Attachment Flashcards
define attachment
a close 2-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
what are the 3 behaviours of attachment
proximity, separation distress, secure-base behaviour
proximity
people try to stay physically close to those to whom which they are attached
separation distress
people are distressed when an attachment figure leaves their presence
secure-base behaviour
Even when we are independent of our attachment figures we tend to make regular contact with them. Infants display secure-based behaviour when they regularly return to their attachment figure while playing
what are the purpose of attachment bonds
Attachment can influence later relationships by shaping individuals’ expectations and behaviors in close relationships. Those with secure attachment styles tend to have healthier relationships, while those with insecure attachment styles may struggle with intimacy and trust.
caregiver infant interactions
-From an early age babies have meaningful social interactions with their carers. It is believed that these interactions have important functions for the child’s social development in particular for development of caregiver-infrant interaction
define alitrical
-human babies are altricial which means that they are born at a relatively early stage of development
-we need to form bonds with adults who will protect and nurture them
precocial animals
-Humans are different to precocial animals which are animals born at an advanced stage of development e.g foals
short term and long term benefits of infant-caregiver interactions
Short term benefits –> survival
Long-term benefits –> emotional relationships, it is believed that first relationships acts as a template for later relationships
key interaction between caregivers and infants
non-verbal communication which forms the basis of attachment between and infant and care-giver
define reciprocity
A description of how two people interact. Mother-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both infant and mother respond to eachother’s signals and each elicts a response from the other
define interactional synchronicity
Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated way (mirroring of actions)
research evidence for reciporicity
Research evidence for reciprocity:
-Brazleton (1975) –> described mother infant interactions as a dance
-mother an infant respond to eachother, the mother takes the lead and the infant respond or follow like a dance
-mother plays with her child and stops reacting for two minutes to see how the baby will react
research evidence for interactional synchrony
-Meltzoff and Moore (1977) –> conducted first systematic study of interactional synchrony and found that infants as young as two to three weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures
-The study was conducted using an adult model who displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements where the fingers moved in a sequence
-A dummy was placed in the infant’s mouth during the initial display to prevent any response
-Following the display the dummy was removed and the child’s expression was filmed. They found that there was an association between the infant behaviour and adult model
Isabella et al (1989) found that securely attached mother-infant pairs had shown more instances of interactional synchrony in first year of life
—> high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother which is thus reflective of the quality and emotional intensity of the relationship
strengths of controlled observations of caregiver-infant interactions
Strengths –> Controlled observations capture fine detail –> generally well-controlled procedures which ensures all details are recorded and later analyzed –> ensures no demand characteristics so valid
Less chance of demand characteristics
limitations of controlled infant-caregiver interactions
There are many studies which show the interactions between parents and infants. However, what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression. It is extremely difficult to be certain based on these observations (lacks generalisability and validity)
-Observations don’t tell use the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity –> For example Feldman points out that synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviours that occur at the same time
-Care-giver infant interactions is not found in all cultures –> Le Vine et al (1994) reported that Kenyan mothers have little physical interactions or physical contact with their infants. Thus research may be ethnocentric and ignores how attachments may be formed within other cultures
define a controlled observation
researchers conduct observations of participants in a controlled environment. Researcher selects which participants to observe and when/where to observe them.
Reasons for animal attachment studies
generations of animals are quicker than in humans, animals provide a larger sample, animals are less likely to show demand characteristics, some animal species are closely linked to humans
Attachment behaviour is common among many species of animal, including humans so the study of animals is useful
Lorenz’s geese study
-links to biological approach
-Procedure –> Wanted to see attachment behaviours of geese soon after hatching. One group = hatched by mother 2nd group = hatched by Lorenz in incubator
-Findings –> Even if Lorenzo mixed the groups they remained loyal to their attachment figures. Named this phenomena Imprinting which occurs between 12-17 hours after hatching. Led to notion that there are critical periods in the development of brain and behaviour
Contradictory research –> Guiton found that mating behaviour could be relearned (imprinting is not permanent)
Harlow’s monkey study
-Procedure –> infant monkeys are removed from the mother at birth. Two mothers given (wire and cloth). Observational study. Monkeys killed after the experiment
-Findings –> Monkey spends 22 hours a day on cloth mother and only goes to wire mother for food. Critical period was also established (if attachment was not formed then maternal deprivation would occur). Quality of early relationships will lead to successful adult relationships
-Conclusions –> attachment os necessary for comfort and security rather than food
strengths of animal attachment studies
Evolutionary basis of behaviour – As attachment can be seen in non-human animals as well as humans it can be said to be an universal trait suggesting it Is an innate instinct, based on the principle of nature. These traits come from the process of natural selection and have evolutionary advantages. In order to survive infants need close proximity and a secure base. Therefore attachment increases chances of survival and animals help us understand how these behaviours can be applied to humans.
-Practical/real life applications –> Harlow’s research helped social workers understand risk and factors to child neglect and abuse.
limitations of animal attachment studies
unethical –> therefore cannot be replicated by modern day ethical guidelines
-Animals and humans have different physiologies so cannot be generalised.
what percentage of single parents are male
13.5%
Schaffer and Emerson
(who babies are attaching to) –> Majority of babies did become attached to their mother and within a few weeks or months formed a secondary attachment to their fathers
-75% of infants studied have attachments to their father’s by 18 months (secondary)
-27% of father attachment was joint with maternal first
-3% of cases only had father as sole object of attachment
Grossman’s research
Carried out a longitudinal study looking at both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of adolescence attachment
-44 families observed
-Fathers attachment was less important but quality of father’s play was related to quality of attachment
-concluded that mothers and fathers play a different role
Field –> father’s as primary attachment figures
Fathers as primary attachment figures –> Investigated by Field
-When fathers take on the role of being primary care giver they adopt behaviours that have in the past been associated with the mother
-Field filmed 4 month old babies face to face interaction with primary and secondary care-givers
-Primary care-giver fathers spent more time smiling and imitating than secondary fathers
-fathers can potentially be the more nurturing attachment figure
-The key to attachment relationships is the level of responsiveness not gender
Strengths to studies for the role of the father
Fields study can be viewed as valid
limitations for studies on the role of the father
-Inconsistent findings due to researchers being interested in different research questions. Some psychologists are interested in understanding fathers as secondary attachment figures whilst others are concerned with fathers as primary care-givers. This means that psychologists cannot easily find answers to questions
-Does not explain why children without fathers develop no differently. MacCallum and Golombok found children growing up in same sex/single parent families do not develop any differently from those in two parent heterosexual families. Father’s role as secondary attachment figure is unimportant
-There are numerous influences which might impact a child’s emotional development. For example culture, fathers age marital intimacy etc. Difficult to control variables and draw conclusions
-Doesn’t generally explain why fathers don’t become primary attachment figures. Could be due to gender roles or other things.
what are the 4 stages of attachment and who developed this
-Developed by emmerson and shaffer
-asocial stage
-indiscriminate attachments
-specific attachment
-multiple attachments
asocial stage
0-6 weeks (asocial stage) –> this is when the infant responds to objects and people similarly - but may respond more to faces and eyes.
indiscriminate attachments
-Stage 2 –> Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks – 6 months) —> This is when the infant develops more responses to human company. Although they can tell the difference between different people, they can be comforted by anyone.
specific attachment
Specific (7 months +) —> This is when the infants begins to prefer one particular carer and seeks for security, comfort and protection in particular people. They also start to show stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.
multiple attachments
Multiple attachments (10/11 months +) —> This is when the infant forms multiple attachments and seeks security, comfort and protection in multiple people. They may also show separation anxiety for multiple people.
3 features of attachment
-safe-base attachment
-separation anxiety
-stranger anxiety
methods used in attachment studies
-frame by frame analysis (observational)
-longitudinal studies
-animal studies
main assumption behind learning theory of attachment
Main assumption behind the learning theory explanation of attachment is that children learn to become attached to their caregiver because they give them food (Cupboard love)
learning of attachment
-Learning can be due to associations being made between different stimuli (classical conditioning) or behaviour can be altered by patterns or reinforcement (operant conditioning)
classical conditioning in attachment
-food is the unconditioned stimulus that produces the unconditioned response called pleasure
-The caregiver is initially the neutral stimulus which eventually becomes of conditioned stimulus
-pleasure = conditioned response
operant conditioning in attachment
-Dollard and Miller suggested that a hungry infant feels uncomfortable and this creates an urge to reduce discomfort
-Any behaviour resulting in consequences or take away an unpleasant feeling is reinforced
-any behaviour that results in unpleasant consequences is punishment
-when a baby is fed an infant experiences a reward (pleasure)
primary vs secondary reinforcer
-Food is a primary reinforcer as it directly satisfies hunger
-caregiver is a secondary reinforcer as she/he supplies the food (two way process as when baby is fed is stops crying)
-the more the action is reinforced the greater the association
Sears et al
attachment is thus a secondary drive by an association
-attachment occurs because the child seeks the person who can supply the reward and the parent aims to reduce the amount of crying which is unpleasant.
strengths of learning attachment theories
-some elements to conditioning could still be involved. Many aspects of human development are affected by conditioning.
limitations of learning attachment theories
-The focus on unconditioned and conditioned stimuli means that there is a loss of focus. Interactional synchrony and reciprocity are both universal features of attachment and should be treated as such, as demonstrated by Feldman and Brazleton. Learning theory does not account for these aspects and so is a limited explanation of only some aspects of attachment formation.
-counter evidence from animal research (lorenz) Geese imprint before they are fed
-counter evidence from human research (schaffer and emerson) forms primary attachment with father even though they are not fed by them.
define sensitive responsiveness
the ability to respond to a baby’s signals accurately
advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal studies
Advantages –> data collected enables rich insights into the variables of interest
disadvantages –> time consuming and often expensive
does shaffer and emerson’s study have good population validity
no - infants all came from glasgow and were mostly from working class families
strengths and weaknesses of the stages of attachment
S –> good internal and external validity
W –> hard to infer for asocial stage (babies uncoordinated), bowlby has contradicatory research evidence
Give 2 examples of social releasers
smiling or cooing
what is the difference between a critical and sensitive period
critical is difficult forming attachment after 2.5 years
sensitive is 5/6 years and no forming attachments later on
how does the internal working model influence later relationships
positive –> all relationships are loving and reliable and will bring these qualities
negative –> will form poor relationships where they expect the same poor treatment
how is bowlby’s theory different from the learning explanation
based on evolution rather than what we learn (association/consequences)
Bowlby’s secure base
a person that provides a sense of safety and comfort thus allowing individuals to explore the world knowing they have a secure base to return to
what was bowlby’s theory based of
evolution
Observation of bowbly’s study
-Bowlby observed and interviewed children and their families who were separated in the aftermath of WW2. Often conducted in hospitals and institutions
-Bowlby applied the principles of ethology to human infants suggesting that attachment is an innate process that serves an important evolutionary function
monotropic theory of attachment stages
adaptive
social releasers
critical period
sensitive period
monotropy
internal working model
adaptive
Attachment is an adaptive behaviour because it increases the infants chance of survival. A child who stays near to the caregiver will be at less risk from predators
social releasers
Babies are born with a set of innate cute behaviours like smiling, cooing and gripping that encourage attention from adults. The purpose is to activate the adult attachment system T
critical period
(2.5 years) –> . Bowby suggested that if an attachment is not formed in this time, it never will. If an attachment does not form, you will be socially, emotionally, intellecturally and physically stunted. Bowlby demonstrated this in his 44 juvenile thieves study, where maternal deprivation was associated with affectionless psychopathy and mental retardation.
sensitive period
A child should form an attachment before the age of 5 or it will lead to severe consequences
monotropy
means ‘one carer’. Bowlby suggested that you can only form one special intense attachment (this is typically but not always with the mother). This attachment is unique, stronger and different to others. Maternal deprivation, which is characterised by a lack of a mother figure during the critical period for attachment formation, results in emotional and intellectual developmental deficits i.e. affection less psychopathy and mental retardation.
internal working model
This is an area in the brain, a mental schema for relationships where information that allows you to know how to behave around people is stored. Internal working models are our perception of the attachment we have with our primary attachment figure. Therefore, this explains similarities in attachment patterns across families. Those who have a dysfunctional internal working model will seek out dysfunctional relationships and behave dysfunctionally within them.
what are the two principles the monotropic bond is based of
-Law of continuity –> the more constant and predictable a child’s care the better quality of attachment
-Law of accumulated separation –> effects of every separation from mother adds up and the “safest does it a zero dose”
Strengths of monotropic theory
-Support for social releasers –> there is evidence to show that cute infant behvaiours are intended to initiate social interaction. For example, Brazelton et al observed mothers and babies during their interactions reporting existence of interactional sychrony.
-Support for internal working models –> There is supporting evidence for the importance of internal working models, as presented by Bailey et al. Through the observation of 99 mothers and the recording of their children’s attachment type using the Strange Situation, the researchers found that poor, insecure attachments coincided with the mothers themselves reporting poor attachments with their own parents. Therefore, this suggests that internal working models are likely to be formed during this first, initial attachment and that this has a significant impact upon the ability of children to become parents themselves later on in life.
limitations of monotropic theory
-Mixed evidence for monotropy –> Monotropy may not be evident in all children. For example, Schaffer and Emerson found that a small minority of children were able to form multiple attachments from the outset. This idea is also supported by van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg, who found that monotropy is scarce in collectivist cultures where the whole family is involved in raising and looking after the child. This means that monotropy is unlikely to be a universal feature of infant-caregiver attachments, as believed by Bowlby, and so is a strictly limited explanation of some cases of attachments.
-Monotropy is a socially sensitive issue –> Monotropy is an example of socially sensitive research. Despite Bowlby not specifying that the primary attachment figure must be the mother, it often is (in 65% of cases). Therefore, this puts pressure on working mothers to delay their return to work in an effort to ensure that their child develops a secure attachment. Any developmental abnormalities in terms of attachment are therefore blamed on the mother by default. This suggests that the idea of monotropy may stigmatise ‘poor mothers’ and pressure them to take responsibility
Explain how one study supports Bowlby’s monotropic theory
Lorenz –> one caregiver not multiple attachments
Ainsworth’s strange situation
-Controlled observation
-2 way mirror was used for covert observation
-children around 12 months were used
-procedure lasted for 22 minutes and involved a series of episodes with the mother, child and stranger
Aim and procedure of strange situation
Aim –> measures security of infant-caregiver interactions and how child will react to a stranger
Procedure:
-7 stages
-5 behaviours tested
5 behaviours tested for strange situation
-proximity seeking
-secure base behaviour
-stranger anxiety
-separation anxiety
-response to reunion
7 stages of strange situation
1) Mother + baby where the baby is encouraged to explore (tests secure base)
2) stranger comes in an tries to interact with child (tests stranger anxiety)
3) caregiver leaves stranger and baby alone (tests separation and stranger anxiety)
4) Caregiver returns and stranger leaves (tests reunion behaviour)
5) caregiver leaves child alone (tests separation anxiety)
6) Stranger returns with infant (tests stranger anxiety)
7) caregiver returns and is reunited with child (tests reunion behaviour)
results of strange situation
-Secure attachment –> distress when separated from mother, avoidant from stranger when alone with them but okay with mother, happy and positive to see mother, confident to explore when mother was present (70%)
-insecure Resistant attachment –> intense distress when separated from mother, significant fear of stranger, approach mother but reject contact when reunited, seek greater proximity so explores less and cries more (10%)
-insecure avoidant attachment –> no interest when separated from mother, play happily with strangers, ignore mother after separation, explore freely and don’t show secure base behaviour (20%)
conclusion of strange situation
3 attachment styles
-secure
-insecure avoidant
-insecure resistant
strengths of strange situation
-Good reliability –> clear categories e.g stranger anxiety (quantifiable characteristics), study distinguishes clearly between secure and insecure attachments, inter-observer reliability, standardized procedure e.g same room/same stranger
-Support for validity –> Strongly predictive of later development e.g babies assessed as secure had better outcomes of success in school and romantic relationships while insecure resistant babies had worse outcomes such as bullying and mental health issues. Explains subsequent outcomes and real life applications e.g parenting classes now exist to teach parents how to look after their children
limitations of strange situation
-Cultural issues –> lacks population validity was all babies were used from working class British families which means results cannot be generalised to other cultures. For example Takashi discovered that Japanese mothers are rarely separated from their babies so there will be high levels of separation anxiety. To improve this research, more diverse participants should be used.
-Ethical issues –> 20% of children desperatley cried and cannot give informed consent
-Lacks ecological validity
what percentage of infants showed disorganised attachment
4% (inconsistent and hard to predict behaviour)
What does research done by Van Ijezendoorna nd Kroonenberg say about attachment in individualist cultures
-Attachment types are more avoidant in individualistc cultures e.g….
-Attachment types are more resistant in collective cultures as more time is spent between caregiver and infants e.g…thus resulting in separation anxiety
Explain one strength of using a meta-analysis to assess cross cultural differences in attachment
High population validity as sample size is much greater which means that results are more generalisable to larger proportions of the population
Explain a problem with using secondary data in assessing cross-cultural differences in attachment
-researchers cannot fully control all of the variables of the study which means there may have been errors made. This affects the validity of conclusions
How could research into cultural variations in attachment affect the economy in any of these countries
-cultures with the lowest levels of secure attachment e.g China may want to invest more money in allowing longer maternity leave and extending maternity pay. This will affect the number of people at work thus affecting productivity. On the other hand, more securley attached children may increase productivity
Van ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg
-Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg carried out a meta-analysis combining the findings of 32 other studies of the strange situation from a variety of countries based on the observation of almost 2000 children
Findings (cultural variations)
-Great Britan and Sweden has highest percentage of secure babies (75%) as children were raised in a more individualistic way
-Israel, Japan and China have the highest percentage of resistant babies (25-29%) as caregivers spend more time with their children
-European countries have lower levels of resistant babies compared to Asia
Israel
-children raised in a collective community and had a nanny
-parents would typically visit and spend 3 hours with children after work
-resistant attachment as babies form strong attachments with nannies
Japan
-Babies are rarely separated from their mothers and are hardly left alone with strangers
-resistant attachment
-babies spend more time with mothers thus leading to high levels of separation distress
Germany
-German culture values distance between a child and their mother
-proximity and seeking behaviours are discouraged
-Ideal baby is independent and non-clingy
-avoidant attachment (distant mother)
What did Grossmann et al say
Japanese children show similar patterns of attachment to Israeli children but for different reasons.
German study highlights a high percentage of avoidant behaviour typical of independent children.
-Grossmann et al said that German parents seek “independent, non-clingy children”
Strengths of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg:
-Seen as reliable due to large sample used (2000 children) –> Decreases coincidental arguments
-internal validity
Limitations of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg:
-Lacks population validity —> 15 or 32 countries were still in the US and only 5/32 studies were carried out in collectivist cultures (culturally biased)
-Issue of imposed etic –> development of one test for one cultures then being used in unfamiliar cultures. Strange situation was designed by an American using American children. Many researchers therefore question if this is suitable for testing attachment in other cultures. Factors like separation anxiety may look different in different cultures
-Ethically or racially biased –> class specific or not inclusive of all cultures. For example upper class families traditionally have left child rearing to nannies.
Simonella et al
-Conducted a study in Italy to see whether proportions of babies of different attachment types still maintain those found in previous studies
-Assess 76 (12 month old) infants using the strange situation
-50% = secure
-36% = insecure avoidant
-Increasing numbers of mothers with young children and long hours mean they are using professional childcare
-Simonella et al demonstrated that the proportion of securely attached children in Italy was only 50%, which was lower than expected and lower than the predictions formed across a variety of different cultures. The researchers suggested that these changes may be due to changing cultural and social expectations of mothers - more mothers are working and are choosing to use professional childcare to enable them to do so, thus decreasing the likelihood that their children will be able to form a secure attachment with a consistent primary caregiver.
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis
-Bowlby said “What is believed to be essential for mental health is that an infant and young child should experience a warm, intimate, continuous relationship with his mother in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment”
-He believed that prolonged separation from the mother figure during the critical period could disrupt the attachment bond, particularly if there is no substitute care and the child is deprived as a result. This could then have irreversible social, cognitive and emotional consequences on the child
maternal deprivation
deprivation occurs when the attachment bond is formed but is broken later on in life
Separation
separation occurs for short periods of time and is damaging unless elements of primary care are denied
Privation
not attachment formed at all
critical period in relation to bowlby’s hypothesis
The critical period links to Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis as he states that from 6 months to 3 years infants should have a continuous monotropic relationship and if broken the effects would be irreversible
3 stages of behviour if a child was separated
1) protest (crying, calling, distraught)
2) despair (apathetic)
3) detachment (cry less, more alert, interested)
Normally, attachment is reestablished but this can lead to agnatic depressio
impact of maternal deprivation on a child’s development
-intellectual development –> if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period, they would suffer delayed intellectual development e.g mental retardation
-emotional development –> Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others. This prevents the person developing normal relationships. Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and lack remorse.
Aim and procedure of 44 juvenille thieves
Aim –> To investigate the effect of maternal deprivation on emotional development
Procedure –> 44 adolescents who steal compared to a control group of 44 emotionally disturbed adolescents who didn’t steal.
results and conclusions of 44 juvenille thieves
Results –> 17 of the thieves had experienced frequent separations from their mothers before the age of two, compared with 2 in the control group. 14 of the thieves were diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths and 12/14 experienced separation from their mothers
Conclusions –> Long term separation of the child from its main carer early in life can have very harmful long term consequences
strengths of bowlby’s hypothesis
-Practical applications – the MDH and accompanying research has significant real world applications, as they highlight the importance of positive attachment experiences and maintaining a mono tropic bond in the first five years, which have been instrumental in the developments of good childcare practices. Greater stability in childcare practice has been developed through daycare centres assigning caregivers to children and hospital visiting hours have been reviewed so that children can maintain contact with their parents.
Some national governments offer more financial support for young families in terms of maternity and paternity leave. For instance, Sweden offers 480 days parental leave, clearly highlighting its commitment to support children’s early attachment experiences.
-control group –> easily compare data and see direct impact of IV on DV
limitations of bowlby’s hypothesis
— Lewis et al disagreed with Bowlby’s conclusion that affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation caused criminality. Through collecting qualitative data from interviews conducted with 500 juveniles, the researchers found no link between maternal deprivation and a difficulty in forming relationships in later life. This suggests that Bowlby may have made incorrect causal conclusions.
— Bowlby’s 44 juvenile thieves study suffers from several methodological limitations. One of these includes researcher bias - Bowlby was aware of what he wanted to find and so may have phrased the interview questions in a way which influenced the respondents to reply in a certain way i.e. leading questions. Secondly, Bowlby also based his theory of maternal deprivation from interviews collected from war-orphans. This does not control for the confounding variable of poor quality care in orphanages or post-traumatic stress disorder, which may have had a larger influence on the children’s development rather than simply maternal deprivation
— The effects of the critical period may not be as concrete as Bowlby originally believed. For example, the case of two twins locked away in cupboards in Czechoslovakia for the first 7 years of their lives was reported by Koluchova. Despite the obvious trauma and maternal deprivation which occurred for an extended period of time, even exceeding the critical period, the researchers found that with appropriate fostering, the twins made a full psychological recovery. Therefore, the effects of maternal deprivation are not always so clear-cut.
IV and DV of bowlby’s study
IV = teenagers accused of stealing
DV = signs of affection less psychopathy
How many thieves were affectionless psychopaths and how many experienced prolonged separation in childhood
14/44
12/14
What type of experiment is Bowlby’s study
natural experiment
Institutionalisation
-a further method of assessing the effects of deprivation and privation (failure to form an attachment) has been studies of children who has spent their early years in institutions such as foster care or orphanages
effects of institutionalisation from orphanages
-less able to form relationships
-disinhibited attachment
-lack of feelings and emotions
-became angry and bitter
-rocking back and forth
-were filthy and unkept
History of Romanian orphanages
-Romanian orphanages were created as abortion and contraception was banned due to aging population and low birth rate. Many Romanians also abandoned their own children leaving thousands to suffer
Aim of Rutter’s study
To what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions. (Assess physical, cognitive and emotional development)
Procedure - Rutter
165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britan (ages 4,6,11,15 years). A control group of 52 children adopted around the same time
Results - Rutter
When first arriving in the UK, half of the children showed signs of delayed intellectual development and the majority were severely undernourished. At age 11 adopted children showed differential routes of recovery related to their age of adoption. Mean IQ for those adopted before 6 months old was 102 compared to 82 for children adopted after 6 months.
Conclusions - rutter
Conclusions: Difference in attachment outcome related to whether adoption took place before or after 6 months. Children adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment (attention seeking, indiscriminate behaviour). “mental retardation”
Follow up: Improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions, smaller number of care-givers for each child, push for adoption rather than foster care.
Bucharest Early Intervention project (Zeahah et al):
-Assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care (90%). They were compared to a control group of 50 children who has never lived in an institution. Attachment type was measured using the strange situation
-Carers were asked about unusual social behaviour e.g attention seeking
Bucharest Early Intervention project (Zeahah et al):
findings
-74% of control groups came at as securely attached
-19% of institutionalized group came out as securely attached
-65% classed with disorganised attachment
-44% disinhibited attachment applied to institutionalized children while only 20% in control group
strengths of Romanian orphan study
-High internal validity –> born into institution and would not have experienced any significant trauma which could be a confounding variable. This mean it was easy to establish a cause and effect relationship on attachment type and intellectual development. However, results may lack external validity as it only shows the effects of severely neglectful institutions
-Real life applications –> Led to improvements on the way infants are cared for in orphanages. Childrens homes try to allocate key carers to specific children provide sensitive responsive care. Gives the child a chance to develop normal attachments and avoid disinhibited attachments
Limitations of Romanian orphan study
-Determinist findings –> suggests that children who fail to form an attachment before 6 months would go on to develop an attachment disorder. This is not always the case. Irreversible consequences for some children but effects may be minimal for others.
-Long term effects are not clear –> Adopted orphans have only been followed into their mid-teens so may not know complete long term effects
3 consequences of deprivation
imparied cognitive development
impaired emotional development
impaired behaviour development (delinquency)
outline what research has shown concerinng the influence of early attachments and their influence on later relationships. Refer to the internal working model in your answer
-Hazan and Shaver (aim)
-bowlby and internal working model
-procedure
-results
-conslusions
-link to internal working model
Hazen and Shaver’s study
-Hazen and Shaver extended Bowlby’s idea that later love relationships should be predictable from knowledge of an individual’s early attachment style
-tested Bowlby’s hypothesis with their love quiz that was 100 questions published in a newspaper.
-received 620 replies to their questionnaire
securely attached adults
-love is enduring
-mutual trust
-less likely to have been divorced
-relationships are positive
-positive image of mother as dependable and caring
resistant adults
-anxious
-preoccupied by love
-fall in and out of love easily
-conflicting memories of mother being both positive and rejecting
avoidant adults
-fearful of closeness
-love is not durable nor necessary for happiness
-remember mothers as cold and rejecting
internal working model
Bowlby said that the internal working model acts as a mental framework for perceiving out future relationships e.g if your attachment type of resistant you will be controlling and argumentative in romantic relationships
Love quiz - hazen and shaver
-Aim –> Bowlby’s internal working model (association between attachment style and adult relationships)
-Procedure –> 620 replies to a love quiz present in an American local newspaper. Quiz assessed 3 sections; current/most important relationships, general love experiences and attachment types
-Results –> 56% = secure
25% = avoidant
19% = resistant
-Conclusion –> those reporting secure attachments were most likely yo have good/longer lasting romantic relationships. Avoidant = jealous and fear of intimacy
-patterns of attachment behaviour reflected in romantic relationships
Gerard and McCarthy
Gerard and McCarhty (1999) studied woman whose attachment types had been recorded in infancy and found that anxious-avoidant infants grew up to have the most diffiuclty in romantic relationships. Anxious-resistant infants grw up to have the poorest relationships. Securley attachment infants grew up to have the most successful romantic relationships
Hazan Shaver repeated love quiz
-Hazan and Shaver repeated the love quix in 1993 and found strong evidence for a correlation between infant attachment type and adult love style – though the correlation was not quite as strong a the time before
strengths - quiz
-supporting research –> Gerard McCarthy 1999 studied women’s attachment types and their future romantic relationships = support for internal working models
-self report method = good reliability –> numerical, quantitative data that we can compare results over time
limitations of love quiz
-self report = social desirability bias and lacks depth/validity –> not descriptive data, gives indirect evidence about internal working models, participants could lie
-Volunteer sample = lacks population validity –> cannot be generalised due to similar results as people share a similar interest, despite being a large sample it lacks population validity. To improve a more diverse number of participants should be used
-Issues with cause and effect relationship –> may be confounding variables that arent apparent from results of the study, affect internal validity of study, we cannot be 100% sure that there is a correlation, internal working model is subjective
discuss how researchers might address difficulties encoutered when trying to investiaget caregiver-infant interactions
-might miss interactions so results will not be accurate or generalisable
-to fix this frame by frame analysis can be done which means tou are able to observe and take account every behaviour shown
effects of institutionalization
-disinhibited attachment
-difficulty forming connection and behaviour may be unpredictable
-delayed intellectual development
-difficultly forming close relationships due to negative internal working model
outline how harlow studied attachement using animals
-in a controlled environment, infant monkeys had 2 mothers
-cloth and wire mother
-time spent with each mother was recorded
-long term effects were recorded such as relationship to offpsring etc
geiger (1996)
observational study showed that father’s play interactions are more exciting while mothers are more nurturing
the interactions from fathers make greater physical and cognitive demands on the children which aids development
Hardy (1999)
found that fathers were less able to detect low levels of infant distress, in comparison to mothers
