Attachment Flashcards
What were Schaffers stages of attachment
- Asocial
- Indiscrimate
- Specific
- Multiple
What happens in the Asocial stage of attachment?
behaviour is the same towards humans and objects with a slight preference towards humans
What happens in the Indiscriminate attachment stage?
Babies prefer humans to objects and show no stranger anxiety so can be comforted by anyone
What happens in the specific attachment stage?
Attachment is formed to primary caregiver, infant shows stranger and seperation anxiety
What happens in the multiple attachment stage?
29% of children developed a secondary attachment within one month of primary attachment, usually towards father
What are the issues with Schaffers stage of attachment?
Limited, simple characteristics
Problems studying asocial stage
Conflicting evidence on multiple attachment
Measuring multiple attachments
What are the strengths of Schaffers stages of attachment?
HIgh external validity
Longitudinal design
What was the method used for Schaffers stages of attachment?
60 babies
skilled working class families in Glasgow
Visited every month for the first year and again at 18 months
What were Schaffers findings?
25-32 weeks - 50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards primary caregiver
40 weeks - 80% specific attachment, 30% - multiple attachments
What did Lorenze theorise?
all organisms have a biological predisposition to form an attachment to one single object
What did Lorenz do?
Hatched Goslings either with mother or in an incubator
They proceeded to follow the first moving object they saw within 13-16 hours of hatching
What did Harlow emphasise?
The importance of contact comfort as newborn monkeys kept alone in a cage would usually die but would survive if given something like a cloth
What was the procedure Harlow followed?
Findings?
16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model mother, one of which was covered in cloth, milk dispensed by both
Preference for cloth-covered model and seeked for comfort when frightened
Critocal period - 90 days
What are the issues with Lorenz study?
lack of generalisability to humans
Counter evidence
What are the strengths of Harlows study on rhesus monkeys?
Theoretical value
- the importance of early relationships
Practical Value
- social workers understand risk factors in child neglect
- breeding programmes
What is Learning Therory of attachment?
Cupboard - Love - caregiver as a provider of fod and baby learns to love whoever feeds them?
What are the primary and secondary drives of cupboard-love theory?
Primary - need to satisfy hunder
Secondary - attachment to caregiver who feeds them
What is Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
infants require a qualitatively unique relationship to develop an internal working model
What is the internal working model?
Mental representation of our relationship with our primary caregiver which acts as a template for all other relationships - continuity hypotheses
What is the critical period?
A primary attachment must be made between 6 months - 2.5 years, otherwise an attachment will never be made and the child will suffer behavioural and emotional problems
What is the cross cultural support for Bowlbys monotropic theory?
Ganda tribe - one primary attachment, even when reared by multiple caregivers
Israeli Communal Farms - children raised by nurses (metaplets), spent 3 hours a day with parents. primary attachment was still towards biological mum
How how is the importance of a primary attachment over-emphasised?
uniqueness vs strength?
Thomas - a network of attachments may be more beneficial
Van Iijzendoon - a stable network of adults provides better care
What supporting research is there for the internal working model?
the continuity hypotheses suggests that internal working models should be passed through generations
Bailey
- 99 mothers with 1 year olds
- standard interview mother-grandmother
- observation mother-infant
results showed attachment type was generational
4 criteria for Ainsworths SS
separation anxiety
stranger anxiety
reunion behaviour
willingness to explore room
Ainsworth SS method
lab experiment
set routine
time sampling
100 middle class american women & their infants
Ainsworth SS findings
70% secure
15% insecure-avoidant
15% insecure-resistant
How is the SS replicable?
high inter-observer reliability
highly operationalised
4 specific criteria
What is the supporting research to show reliability of classification for Ainsworths SS?
Waters
50 infants 12, 18 months
Greatest consistency in reunion behaviour
48/50 in same category at 18 months
what are the issues of Ainsworths SS?
Low population validity
Categories not always applicable
Low internal validity
- objectivity
- quality of attachment rather than child
Secure attachment
comfortable with social interaction and intimacy
healthy cognitive and emotional development
mother consistently sensitive and responds to babies needs
Insecure-resistant
both seek and reject emotional intimacy
parents are inconsistent
What is Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation?
if a primary attachment is not formed within the critical period, one will never be formed and the child will be at risk for behavioural and emotional disorders
Separation anxiety behaviours
Protest
Despair
Detachment
Affectionless Psychopathy
an individual with no sense of shame or guilt
44 thieves method
88 children referred to a guidance clinic
44 were thieves - 16 of which deemed affectionless psychopaths
other 44 - control group
Children and families interviewd to create a record of early childhood experiences
Quasi experiment
44 thieves findings
86% of affectionless psychopaths Experienced prolonged separation
17% of the other thieves had experienced such separation
4% of control group experienced frequent early separation
What are the issues with the interviews used in 44 thieves?
Self-report - social desirability bias
Retrospective data
How was there researcher bias in the 44 thieves study?
Bowlby worked in the childrens home and knew who was in each group
Conducted psychiatric experiments himself, created the affectionless psychopathy diagnosis
44 thieves - privation vs deprivation
children moved around a lot and may have been suffering privation rather than deprivation
Real-life application of Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
Hospital practices
Childcare practices
Political agenda - encourages working mothers guilt post WW2
Background to Romanian Orphanages studies
1989 - plight of children in Romanian orphanages discovered
Former president required women to have 5 children which many families simply couldn’t afford
How many orphans were there in Rutters adoption study
165 Romanian orphans
Rutter finding (Romanian Orphanage)
- adopted before 6 months
58 adopted before 6 months
- normal development
- IQ - 102
What are the strengths of Romanian orphanage studies?
Policy changes to benefit children
Lack of confounding variables
Study cause and effect
Weaknesses of Romanian orphange studies
Children not randomly allocated
Effects could be due to poor conditions and not institutionalisation
Lack of data on adult development
How does attachment type link to bullying?
Secure - good relationships
Avoidant - victims
Resistant - bullies
McCarthy - influence of early attachments on later life
40 dult women assessed as adults to establish their attachment type
Secure - best romantic and platonic relationships
Resistant - problems maintaining relationships
Avoidant - issues with intimacy in romantic relationships
Zimmerman -Findings - opposing evidence for the continuity hypotheses
Little relationship from infant to adult attachment type
Rutter findings - 6-12 months
59 adopted between 6-12 months
- disinhibited attachment
- IQ - 86
Rutter findings - 2-4 years
48 adopted between 2-4 years
- disinhibited attachment
- IQ - 77
Who adopted the Romanian orphans?
What age were they assessed?
British families adopted the orphans
assessed development at age 4,6,11&15
How is attachment often typified?
An infants desire to seek proximity to a particular individual and to display distress when seperated from this particular individual
Types of caregiver-infant Interaction
Interactional synchrony
Reciprocity
Mimicking
Interactional synchrony
The infant moves their bodies in time with the rhythm of the carer’s spoken language, creating a form of turn-taking
Reciprocity
Interactions lead to mutual behaviour between carer and infant, with both being able to produce responses from each other
Mimicking
Infants imitate the facial expressions of the caregiver, suggesting an innate biological drive to form an attachment bond
Further Communication between infant and caregiver
Bodily Contact
Caregiverese
Bodily Contact
Physical interactions help to form the attachment bond in the very early period, particularly immediately after birth
Caregiverese
A form of modified vocal language used by adults as they interact with infants, which includes high-pitched, song-like vocals and are slow and repetitive
Klaus + Kennel - impact of contact
Compared mothers who displayed extended physical contact vs mothers who only contacted when feeding in the 3 days following birth
1 month later - cuddle, more eye contact
Effects still evident a year later
Isabella - What attachment type demonstrated interactional synchrony in the first year of life?
infants with secure attachments demonstrated interactional synchrony during the first year of life
Meltzoff and Moore - mimic
2-3 weeks displayed a tendency to mimic adults facial expressions and hand movements, indicating that mimicry is an innate ability that helps in the formation of attachment
Papousek - caregiverese
The use of caregiverese was cross-cultural, suggesting that it is an innate device
When does interactional synchrony start?
Initial consolidation of biological rhythms during pregnancy to the emergence of symbolic and often rhythmic exchanges between parent and child
Asocial Stage
0-6 weeks
Attention-seeking behaviour, not directed an anyone in particular
Indiscriminate attachment
6 weeks - 7 months
Similar to asocial - child seeks attention from anyone
Preferences to familiar faces
Specific attachment
7-11 months
Primarily attached to main caregiver
Separation anxiety
Multiple Attachments
Attachment formed to other people once the primary attachment has been formed
When does the asocial stage occur?
First few weeks
When does indiscriminate attachment happen?
2-7 months
When does specific attachment happen?
From 7 months
When do multiple Attachments form?
29% of children developed a secondary attachment within 1 month of primary attachment in Schaffers study
Imprinting
any kind of phase-sensitive learning that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behaviour
What studies weaken learning theory?
Lorenz - Goslings imprint before food
Harlow - preference for cloth mother, regardless of food
Schaffer - sensitive response
Continuity hypothesis
Securely attached babies will grow up to have secure relationships and vice versa
Ainsworths findings about monotropy as a universal concept
Observed the Ganda tribe of Uganda where babies seemed to form one primary attachment, even when reared by multiple caregiver
Fox reaserch into monotropy as a universal concept - Israeli communal farms
Children spent the majority of their day with nurses known as metaplets and spent 3 days with their biological parents, however children still formed a primary attachment bond to their biological mother
Bailey - support for the continuity hypothesis of the internal working model
Assessed 99 mothers with their 1 year old babies on the quality of their attachment and their own mothers using a standard interview procedure. then assessed the mother-infant attachment by observation
Interactional Synchrony
Mirroring what the other person is doing in terms of body and facial movements
Reciprocity
Responding to the other with a similar action
Indiscriminate attachment
Similar responses to all objects, with a preference towards social stimuli
Discriminate attachment
A specific attachment is formed. high stranger and seperation anxiety
5 Components of Bowlby’s monotropic theory
Adaptive
Social Releasers
Critical Period
Monotropy
Internal Workin model
% of affectionless thieves experienced separation before age 2
86% - 12/14
2nd most common attachment in Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonberg
Insecure avoidant
Behaviour elicited by an insecure resistant child on reunion
Both reject and seek comfort
Romanian Orphan Studies demonstrate
Long term consequences are not as severe as Bowlby outlined in his critical period
Key study into Caregiver Infant interactions
Meltzoff + Moore
McCarthy - ‘Love Quiz’ procedure - influence of early attachment
Studied 40 adult women who were assessed as infants to establish their attachment type
Hazam + Share - ‘love quiz’ findings
56% securely attached
25% insecure-avoidant
19% insecure-resistant
Characteristics of a secure attachment found by Hazam + Share in the love quiz
Good relationships, both romantic and platonic
characteristics of an avoidant attachment type according to Hazam + share ‘Love quiz’
Struggle with intimacy
characteristics of a resistant attachment type according to Hazam + Share ‘Love quiz’
Struggle to maintain future relationships
Weakness of caregiver-infant interactions
Many studies observing CG-I interactions show a similar pattern of behaviour. however, it is difficult to determine whether these actions are delioberate and have any special meaning
Strengths of caregiver-infant Interaction observations
Controlled observation captures fine detail
Application value
Crotwell - application value of caregiver-infant interaction
10 minute interactional synchrony therapy with mothers on low-income and their infants, found a significant increase in interactional synchrony and attachment
Meltzoff and Moore procedure
observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old.
an adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or gestures
Response was filmed and identified by independent observers
What did Isabella find about interactional synchrony?
High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachments
