Attachment

Question 1

What is the definition for attachment?

Answer 1

close emotional bond between two people (infant and carer) that is characterised by key behaviours and serves the function of protection to the infant

Question 2

What are the key behaviours?

Answer 2

• proximity seeking
• separation protest
• pleasure at reunion
• secure base effect
• stranger anxiety
• general orientation of behaviour towards carer (focus)

Question 3

What are the two interactions in attachment?

Answer 3

Reciprocity and Interactional Synchrony

Question 4

What is reciprocity?

Answer 4

non-verbal conversation between carer and infant where the action from the carer elicits a response from the infant (basis of attachment)
- co-ordinated actions

Question 5

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 5

imitation of the carer by the infant as an innate response

Question 6

What was the Meltzoff and moore CONTROLLED LABORATORY study (1977)?

Answer 6

Aim = to perform the first systematic study of interactional synchrony in infants aged 2-3 weeks old.
Procedure = model displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions (e.g. tongue protrusion) and different hand movements.
A dummy was placed in the infants mouth to prevent a reaction at first and then removed and the response was recorded.
At a later date this was repeated with 2-3 day old infants to prove it was an innate response.
Findings = association between models behaviour and infants (imitation) showing it was innate

Question 7

What were the main criticisms of Meltzoff and Moore’s study on interactional synchrony?

Answer 7

• Problems in testing infants behaviour as difficult to distinguish between gerneral activity and imitated behaviours
• Isabella et al found individual differences in infants attachement with carer shows we are limited on the reliability of M&M’s findings

Question 8

What is the main strength of Meltzoff and Moores study on interactional synchrony?

Answer 8

• Meltzoff’s ‘like me’ hypothesis explains how infants will aquire an understanding of others thoughts and feelings.
  Interactional Synchrony helps children to understand internal mental state of other people and helps them to develop social relationships.

Question 9

What is the Glasgow Babies study by Schaffer and Emerson in 1964?

Answer 9

Aim = investigation into the development of infant attachments
Procedure = Longitudinal observational study of 60 babies from the working class of Glasgow.
- Infants aged between 5-23 weeks, and mothers were visited every 4 weeks and recoded the infants response to everyday situations (i.e. being left alone in a room)
- Were asked to describe the infants intensity of protest on a 4-point scale
Findings = Between 25 and 32 weeks of age, 50%showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult
- 40 weeks old, 80% had specific attachment, 30% displayed multiple attachments
- attachment develops in stages

Question 10

What was Schaffer’s stages of attachment theory?

Answer 10

• Birth - 2 months = indiscriminate attachment (asocial) = similar response to all objects
• 2 - 4 months = beginnings of attachment (indiscriminate) = attention from many people, no stranger anxiety
• 4 - 7 months = discriminate attachment (specific) = strong attachment to one person
• 7 - 9 months onwards = multiple attachments = secondary attachments i.e. siblings

Question 11

What are the main criticisms of Schaffer and Emerson’s stage theory?

Answer 11

• Challenges internal validity/ social desirability bias as mothers senstivity to infants protests can vary (they can have subjective opinions), or they may adjust their results to fit social standards
• Lacks temporal validity as the research is from the 1960’s working class community, therefore it is a biased sample and cannot be generalised.

Question 12

What is the main strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s stage theory?

Answer 12

• supports Bowlby’s suggesting of the Monotropy Theory as near the beginning of life, an infant has one main attachment figure.

Question 13

What did Bowlby believe about the role of the father as an attachment figure?

Answer 13

• more of a physical, unpredictable playmate, whereas the mother is more likely to show sensitivity and nurturing nature.

Question 14

What are some extra studies on the role of the father?

Answer 14

• Lamb (1987) found when fathers become main attachment figure, they develop sensitivity and become a safe space (not biological ability limited to women).
• Hardy (1999) found fathers are less able to detect low levels of distress than mothers

Question 15

What is the evaluation of the role of the father in attachment?

Answer 15

• children without fathers do less well at school and are more aggressive (especially in boys)
• fathers can provide mothers time away from childcare reducing stress and improving quality of relationship with children
• equally able to display sensitive responsiveness and form secure attachments with children
• amount of interaction is important

Question 16

What was the Harlow’s Wire Mother experiment on monkeys?

Answer 16

Aim = mechanisms by which newborn monkeys bond with their mothers, and to investigate the basis of attachment.
Procedure = Separated infant monkeys from their mothers immediately after birth and placed them in cages with access to two surrogate mothers.
- one made of wire with food (milk) and one made of cloth (no food).
Findings = monkeys spent more time with cloth mother and only went to wire mother when hungry
- explored more when cloth mother was present (safe base)
- preferred contact comfort over food

Question 17

What are the main criticisms of Harlow’s monkeys experiment?

Answer 17

• confounding variables such as the cloth mother having a better head meant there was a lack of internal validity
• unethical as their was long lasting emotional harm to the monkeys as they were abusive to other monkeys, had difficulty mating and were bad parents themselves later on.

Question 18

What is a strength of Harlow’s Monkeys experiment?

Answer 18

• Despite not being able to generalise to human attachments, it is a useful pointer at understanding behaviour

Question 19

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