attachment

Question 1

c5who came up with the strange situation

Answer 1

Mary Ainsworth 1969

Question 2

what is the strange situation

Answer 2

Mary Ainsworth created a structured controlled observation known as the strange situation to explore the differences in attachments of infants

Question 3

what are the four things being assessed in the strange situation

Answer 3

proximity seeking- an infant with good attachment will stay close to the caregiver
exploration and secure base behaviour-good attachment allows a child to feel confident to explore
stranger anxiety-a sign of attachment to protest at caregiver at separation
response to reunion-how the child reacts upon being reunited with caregiver.

Question 4

how did they record these observations

Answer 4

time sampling- a group of observers recorded what the infant was doing every 15 seconds and scored the behvaiour for itensity on a scale of 1-7

Question 5

what are the three attachemnt types

Answer 5

secure attachment
insecure resistant
insecure avoidant

Question 6

what is secure attachment

Answer 6

most desirable attachment-associated with psychologically healthy outcomes.there is a strong bond between the child and caregiver.if theyre sepreated the infant becomes distressed. however if they are reunited. the child is easily comforted by the caregiver.

Question 7

how is secure attachment shown in ashworths strange situation

Answer 7

moderate stranger and separation anxiety and ease of comfort at reunion
70% of infants were securely attached

Question 8

what is insecure avoidant attachment

Answer 8

low anxiety but weak attachment.
if they are seperated from their caregiver the child doesnt become paticularly distressed, and can usually be comforted by a stranger. This type of insecure attachment is shown by children who generally avoid social interaction and intimicy with others.

Question 9

how is insecure avoidant attachment shown in the strange situation

Answer 9

low stranger and separation anxiety and little response to reunion-avoidance of caregiver

Question 10

what is insecure resistant attachment

Answer 10

strong attachement and high anxiety
the child is often uneasy around their caregiver,but becomes upset if they’re seperated. comfort cant be given by strangers, ad its also often resisted from the caregiver. Children who show this style of attachment both accept and reject social interaction

Question 11

how is insecure resistant attachment shown in the strange situation

Answer 11

this is shown by high levels of stranger and separation anxiety and by resistance to be comforted in reunion

Question 12

what are the strengths of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 12

attachment type is strongly predictive of later development
babies assessed as secure tend to have better outcomes e.g.
success at school
success in romantic relationships and friendships
it also has good reliability

Question 13

what are the weaknesses of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 13

ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that ones ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to ones own.
culture bond-has noted that the test does not really work in Japan because Japan mothers are rarely separated from their babies

Question 14

what are the two main animal studies

Answer 14

Lorenz and the geese
Harlow and the monkeys

Question 15

who was Lorenz and what did he study

Answer 15

Lorenz was an ethologist who studies animals within their natural habitat
He was interested in how young animals attach to their mothers, and how this gave them an increased chance of survival

Question 16

what was Lorenz’s procedure
conditions ?

Answer 16

he carried out his experiment with grey lag geese
there were two experimental conditions:
Condition 1-he was the firsy thing that the goose chicks saw when they hatched.
Condition 2-The goose mother was the first thing the goose chicks saw when they hatched

Question 17

what were the findings of Lorenz experiment

Answer 17

In condition 1- the chicks who saw Lorenz before anything else, followed him like their mother.
In condition 2-The chicks which saw their mother first, followed her when they were young

Question 18

what is the rapid form of attachment decided by Lorenz

Answer 18

Imprinting-this is the tendency to form an attachment to the first large moving object seen after birth.

Question 19

imprint timings

Answer 19

Lorenz found that the strongest tendency to imprint takes place between 13 and 16 hours after the gosling has hatched
By 32 hours, the tendency to imprint has virtually passed and the attachment will not take place

Question 20

what is the critical period

Answer 20

imprinting has to take place withing the ‘window of development’ which he called the critical period

Question 21

what is the critical period

Answer 21

imprinting has to take place withing the ‘window of development’ which he called the critical period

Question 22

what was the aim of harlows experiment

Answer 22

Harlow aimed to find out wether baby monkeys would prefer a source of food or a source of comfort and protection as an attachment figure

Question 23

what was Harlows method

Answer 23

In laboratory experiments rhesus monkeys were raised in isolation. They had two surrogate mothers. One was made of wire mesh and contained a feeding bottle, the other was made of cloth but didn’t contain a feeding bottle

Question 24

What were the results of Harlows need for contact comfort experiment

Answer 24

monkeys spent most of their time clinging to the cloth surrogate and only used the wire surrogate to feed.
The cloth seemed to give them comfort in new situation. When the monkeys grew up they showed signs of emotional and social disturbance. The females were bad mothers who were often violent toward their offspring

Question 25

what were the conclusions of this experiment

Answer 25

Infant monkeys formed more of an attachment with a figure that provided comfort and protection. Growing up in isolation affected their development.

Question 26

what type of experiment was this-harlows- describe the consequences of this

Answer 26

a laboratory experiment this meant that it is unlikely the results were affected by an unknown variable.
it can bee argued that you cant generalise the results of this study to human beings, because humans and monkeys are qualitavely different.
There were also ethical problems with this study-the monkeys were put in a stressful situation, and later they showed signs of being psychologically damaged by the experiment. Monkeys are social animals, so it was unfair to keep them in isolation.
The fact that they were in isolation also means the study lacked ecological validity- the monkeys weren,t in their natural environment, so the results cannot be reliably applied to real life.
Laboratory experiments can usually be replicated, but ethical guidelines now in place mean that you couldnt repeat this study today.

Question 27

what are the two different types of cultures

Answer 27

an individualistic culture is one which emphasises personal independence and achievement at the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition
A collectivist culture is one which emphasised family and work goals above individual needs and desires, there is a high degree of interdependance between people

Question 28

what is another weakness of answorths strange situation

Answer 28

Main and Solomon (1986) pointed out at least one more attachment type and that a minority of children display atypical attachments that do not fall within types A B or C behaviour. This is known as disorganised attachment
disorganised children display an odd mix of resistant and avoidant attachment.

Question 29

what is jhon bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 29

prolonged deprivation of a young child of maternal care may have grand and far reaching effects on his character. similar in form to deprivation of vitamins in infancy

Question 30

what is the critical period-bowlby

Answer 30

Bowlby considered there was a critical period from about 0-2.5 years when infants could have continuous unbroken relationships with one person monotropy

Question 31

what is attachment

Answer 31

attachment is a close emotional relationship between an infant and a caregiver
‘securely attached’ infants will show a desire to be close to their primary careggiver (usually their biologicL

Question 32

what are the features of a caregiver-infant interaction

Answer 32

sensitive responsiveness-the caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant

imitation-the infant copies the caregivers actions and behaviour. For example Meltzoff an Moore (1977) found that infants between 2 and 3 weeks of age appeared to imitate the facial expressions and hand movement of the experimenter.

Interactional synchrony-Infants react in time with the caregivers speach, resulting in a ‘conversation dance’ Condon and Sander (1974) provided evidence for this concept, by showing how babies do appear to move in time with adult conversations.

reciprocity/turn-taking-interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant.

Motherese-The slow, high pitched way of speaking to infants. However, there is no evidence that this influences the strength of an attachment between parent and infant

Question 33

what 4 stages did schaffer identify in attachment

Answer 33

the pre attachment or asocial phase
the indiscriminate or diffuse attachment phase
the discriminate or single attachment phase
the multiple attachment phase

Question 34

what is the pre attachment phase

Answer 34

during the first 0-3 months of life, the baby learns to separate people from objects but doesn’t have any strong preference about who cares for it

Question 35

what is the indiscriminate attachment phase

Answer 35

between 6 weeks and 7 months the infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than at strangers. However there are still no strong preferences about who care for it.

Question 36

what is the discriminate attachment phase-From seven to ele

Answer 36

From seven to 11 months the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual. This is shown by being content when that person is around, distressed when they leave and happy when they return. It may be scared of strangers and avoid them.

Question 37

what is the multiple attachment phase-

Answer 37

from about nine months the infant can form attachment to many different people. Some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions, eg for play or for comfort, but there doesnt seem to be a limit to the number of attachments it can make. Although Schaffer found that after 18 months, approximately 32% of babies had at least 5 attachments, the original attachment is still the strongest.

Question 38

what are one of the ways attachment can be described-behaviourism

Answer 38

one way in which attachment can be describes is through social earning theory this is the belief that attachment is formed in two ways by either classical conditioning or operant conditioning

Question 39

how does classical conditioning work in terms of attachment

Answer 39

classical conditioning is the gradual process of making connections of two different things in our immediate environment
as infants we all have straight forward physical desires
gradually we learn that drink food sleep parents and bed fulfil these basic desires and classically conditioning allows us to make connections between our needs and our environment and we gradually form attachments to the caregiver who provides those needs

Question 40

how does operant conditioning work in attachment

Answer 40

operant condition works in the reverse of classical conditioning
when we feel hungry-we do not have enough food, we feel thirsty because we do not have enough fluids
when our caregivers are present, they relieve these discomforts
caregivers casually become associated with the removal of discomfort and we form an attachment

Question 41

what are the critisms of learning theory

Answer 41

has some support from scientific studies but is reductionist in nature
much evidence which backs up learning theory comes from animal studies, these have ethical issues and cant be generalised to humans

Question 42

who is jhon Bowlby

Answer 42

jhon Bowlby was a major figure in attachment psychology:he developed the “Monotropic Theory of Attchment” as a coherent explanation of how attachments form

Question 43

wjat does bowlby think interms of imprinting and evolution

Answer 43

1951) put porward the idea that a sophisticated type of imprinting occurs in huhmans as we have an evolutionary need to form an attachment to our primary caregiver: without this attachement it is unlikely an infant would survive, and therefore natural selection prefers infants who do form attachments

Question 44

Explain the idea of Monotropy

Answer 44

• The idea of “Monotropy” is that we form a single attachment as infants: this is obviously usually, but
  not always, our biological mother
• Bowlby’s idea was that this initial single attachment gives us a “template” which we use for all future
  attachments, both as infants and as adults
• Therefore, if this attachment is disrupted or abnormal, we form abnormal or disrupted attachments
  through our adult lives too

Question 45

Explain the criticism of this

Answer 45

• There is some evidence in favour of Bowlby’s ideas, but there is also experimental evidence against it,
  such as Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
• It is also worth noting that Bowlby developed his theory during the 1950’s: it has been theorised that
  this theory, which was explained poorly by the media, contributed to a rapid increase in “stay at home”
  mothers during this socially conservative and traditionalist era

Question 46

What are the two main ways in which attachment can be disrupted

Answer 46

Seperation and Deprivation

Question 47

What is seperation -disruption to attachment

Answer 47

Seperation is when something wanted or neeeded is removed on a permanent basis

Question 48

How did bowlby assess maternal deprivation

Answer 48

Bowlby carried out the 44 juvenile thieves study in 1944 which examines the backgrounds and infancy of 44 young criminals and found that there was a link between childhood maternal deprivation and criminality

Question 49

What other experiment shows seperation hint:r+r

Answer 49

Robertson and Robertson (1968) also carried out a naturalistic observation of a single child named “John” who was seperation from his mother for nine days
This study concluded that this relatively short seperation may have had a permanent damaging effect on John relationship with his mother:he was reluctant to be affectionate when he was reunited with her

Question 50

What are the Criticism’s of bowlbys maternal deprivation theory

Answer 50

Many people argued that it is reductionist: and bowlby did not consider other factors such as poverty social deprivation and genetics

Question 51

what is privation and deprivation
who came up with these terms and what did they say

Answer 51

privation is where a child has never had an attachment to its mother or caregiver
deprivation is where an attachment was once formed but is now broken
these terms were formed by rutter who said that bowlby was confused with the term deprivation and the factors within his theory shuold be split into privation and deprivation

Question 52

what did rutter say about privation:what was his evidence for this

Answer 52

rutter claimed that the effects of maternal privation are more likely to be serious than the effects of maternal deprivation. Evidence for this comes from case studies of children who have suffered through difficult conditions or cruel treatment

Question 53

Describe the genie case

Answer 53

this case reported a girl who suffered extreme cruelty from her parents, and never formed any attachments.Her father kept her strapped to a high chair with a potty in the seat for most her childhood
she was beaten if she made any sound and didnt have the chance to play with toys or with other children.
she was finally discovered when she was 13 years old.She was physically underdeveloped and could only speak with animal like sounds.After alot of help she learned some language but social and intellectual skills never seemed to fully develop

Question 54

what was the consequence of the fall of the communist regime in romania during the early 1990s

Answer 54

after the fall of the communist regime in romania during the early 1990s orphanages started getting vastly overcrowded. The orphans were fed, clothed and looked after but they lacked any form of sensitive care or any opportunity to form an emotional attachment.

Question 55

describe the method of the romanian orphanage study made by Rutter

Answer 55

111 Romanian orphans who were adopted by british families were compared with a group of 52 uk adoptees and followed over a prolonged period. Some of the orphans were adopted before they were 6 months old and some were older than 6 months. Each child was assesed at ages 4,6,11

Question 55

describe the method of the romanian orphanage study made by Rutter

Answer 55

111 Romanian orphans who were adopted by british families were compared with a group of 52 uk adoptees and followed over a prolonged period. Some of the orphans were adopted before they were 6 months old and some were older than 6 months. Each child was assesed at ages 4,6,11

Question 56

what were results of the romanian orphans

Answer 56

The children who were younger than 6 months when they were adopted had the same level of emotional development as other uk children who were eolder than 6 months at adoption showed signs of insecure attachments and social problems. The Uk children who were older than 6 months at adoption didnt show the same problems.

Question 57

what was the conclusion of robertson and robertsons experiment

Answer 57

the short-term separation had very bad effects on Jhon, including possible permanent damage to his new attachment with his mother

Question 58

Evaluation

Answer 58

John reaction might not have been due to seperation- it could have been down to his new environment or the fact he was getting much less attention than he was used to. There will have been little control of variables,and it would be difficult to replicate each individual situation.However as the study took place in a natural setting,the results will have ecological validity but will be less reliable

Question 59

what are the 5 main consequences of children who have disrupt attachemt in adulthood

Answer 59

affectioneless psycopathy:the child will show little to no empathy and have little regard for how their actions impact others
anaclitic depression:The child will slow and impaired social development,reccurent insomnia and have little apetite
deprevation dwarfism:the child will be physically underdeveloped as a result of sustained emotional deprivation
delinquency:the child will carry out minor crimes or a regular basis
reduced intelligence:the childs intellectual capacity willl develop at a slower rate than usual

Question 60

what is the internal working model

Answer 60

bowlby developed the idea that our attachments as adults are guided by a template we form as infants:if our infant attachments are disrupted or abnormal its likely our adult ones are too

Question 61

how does the internal working model theory differ for all the types of attachments

Answer 61

if our attachments are secure, then it is likely we will form normal secure attachmentts as adults
however if we suffer insecure avoidant or insecure resistant then our adult attachments will also be “resistant” or “avoidant”

Question 62

what research is used to support the internal working model

Answer 62

Hazzan and Shaver(1987) used a series of questions in local newspapers to examine how the relationships with 620 people had with their parents influenced their later expectations of adulthood
they found a correlation between insecure avoidant and insecure resistant childhood attachments

Question 63

Who’s research showed the cross cultural effects of attachment

Answer 63

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg came to the conclusion that there are cross cultural similarities in how children are raised and how infants form attachment

Question 64

What does the cycle of privation suggest

Answer 64

Some studies have suggested that children who experience disrupted attachments will go on to have difficulties in forming normal relationships with their own children therefore leading to a range of social problems eg recurrent deprivation, rising crime rates and ingrained poverty and employment

Question 65

What was Quintons experiment

Answer 65

• Quinton et al (1984) compared the parenting of two groups of 50 women
• The hrst group of 50 women had experienced institutional care as children
• The second group of 50 women had experienced a normal family life as children
• It was found that the first group were far more likely to encounter difficulties are parents than the second
  group: this would suggest that there is a “cycle of privation’

Question 66

What 4 symptoms did Parker and Forrest present

Answer 66

An inability to give or recieve affection
Constant dishonesty
Poor social relationships
Involvement in criminal behaviour

Question 67

What did Freud and Dan however prove

Answer 67

That the majority of child refugees during the Second World War went on to experience normal cognitive development and relationships as adults in the following decades