Attachment Flashcards
What is reciprocity?
When infant and caregiver respond to each other’s signals
What is interactional synchrony?
Caregiver and baby reflect both each other’s emotions
What is one issue when conducting research on babies?
It is difficult to interpret infant behaviour given their lack of communication
Name Schaffer’s stages of attachment?
Asocial stage
Indiscriminate attachment
Specific attachment
Multiple attachment
What is the distinctive role of the father in attachment?
their role is associated with play and stimulation
Which research offers insight into the role of the father?
Grossman who observed babies through a longitudinal study until they were teenagers. He linked the quality of play between father and babies related to better quality attachment in adolescence
How do lesbian couples counter Grossmans research?
Studies show that children brought up by lesbian parents do not differ from those who have a father figure
What are the two animal studies into attachment?
Lorenz’s geese
Harlow’s monkeys
Outline Lorenz’s study into attachment?
He randomly divided 12 geese eggs between himself and their biological mother. Lorenz was the first thing his six geese saw causing them to imprint on him
What were Lorenz’s findings?
The two groups followed the first parent they saw. Even when mixed together the geese did not recognise their biological mother and continued to follow Lorenz
What feature of attachments was Harlow investigating?
Physical comfort
Outline Harlow’s research
He gave monkeys two mothers in which one was made of cloth and the other made of wire. The experiment had two conditions in which either the wire or cloth mother dispensed food and water
What were Harlow’s findings?
The monkeys favoured comfort from the cloth mother regardless of whether or not the mother dispensed food. This was especially true when the monkeys were intentionally frightened
How can the learning theory explain attachment?
Classical conditioning in learning who our caregivers are and operant conditioning in order to reinforce that attachment
Explain classical conditioning in terms of forming attachment
Caregiver acts as a neutral stimulus who becomes associated with the pleasure received from being fed
How can operant conditioning explain attachment?
Through the use of consequences, operant conditioning can explain why babies cry when they need to be fed as they learn that crying will result in a positive experience
What is Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
Great emphasis on a particular caregiver known as the mother (primary attachment figure)
What are the two laws that Bowlby suggested improved the attachment to a primary caregiver?
The law of continuity
The law of accumulated separation
What is the law of continuity?
The more constant and predictable a child’s care the better attachment
What is the law of accumulated separation?
All caregiver absences add up making the safest amount away none at all
What did Bowlby suggest the critical period was?
The time in which an attachment must form, Bowlby suggested this was six month in an infant
What is the internal working model?
An infant’s primary attachment sets a precedent for what all future relationships should be like
What was Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Controlled observation in which infants were observed in how they responded to their mothers absence
What were the three attachment types found by Ainsworth?
Secure attachment
Insecure-avoidant attachment
Insecure-resistant attachment
Outline the features of secure attachment?
They explore happily but regularly to their caregiver. They show moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety
Outline insecure-avoidant attachment?
Explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure-base behaviour. They show little or no reaction when their care giver leaves and little stranger anxiety
Outline insecure-resistant attachment?
Seek greater proximity and so explore less. They show high levels of stranger anxiety and separation distress
What is one limitation of Mary Ainsworth’s study?
Culture bias as it was done in Britain and the USA and so results may vary in collective cultures
What is a strength of the strange situation?
easy to replicate as it was repeated in eight different countries
State one finding of when the strange situation was replicated in 8 different countries
Secure attachment was the most common however they varied with 75% in the UK to only 50% in China
How can the Strange situation support Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
Secure attachment is the norm in a wide range of cultures suggesting that attachment is innate and universal
What is maternal deprivation?
The mental and emotional consequences of separation between a child and their caregiver
What research supports maternal deprivation?
Goldfarb found lower IQ in children who remained in institutions as opposed to those who were adopted
What is the most common way to study maternal deprivation?
Orphan studies
How did Rutter study Romanian orphans?
Followed a group of 165 orphans from Romania who had been adopted in the UK for many years
What were Rutter’s findings?
The IQ of orphans adopted before six months was significantly higher than those adopted after with 102 compared to 86
What was Bowlby’s research into Maternal deprivation?
44 teenage thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy compared to a control group of 44 non-thieving emotionally disturbed teenagers.
What were Bowlby’s findings following his research into maternal deprivation?
14 of the 44 thieves were deemed to be affectionless psychopaths. 12 of this 14 had experienced prolonged time away from their caregivers
Who studied cultural variation in attachment?
IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg
State the findings of IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg
Most common attachment type was secure but with variation with 75% secure in Britain and 50% Secure in China
What did McCallum and Golombok find in regards to attachment of same sex/single parents?
They found that attachment is indifferent between traditional parents and single/same sex
What was Field’s research into the role of the father?
She filmed parent interactions between 4 month old children whom either had male/female primary caregivers
What were Field’s findings in regards to the role of the father?
She found that male and female primary caregivers both displayed similar attitudes towards their children meaning that the role of the father is important
How does Bailey support Bowlby’s internal working model?
Studied 99 new mothers and the interaction they had with their children and their own mothers. Bailey found the attachments to be similar
How does Bick support the strange situation?
Tested the inter-observer reliability of the study and found a 94% agreement when identifying attachment type
