Attachment Flashcards
What is attachment?
A close emotional relationship between an infant and their caregiver.
Both mother and baby seek closeness and feel more secure when close to attachment figure
When an infant is known and being ‘securely attached’ what will they do when a parent leaves/returns?
When they are separated they will show signs of stress but when reunited they will show signs of pleasure
Name the 5 features of caregiver-infant interactions.
Sensitive responsiveness, imitation, interactional sychrony, reciprocity and motherese
What is meant by sensitive responsiveness?
The caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant
What is meant by imitation?
The infant copies the caregiver’s actions and behaviours for example facial expressions
What is meant by interactional synchrony?
Infant react in time with the caregiver’s speech, resulting in a ‘conversation dance’
What is meant by reciprocity?
Interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant
What is meant by motherese?
The slow, high-pitched way of speaking to infants. But there is no evidence that this influenced the strength of an attachment between parent and infant
What is the pre-attachment phase?
During the first 0-3months of life, the baby learns to separate people from object but doesn’t have any strong preferences about who cares for it
What is the discriminate attachment phase?
From seven to eleven months the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual
What is the indiscriminate attachment phase?
Between 6weeks and seven months the infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than at strangers
What is the multiple attachment phase?
From about 9 months the infant can form attachment to many different people some may be stronger than others
What did Schaffer and Emerson find about attachment in 1964?
That the attachment between caregiver and infant varied across the infants. Their mother was the primary attachment for only half the infants. A third preferred their father and the other third preferred their grandparents/siblings
What did Goodsell and Meldrum find in 2009 about attachment?
They found that those with a secure attachment to their mother are also more likely to have a secure attachment to their father
What did ross et al in 1975 about attachment and who supports it?
Showed that the number of nappies a father changed was positively correlated to the strength of their attachments supported by Cardera (2004)
What did Geiger say about attachment in 1996?
Suggested that a mother’s relationship is primarily nurturing and caring but a father’s relationship is more focused around play
What did Lorenz study?
Imprinting on greylag goose eggs
What did Lorenz find in his 1935 study?
That geese automatically ‘attach’ to the first moving thing they see after hatching, and follow it everywhere , this is called imprinting
When did Lorenz say that imprinting most likely happened?
Between 13 and 16 hours after hatching
What did Lorenz call the period when imprinting is most likely to occur?
The critical period- it is a fast, automatic process
What did Harlow study?
The need for ‘contact comfort’ in baby monkeys
What was Harlows aim, in his 1959 study with baby monkeys?
Aimed to find out whether baby monkeys would prefer a source of food or a source of comfort ad protection as an attachment figure
What type of study was Harlow’s 1959 study on baby monkeys?
Laboratory
Harlow conducted another study in 1959, who was this with?
Zimmerman
What did Harlow and Zimmerman do in 1959?
Added in a fearful stimulus, making the monkey cling to the cloth surrogate before exploring the object. Those monkeys that were in a room with wire monkeys would freeze or run around wildly
What are the issues with using animals in research?
Hard to generalise, it also depends on the type Lorenz used precocial species (eyes open from birth) which are very different from humans its is also seen as unethical and the animals can’t give consent
What is good about using animals in research?
Some research designs couldn’t have been concluded on humans ethically
Explain an example of classical conditioning relating to attachment in real life.
Getting food naturally gives the baby pleasure. The baby’s desire for food is fulfilled whenever it’s mother is around to feed it. So an association is formed between mother and food. So, whenever it’s mother is around the baby with feel pleasure
Explain an example of operant conditioning relating to attachment in real life.
Dollard and Miller (1950) claimed that babies feel discomfort when they’re hungry and so have a desire to get food to remove the discomfort. They find that if they cry, their mother will come and feed them so the discomfort is removed
What are the issue with learning theory in attachment?
A lot of the research uses animals and so isn’t generalisable
What was Bowlby’s first claim based on his Monotropic theory of attachment?
Attachment can be explained by evolution- we have evolved a biological need to attach to our main caregiver. This biological need has developed through natural selection to ensure survival of the child
What was Bowlby’s second claim based on his Monotropic theory of attachment?
We create one special attathment- Usually to out biological mother, forming this attatchment has survival value as staying close to the mother ensures food and protection a strong attachment provides a ‘safe base’ giving confidence
What was Bowlby’s third claim based on his Monotropic theory of attachment?
We create an internal working model of attachment- forming an in fact attachment gives us a ‘template’ for all; future relationships we learn to trust and care for others. Forming an internal working model for all later attachments, providing foundations called continuity hypothesis