Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

How did Schaffer and Emerson identify the stages of attachment?

A

60 newborns and mothers from Glasgow. Observations and interviews, measured separation protest (6-8 months) and stranger anxiety (1 month later).

Direct observations from mothers - bias
Mundane realism high
High validity

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2
Q

What is attachment?

A

Close emotional relationship between people.

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3
Q

What is interactional synchrony?

A

Coordinated rhythmic exchanges.

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4
Q

How are attachment bonds characterised and maintained?

A

Infant’s desire to be close to a certain person. Develop and maintain bond:
Interactional synchrony, reciprocity, contact, mimicking, caregiverese.

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5
Q

What are Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment?

A
  1. Asocial - no preference
  2. Indiscriminate - can distinguish people, easy comfort
  3. Specific - protest if separated from PCG and stranger anxiety
  4. Multiple - attach to others - some stronger. For different purposes and no limit.
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6
Q

What is the role of the father?

A

Males = biologically unsuitable (not). Changes in society - single parents. Can develop sensitive responsiveness needed.
Marital intimacy, co-parenting, attachment to own parents affect their attachment with infant.
Geiger suggests mother’s relationship = nurturing and father is focused around play.

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7
Q

How did Lorenz study attachment?

A

Divided clutch of greylag goose eggs. 1 with mother, 1 in incubator - followed him like mother. When both in box and box removed, ran to respective ‘mothers’.
Imprinting = 13-16 hours after hatching. Occurs in critical period.

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8
Q

What are evaluation points for Lorenz?

A
  • biological process
  • after critical period, too late to imprint
  • extrapolation issues to humans
  • human attachments take longer
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9
Q

How did Harlow study attachment?

A

Wire mother with food and cloth mother without. Amount of time with each recorded. Monkeys frightened of loud noise - stress reactions.
Mostly with cloth mother - priorities comfort especially when scared.

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10
Q

What are evaluation points for Harlow?

A
  • affected development
  • social and emotional disturbance
  • lab experiment
  • not generalise
  • unethical
  • low ecological validity as isolated
  • no consent
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11
Q

How can conditioning explain attachment?

A

CC - food = natural pleasure. Association formed with mother + food.
OC - Dollard and Miller - babies want to remove hunger discomfort so negative reinforcement with food. Learn attachment.

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12
Q

What are evaluation points for LT explanations for attachment?

A
  • lots of scientific support but animals
  • reductionist
  • Schaffer and Emerson had 1/2 mothers as PAF
  • other theories
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13
Q

What is Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

A

Idea that infants have inbuilt tendency to make initial attachment with 1 figure, usually mother.

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14
Q

What are the stages of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

A
  1. Attachment explained by evolution - social releasers to increase survival chances.
  2. Critical period - time period attachment must form.
  3. Monotropy - form 1 main attachment.
  4. Internal working model - template for future relationships based on PAF. Continuity hypothesis.
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15
Q

What are evaluation points for Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

A
  • support from Harlow
  • need to attach - against monotropy
  • mixed evidence for critical period
  • low temporal validity
  • multiple attachments form
  • Bowlby says attachment = hierarchy
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16
Q

How did Ainsworth study her Strange situation?

A

Mother and infant enter, child can explore, stranger enters, mother leaves, then returns and stranger leaves. Mother leaves + infant is alone. Stranger returns, then mother.

17
Q

What are evaluation points for Ainsworth?

A
  • became a paradigm
  • assumes attachment types are fixed
  • controlled observation
  • focuses too much on infant behaviour
  • artificial
  • mother may not be PAF
  • not represent real behaviour
18
Q

What are the 3 types of attachment?

A

Secure - strong bond, easy comfort, healthy cognitive + emotional development.
Insecure avoidant - no distress if separated, avoid contact, low stranger anxiety, avoid social interaction.
Insecure-resistant - separation distress, reject contact, ambivalent caregivers, high stranger anxiety, accept + reject interactions.

19
Q

What are cultural variations of attachment?

A

Van ljzendoorn did a meta-analysis of 32 studies in 55 countries. The % of children as secure/insecure was similar across countries. Secure was most common, but significant variation.

  • not suitable method?
  • children brought up different ways in different cultures
  • meta analysis can hide individual results
20
Q

What is the difference between separation and deprivation?

A

Separation is short term disruption of the attachment bond, and deprivation is long term.

21
Q

What is Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis?

A

Emotional/intellectual consequences of separation between child + PCG. During the critical period without a substitute = v bad damage.
- low IQ
- affectionless psychopathy
- affects future relationships
- separation anxiety

22
Q

What did Bowlby do in his 44 thieves study?

A

44 criminal teenage thieves vs control group. Interviewed for affection less psychopathy. 14 diagnosed as vs 2 in control. 12 of 14 had separation from mothers vs 2 of 44 in control.

Deprivation in early life can be v harmful –> affection less psychopathy

23
Q

What is evaluation for the 44 thieves?

A
  • link between deprivation and criminals
  • researcher bias
  • retrospective data - unreliable
  • other factors?
  • great variation in separation time
  • correlational
24
Q

What is privation?

A

Never formed attachment bond to caregiver. Rare, so researched in case studies.

25
Q

What did MDH have to be repositioned to?

A

A vulnerability factor, as maternal privation has more serious effects. Can lead to disorganised attachments.
Curtiss - Genie case study.

26
Q

What did Rutter find in the overcrowding of Romanian orphanages?

A

Longitudinal study - 111 orphans adopted in UK - each assessed age 4,6,11. Compared to 52 UK adoptees.
If before 6 months, no effects. 4 years = improved mentally + physically. Older than 6 months showed insecure attachments and social issues.
Privation can be reversed if adopted before 6 months.

27
Q

What are evaluation points for Rutter?

A
  • long time period = better insight
  • mainly qualitative data - harder to make generalised theories
  • long term effects unclear
    Hodges and Tizard - can be overcome with good substitute care.
28
Q

What are the long term effects of privation?

A

Disinhibited attachment
affectionless psychopathy
anaclitic depression
deprivation dwarfism
lower IQ
delinquency
quasi-autism

29
Q

How do child attachments affect later relationships?

A

Bowlby’s internal working model.
Hazan and Shaver did a love quiz in a paper - about parents and current beliefs of romantic love. 620 responses analysed - support Bowlby.

30
Q

What was found in the adult attachment interviews?

A

Supports internal working model - semi structured and results categorised.
Main et al showed categories of relationships can be predicted from child attachments.

31
Q

Can children be permanently damaged by privation?

A

Some studies suggest they have difficulty caring for their own children. Sometimes are dishonest, criminal, no affection.
Freud and Dann studied 6 kids rescued after WW2 - raised in camp. No attachments to adults, only among themselves. Adopted in UK and few signs of upbringing.