conditioning
  • We learn to attach because of food
27
Q

What is Bowlby’s theory of attachment?

A
  • Attachment is a behaviour that has evolved because of it’s survival value.
  • Attachment is innate (as it gives s an adaptive advantage).
  • 5 parts of attachment; Monotrophy, Internal working model, Critical period, Innate, Social releases
28
Q

What is Monotrophy?

A
  • Infants form one very special attachment with their mother, if the mother is not available it could be someone else.
29
Q

What is the internal working model?

A
  • Monotrophy forms a template for all future attachments.
30
Q

What is the Critical period?

A
  • Attachment must happen during this time.
  • If not, it will cause big issues.
  • Between birth and 2.5 years
31
Q

What is the innate part of attachment?

A
  • We are born with a drive to attach.
  • Gives is an adaptive advantage and makes us more likely to survive.
  • Infants are kept warm, safe, and are fed.
32
Q

What is the social releases part of attachment?

A
  • Social releases unlock the innate tendency of adults to care for them.
  • Can be physical and behavioural (baby face features/ crying).
33
Q

What are the 7 stages of the strange situation procedure?

A
  1. Mother and infant in a room together (free to explore).
  2. Stranger enters/ tries to engage.
  3. Mother leaves.
  4. Mother returns/ stranger leaves.
  5. Mother leaves/ baby alone.
  6. Stranger enters/ tries to comfort.
  7. Mother re-enters/ stranger leaves.
34
Q

What 4 things are measured in the strange situation procedure?

A
  • Secure base
  • Stranger anxiety
  • Separation anxiety
  • Reunion behaviour
35
Q

What were the 3 types of attachment that Ainsworth suggested?

A
  • Secure attachment (B)
  • Insecure avoidant attachment (A)
  • Insecure resistant attachment (C)
36
Q

What are the characteristics of Secure attachment and what letter is associated with it?

A
  • B
    Safe base- explore and play knowing mother is there.
    Separation anxiety- Mildly distressed when mother leaves.
    Stranger anxiety- Wary of stranger when alone but friendly when mother is present.
    Reunion behaviour- Happy when mother returns.

68% of infants

37
Q

What are the characteristics of insecure avoidant attachment and what letter is associated with it?

A
  • A
    Safe base- Explore but doesn’t use mother as safe base.
    Separation anxiety- No distress when mother leaves.
    Stranger anxiety- No distress with a stranger.
    Reunion behaviour- No interest when mother returns.

20% of infants

38
Q

What are the characteristics of insecure resistant attachment and what letter is associated with it?

A
  • C
    Safe base- Don’t want to explore.
    Separation anxiety- Intense distress when mother leaves.
    Stranger anxiety- Avoids the stranger.
    Reunion behaviour- Happy but takes longer to accept her again, rejects the mother/pushes her away.

12% of infants

39
Q

What were the problems with the strange situation experiment?

A
  • It was ethnocentric because it used a western view on norms and behaviours (USA).
  • Therefore it lacks ecological validity as it can’t be generalised to other society’s.
40
Q

What does it mean if the caregivers sensitivity is secure?

A

Attached infants have mothers who are more sensitive, accepting and cooperative to the needs of a child.

41
Q

What does it mean if the caregivers sensitivity is insecure?

A

Mothers are unresponsive to crying and less affectionate.

42
Q

What does it mean if the caregivers sensitivity is insecure avoidant?

A

Mothers are more rejecting and pay less attention to children.

43
Q

What does it mean if the caregivers sensitivity is insecure resistant?

A

Mothers tend to be accepted with routine activities when holding the child.

44
Q

What is the definition of culture?

A

Refers to the shared beliefs and values of members of a particular society. There also can be subcultures within a culture.

45
Q

What is an individualistic culture?

A

Emphasises personal independence and achievement at the expense of group goals.

46
Q

What is a collectivist culture?

A
  • Emphasises family and work goals above individual needs and desires.
  • High degree of interdependence between people.
47
Q

What are the features of Iúzendoorn and Kroonenberg study in 1988?

A
  • Completed a meta analysis on 32 studies across 8 countries using Ainsworths strong situation.
  • Conducted on 2000 babies.
  • Secure attachment was the most common in all cultures.
  • Germany had the highest amount of avoidant children.
  • Japan had very few avoidant, but high number of resistant.
  • Japan is an individualistic culture. Japanese children are very rarely left by their mother.
  • Great Britain and the US are individualistic, we encourage independence and not being reliant on others.
  • Germany promote extreme individualism (highest avoidant behaviours).
48
Q

What was Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis?

A
  • After WWII he was commissioned to write a report on the mental health of homeless children post war.
  • He concluded that deprivation from the mother within the first 2-5 years (critical period) would result in emotional and intellectual damage later on in life.
    Deprivation theory: Deprivation in the critical period, leads to IQ and mental retardation, lead to becoming an affectionless psychopath.
49
Q

What are the characteristics of am Affectionless psychopath?

A
  • Lack of emotional development
  • Lack of concern for others
  • Lack of guilt
  • Inability to form meaningful relationships
  • Lack of empathy
  • Impulsive
50
Q

What is privation?

A

Not having the opportunity to form a bond in the first instance.

51
Q

What were the features of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

A
  • Aim was to test his maternal deprivation hypothesis.
  • Interviewed children and families, compared 44 juvenile thieves with 44 non delinquent children.
  • Found that 32% young thieves showed affectionless psychopath.
  • 0% of control group showed affectionless psychopath.
  • 86% of the affectionless psychopath thieves had experienced long periods of maternal separation.
52
Q

What are the disadvantages of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?

A
  • Gender bias
  • Data is retrospective
  • Correlation but not causation
  • Two in control did not become delinquent
  • Investigator effect
53
Q

What other 3 study’s support Bowlby’s research?

A
  • Bowlby and Robertson (1952)
  • Robertson and Robertson
  • Spitz and Wolf (1947)
54
Q

What was the situation in Romania with orphans?

A
  • Abortion was banned and denied access to contraception.
  • Many Romanians abandoned their newborn children.
  • 1989, Western world became aware of the issue (children were institutionalised).
  • 100,000 orphans in 600 state run orphanages.
  • Chidden spent most of the day in cribs, were malnourished.
55
Q

What were the features of Rutter’s Study (Romanian Orphans)?

A
  • Studied Romanian Orphans who were adopted by British parents, who had been placed in orphanages aged 1-2 weeks, with minimal adult contact.
  • Longitudinal study and a natural experiment.
  • Children were assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 21
  • Group 1= adopted before 6 months Group 2= Adopted between 6-24 months. Group 3= Adopted between 2-4 years.
  • Findings show that the earlier the adoption the higher their mean IQ, if adopted after 6 months signs of disinhibited attachment, resulted in attention seeking and physical, cognitive and social development delay.
56
Q

What is disinhibited attachment?

A

Same attachment to everyone, just as friendly and open to a stranger as to mother.

57
Q

What were the features of Zeanan et al (2005)?

A
  • Using 95 children who were 12-31 months.
  • Attachment was assessed on children who spent most of their lives in an institution.
  • Control group= so children who had never lived in an institution.
  • Strange situation was used on these children.
  • Carers asked if the child had any unusual behaviours.
  • Found that 74% of the control group were securely attached, 19% of the institutionalised group were in this category and 65% of this group were classed as having a disinhibited attachment.
58
Q

How is attachment learnt through classical conditioning?

A

Baby learns to associate the feeling of pleasure from the milk/food, with the mother.

Food= UCS __> UCR of pleasure, Mother= NS

Mother__> CS ___> CR of pleasure

59
Q

How is attachment learnt though Skinner’s operant conditioning?

A

Baby performs action (e.g cries) and receives a reward (milk/food).

Baby learns to repeat the action as it is reinforced by them being fed.

A-Level Psychology (12 decks)

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