Attachment

Question 1

What is attachment ?

Answer 1

attachment is an emotional bond between 2 people, especially an infant and caregiver.

Question 1

How important are early interactions in attachment ?

Answer 1

they can be seen as a building block for later attachment and social development. It happens before the baby can even speak. The more sensitive each is to the other signals, the deeper the relationship.

Question 2

What are the two key elements in early interactions ?

Answer 2

• Reciprocity
• Interactional Synchrony

Question 3

What is reciprocity ?

Answer 3

its a two-way process. The baby and the caregiver respond to each others signals to sustain interaction.

Question 4

What is interactional synchrony ?

Answer 4

this is when the mothers actions are mirrored by the baby

Question 5

Who’s study links to infant-interaction ?

Answer 5

Meltzoff and Moore
Isabella

Question 6

What was Meltzoff and Moore’s study ?

Answer 6

adults were told to display 1 of 3 facial expressions and 1 of 3 distinctive gestures. Child was filmed and association was found between adults expression and gestures and the child’s.Child was more likely to mirror adults expressions and gestures.

Question 7

What was Isabella’s study ?

Answer 7

she observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony and quality of mother-infant attachment. At the end of the study it was found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment.

Question 8

Give me an evaluation for infant interactions.

Answer 8

Strength: Caregiver-infantinteractions are usually filmed in a laboratory. Using controlled research and video analysis is useful because it allows researchers to capture fine detail and can analyse the video later on.In addition this means that one or more observer can record data and therefore establish the inter-rater reliability of observations.
Strength: observation is appropriate with babies because they are too young to understand that they are being filmed.Thereforelowers levels of demand characteristics. Thus increasing validity.
Weakness: however babies facial expressions could or could not be conscience, they could be random and that they have no idea what’s going on. Thus decreasing the validity.

Question 9

Give me a summary of the Schaffer and Emerson study ?

Answer 9

the aim was to investigate how attachment behaviour changes as a baby gets older. They sampled 60 babies from skilled working class families from Scotland, Glasgow. This was a longitudinal study; researchers visited babies and mothers in their own homes for the first year and again in 18 months. They observed the interactions with the carer and baby. Their findings showed that attachments were more likely to occur with those who responded accurately to the babies signals.

Question 10

What are the 4 stages of attachment proposed by Schaffer and Emerson ?

Answer 10

1. Asocial: this is where the baby is 0-8 weeks old. And any sort of stimuli, both social and anti-social, will produce a favourable reaction, like a smile.
2. Indiscriminate: this is where the baby is 2-7 months old. This is where
   infants indiscriminately enjoy human company, and most babies respond equally to any caregiver. They get upset when an individual refuses to interact with them.
3. Specific: this is when the baby is 7-12 months old. The baby looks to specific people for security, comfort and protection. It shows fear of strangers and becomes unhappy when separated from a special person.
4. Multiple: this is where the baby is 1 years old or older. The baby becomes increasingly more independent and forms several attachments.

Question 11

Give me an evaluation for the Schaffer and Emerson Attachment study ?

Answer 11

Strength: this study was conducted in peoples homes. This increases external validity because the study is set out in a naturalistic setting.

Weakness: study was conducted in the 60s, a lot has changed such as gender roles, not applicable to todays society.

Strength: this study was a longitudinal design, therefore if you study something for a long period of time, you gain more information, this reduces participant variables.

Question 12

Is the role of the father equally as important as the role of the mother when raising a child ?

Answer 12

Yes, this can be proven by Field (1978) who said that when a father is a primary caregiver it encourages problem solving and beating challenges.

Question 13

Can it be argued that the role of the father is not as important as the role of the mother when raising a child ?

Answer 13

Yes, as there are biological factors men produce testosterone which is not a care-giving hormone, whereas women produce oestrogen which is a caregiving hormone.

Question 14

Give me an evaluation for the role of the father as a primary caregiver in raising a child.

Answer 14

Strength: Gdombok (2004) found that children growing up in same sex families do not develop any differently from those in 2 parents heterosexual families. This shows how fathers can raise a child on its own and gain equally a strong attachment without any physiological problems.

Weakness: biological factors; women produce oestrogen which is a care-giving hormone whereas a man produces testosterone which is not a care-giving hormone.

Strength: Field (1978) said that when a father is a primary care-giver it encourages problem solving and beating challenges.

Question 15

Give me a summary of the first Lorenz study ?

Answer 15

The aim of the experiment was to investigate the phenomenon of imprinting. The procedure of the experiment was imprint on mother duck and hatch with mother duck, the same with imprint with Lorenz hatch with Lorenz. The study showed that even when geese were mixed up, the group of geese that hatched with Lorenz will follow Lorenz and the same concept applies with the mother goose.

Question 16

What does the term imprinting mean ?

Answer 16

following the first moving object they see. The critical period is between 12-17 hours.

Question 17

Give me a summary of the Lorenz study to do with sexual imprinting on
a peacock.

Answer 17

In 1952 peacocks were imprinted on giant tortoises. Later on the peacocks showed courtship towards these giant tortoises. Confusion over what species the peacocks were.

Question 18

Give me a summary of the Harlow study ?

Answer 18

the aim of the experiment was to investigate if a baby monkey would chase a wire mother who gave food or a cloth mother who did not. He collected 16 monkeys with two wire model mothers. In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother whereas in a second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered mother. The findings of the study showed that the baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk. This showed that contact comfort was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour.

Question 19

Give me an evaluation for Animal studies in attachment.

Answer 19

Monkeys are not humans. Therefore, it can be argued that on a practical basis we should not generalise Harlow’s research.

Question 20

What is classical conditioning ?

Answer 20

this is when two stimuli occur together therefore we learn to associate them.

Question 21

What is positive reinforcement ?

Answer 21

increases likelihood of behaviour being repeated

Question 22

What is negative reinforcement ?

Answer 22

taking away a negative stimulus in order to encourage good behaviour

Question 23

Give me an evaluation for Learning Theory ?

Answer 23

Weakness: lack of support from studies of human babies. For example Russel Isabella found that high levels of interaction synchrony predicted the quality of attachment. These factors are not related to feeding. This again suggests that food is not the most important factor in the formation of human attachment.

Strength: some elements of conditioning could be involved in some aspects of attachment. For example a baby may associate feeling warm and comfortable with the presence of a particular adult, and this may influence the baby’s choice of their main attachment figure. This means that learning theory may still be useful in understanding the development of attachment.

Weakness: lack of support from studies conducted on animals. For example in Harlow’s study there is no support for the importance of food. When given a choice the monkey displayed attachment behaviour towards a soft surrogate mother in preference to a wire one which provided milk. This shows that there are other factors other than the associaiton of food which are important in the formation of attachment.

Question 24

What is Bowlby’s monotropy theory ?

Answer 24

this a theory where a child makes an attachment to one caregiver that is more important than any other. The primary attachment figure tends to be the mother.

Question 25

What is the Law of continuity ?

Answer 25

the more consistent and predictable a child’s care, the better quality of attachment.

Question 26

What is the Law of accumulated separation ?

Answer 26

the effects of every separation from the mother adds up, and the safest dose is zero.

Question 27

What are social releasers ?

Answer 27

these are babies inate cute behaviours, that encourage attention from adults

Question 28

What is the purpose of social releasers ?

Answer 28

it activates the adult attachment system makes the adult feel love towards the baby.

Question 29

Give me an evaluation for Bowlby’s Monotropic Evaluation ?

Answer 29

Weakness: Lacks validity
Schaffer and Emerson found that although most babies did attach to one person at first. A significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time.Although the first attachment does appear to have a particularly strong influence on later behaviour, this may simply imply that it is stronger not necesserially different in quality from the childs other attachments. For example, other attachments to family members provide all the same qualities.

Strength: supports the role of social releasers
Brazelton observed babies trigger interactions with adults using social releasers. The researchers then instructed the babies primary attachment figure to ignore the babies social releasers. Babies then became increasingly more distressed. This shows how social releasers are important in the process of attachment development.

Strength: supports internal working model
Bailey assessed attachment relationships in 99 mothers and their 1 year old child. The researchers measured the mothers attachment to their own primary attachment figure. The researchers also assessed the attachment quality of the babies. They found that mothers with poor attachment to their own primary attachment figures were more likely to have poorly attached babies.

Question 30

Give me a summary of Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation.

Answer 30

the aim of the study was to the measure the security of attachment a child displays towards a caregiver. This was a lab experiment and it lasted 20 minutes.5 types of behaviours were used as a measure of attachment:
* proximity seeking
* exploration and secure base behaviour
* stranger anxiety
* separation anxiety
* reunion response

Question 31

Give me a summary of the process of the strange situation.

Answer 31

1. The baby is encouraged to explore, this tests exploration and secure base
2. A stranger comes in, talks to caregiver and approaches the baby, this tests stranger anxiety
3. The caregiver leaves the baby and stranger together, this tests separation and stranger anxiety
4. The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves, this tests reunion behaviour and exploration/secure base behaviour
5. The caregiver leaves the baby alone, this tests separation anxiety.
6. The stranger returns, tests stranger anxiety
7. The caregiver returns and is reunited with baby, this tests reunion behaviour.

Question 32

What are the 3 types of attachment ?

Answer 32

• Secure type C
• Insecure Avoidant type A
• Insecure Resistant type B

Question 33

Give me characteristics of Secure attachment ?

Answer 33

• Proximity seeking: regularly goes back to caregiver
• Exploration/secure base: greater exploration
• Stranger Anxiety: Moderate levels
• Separation Anxiety: Moderate levels
• Response Reunion: requires and accepts lots of behaviour

Question 34

Give me characteristics of Insecure Avoidant A ?

Answer 34

• proximity seeking: does not seek proximity
• exploration/secure base: explore freely, does not show secure/base behaviour
• Stranger anxiety: little stranger anxiety
• Separation anxiety: no reaction when caregiver leaves
• Response on reunion: avoid/ makes little contact with primary caregiver when returns

Question 35

Give me characteristics of Insecure Resistant C ?

Answer 35

• Proximity seeking: greater
• Exploration/secure base: little exploration
• Stranger anxiety: high
• Separation Anxiety: High
• Reunion Response: resists comfort

Question 36

Give me an evaluation for Ainsworth’s strange anxiety.

Answer 36

Strength: Good Validity.Predicts a number of aspects of the babies later development.
It has been show that secure attachments have had better success at school, romantic relationships and friendships in adulthood. And on the other hand insecure resistant attachments are associated with worst outcomes, bullying in later childhood and adult health problems.

Weakness: Tests maybe culture bound
the test does not have the same meaning in countries outside western Europe and USA. This is because babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their reponses to the strange situation. For example one Japanese study by Keiko Takahashi in 1986, babies displayed very high levels of seperation anxiety and therefore majority of the babies were classified as insecure- resistant. Takahashi suggested that this anxiety response was not due to high rates of attachment insecutity but rather that in Japan mother-baby separation is very rare.

Strength: good inter-rater reliability.
Johanna Bick in 2012 tested inter-rater reliability in for the strange situation for a team of trained observers and found agreenment on attachment type in 94% of cases. This high level of reliability may be because the procedures takes place under controlled conditions and because movement, such as stranger anxiety and proximity seeking, involve large movements and are therefore easy to observe. This means that we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by the strange situation does not depend on subjective judgments.

Question 37

What does individualistic culture mean ?

Answer 37

this a group of people who value the rights and interests of the individuals rather than the collective.

Question 38

What does collectivist culture mean ?

Answer 38

this is a group of people who place more value on the collective rather than the individual.

Question 39

What does meta analysis mean ?

Answer 39

this is the process of combining the findings from a number of studies on a a particular topic.

Question 40

Give me a summary of the key study conducted by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg ?

Answer 40

The aim of the study was to investigate the proportions of the attachment types both between and within cultures. The researchers located 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation had been used to investigate the proportions of infants with different attachment types. Overall they tested 1,990 children. The findings from the study showed that the most common classification in all countries was secure. This varied from 75% in Great Britain to 50% in China. The least common attachment type overall was insecure avoidant. This ranged from 3% in Great Britain to 30% in Israelite. The greatest proportion of Insecure avoidant was seen in Germany and insecure avoidant was least common in Japan.

Question 41

Give me a summary of the Simonella study (2014) ?

Answer 41

The aim of this experiment was to see whether the proportions of babies of different attachment types still match those found in previous studies. The researcher assessed 76 babies aged 12 months using the strange situation. They found 50% were secure, with 36% insecure-avoidant. This is a lower rate of secure attachment and higher rate of insecure-avoidant attachment than had been found in many studies. The researchers suggest this is because increasing number of mothers of very young children work long hours and use professional childcare. These findings suggest that patterns of attachment types are not static but vary in line with cultural change.

Question 42

Give me an evaluation of the Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg study ?

Answer 42

Strength: Reliable
as the studies were based on the strange situation technique, so long as the different researchers carried out the technique exactly as it was first designed, they should all have controlled variables. Meaning it is reliable as the different researchers’ findings could be compared.
Weakness: Generisability
some of the samples were very small. For instance, only one study in the UK, Sweden and China. To base judgement about attachment types of a whole nation on one study may result in biased conclusions, as the sample might not be representative of the whole population.
Strength: Validity
it was truly a cross-cultural study, because although many cultures werent represented Van Ijizendoorn and Kroonberg did make sure to obtain a mix of collectivist and individualist cultures for comparison. This means the aim of the study was achieved.

Question 43

What does separation mean ?

Answer 43

the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure.

Question 44

What does deprivation mean ?

Answer 44

the emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and the mother, depriving baby of emotional need.

Question 45

What is the critical period of psychological development ?

Answer 45

the first 30 months

Question 46

What does mental retardation mean ?

Answer 46

this is where Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period, they would suffer delayed intellectual development, characterized by an abnormally low IQ/

Question 47

Give me a summary of the Goldfarb study ?

Answer 47

this is where he found lower IQ in children who remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered and thus had higher standards of emotional care.

Question 48

What does Affectionless Psychopathy mean ?

Answer 48

the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for other

Question 49

Give me a summary of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study ?

Answer 49

The aim of this study was to examine the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation. The sample in this study consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing. All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers. The sample was compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotional disturbed young people. Bowlby found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. In contrast only 5 of the 30 remaining thieves had experienced separations. Only two participants in the control group of 44 had experienced long separations. Bowlby concluded that prolonged early separation caused affectionless psychopathy.

Question 50

Give me a summary of the Romanian orphans study ?

Answer 50

The aim of the study was to assess whether a loving home could overturn the effects of institutionalisation in Romanian orphans. The sample was 164 Romanian children adopted in Britain. The Romanian children were assessed on their physical, cognitive and emotional development when they arrived at the age of 4,6,11 and 15 years. They were compared to 52 adopted British children as a control group. On arriving in the UK the Romanian children were malnourished lack of bone development and had a low IQ. It showed that before 6 months the average IQ was 102, between 6 months and 2 years was 88 and after 2 years was 77. In addition it showed that before 6 months the children rarely showed disinhibited development. However after 6 months children displayed disinhibited development such as attention seeking and clinginess.

Question 51

Give me a summary of the Zenah (2005) summary ?

Answer 51

The aim of the experiment was to investigate attachment in children who had spent most of their lives in institutions. 95 children aged 12-31 months were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution. The study showed that children from the institution who showed secure attachment was 19% whereas a disinhibited attachment was 44%. For the control group 74% was secure and only 20% was disinhibited.