attachment Flashcards
what is meant by the term attachment?
Humans are born with a need to form a close emotional bond with a caregiver and that such a bond will develop during the first six months of a child’s life if the caregiver is appropriately responsive. An emotional tie between two people, usually a mother (caregiver) and a child. The relationship is reciprocal (shared).
what are some examples of attachment behaviours
- Seeking proximity (closeness)
- Distress on separation
-Joy on reunion
-Person used as safe base to explore world
what is the adaptive part of Bowlby’s theory of attachment?
- forming attachments help survival
- attachments give species an “adaptive advantage”
- this is because if an infant has an attachment to a caregiver, they are kept warm, safe, given food and kept warm
- examples:
-rooting - turn their cheek towards where strokes and a sucking/ swallowing reflex follows
- breathing - infant will move their arms to cover their face to protect their oxygen intake
-maintaining a body temperature - infants shiver and tuck their legs into their body
what is the social releaser part of Bowlby’s attachment theory?
- babies have social releasers which “unlock” an innate tendency in adults ( in particularly mothers) to care for them
these social releasers are both: - physical- the typical baby face and body proportions
- behavioural- crying , cooing, smiling
what is the critical period of Bowlby’s attachment theory?
- babies have to form an attachment with their caregiver during a critical period
-this is between birth - 2 ½ years old - Bowlby said that if the child doesn’t form an attachment during this time, then the child would be damaged socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically
what is the monotropy part of Bowlby’s attachment theory?
- an infant must form a more important than the others attachment to the “mother” (doesn’t have to be the actual mother or even a woman)
what is the law of continuity?
the more constant and predictable a child’s care is, the better quality of their attachment
what is the law of accumulated separation?
the effects of every separation from the mother adds up “and the safest dose is therefore a zero dose”
what is internal working memory in terms of Bowlby’s attachment theory?
- through the monotropic attachment, the infant would form an internal working model
- this is a special model for relationships
- all the child’s future adult relationships will be based on their early attachment relationship
limitation of Bowlby’s theory - the validity of monotropy was challenged
- Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that although babies did attach to one person at first, a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time
- although initial attachments do have a stronger influence on later behaviour, this may be because they are stronger not different than other attachments
- this means that Bowlby may be incorrect about the unique qualities of a first attachment
strength of Bowlby’s theory- support for social releasers
- clear evidence that cute baby behaviour is designed to elicit reactions from caregivers
- Brazelton et al (1975) observed babies trigger interactions with adults
- the researchers then instructed the parents to ignore the babies and they soon became distressed
- this highlights the importance of social releasers in emotional development and attachment
strength of Bowlby’s theory - support for internal working model
- Bailey et al (2007) assessed the attachment between 99 mothers and their 1 year old children
- the researchers the attachment of the mothers with their own mothers and the quality of attachment with the babies
- they found that mothers with poor attachment to their own mothers were more likely to have poorly attached babies
counterpoint to support for internal working model
- there are other important influences on social development
- for example, some psychologists believe that genetic differences in anxiety and sociability affect social behaviour in both babies and adults (Korneikno 2016)
- this means that Bowlby may have overstated the importance of the internal working model without other factors
what was the method of Lorenz (1935)
- Lorenz divided a group of goose eggs into two groups
- one group was left with their natural mother
- the other group was placed in an incubator - Lorenz made sure that the eggs that hatched in the incubator, saw him as the first moving object.
- He then put the two groups together with their mother
what were the results of Lorenz (1935)
The geese that had hatched in the incubator continued to follow him, while those who had hatched naturally continued to followed their mother.
evaluation of Lorenz
- Imprinting is an innate process which Lorenz said happened in a very definitive period which was very short. This idea of a definitive period supports Bowbly’s critical period theory.
- However, it must be acknowledged that this research is done on animals whose imprinting period is very different to humans and may not be as similar as we thought.
Outline how Hazan & Shaver conducted their research.( strength of Bowlby internal working model)
Hazan and Shaver used a questionnaire that was called the “love quiz” ; they allowed people to voluntarily take part by publishing it in a newspaper called the Rocky Mountain, which 620 people did, giving them a volunteer sample.
Outline what Hazan & Shaver found
They found a positive correlation between attachment type and later love experienced. their results support bowbly’s theory of internal working model and the fact that the attachments that you form in earlier life will affect you later in life, which he said in his original theory.
criticisms of Hazan & Shaver
- population validity
- sampling bias
- social desirability
- privacy
- socially sensitive research
limitation of Bowlby - Rutter et al (1998) - Critical period or sensitive period?
- Rutter et al. (1998) carried out research on orphans who did not form an attachment during the critical period.
- Rutter found that when the children were adopted into UK or US families they were still able to form an attachment, but it took them longer to do so.
- He claimed that the idea of a critical period was wrong and therefore it should be called a ‘sensitive period’.
- This matters because it suggests that Bowlby’s original theory is not correct, as children are still able to form an attachment after their critical period (contrary to what Bowlby claimed), but it takes them longer to do so.
what do Dollard and Miller say about attachment and conditioning?
- it can be explained by learning theory
- often explained as “cupboard love” as it emphasises the role of providing food for the infant - children love who feed them
how does classical conditioning relate to infant attachment?
Babies have an unconditioned,positive response to milk, an unconditioned stimulus, which means that it is innate. And although they don’t have a necessarily negative reaction to their mother, their mother is a neutral stimulus on her own and the baby will have no response. However, through classical conditioning, the combination of the mother and the milk produces the unconditional positive response due to the association between a mother and the milk and the baby. Eventually it gets to a point where the conditioned stimulus, the mother automatically causes a conditioned response as the baby sees their mother as a way to get a reward and forms an attachment.
how does operant conditioning relate to infant attachment?
crying leads to a response from a caregiver. as long as the caregiver gives the correct response, crying is reinforced. the baby then directs crying for comfort toward the caregiver who responds with “social suppressor” behaviour.
The reinforcement is a two way process. At the same time as the baby is reinforced from crying, the parent receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops, this mutual reinforcement strengthens the attachment
what is meant by attachment is a secondary drive?
Sears et al (1975) suggested that, as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. attachment is thus a secondary drive learned by association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive