Attachment

Question 1

What is reciprocity?

Answer 1

When infant and caregiver respond to each other’s signals

Question 2

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 2

Caregiver and baby reflect both each other’s emotions

Question 3

What is one issue when conducting research on babies?

Answer 3

It is difficult to interpret infant behaviour given their lack of communication

Question 4

Name Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

Answer 4

Asocial stage
Indiscriminate attachment
Specific attachment
Multiple attachment

Question 5

What is the distinctive role of the father in attachment?

Answer 5

their role is associated with play and stimulation

Question 6

Which research offers insight into the role of the father?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

How do lesbian couples counter Grossmans research?

Answer 7

Studies show that children brought up by lesbian parents do not differ from those who have a father figure

Question 8

What are the two animal studies into attachment?

Answer 8

Lorenz’s geese
Harlow’s monkeys

Question 9

Outline Lorenz’s study into attachment?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What were Lorenz’s findings?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What feature of attachments was Harlow investigating?

Answer 11

Physical comfort

Question 12

Outline Harlow’s research

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What were Harlow’s findings?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

How can the learning theory explain attachment?

Answer 14

Classical conditioning in learning who our caregivers are and operant conditioning in order to reinforce that attachment

Question 15

Explain classical conditioning in terms of forming attachment

Answer 15

Caregiver acts as a neutral stimulus who becomes associated with the pleasure received from being fed

Question 16

How can operant conditioning explain attachment?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What is Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

Answer 17

Great emphasis on a particular caregiver known as the mother (primary attachment figure)

Question 18

What are the two laws that Bowlby suggested improved the attachment to a primary caregiver?

Answer 18

The law of continuity
The law of accumulated separation

Question 19

What is the law of continuity?

Answer 19

The more constant and predictable a child’s care the better attachment

Question 20

What is the law of accumulated separation?

Answer 20

All caregiver absences add up making the safest amount away none at all

Question 21

What did Bowlby suggest the critical period was?

Answer 21

The time in which an attachment must form, Bowlby suggested this was six month in an infant

Question 22

What is the internal working model?

Answer 22

An infant’s primary attachment sets a precedent for what all future relationships should be like

Question 23

What was Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation?

Answer 23

Controlled observation in which infants were observed in how they responded to their mothers absence

Question 24

What were the three attachment types found by Ainsworth?

Answer 24

Secure attachment
Insecure-avoidant attachment
Insecure-resistant attachment

Question 25

Outline the features of secure attachment?

Answer 25

They explore happily but regularly to their caregiver. They show moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety

Question 26

Outline insecure-avoidant attachment?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Outline insecure-resistant attachment?

Answer 27

Seek greater proximity and so explore less. They show high levels of stranger anxiety and separation distress

Question 28

What is one limitation of Mary Ainsworth’s study?

Answer 28

Culture bias as it was done in Britain and the USA and so results may vary in collective cultures

Question 29

What is a strength of the strange situation?

Answer 29

easy to replicate as it was repeated in eight different countries

Question 30

State one finding of when the strange situation was replicated in 8 different countries

Answer 30

Secure attachment was the most common however they varied with 75% in the UK to only 50% in China

Question 31

How can the Strange situation support Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

Answer 31

Secure attachment is the norm in a wide range of cultures suggesting that attachment is innate and universal

Question 32

What is maternal deprivation?

Answer 32

The mental and emotional consequences of separation between a child and their caregiver

Question 33

What research supports maternal deprivation?

Answer 33

Goldfarb found lower IQ in children who remained in institutions as opposed to those who were adopted

Question 34

What is the most common way to study maternal deprivation?

Answer 34

Orphan studies

Question 35

How did Rutter study Romanian orphans?

Answer 35

Followed a group of 165 orphans from Romania who had been adopted in the UK for many years

Question 36

What were Rutter’s findings?

Answer 36

The IQ of orphans adopted before six months was significantly higher than those adopted after with 102 compared to 86

Question 37

What was Bowlby’s research into Maternal deprivation?

Answer 37

44 teenage thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy compared to a control group of 44 non-thieving emotionally disturbed teenagers.

Question 38

What were Bowlby’s findings following his research into maternal deprivation?

Answer 38

14 of the 44 thieves were deemed to be affectionless psychopaths. 12 of this 14 had experienced prolonged time away from their caregivers

Question 39

Who studied cultural variation in attachment?

Answer 39

IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Question 40

State the findings of IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Answer 40

Most common attachment type was secure but with variation with 75% secure in Britain and 50% Secure in China

Question 41

What did McCallum and Golombok find in regards to attachment of same sex/single parents?

Answer 41

They found that attachment is indifferent between traditional parents and single/same sex

Question 42

What was Field’s research into the role of the father?

Answer 42

She filmed parent interactions between 4 month old children whom either had male/female primary caregivers

Question 43

What were Field’s findings in regards to the role of the father?

Answer 43

She found that male and female primary caregivers both displayed similar attitudes towards their children meaning that the role of the father is important

Question 44

How does Bailey support Bowlby’s internal working model?

Answer 44

Studied 99 new mothers and the interaction they had with their children and their own mothers. Bailey found the attachments to be similar

Question 45

How does Bick support the strange situation?

Answer 45

Tested the inter-observer reliability of the study and found a 94% agreement when identifying attachment type