Attachment Flashcards
What is attachment
An attachment is a close two-way emotional bond between two individuals where each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
What are the features of attachment
- infant seek proximity trying to stay near
-both cargive and infant feel distressed when separated
-both the infant and care giver feel pleasure when reunited
What is reciprocity
A care giver infant interactions. It is a two way or mutual process where each individual responds to the others signals to sustain the interaction
What is interactional synchrony
When a caregiver and infant reflect the actions and emotions of the other in a coordinated way. They mirror each other
What is a study of infant caregiver interactions
Meltzoff and Moore
Evaluation of care giver infant interactions
- hard to know what is happening when observing babies
-controlled observations capture fine detail - no demand characteristics - practical issues- babies are usually being fed or asleep
A study to show fathers are not psychologically biologically and socially equipped
Hardy found fathers were less likely to be able to detect low levels of infant distress compared to mothers
Study that supports fathers are not care givers they are playmates
Geiger found that a fathers play interactions were more exciting in comparisons to a mother
Study that supports fathers can demonstrate sensitive responsiveness
Easterbrook and Goldberg provided evidence that infants who were securely attached to their fathers would demonstrate optimal behaviour in problem solving. Compared to insecure father attached infants.
Who identified stages of attachment
Schaffer
What did Schaffer and Emerson aim to investigate
The formation of early attachments, in particular the age they developed, their emotional intensity and to whom they were directed
What was the sample size of their experiment
60 babies
31 boys and 29 girls
What was their experiment
Went to houses and observed the mum and child. They gave their mother a questionnaire every month adding reliability
They looked at stranger and separation anxiety
What were their finding
-Attachment tended to be the care giver which was most interactive and sensitive to signals and needs
- most infants started to show separation protest when parted from their attachment figure between 6-8 months with stranger anxiety being shown 1 month later
-by 40 weeks 80% babies had specific attachment and 30% multiple attachments. By 18 months 87% had at least 2 attachments
What are the 4 stages of attachments
-asocial
-Indiscriminate attachment
-specific attachment
-multiple attachment
Evaluation of schaffers study
Strengths:
-high external validity as carried out in own homes meaning high a chance the participants acted naturally.
-longitudinal study was conducted over a long period of time with the same babies. This reduces individual differences and researcher is able to see personal development
Limitations:
-generalisability of results as all the babies had the same culture same class and all from Scotland
What does imprinting mean
Innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother, which takes place during a specific time in development. If it doesn’t happen it probs won’t happen at all
What was lorenz’s study
Lab study
Divided sample into 2 different environments
One group of goose eggs were put in an incubator and carefully watched
One group of goose eggs put in natural environment with mother goose
When the goose eggs hatched in the incubator, they imprinted on the first living thing they saw which was lorenz
And the eggs with the mother attached to the mother goose.
Evaluation of lorenz’s study
Strengths:
- no ethical issues
Limitations:
-generalisability to humans (EXTRAPOLATION)
- some of Lorenz observations have been questioned- guiton et al found that chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults but eventually learnt to prefer mating with other chickens
What was the procedure of harlow’s monkey study
Tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother
He reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model mothers. In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain mother whereas in a second condition the milk wasnt dispensed by the cloth-covered mother
What were harlows findings
It was found that the baby monkeys cuddled the soft object in preference to the wire one and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of food. This showed that comfort was more important to the monkey.
The baby monkey spent 22 hours a day on the cloth mother
In the future
The adults were more aggressive and less sociable with others
They bred less
One monkey chewed their own hand off
Evaluation of the Harlow study
Strengths:
-Theoretical value findings have had a profound effect on psychologists understanding of human mothers
-showed us the importance of the quality of early relationships for later social development
Shows that attachments develop as a result of contact comfort not just food
- practical value helped social workers understand risk factors of child neglect and abuse
Limitations:
-ethical issues
The monkeys suffered greatly as a result of this study
Who came up with the learning theory of attachment
Dollars and miller
What are the key points of the learning theory
-sits on the side of nurture
-when children are born they are blank slates
-theory is known as cupboard love as care givers are seen as satisfying babies basic psychological needs- child learns to love whoever feeds them
What is the ucs, UCR, NS is classical conditioning of learning to attach
UCS- food
UCR- pleasure
NS- mother
How might operant conditioning explain why babies cry for comfort
Crying leads to a response from caregiver e.g feeding. As long as the caregiver provides a response, crying is reinforced. The baby then directs crying for comfort towards the caregiver who responds with comforting social suppressor behaviour ( positive reinforcement)
Who’s is the monotropic theory
Bowlby
Features of bowlby’s monotropic theory
-Concepts of a critical period
-Internal working model
-An evolutionary theory of attachment
-attachments r two way process
-attachment is a biological process
What does ASCMI
Adaptive
Social releases
Critical period
Monotropic
Internal working model
What does adaptive mean
They give our species an adaptive advantage making us more likely to survive
What does monotropic
Most important attachment is one between infant and one particular primary care-giver
Constant contact means a good quality attachment
Bowlby called this person the mother but didn’t have to be biological
What are social releases
Baby acting cute- social releases
Caregiver finds it cute activating adult attachment system so they love their infant. It is reciprocal and builds relationships
What is the critical period
AGE 2
If no attachment by them then they find it hard to make attachments
A child is maximally sensitive at this age
What is the interns working model
A child forms a mental representation of their relationship with the primary caregiver. Explains why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves
Evaluation of bowlby’s monotropic theory
Strengths
- support for social releases
-support for internal working model testable because patterns of attachment will be passed on from one generation to the next
Limitations
-temporal validity-relevant to todays society
- doesn’t consider cultural differences
- socially sensitive research- negative impacts on particular groups of people e’g working mothers can’t give constant contact
