Attachment Flashcards
Define altricial and precocial.
-Altricial = born at an early stage of development, needs help in order to survive (humans)
-Precocial = born at an advanced stage of development (animals)
Define reciprocity.
A mutual turn-taking form of interaction, both infant and caregiver contribute to interaction by responding to the others signals.
Define interactional synchronicity.
A simultaneous interaction between infant and caregiver who appear to be acting rhythmically with matching behaviour.
Define attachment.
Attachment is a close, 2-way emotional bond between 2 individuals where they see eachother as essential for their emotional security.
Describe Tronick’s study on reciprocity.
-1979, aim to investigate whether infants are active in social interaction rather than passive to their caregivers
-3 periods =
1 mother engages with child as usual to create baseline interaction
2.mother takes short break then returns with a still face
3.second break is taken and the mother resumes normal interaction
-found all infants tried to tempt mother into interaction + became distressed when they didn’t provoke usual interaction
Describe Meltzoff and Moore’s study on interactional synchrony.
-1977
-adult model displayed 3 facial expressions
-dummy placed in infant during 1st display to prevent response
-dummy removed and child’s expression was filmed
-found an association between infant behaviour and that of the adult model
Describe Isabella Et Al’s study on interactional synchrony.
-1989
-found securely attached M-I pairs showed more instances of interactional synchrony in 1st year of life
Describe Le Vine Et Al’s study on caregiver-infant interactions on Kenyan mothers.
-1994
-found Kenyan mothers have little physical interactions or physical contact with their infants
-but these infants have secure attachments
-therefore, research on C-I interactions may be ethnocentric
What did Schaffer and Emerson find when studying the role of the father?
-1954
-showed PAF more likely to be mother, fathers are SAF
-found babies attached to mothers around 7months
-75% of infants studied, attachment formed with father at 18months and showed separation anxiety when he left.
Describe Tiffany Field’s study on ROTF.
-1978, filmed 4 month olds in face-to-face interactions with PCG mothers, SCG fathers and PCG fathers
-found SCG fathers engaged more in game-playing, HOWEVER PCG fathers engaged more which was comparable to PCGM behaviour, suggesting whoever is most sensitive to babies have the better relationship
Why don’t fathers generally become primary attachment figures?
-Traditional gender roles: women are expected to be more nurturing and caring then men therefore, fathers don’t feel they need to be like that.
-Female hormones: oestrogen maybe create higher levels of nurturing therefore women are biologically predetermined to be the PAF
Describe Schaffer and Emerson’s study on stages of attachment.
-1964, longitudinal study, 60W/C babies, from Glasgow
-found separation anxiety occurred in babies by 25-32 weeks, stranger anxiety starting one month later. In 18month follow up, 87% had multiple attachments + strongest attachment was to mothers who gave constant C-I interactions.
What are the stages of attachment identified by Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?
- ASOCIAL = birth-2months = same response to humans and objects
- INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT = 2-7 months = preference for familiar people, no stranger/separation anxiety
- SPECIFIC ATTACHMENT = 7 months = stranger + separation anxiety in regard to PAF (65% mother)
- MULTIPLE ATTACHMENT = 1 month after SA = attachment towards others (aka SAF)
Describe Lorenz’s study on imprinting.
-1935, aim to investigate whether goslings will imprint on humans if its the first thing they see
-divided a clutch of eggs in half, 1/2 hatched with mother(control group), 1/2 hatched in an incubator with Lorenz(experimental group)
-found goslings imprinted on him, placed all in a box + when released they continued to follow him, found goslings have a critical period of 32h
His research suggests imprinting is an evolutionary/biological feature of attachment
What is sexual imprinting, describe this with a study example.
Sexual imprinting is the idea that we form a blueprint of our ideal mate from our PCG. Example: Lorenz 1952 placed a peacock in a reptile house so the first moving object was a tortoise. As an adult the peacock directed courtship behaviour towards tortoises.
Describe Harlow’s study on the effects of privation.
-1958, aim to investigate learning theory of attachment
-16 rhesus monkeys separated from mothers IMMEDIATELY + placed in cages with access to 2 surrogate mothers (cloth and wire). 8 monkeys could get milk from wire, 8 from cloth.
-found both groups spent most time with cloth, 2nd group only went to wire to get food + returned to cloth immediately, if a frightening object was placed they all went to cloth. Suggests rhesus monkeys have a biological need for contact comfort.
Describe the learning theory of attachment.
-aka cupboard love b/c emphasises importance of AF as a provider of food
-states children attach to caregiver b/c they give food
-can be classical or operant conditioning
-classical=learning due to associations between stimuli
-operant=learning through consequences
-NURTURE
Describe Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment.
-evolutionary explanation
-Bowlby says infants have an innate drive to form attachment to mother(monotropy) + stay in close proximity
-babies use social releasers to attract caregivers attention + mothers are biologically programmed to find them cute/distressing
-4 key ideas=critical period(6months=pcg, 0-3yrs securely attached), social releasers, monotropy, internal working model (blueprints)
-NATURE
Describe Ainsworth’s strange situation.
-1969 it was developed
-aim to observe key attachment behaviours to PAF
-structured observations of M-I pairings in lab setting, 8 stages, 2 way mirror and recordings
-observed proximity seeking, exploration + secure base behaviour, stranger/separation anxiety, and response to reunion
-found 3 types of attachment, 70% secure, 15% insecure-avoidant, 15% insecure-resistant
Describe Ainsworth’s 8 stages in the strange situation.
ALL 3 MINS LONG
1.M,B,R enter room together, M allows B to explore
2.M+B alone
3.S enters with M+B (silent 1min, converses w M 1min, approaches baby 1min)
4.M leaves
5.M returns + greets B, lets B play and leaves
6.M leaves
7.S enters
8.M enters, picks up B, S leaves
Describe Van Ljzendoorn’s study on cultural variations in attachments.
-1988, aim to investigate proportions of S, I-R, I-A across a range of countries to assess cultural variations
-meta analysis of 32studies, 2000 infants, 8 countries, all studies were of strange situation
-found secure att most common in all countries, I-R least common. I-A most common in individualist western cultures + resistant in collectivist
-Germany had most I-A infants (35%)
-Japan had most I-R infants(27%)
-this suggests secure att. is most common b/c its the globally preferred attachment style
Why do German studies of cultural variations in attachments have a high % of avoidant behaviour?
High % because Grossmann et al(1985) say German parents seek independent, non-clingy infants and so raise them to be independent/I-A.
Why do Japanese studies of cultural variations in attachments have a high % of resistant behaviour?
High % because rarely left by mother, so the distress they show when M leaves is probably due to shock than I-R.
What does Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation suggest?
Suggests that poor attachment to mother figure in younger life can lead to affectionless psychopathy, and serious damage to a child’s emotional and intellectual development.
Describe Bowlby’s study on maternal deprivation.
-aim to investigate the links between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation
-all boys, 44teenage delinquents accused of stealing compared to a control group of 44non criminal teens diagnosed with emotional problems
-all teens interviewed for signs of AP
-families also interviewed for early separation from mothers
-14/44 in ‘thieves’ group showed signs of AP and 17/44 thieves suffered prolonged separation from mothers. Of the 14 who had AP, 12 also experienced prolonged separation in first 2 yrs
-in control group, 2/44 had separation but 0/44 categorised as AP
-concluded prolonged separation/deprivation cased AP
Describe Rutter’s study on effects of institutionalisation.
-2011, natural, longitudinal study
-aim to investigate the extent to which good care makes up for poor early experiences in institutions
-165 Romanian orphans, adopted by families in UK, compared to British control group, assessed physical, cognitive and emotional developments at ages 4,6,11,15,22,25 yrs
-found when 1st arrived in UK, showed signs of delayed intellectual dev + very undernourished
-noticed age adopted had a direct relationship with rate of recovery
-adopted after 6months likely to develop disinhibited attachment
What is the continuity hypothesis?
Suggests an individuals future relationships will follow a pattern based on their IWM
What is the internal working model/IWM.
According to Bowlby infants develop a schema based on their attachment to their PCG, this schema acts as a template for future relationships.
Describe Kerns’s study.
-1994, childhood
-longitudinal study to test attachment types at 4 and 5 years, along with qualitative observations of friendships
-found securely attached babies have best quality friendships
Describe Wilson and Smith’s study.
-1998, bullying involvement
-questionnaires, 196 children, aged 7-11, all from London
-found secure children=less likely to be involved, IA=victims, IR=bullies
Describe Hazan and Shaver’s study.
-1987, adulthood
-analysed 620 replies to a love quiz which determines relationship attachment type
-56%=secure=best relations as adults
-25%=IA=struggled with intimacy
-19%=IR=struggled maintaining relations
