attachment Flashcards
what is attachment?
a close two way emotional bond between two individuals which takes a few months to develop
what are the signs of attachment?
proximity, separation anxiety, secure base behaviour
why is proximity a sign of attachment?
people will stay near to those who they are attached to
what is meant by separation anxiety?
people will be distressed if the attachment figure leaves
what is secure base behaviour?
the person will return to who they are attached to to feel secure when exploring a new environment
who leads baby parent interaction?
they are baby lead
what are the 2 building blocks for attachment?
reciprocity and interactional synchrony
what is reciprocity?
the baby and the parent will respond to the others signals to facilitate attachment. if the baby cry the mother will care for it and if the mother makes a face the baby laughs
what is interactional synchrony?
they will mirror each other for example if the parent sticks out their tongue so will the infant. it happens both ways and lays foundation for attachment, it is rhythmic as they move the same
what was Tronik et al?
it found that when a baby smiled and the mother ignored them the baby became distressed showing the need for reciprocity in attachment
what did Feldman (2007) find about when reciprocity occours?
reciprocity is more frequent from 3 months onwards
what did Brazelton et al (1975) say about reprocity?
described it as a dance as it is not copying the other but responding to their signals
what did Murray and Trevarthen (1985) find
two feeds was give to a baby on a monitor, in the first condition it was live so the mother could respond directly to the baby. the second condition was not live so the mother could not react and the baby became distressed and turned away further showing how reciprocity is needed in attachment
what did Meltzoff and Moore (1997) find?
an adult model made one of 3 facial expressions to a baby. a dummy was used to stop immediate response and after the dummy was removed the infants response was recorded. infants as young as 3 days imitated the expressions meaning the ability to mirror is innate
what was Shaffer and Emerson (1964)?
Aim: to study development in attachment
method: observed 60 infants from working class families for 18 months with monthly visits for a year and a last one after 18 months, mothers were asked to observe their children and keep a diary of their behaviours
what is stranger anxiety?
when a stranger tries to interact it can cause distress
what is social referencing?
the infant may observe the attachment figure to help to figure out how to respond with a situation
what did Shaffer and Emerson (1964) find?
50% of infants showed separation anxiety between 25&32 weeks
attachment tended to form with those who had the most reciprocity with the infant
after 1 month 29% had multiple attachments
6 months after their first attachment 78% had multiple attachments
at 40 weeks from birth 30% had multiple attachments
what does all infants say mum stand for?
A social stage
indiscriminate attachments
specific attachment
multiple attachments
what is the A social stage
from 0 to 6 weeks infants have a similar response to humans as objects but still prefer people specifically face/eyes
what is the indiscriminate stage?when does it occur?
from 6 weeks to 7 months they enjoy human company, they are equal to any caregiver and get upset if interaction stops
what is specific attachment?when does it occur?
from 7 months onward infants gain a preference for one caregiver, develop stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. the care giver provides comfort, protection and security
what is multiple attachments and when does it occour?
from 10 to 11 months infants become more independent and get several attachments and more likely to bond with those who respond more accurately to their signals
what did Schaffer and Emerson 1964 find about fathers?
mothers are more likely to be the primary attachment
fathers are secondary attachment
3% if primary attachment is fathers
what did Grossman 2002 find?
fathers have a role to play rather than nurture
what did the Israel study find?
women are not naturally better at parenting
Primary caregivers develop neural pathways to make them more responsive to children
the same pathways developed in fathers who were primary caregivers as in mothers
when fathers are the primary caregivers, they develop the attributes of mothers
what did field 1978 find?
filmed 4 month old interaction with primary mothers, primary fathers and secondary fathers
primary fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding the infant than the secondary fathers
attachment is not determined by gender but responsiveness
Evaluation of role of the father?
hard to generalise as factors such as culture ect get in the way
economic implications as mothers have a pressure to stay home as research says they are vital for healthy development
is it important as McCallum and Golombok found that infants in single/same sex families don’t develop differently
what are the implications of role of the father?
social policy as paid paternity leave only came in 2002 in the UK
stereotypes sees men as the bread winners
cultural differences for example in India fathers engage less in play
what did Lorenz 1935 find?
gosling eggs in 2 groups
one group left with mother
one group in an incubator
G 1 saw mother first G 2 saw Lorenz first
followed first moving object seen in critical period
12-17 hours
this is imprinting
G 1 followed the mother G 2 followed Lorenz
suggests attachment is innate
supports a biological basis for attachment
what is imprinting?
consequences for short term survival
forms templates for later relationships
if left after critical period it won’t imprint
if left 32 hours, less likely for any attachment
irrreversible
sexual imprinting means mates are based on what they imprinted on
where was sexual imprinting shown?
a peacock that imprinted on a giant tortoise only attempted to mate with other tortoises as an adult
what did Guiton 1966 find?
ducks were imprinted on yellow rubber gloves due to them feeding the duck
ducks sexually imprinted on the gloves
shows imprinting can occur on anything
evaluation of Guiton 1966
can’t be generalised to humans
Guiton stated sexual imprinting was reversible as ducks could later mate with other ducks normally
influenced further research into critical period eg Bowlby
what did Harlow 1959 find?
to show attachment was not due to feeding
16 monkeys in cages with 2 surrogate mothers
one with cloth and one only wire
studied for 165 days
monkeys spent more time with cloth mother
infant only went to wire mother when hungry
would then return to cloth mother
when scared, would go to cloth mother
monkeys left over 90 days had irreversible effects
were aggressive and females were poor mothers
monkeys left less than 90 days could be reversed
what were long lasting effect of Harlow 1959?
monkeys developed abnormally socially and sexually
would freeze or flee when approached by other monkeys
did not show normal mating behaviour or cradle their babies
Evaluation of Harlow 1959
can’t be generalised
ethical concerns
valuable insight to attachment and social behaviour
confounding variables (2 different wire heads)
What did Dollard and Miller 1950 find about how an attachment forms?
Attachment is learned though conditioning
association and reward by caregivers
learn to attach for food
how does classical conditioning work?
UCS (food) causes UCR (dog drools)
NS (bell) rung at same time as UCS caused dog to drool
dog associated NS with UCS causing the NS alone to cause CR
how does classical conditioning apply to attachment?
the same except with a baby and mother and milk with the mother as the NS
how does operant conditioning work?
reinforcements through positive and negative reinforcers.
mouse performs action and is rewarded with food is a positive reinforcement
mouse performs an action and the electric shock stops is a negative reinforcer
how does operant conditioning apply to attachment?
baby cries
baby receives reward of milk
negative evaluation of Learning Theory for attachment
based of animals so can’t be generalised
positive evaluation of Learning theory for attachment
explanatory power as baby learns through reinforcement
Research support against Learning theory for attachment?
Lorenz’s goslings followed him so it was what they saw first not for food
Harlows monkeys wanted comfort over food suggesting that attachment is not driven by food but by comfort
what is the origonal Evolutionary Theory?
a process to introduce useful features in a species
features help the animal survive to reproduce
to do this animals must be adapt to their environment
useful features are therefore adaptive
how does the Evolutionary Theory apply to Attachment?
attachment evolved for its survival value
attachment is innate and provides adaptive advantages
he added critical period to his explanation
what is MICIS?
Monotropy
Innate
Critical Period
Internal working model
Social releasers
What is Monotropy?
one special attachment
a mother can be substituted with another ever-present adult
what is Innate?
you are born with the drive to attach
adaptive advantage
what is Critical Period?
the time in which the attachment must form
birth and 2.5 years
without it will cause social, emotional, intellectual and physical scarring
what is Internal Working Model
template for future relationships
all further relations are based on the first
This is permanent
what are Social Releasers?
cues baby give for adults to provide care
physical (baby face) emotional (crying)
research support for the Evolutionary theory?
Lorenz showed attachment as innate
Bailey 2007 found after questioning 99 mothers with one year olds, that mothers who had insecure attachments with their own parents were more likely to have the same attachment with there children
good evaluation of Evolutionary theory
influential had has stimulated research with people continuing his ideas
bad evaluation of Evolutionary Theory
Schaffer and Emerson found infants can form multiple attachments
Bowlby largely ignored the role of the father
what did Mary Ainsworth do?
conducted the Strange Situation in the 1970s to observe attachment security in children
what was the method of SS?
controlled observations of 12-18 month olds and their mothers
observed with a video camera in a lab playroom
used 8 stages to test:
safe base
separation anxiety
stranger anxiety
Reunion behaviour
Secure attachment
safe base:
separation:
stanger:
reunion:
%:
used mother as a safe base to explore
mildly distressed
wary of stranger alone but ok with mother
Happy when mother returns
68%
Insecure Resistant attachment
safe base:
separation:
stanger:
reunion:
%:
infant does not explore
intense distress
avoids stranger
approaches mother but is angry she left
12%
Insecure Avoidant attachment
safe base:
separation:
stanger:
reunion:
%:
explores and does not return to mother
no distress if even notices
not distressed by stranger and will play
no interest in mothers return
20%
what causes secure attachment?
mothers who are sensitive and accepting to needs of child
what causes insecure attachment?
mothers who are unresponsive to crying and less affectionate
what causes insecure avoidant?
mothers who are rejecting and pay less attention
what causes insecure resistant?
mothers who are occupied when holding the child
conclusion of SS
attachment based on sensitivity of the mother
positive evaluation of SS
standardised procedures allows for replication
control of extraneous variables
what is an individualistic culture?
a culture which believes that people should prioritise themselves
what is a collectivist culture?
a culture which believes that people should prioritise others
what did Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg find?
meta analysis of 32 studies across 8 countries
used SS
2000 babies
attachment types between cultures were studied
Secure attachment was most common with highest in Britain
Germany had highest avoidant
Japan had highest resistant
positive evaluation of Ijezendoorn and Kroonenberg
large sample size providing population validity
secure was most common in all cultures
negative evaluation of Ijendoorn and Kroonenberg
18 of 32 studies were American
‘class’ of infant may influence results
SS was designed for the US
what did Takahashi 1990 find?
60 Japanese middle class one year olds
used ss
0 were insecure resistant
all distressed when left alone 90% didn’t complete due to stress (ethically wrong)
culture differences to raising children cause varied reactions to SS
what did Simonelli et al 2014 find about attachment in Italy?
lower rates of secure attachment
high rates of insecure-avoidant
attributed to long working hours
What did Bowlby 1953 find?
after WW2, WHO commissioned Bowlby to write a report on the mental health of homeless children post-war
he argued that ‘deprivation from main caregivers during critical period (2.5 years) will result in harmful effects
what did Bowlby believe about maternal deprivation?
continuous care from a mother is essential for normal psychological development and separation will cause serious emotional and intellectual damage
how would maternal deprivation affect development?
intellectual, emotional and social (affectionless psychopath)
an issue if it occurs in the critical period
IWM will lead to an inability to be a good parent
prolonged separation causes issues in adulthood
whats the order of the deprivation theory?
deprivation => in critical period => IQ and mental retardation => affectionless psychopath
what is privation?
not having the opportunity to form an attachment eg institutionalisation
what is maternal deprivation?
the attachment has been disrupted eg losing an element of care
what did Bowlby’s 44 thieves find?
to test maternal deprivation hypothesis
compared 44 Juvi thieves with 44 normal kids
32% of young thieves showed affectionless psychopathy
no controls showed affectionless psychopath
86% of those showing affectionless psychopathy had experienced long periods of maternal separation before 5
only 2 controls had experienced prolonged separation
what is an affectionless psychopath?
lack of emotional development
lack of concern for others
lack of guilt
can’t form meaningful relationships
lack of empathy
impulsive
positive evaluation of maternal deprivation?
research support Robertson and Robertson & Spitz and Wolf
influential
benefited child care practises
negative evaluation of maternal deprivation?
gender bias (no girls studies)
retrospective data (susceptible to forgetting)
correlation not causation
doesn’t explain why 2 in control of 44 thieves didn’t become delinquents
investigator effects
determinism (behaviour is caused by factors outside of our control)
what did Bowlby and Robertson 1952 find?
investigated distressed children separated from their mothers
Protest - the child cries and is angry, tries to stop parent leaving
Despair - child stops protesting, calm but upset and refuses other attempts of comfort
detachment - child interacts with others and rejects caregiver on return
what did Robertson and Robertson find?
observed John (17 months)
in nursery for 9 days
father visited nursery
John displayed 3 stages of distress
protest - sobbed and resisted comfort
despair - played with toys and clung to teddy bear
detachment - would not look at mother when she returned
what did Spitz and Wolf 1947 find?
research in orphanages in South America
one institution - babies were separate from mothers at 3 months
one institution - babies of inmates were separated but received regular visits from mother
prison babies thrived while the orphaned children displayed development delays
what caused Romanian orphans?
communists banned abortion and contraception
caused abandonment of children
many suffered in poor orphanages
1989 was when the Western world found out
over 100,000 institutionalised in state run orphanages
most of the day in cribs and were malnourished
what does it mean to be institutionalised?
“the behaviour of children who have been raised outside of the family home in an institution like an orphanage or a residential children’s home”
what did Rutter’s study 2011 find?
studies Romanian orphans adopted by British
in orphanages aged 1-2 weeks with small adult contact
Longitudinal and natural study
assessed ages 4, 6, 11, 21
one group of 58 adopted before 6 months
one group of 59 adopted 6-24 months
one group of 48 adopted 2-4 years
correlation between rate of recovery and age adopted where earlier adoption = higher IQ
difference adopted before / after 6 months
after 6 months caused disinhibited attachment
cause attention seeking and physical, cognitive and social development delay
what is Disinhibited Attachment?
“rare style of attachment where the infant is friendly and open to stranger as they are to their caregiver. Rutter suggests that this is because infants lining in orphanages have multiple caregivers in the critical period”
what did Zeanah et al 2005 find?
95 children from 12 - 31 months
most of their lives in an institution
control of 50 children never in an institution
SS was used
carers asked if children had unusual behaviour
74% of the control were securely attached
19% of the institutionalised group were secure
65% of this group had disinhibited attachment
how does dwarfism link to institutionalisation?
institutionalised children tend to be small
each of emotional care will cause this
what did Garner 1972 find?
studied a girl fed through a tube
her mum never cuddled her
withdrawn and physically stunted at 8 months
thrived of attention in hospital, became ‘normal’
lack of emotional care affect growth hormones
what did Myron-Wilson and Smith 1998 find?
196 London children 7-11
insecure avoidant were likely to be bullied
insecure resistant likely to be bullies
secure children were unlikely to be affected by bullying
what did Sroufe 2005 find?
continuity between attachment and later emotional/social behaviour
securely attached rated higher for social competence in childhood and less isolated
what did Kerns 1994 find about the difference between attachment types and friends?
attachment type is associated with quality of peer relationships
securely attached infants have better relationships in later childhood than insecurely attached infants who have problems with friendships
what did Hazan and Shaver’s “Love Quiz” find?
100Q questionnaire in newspaper. 620 replies
3 sections
1: assessing responders current or most significant relationship
2: general love experiences
3: assessing attachment type by responding to one of 3 statements
self assessment results
56% secure
25% avoidant
19% resistant
correlation between attachment and love experience
secure had low chance of divorce, mutual trust
insecure had higher chance of divorce, hard relationships, in and out of love easily
what did Main et al find? (adult attachment interview)
20 open ended question about childhood
“surprise the unconscious” to reveal itself
over 80% accuracy to predict attachment
AAI (adult attachment interview) was the first to demonstrate an empirically valid way of following attachment through generations
what did Bailey 2007 find?
assessed 99 mothers/infants using ss and interviews
most mothers had the same attachment with their infants as well as their mothers
whats bad about Bailey 2007?
correlation is not causation because although there is a like between attachment of mother and daughter it an not be objectively proven
whats bad about basing adult attachments of early attachment?
most studies don’t use ss but interview or questionnaire. socially desirable answers. retrospective data
correlation is not causation
whats bad about the IWM?
if its unconscious how is it meant to be studied when relationships have so many external factors
