Attachment Flashcards
What is attachment?
a strong, long-lasting emotional bond between two people usually an infant and a caregiver
How is attachment characterised?
by behaviours like proximity seeking, separation distress and pleasure on reunion
How does an attachment develope with a baby and a caregiver?
baby has a need - cries - need met by caregiver - trust developes - attach begins
What is reciprocity?
the actions of one person gets a response from the other person although the response is not necessarily the same and does not occur at the same time
what are alert phases?
babies signal periodically that they are ready for interaction
What is active involvement?
both babies and adults can initiate interactions
What is interactional synchrony?
behaviour is synchronised and is carrier out at the same time, mirroring each other’s behaviours
What improves the quality of an attach with mothers and babies?
high levels of interaction
What is proximity seeking?
people try to stay physically close to their attachment figure
What is separation distress?
people show signs of anxiety when an attachment figure leaves their presence
What is secure-base behaviour?
making regular contact with attachment figure to feel safe
What was the aim of Meltzoff and Moore?
investigated if infants would mirror behaviours of adults interacting with them
What was the method of Meltzoff and Moore?
x18 babies - 2-3 weeks old
controlled obvs
adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions - mouth opening, toungue out and pouting lips
1 hand gesture - open hand
the behaviours ands expressions of the infants were observed and recorded
What did Meltzoff and Moore find?
there was an association between the behaviour of the infant and the adult
this behaviour of the infant is innate
What does innate mean?
not learned behaviour, it is naturally installed and unconscious
What are the strengths of Meltzoff and Moore?
controlled obvs = more internally valid
filmed = check for inter-rater reliability - reliable and valid
later replication = reliable
limited to 3 expressions = greater degree of certainty - greater confidence (baby not making random faces)
support from S and E = babies can’t distinguish between people at this age - measured general infant behaviour
What are the weaknesses of Meltzoff and Moore?
not all replications succeeded = less reliable
controlled = reduces generalisability
adult was not their caregiver
What is inter-rater reliability?
meausres the degree of agreement between different people observing the same thing
What was Tronick’s ‘Still Face Experiment’ method?
filmed controlled obvs
3 stages: laster 2-3 mins
1. normal face-to-face - playing with infants normally
2. still face episode - CG stops interacting with B
3. reuinion episode - back to normal interaction
infants were 2-12 months
What did Tronick find during the Still face EPISODE?
Increase in:
-gaze aversion
-visual scanning
- pick me up gestures
-distancing behaviours = twisting/turning
-physical stress indicators = heart rate/ cortisol changes
What did the Still Face Expt show ?
babies are not passive with their interactions
they have an active role in reciprocity
shows the importance of care-giver and infant interactions
getting back into sync is important
What are the strengths of the still face exprt?
controlled obvs - internally valid
replicated - reliable and valid
filmed - checking inter-rater reliablity = increase reliablity and validity
practical implications - can help parenting
What are the weaknesses of the still face exprt?
artificial environment - possible impact on behaviour = lacks ecological validity
ethical issues - distress, showed the effects of neglect, harm to parents
What are the characteristics of Schaffer and Emerson study of the development of attachment?
longitudinal study - 2 yrs
60 infants aged 5-23 weeks
from workingclass families in Glasgow
How did Schaffer and Emerson measure attachment?
separation anxiety
stranger anxiety
What did Schaffer and Emerson find?
25-32 weeks - 50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a specific adult (usually mum)
40 weeks - 80% showed specific attachment + 30% displayed multiple attachments
the attachments tended to be towards the caregiver who was most interactive and not the one who simply spent the most time with the infant
What was Schaffer and Emerson’s aim?
to investigate the formation of early attach. at a particular age at which they develop
What are the 4 stages of attach.?
Asocial stage
indiscriminate attachment stage
specific attachment stage
multiple attachment stage
What is the asocial stage?
birth - 2 months
babies respond to people the same way - no preferences
they can not distinguish between objects and people
What is the indiscriminate stage?
2-7 months
distinguish between people and objects
shows preference for people
no stranger or separation anxiety
reciprocity and interactional synch begin relationships
What is the specific attach stage?
forms a strong attach to a specific induvidual - who’s most interactive with baby (65% of the time the PAF is mother)
separation and stranger anxiety
What is the multiple attach stage?
occurs shortly after specific
extend attach - secondary attachments
Why do we need to know the age attach develops?
to learn how relationship affect people later in life
protects infants from harm
avoids parenting problems
What is the strength of S and E stages of attach?
good external validity - took place in their homes = behaviour is natural from baby and not affected by observers
What are the weaknesses of S and E?
the asocial stage may be due to babies having poor mobility and coordination - not able to show their attach
ethnocentric - families from same area and workingclass = problems with generalisation and population validity
1960s - lacks temporal validity
What was feild’s method of studying the role of the father?
filmed 4 month old babies
face-to-face interactions
PAF mother and fathers / SAF fathers
What did feild find on the role of the father?
the PAF mothers and Fathers spent more time interacting with the baby than the SAF
What are the strengths of Feild’s study?
controlled obvs - more internally valid
filmed - reliable and can be checked, inter-rater reliability
What is the weakness with feild’s study?
controlled - the adults may not have been acting as their usual selves
also being filmed may be acting to look better - demand characteristics
What study supports Feild’s findings?
Lamb - found that fathers who become PAF can quickly develop sensitive responsiveness and it is not limited to the mothers
What study goes against Feild’s study?
Hrdy - fathers are less able to detect low levels of infant distress which suggests that males are less suitable as a PAF
What was Grossman et al study on the role of the father?
longitudinal study - baby to teens
researchers looked at the relationship with both parents and the quality of relationships with other people
correlational study
What did Grossman find on the role of the father?
the quality of the babies attach with their mother was related to the relationship behaviour in adolescence therefore the attachment to the father is less important
however the quality of the fathers play was related to their later attach - so fathers have a different role than mores that is less to do with emotional development
What are the evaluations of Grossmans study?
correlational study - other factors may be involved
it is supported by research that have found fathers have a playmate role
How do biological sex differences have an impact on attachment?
the female hormone oestrogen is linked to caring behaviour - heightened emotional sensitivity
testosterone linked with activity - playmate
How is research on the role of the father helpful to parents?
can give advice and reduce parental anxiety
What is a ethologist?
a biologist that studies animal behaviour in their natural environment
What was Konrad Loranz’s animal study on attach?
lab study
clutch of 12 eggs - x2 groups of 6
condition 1 = hatched with goose mother
condition 2 = hatched with Lorenz
chicks followed believed mothers - known as imprinting
What did Lorenz state on imprinting and the critical period?
imprinting is genetically determined and species-specific (sexual imprinting)
both conditions are put in a box to mix - they returned to their separate mothers = imprinting is unique and irreversible
imprinting occurs during the critical period and if no attach is formed during this time - infant can not form any attachments
What are the issues with Lorenz’s study?
difficulties extrapolating to humans
overstated the importance and permenance of imprinting
Guiton et al = chicks imprinted on yellow gloves and when they spent time with peers they would engage with other chicks normally
What are the strengths of Lorenz’s study?
evidence to support - Regolin exposed chicks to moving shapes, they tried to mate with them and did not return to normal
it was influencial to other studies - Bowlby monotropic theory
What is Harlow’s animal study on attach?
aim = attach is not based on feeding
x16 rhesus monkeys in cages for 165 days with x2 mothers = cloth and wire
monkeys showed a preference for cloth mother when either mothers were feeding them
‘contact comfort’ is important
monkeys were scared with a mechanical figure - went to cloth mother for comfort
the monkeys developed abnormally: sexually abnormal and failed social interactions
if they spent time with peers before 3 months - they recovered
after 6 months - permenant damage
What are the issues with Harlow’s study?
ethical issues - harm/ permenant damage, removed from the environment
long-term effects of damage to development
EV = mothers had different heads - preference could be due to the cloth mother looking more like a monkey
What are the strengths of Harlow’s study?
didnt use humans so no one was harmed
improved understanding of child care - residential child care and fostering
extrapolation to humans - humans are similar to monkeys
strengthens S and E
supports the critical period
What is the learning theory?
abehaviourist explanation that suggests that attachments develop through classical and/or operant conditioning
What does conditioning mean?
learning
what is a stimulus?
anything present in the environment that can be picked up by the senses
what is a response?
a reaction to a stimulus
What is an unconditioned response?
a naturally occuring response to a stimulus that did not need learning
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
any stimulus that produces a response with no learning
What is a neutral stimulus?
any stimulus that does not produce a response
What is classical conditioning?
learning by the association of two stimuli
How does classical conditioning produce attachments?
unconditioned stiumli (food) = unconditioned response (pleasure)
neutral stimuli (caregiver) = no response
unconditioned stimuli + neutral stimuli = unconditioned response
conditioned stimlui (caregiver) = Conditioned response (pleasure)
attachment is formed
What is operant conditioning?
learning due to consequences
What is a positive consequence?
behaviour that is reinforced will be repeated
What is the primary reinforcer in attachment?
food as it directly satisfies hunger
What is the secondary reinforcer in attachment?
the caregiver - they provide the food
How is an attachment formed from operant conditioning?
the child seeks the person who supplies the reward which is food
What does negative mean in terms of operant conditioning?
taking away a feeling/ stimulus
What does positive mean in terms of operant conditioning?
adding a feeling or stimulus