attachment Flashcards
what are the types of infant-caregiver interactions?
- Attachment
- Reciprocity
- Interactional Synchrony
what is attachment?
where infants and caregivers develop deep and lasting emotional bonds - both members seek closeness and feel more secure with the other
what is reciprocity?
similar to a conversation, this is a mutual turn-taking form of interaction - both infant and caregiver interact by responding to each others signals and cues
what is interactional synchrony?
a simultaneous interaction between infant and caregiver who act rhythmically with coordinated behaviour and matching emotions
what is imitation?
where an infant directly copies the caregiver’s expression
what is sensitive responsiveness?
where the caregiver correctly interprets the meaning of the infant’s communication and is urged to respond appropriately
what are the strengths for infant-caregiver interactions?
-Meltzoff & Moore (an experimenter displayed facial features such as sticking tounge out to 12-21 day year olds and found they could observe and reciprocate through imitation)
- Condon & Sander (videotaped interactions with adults and newborns focusing on their response to adult’s speech. Finding evidence of interactional synchrony)
- many studies used multiple observers to provide inter-rater reliability and use of camera systems to document and slow down behaviours provides high internal validity
what are the weaknesses of infant-caregiver interaction?
- infants cannot directly communicate their thoughts or emotions making findings in this research based of Inferences which are unscientific
- social sensitivity is a concern when investigating childrearing techniques including norms around caregiver-infant interactions as some people may find their life choices criticised
what are the stages of attachment?
identified by Schaffer:
- Stage 1 (the asocial stage)
- Stage 2 (indiscriminate attachment)
- Stage 3 (specific attachment)
- Stage 4 (Multiple attachments)
what is the asocial stage?
- 0-6 weeks
- babies display innate behaviours (crying/smiling) that ensure proximity to any potential caregiver
- anyone can comfort them
- they do not prefer any individual caregiver
what is indiscriminate attachment?
- 6 weeks-7 months
- develop the ability to tell the difference between familiar and strangers
- they smile more at familiar people
what is specific attachment?
- 7-9 months
- babies form a strong attachment to a primary caregiver (most often the mother)
- separation anxiety and stranger anxiety develop
what is multiple attachments?
- 9/10+ months
- starts to form attachments with other regular caregivers
stranger anxiety begins to decrease
what are the strengths of the stages of attachment?
- Schaffer conducted a longitudinal study of 60 working class babies in Glasgow (found separation anxiety started around 32 weeks and stranger anxiety a month later. after 18 months 87% developed multiple attachments)
- the observation was done in the families homes which increases the mundane realism
what are the weaknesses of the stages of attachment?
- the study has low generalisability or temporal validity as it was only working class families in 1960’s Glasgow
what did schaffer identify about the father?
after 18 months 75% of infants had an attachment with their father - showing separation anxiety
what does Active Play mean in the role of the father?
fathers often engage in active play activities more than mothers - is thought to encourage risk taking behaviours
what happens when the father is the Primary Caregiver?
their interactional style changes to be more like mothers - increasing capacity for sensitive responsiveness
strengths of the Role of the Father
- Field (found fathers focused more on game playing and less on holding and PCG fathers showed more sensitive response behaviours like a mother)
- Verissimo (found a strong attachment to the father was the best predictor of the ability to make friends in school suggesting fathers play a key role in socialisation)
weaknesses of the Role of the Father
- socially sensitive (theories argue the role of the mother cannot be replaced by the father e.g. Bowlby. meaning motherless families cannot fully provide the needs for infants)
- economic implication (research could lead to legislation about maternity and paternity leave which could reduce the number of people in the workforce)
what is Learning theory?
Dolland and Miller theory of Cupboard love is based of learning theory and it argues that infants become attached to their caregiver because they provide food
what is classical conditioning in Learning theory?
- food (UCS) and produces pleasure (UCR)
- as the mother always is present at feeding she becomes associated with the pleasure of feeding making her change from the NS to the CS
what is operant conditioning in Learning theory?
- positive reinforcement (when the parent feeds a crying baby the baby is likely to repeat the crying to get food)
- negative reinforcement (the parent will feed the baby to avoid the punishment of them crying)
strengths of Learning theory
- is has face validity (it makes sense that babies cry more when it gains them attention and food)
- the behaviourist principles (are backed up a long history of well controlled research like Pavlov and Skinner)
limitations of Learning theory
- Harlow (rejects the cupboard love theory as infant monkeys became attached to a cloth mother that did not provide milk rather than the wire mother that did)
- reductionist (most parents would say their relationship with their kids is more complicated than the result of simplistic stimulus associations)
what are the two animal attachment theories?
- Lorenz (imprinting)
- Harlow (contact comfort)
what was the procedure of Lorenz’s study?
- Goose eggs were randomly divided
- half of the eggs were hatched by Lorenz and half by the mother goose
what were the findings of Lorenz’s study?
- he found the goslings he had incubated and hatched had imprinted of him
- when the goslings were placed in a box the ones who had imprinted on him would follow him
- he found that goslings had a critical period of around 32 hours where if a gosling did not see a moving object in this time it would not be able to imprint
what was the procedure of Harlow’s study?
- 16 Rhesus monkeys were placed in cages with 2 surrogate mothers
- one of the mothers provided milk and was made of wire (no comfort)
- the other mother was made of cloth but provided no milk
- time spent with each mother was recorded as well as who the monkey ran to when frightened
what were the findings of Harlow’s research?
- he found the infant monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth monkey and only went to the wire mother when in need of food
- the monkeys returned to the cloth mother when frightened
- in a follow up he discovered that maternal deprivation from his studies caused permanent social disorders
- suggests monkeys have a biological need for physical contact (contact comfort)
strengths of Animal Studies on Attachment
- Howe (showed Harlow’s research has helped social workers and clinical psychologists by understanding that a lack of bonding experience can be a risk factor in child development)
- Lorenz’s finding on the critical period have been influential (Bowlby argued there is a Critcal Period for humans - 6 to 30 months)
- there are practical applications to each study (e.g. in childcare)
limitations of Animal Studies on Attachment
- the generalisation of animal behaviour to human psychology is problematic (different biology and social behaviour)
- Harlow is criticised on ethical grounds for harm caused to the monkeys (some killed their children when older)
what is Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
an evolutionary explanation of attachment - infants have an innate drive to form a strong attachment to their mother
what are social releasers in monotropic theory?
signals used by babies to attract the caregivers attention - crying, smiling, cooing - mothers instinctually find these cute or distressing
what is the Critical period in monotropic theory?
the 30 months period in which Bowlby suggests an infant must form a monotropic attachment - a lack of this causes negative social and intellectual consequences
what is the Internal Working model in monotropic theory?
a schema for future relationships that a child forms based off its monotropic attachment to the mother
strengths of monotropic theory
- Bowlby’s ideas are applicable to childcare (immediate physical contact between the mother and the baby after birth is encouraged)
limitations of monotropic theory
- is based on Lorenz’s research (research on orphans if different to geese. fault in critical period can be recovered in humans not permanent damage)
- internal working model is deterministic (success of future relationships is not dependent of infancy)
- lacks temporal validity (based on nuclear family)
what are Ainsworth’s types of attachment?
- insecure avoidant (type A)
- secure (type B)
- insecure resistant (type C)
what behaviours did Ainsworth identify to indicate attachment strength?
- proximity to mother
- exploration & safe base behaviour
- stranger anxiety
- separation anxiety
- reunion response
what were the 7 stages in the Strange Situation?
- Mother and baby in the room
- Stranger enters the room
- Mother leaves the room
- Mother returns and stranger leaves
- Mother leaves
- Stranger returns
- Mother returns and stranger leaves
what were the findings of the Strange Situation?
66% of infants were secure
22% insecure-avoidant
12% insecure resistant
what are the characteristics of a secure infant?
- happily explore but regularly return to Mother
- show moderate separation and stranger anxiety
- accept comfort from mother in reunion
what are the characteristics of a insecure-avoidant infant?
- explore more without returning to mother
- little to no stranger and separation anxiety
- make little to no contact with mother in reunion
what are the characteristics of a insecure-resistant infant?
- little to no exploration
- high stranger and separation anxiety
- resist comfort in reunion
strengths of the Strange Situation
- highly controlled observation (standardised procedures mean high replicability)
- predictive validity (securely attached children tend to form better attachments in later life - showing higher generalisability)
limitations of the Strange Situation
- culturally limited
- low ecological validity (due to being in a lab)
- mother could show demand characteristics (know they are being watched)
- cannot ask infants about their behaviour (lower internal validity)
what was the procedure for the Cultural Variations in Attachment?
Van Ijzendoorn - conducted a large scale Meta Analysis of 2000 infants in 32 studies from 8 countries of the Strange Situation
what were the findings of Van Ijzendoorn’s research?
- Secure attachment was the most common in all countries (but varied from 75% in UK to 50% in China)
- insecure avoidant was the second most common (was most common in Germany and least common in Japan)
- Insecure resistant was the least common (varied from 3% in UK to 30% in Israel)
what did Simonella find about the Strange Situation in Italy?
- 76 12-month olds
- 50% were secure
- 36% were insecure avoidant
- 14% were insecure resistant
- they think it is due to mothers working long hours and using childcare
what did Jin find about the Strange Situation in Korea?
- 87 Korean children
- most infants were secure
- second most common was insecure resistant
- only 1 was insecure avoidant
what other Cultural variations of the Strange situation were there?
- Takahashi in Japan (had high rates of insecure resistant 32%)
- Tronik et al on an African Tribe (found most were insecure avoidant due to group living)
strengths of Meta Analysis
- Meta analysis includes a very large sample (increases the validity and generalisability of the findings)
- use of Indigenous researchers (they will have better understanding of cultural background of the participants so will understand behaviours more increasing valdity)
limitations of Meta Analysis
- Confounding variables (environment may differ such as room size and toys in the room effecting the child’s behaviours - and the sample could effect behaviours such as differences in social status)
- imposed etic (assuming the research is cross-culturally universal not ethnocentric)
what is separation in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation?
when a child is not in presence of the primary attachment figure
what is deprivation in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation?
when a child is deprived of emotional care (can still happen when caregiver is present) - this in turn causes harm
what is the Critical Period in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation?
- the first 2 1/2 years
- if a child is deprived of emotional care for an extended period time during this period then Bowbly believed psychological damage was inevitable
what effects did Maternal deprivation have on intellectual development?
if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would experience delayed intellectual development (Low IQ)
what effects did Maternal deprivation have on emotional development?
- could lead to affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions toward others
- prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships and is associated with criminality
what was the procedure of Bowlby’s ‘44 Thieves’ study?
- 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
- All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
- Their families were also interviewed as to if the thieves had been subjected to prolonged early separations
- the sample was compared to a control study of 44 non-criminal teens
what were the findings of Bowlby’s ‘44 Thieves’ study?
- 14 of the 44 were affectionless psychopaths
- 12 of these had prolonged separations from their mothers in the first 2 years of their lives
- Only 2 of the control group had prolonged separations
what was the procedure of Goldfarb’s research into Maternal deprivation?
- Followed up 30 orphaned children until age 12
- 1/2 the children had been fostered before 4 months
- the other half remained in the orphanage
- at 12 their IQ’s were tested
what were the findings of Goldfarb’s research into Maternal deprivation?
- The fostered group had an average IQ of 96
- The group who remained had an average of 68 (below the cutoff point for mental disability)
what was the process of Rutter’s Romanian orphan study?
followed 165 romain orphans adopted in the UK
- assessed at ages 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25
- group of 55 UK adoptees used as control
findings of Rutter’s study
at age 11
- those adopted before 6 months had a mean IQ of 102
- those adopted between 6 months and 2 years had a mean IQ of 86
- those adopted after 2 years had a mean IQ of 77
- those adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment
