Attachment Flashcards
9Define attachment
Attachment is a strong emotional bond that forms as a results of a interaction between two people
Define interactional synchrony
Where an infant mirrors the actions of another person and overtime the behaviour becomes synchronised so that they are in direct response to each other
Define recprocity
- Behaviour produced as a response to another person
- Behaviour that is produced to elicit a response
Interactional synchrony and reciprocity/Condone and Sander (1974)
Explan how attachment are developed and maintained
- reciprocity - Condone and Sander (1974) analysed the movment of babies when speaking to an adult and found babes ‘moved in time’ with conversation and appeared to ‘take turns’ this was described as reciprocal behaviour
- Interactional synchrony - Parents speech and infant behaviour becomes co ordinated and synchronised so they have a direct response to eachother
Babies
Explain Melzoof and Moore (1997) imitation
2-3 weeks old babies imitate adult facial expression and movements
Caregiver changes tone to baby, why do they do this?
Explain modified language
Mothererese s a slow high pitched repetive way of speaking iin short simple sentences, the use of this is to contrbuite towards attachment
infants
Explain Isabella et al (1989) research into interactional synchrony
Observed infant who were 1, 2 and 9 months old while interactning with caregiver (mother)
Interactional synchrony - infant
Explain findings of Isabella et al (1989)
- Mother developing secure attachment - observed to interact in a well timed and reciprocal manner
- Mothers developng a insecure relationship - observed to be involved and unresponsve to infant signals
Define secure attachment
form of attachment which is optimal for a healthy cognitive and emotional development
babies used
Explain Schaffer and Emerson (1964) study into attachment
60 babies studied every month for first 18 month of life (longitudinal study) and found babies develop attachment in a ceratin sequence
3,4,7,9 - months babies (Schaffer and Emerson)
Explain the stages of attachment formed within babies
- 0-3 months - indiscriminate attachment, new born attaches to any human
- 4-7 months - preference for certain people, infant distinguish between primary and secondary caregiver but accept care from anyone
- 7-9 months - special preference for single attachment figure and shows stranger fear also seperation anxiety
- 9+ months - mutiple attachment, baby become more independent and forms serval attachments
What did Harlow (1958) study and why
- Rhesus monkey
- To identify mechanism by which new born rhesus monkey bond to their mother
food?
Define behavioural theory of attachment
This theory suggest that an infant forms an attachment with a carer who provides food
Define evolutionary theory of attachment
Infant has a innate (biological) need to touch and cling to something for emotional comfort
Explain Harlow rhesus monkey experiment
- Eight monkey seperate from mother at birth and put in cage with two surrogate mother (One wire and one cloth)
- The monkey could either get milk from the wire mesh mother or comfort from the cloth
- The monkeys were studied for 165 days
- Monkey would go for the wire mother for food and cloth for comfort also the cloth mother was more effective in decreasing the youngest fear
How does Harlow monkey study support the evolutionary theory of attachment
Harlow experiment shows how important secuirty and comfort is compared to food and concluded for the monkeys to develop normally it has to have a interactionm wth an object it can cling onto for the first month of its life (critical period)
Define deprivation in terms of attachment
Refers to an disruption of an bond as a results of seperation from an attachment figure
Rhesus monkey
What are the issues of Harlow experiment
- Seen as cruel and unethical
- limited value in understanding the effects of deprivation
Rhesus monkey
Positive of Harlow expriment
- Research had a heavy influence on Bowlby in his attachment theory
- Vital step convincing people the importance of emotional care
What is imprinting in terms of Lorenz gosling experiment
Imprinting is when a infant such as a gosling will follow the first thing that it sees
Baby gosling
Explain Lorenz imprintng experiment
- Took half hoose mother eggs and placed half under the mother and half besides himself
- When the geese hatched Lorenz imitated the mother geese and found the birds regarded him as there mother
critical period
What were the findings of Lorenz imprinting experiment
Found geese follow the first moving object they see durng a 12-17 hour critical period after hatching, this process is known as imprinting and suggest attachment is innate and programmed genetically
Explain behavioural explanation of attachment
Suggest that attachment is learned through behaviour and the basis for the learning of attachments is food, infant will initally form an attachment because assocaites the feeder with comfort of being fed
Food
Explain classical conditoning creating attachments
- receiving food gives infant pleasure caregiver
- feed infant therefore infant associates caregiver with pleasure when they are near
Operant conditoning - food and discomfort, proxmity seeking behaviour
Explain OC creating attachments
- infant feel discomfort when hungry so desire food to remove discomfort
- Infant learn when they cry caregiver feeds them and discomfort is removed (negative reinforcement)
- consequences of crying lead to something unpleasant stopping therefore proxmity seeking behaviour is formed
Social releaser (Crying), programmed
Explain evolutionary theory of attachment
Suggest infant are biologically programed to form attachments as it will help survial, infant produced social releasers behaviours such as crying in order to get a response from caregiver
Cognitive schema
Define the internal working model
First attachment creates an internal working model (cognitive schema) which is the foundation for future attachments
Sensitive period, monotropy (one primary attachment)
Explain Bowlby (1969) theory of attachment
- Bowlby proposed attachment is via the evolutionary explanation
- Suggested there is a sensitive period around 1-3 years where the infant develop a special attachment to an individual
- Infant become closely attached with individual who responds best, leading to infant having one priamry attachment object (monotropy)
proximity? imitation
How does attachment promote survival
- Maintaining proximity
- Opportunity for learning through imitation
phase 1, 2 and 3, seperation and stranger anxiety, stages (discriminate)
What are Bowlby phase (development) of attachment
- Phase 1 (birth to 8 weeks) - Infant is in indiscrimate stage, Infant are friendly towards others
- Phase 2 (8 weeks to 6 months) - Infant signal and orientation are directed towards one or more special people and starting to have a prefrence for a certain caregiver
- Phase 3 (6 months to 2 years) - Discriminate stage, infant display stranger anxiety and seperation anxiety
Age, temperament, quality of care
Explain factors that influence the development of attachment
- Age of child - Bowlby proposed if attachment isn’t formed between 1-3 years old attachment after that will not develop normally
- Child temparament - Make it easier or harder to form attachments
- Quality of care - Sensitivity of caregiver can affect development of attachment, Ainsworth et al (1974) suggested attachment is related to the quality of interactions between infant and caregiver
A and B
Who developed the Strange situation
Ainsworth and Bell (1970)
Ainsworth and Bell
What does the strange situation measure
Measures the differences in infant attachment
Explain the 7 stages of the strange situation
- Caregiver and infant enters room and does not interact with infant unless they seek attention
- Stranger enters room and talk with caregiver
- Caregiver leaves and if infant play stranger observes from afar, if the infant is passive stranger interest them in a toy. If infant is showing distress then stranger comforts
- Caregiver returns stranger leaves
- After infant play caregiver leaves
- Stranger re enters the room and does the same thing in step 3
- Caregiver returns and the stranger leaves
What are the aims of the strange situation
Strange situation procedure places infant under stress in order to observe 4 types of characterics
Explain the 4 behaviour observed in the strange situation
- Seperation anxiety - securely attached child shows some anxiety
- Willigness to explore - securely attached child will explore more when caregiver present
- Stranger anxiety - The degree of secuirty of attachment related to degree of stranger anxiety
- Reunion behaviour - insecure attached infant may ignore caregiver return
Strange situation
What type of study was Main et al (1985) doing
Longitudinal study
Explain Main et al (1985) research on the strange situation
- Infant before 18 months assessed with mother and father
- When the children were 6 they re tested and found consistency in security in attachment for both parents
- Secure babies 100% were securely attached to both parents at 6
- 75% of avoidant babies were reclassfed as avoidant at age 6
Explain secure attachment
- Infant show anxiety when caregiver leaves but easily soothed and greet caregiver with enthuasim
- Infant play independently and go back to caregiver for re assurance
- Related to healthy cognitive development and emotional
Explain avoidant attachment
- Infant does not display stranger anxiety and shows no difference when caregiver leaves
- Infant actively avoids contact with caregiver
organisation?
What is the fourth type of attachment Main and Solomon (1986) came up with
Disorganised attachment - no set patterns of behaviour at sepration or reunion
VJ, KK (1991)
Who studied attachment style of infant in the USA, Israel, Japan and Germany
Van Ijzendoorn and Koren Karie (1991)
Secure, insecure avoidant, insecure resistant (USA, Israel, Japan, germa
What are the findings of attachment style within different cultures
- American child - 71% secure attachment, 12% insecure reistant and 17% insecure avoidant
- Israeli children - 62% secure attachment, 32% insecure resistant, 5% insecure avoidant
- Japenese children - 68% secure attachment, 32% insecure resistant and few insecure avoidant
- German children - 40% securely attached, 49% insecure avoidant, 11% insecure resitant
Sample size of chinese infant, based on US Culture therefore?
Explain a few criticsm to culture variation in the strange situation
- Some sample sizes were smal for example chinese infants 36 were used so it can’t really be generalised to the whole population
- The strange situation was based on US culture and observed behaviour might have different meaning from other cultures
- Procedure use for SS was developed in one culture and may not be valid for others
What is seperation
Child is seperated from the attachment figure for a short period of time
What is maternal deprivation
Infant forms a bond with caregiver but experinces a loss so the bond is broken
Why is continuous ‘maternal care’ necessary according to Bowlby
Important for congnitive and emotional development
Clingy? realationship?
What are the long term effects of maternal deprivation
- Seperation anxiety - expressed as clingy behaviour
- Can affect futurue relationships
What is maternal privation
Child has never been able to form a close relationship between a caregiver
Rutter
Explain the Romanian orphange experiment and the aim
- Rutter took a random sample of 165 Romanian children who spent their early lives in an instituation in which condition were very poor
- His aim was to examine the extent to which children could recover when extreme deprivation in early life is followed by a middle childhood within a safe family environment
111 Romanian children adopted in England (2) compared with 52 in England
What were the findings of the adopted children with deprivation or privation Rutter (2007)
- Initally children suffered from poor health and had behavioural issues
- Romanian children had poor physical health and an average IQ of 63 and when they were re tested again at ages of 4, 6 and 11 the average IQ before those adopted the age of 6 months gone from 63 to 107. But those adopted after 6 months IQ went from 45 to 90
Romanian orphans adopted by Canadian families one control and two diff
Another study conducted in Canda looked at similar Romanian, what are the three groups and explain findings
- Canadian children who had not been adopted
- Group of Romanian children whos age was 18 and a half month
- Group of Romanian children who were adopted before 4 motnhs old
- Researcher found no difference in attachment between group 1 and 3 but attachment difficulties in group 2
What is the intenal working model and the particular beleifs (3 things)
- Set of expecation and beleifs about self others and the realtionship between self and others
- Own and other people behaviour
- Whether or not I’m loveable and worthy of Love
- Whether or not others will help and support me
Why is the internal working model important
- Used in future years to develop other relationships
- Important for key parenting skills in later life
