Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

What is attachment?

A

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

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2
Q

When an infant is known and being ‘securely attached’ what will they do when a parent leaves/returns?

A

When they are separated they will show signs of stress but when reunited they will show signs of pleasure

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3
Q

Name the 5 features of caregiver-infant interactions.

A

Sensitive responsiveness, imitation, interactional sychrony, reciprocity and motherese

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4
Q

What is meant by sensitive responsiveness?

A

The caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant

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5
Q

What is meant by imitation?

A

The infant copies the caregiver’s actions and behaviours for example facial expressions

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6
Q

What is meant by interactional synchrony?

A

Infant react in time with the caregiver’s speech, resulting in a ‘conversation dance’

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7
Q

What is meant by reciprocity?

A

Interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant

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8
Q

What is meant by motherese?

A

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

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9
Q

What is the pre-attachment phase?

A

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

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10
Q

What is the discriminate attachment phase?

A

From seven to eleven months the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual

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11
Q

What is the indiscriminate attachment phase?

A

Between 6weeks and seven months the infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than at strangers

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12
Q

What is the multiple attachment phase?

A

From about 9 months the infant can form attachment to many different people some may be stronger than others

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13
Q

What did Schaffer and Emerson find about attachment in 1964?

A

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

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14
Q

What did Goodsell and Meldrum find in 2009 about attachment?

A

They found that those with a secure attachment to their mother are also more likely to have a secure attachment to their father

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15
Q

What did ross et al in 1975 about attachment and who supports it?

A

Showed that the number of nappies a father changed was positively correlated to the strength of their attachments supported by Cardera (2004)

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16
Q

What did Geiger say about attachment in 1996?

A

Suggested that a mother’s relationship is primarily nurturing and caring but a father’s relationship is more focused around play

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17
Q

What did Lorenz study?

A

Imprinting on greylag goose eggs

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18
Q

What did Lorenz find in his 1935 study?

A

That geese automatically ‘attach’ to the first moving thing they see after hatching, and follow it everywhere , this is called imprinting

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19
Q

When did Lorenz say that imprinting most likely happened?

A

Between 13 and 16 hours after hatching

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20
Q

What did Lorenz call the period when imprinting is most likely to occur?

A

The critical period- it is a fast, automatic process

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21
Q

What did Harlow study?

A

The need for ‘contact comfort’ in baby monkeys

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22
Q

What was Harlows aim, in his 1959 study with baby monkeys?

A

Aimed to find out whether baby monkeys would prefer a source of food or a source of comfort ad protection as an attachment figure

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23
Q

What type of study was Harlow’s 1959 study on baby monkeys?

A

Laboratory

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24
Q

Harlow conducted another study in 1959, who was this with?

A

Zimmerman

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25
Q

What did Harlow and Zimmerman do in 1959?

A

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

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26
Q

What are the issues with using animals in research?

A

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

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27
Q

What is good about using animals in research?

A

Some research designs couldn’t have been concluded on humans ethically

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28
Q

Explain an example of classical conditioning relating to attachment in real life.

A

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

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29
Q

Explain an example of operant conditioning relating to attachment in real life.

A

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

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30
Q

What are the issue with learning theory in attachment?

A

A lot of the research uses animals and so isn’t generalisable

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31
Q

What was Bowlby’s first claim based on his Monotropic theory of attachment?

A

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

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32
Q

What was Bowlby’s second claim based on his Monotropic theory of attachment?

A

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

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33
Q

What was Bowlby’s third claim based on his Monotropic theory of attachment?

A

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

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34
Q

What was Bowlby’s forth claim based on his Monotropic theory of attachment?

A

There is a critical period for attachment- The first 3 years of life are the critical period for attachment to develop or it might never happen. If the attachment doesn’t develop of if its broken to it will damage the child’s social and emotional development bowlby’s ‘maternal deprivation hypothesis’ assumes if the relationship between the primary caregiver and infant is disrupted there are long-term effects

35
Q

Which animal study supports Bowlby’s theory?

A

Harlow

36
Q

Which 2 psychologists provided evidence against Bowlbyand what did they say?

A

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) said rather than one main attachment, many children form multiple attachments and may not attach to their mothers

37
Q

What did Bowlby’s report in 1950 lead to?

A

A increase in ‘stay at home’ mothering impacting the economy as fewer women were going to work

38
Q

Explain what a secure attachment is.

A

There’s a strong bond between the child and its caregiver. If they’re separated, the infant becomes distressed. But when reunited the child is easily comforted by the caregiver

39
Q

Explain what an insecure attachment is.

A

Bond between child and it’s caregiver, Ainsworth et al come up with two types of insecure attachment

40
Q

What are the 2 types of insecure attachments?

A

Insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant

41
Q

What is an insecure-avoidance attachment?

A

If they’re separated from their caregiver, the child doesn’t become particularly distressed and usually be comforted by a stranger.

42
Q

What is an insecure-resistant attachment?

A

The child is often uneasy around their caregiver but becomes upset if they’re separated. Comfort can’t be given by strangers, and it’s often resisted from the caregiver

43
Q

Who came up with the concept of the strange situation?

A

Ainsworth et al (1978)

44
Q

Who conducted a cross-cultural studies based on strange-situations?

A

Van ljzendoorn and kroonenberg

45
Q

Name 4 things that were important findings from strange situation

A

Some cultural difference are found (Grossman et al),
the cause of different attachment types are debatable,
the strange situation experiment doesn’t show a characteristic of the child and
attachment types may influence later behaviours

46
Q

What is seperation?

A

Where a child is away from a caregiver they are attached to. The term’s used when it’s a short time, just hours or days.

47
Q

What is deprivation?

A

Describes the loss of something that is wanted or needed. So ‘maternal deprivation’ is the loss of the mother

48
Q

Who studied longer-term maternal deprivation?

A

John Bowlby (1953)

49
Q

What does deprivation from the main carer during the critical period cause?

A

Have harmful effects on a child’s emotional, social, intellectual and even physical development

50
Q

In 1944 what did Bowlby use in his study for maternal deprivation?

A

44 juvenile thieves

51
Q

Who studied bowlby’s theory, ‘maternal deprivation’?

A

Robertson and Robertson (1968)

52
Q

What is a strength of Maternal deprivation hypothesis?

A

Other evidence supports Bowlby’s claims. Goldfarb (1943) found that orphanage children who were socially and maternally deprived were later less intellectually and socially developed

53
Q

What is a negative of Maternal deprivation hypothesis?

A

Evidence can be criticised, Bowlby linked the thieves’ behaviour to maternal deprivation, but other things were not considered. The children in Goldfarb’s study may have been most harmed by the social deprivation in the orphanage rather than maternal deprivation

54
Q

Can the effects of distribution of attachment be resversed?

A

Yes

55
Q

What did Skeels and Dye find? (1939)

A

Found that children who had been socially deprived during their first two years of life quickly improved their IQ scores if they were transferred to a school where they got one-to-one care

56
Q

Who studied the case of the Czech twin boys?

A

Koluchova (1976)

57
Q

Explain keys parts of Koluchova’s study in (1976)

A

Twin boys whose mother died soon after they were born. Their father remarried and their stepmother treated them cruelly. They were often kept locked in a cellar and had no toys. They were found with when they were 7 with rickets and very little social or intellectual development they were adopted later on and made a lot of progress.

58
Q

What is privation?

A

where a child has never has an attachment to its mother or caregiver

59
Q

What did Rutter (1981) claim?

A

That the effects of maternal privation are more likely to be serious than maternal deprivation

60
Q

What did Curtiss (1977) study?

A

The case of the Genie, a girl reported the case of a girl who suffered extreme cruelty from her parents and never formed attachments. Her father kept her strapped to a high chair with a potty in the seat for most of her childhood. She was beaten if she made any sounds and didn’t have a chance to play . She was discovered at 13 and was physically underdeveloped and could only speak with animal sounds.

61
Q

Who studies romaniam orphans?

A

Rutter et al (2007)

62
Q

What are some of the long-term effects of disrupted attachments?

A

Affectionless psychopathy, anaclitic depression (loss of appetite sleeplessness), deprivation dwarfism, delinquency and reduced intelligence

63
Q

What did Bowlby’s internal working model look at?

A

How our childhood attachment’s influence adult relationship’s

64
Q

Due to bowlbys internal working model what are the effects on secure vs insecure attatchments?

A

Secure attachment to a caregiver is likely to make the child feel worthy, therefore making secure relationships this is the opposite for insecure attachments

65
Q

What did Hazan and Shaver conduct in a local newspaper in 1987? (explain)

A

Love quiz, the quiz had 2 parts one assessed the attachment type of each person the second asked questions about their current beliefs about romantic love

66
Q

What did Hazan and Shavers study in 1987 provide support for?

A

Bowlby’s internal working model

67
Q

What scientific way did psychologists develop to asses relationships between early childhood attachments and later adult attachments?

A

Adult attachment interviews conducted by Main et al in 1985

68
Q

Explain the adult attachment interviews and how they worked.

A

Semi structered interview involving a series of questions about childhood attachments. Interviwee asked to give 5 adjectives explaining their relationship with their parents and why they chose them other questions were then asked about times when they got upset/rejected these results are then classified by a trained coders .

69
Q

What did Quinton et al’s 1984 study suggest was real?

A

Cycle of privation

70
Q

What did Quinton et al’s 1984 study entail?

A

He compared 50 women who had experienced institutional care as children with 50 women who hadn’t. Those who had were found to have difficulties parenting later in life, suggesting the cycle of privation

71
Q

What did Parker and Forrest (1993) outline?

A

Reactive attachment disorder- rare but serious condition which occurs in children who have been permanently damaged by early experiences such as privation.

72
Q

What are the symptoms of the rare condition that Parker and Forrest outlined in 1993?

A

Inability to give/receive affection, dishonesty. poor social relationships and involvement in crime.

73
Q

Explain Freud and Dann’s study in 1951?

A

Studied 6 children who were rescued from WWII. They had been orphaned and raised within a deportation camp. They were looked at by Jewish people but had no contact with adults and so weren’t able to form any attachments. They were then adopted by British families since shown few signs of a troubles upbringing having a normal intelligence and relationships.

74
Q

What 4 factors affect the relationship between fathers and their children

A

Degree sensitivity
Types of attachment
Marital intimacy
Supportive co-parenting

75
Q

In terms of role of the father what is meant by degree of sensitivity

A

More secure attachments to their children are found in fathers who show more sensitivity to children’s needs

Geiger (1996) fathers play interactions are more exiting and pleasurable then mothers while mothers are more nurturing and affectionate

76
Q

In terms of role of the father what is meant by types of attachment to own parents

A

Single parents fathers tend to form similar attachments to their children, that they had with their parents

Bernie’s and Miljovitch (2009) found that singled parent fathers attachments with children ages 4-6 years was very similar to that they had with their parents

77
Q

In terms of role of the father what is meant by marital intimacy

A

The degree of intimacy that father has within his relationship with his partner affects the type of attachment he will have with his children

Belsky (2009) found high levels of marital intimacy was related to secure father-infant attachments and low levels of insecure

78
Q

In terms of role of the father what is meant by supportive co-parenting

A

The amount of support a father gives his partner in helping to care for the child affects the type of attachment he will have to his children

Brown (2010) assessed attachment patterns in 68 families with infants ages 12-13 moths finding high levels of supportive co-parenting was related to how secure attachments were

79
Q

Why are fathers so important in attachment

A

Children with secure attachments with their fathers go on to have a better relationship with peers less problem behaviors and are more able to regulate their emotions
Children who’d grow up without a father have often been seen to do worse in school

80
Q

What is bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis

A

Suggests that healthy psychological development is dependent upon attachments forming between infants and mothers

81
Q

What is the continuity hypothesis

A

The idea that there is consistency between early emotional experiences and ,Ayer relationships as the IWM becomes a template for future relationships

82
Q

In terms of care giver interactions what was Meltzoff and Moores (1977) study

A

An experimenter displayed facial gestures such as sticking young out and opening their mouth in shock 12-21 day old infants, recordings of infants responses were rated by people blind to the experimenter
It was found that infant responses matched experimenters facial expressions
These results suggest the ability to observe and reciprocate through imitation is present from an early age

83
Q

In terms of caregiver-infant interactions what was Condon and Sanders (1974) study

A

Videotaped interactions between adults and neonates focusing on the movements of the neonates in response to adult speech, using a detailed frame by frame analysis of the video recordings
They found evidence of interactions synchrony between neonates movements and rhythmic patterns of adults speech
These results suggest even from birth humans have an innate ability for social interactions

84
Q

What are some evaluations for caregiver infant interactions

A

Many studies use multiple observers blind to the true aims of the experiments to provide inte rather reliability or even use complex camera systems to document and slow down micro-sequences between them
High control for high internal validity

Infancy’s can directly communicate so inference’s much be made which are considered unscientific
Social sensitivity is a concern when investigating child rearing techniques including norms around care-giver infant interactions some women may find their life choices criticized such as mothers wanting to return to work and can’t develop high level of interactional synchrony