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Psychology Paper 1 > Attachment > Flashcards

Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the critical period for attachment?

A

6 Months - 2 years

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2
Q

What is a critical period?

A

The time an attachment can be made easily, without difficulty

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3
Q

What is an internal working model?

A

Primary attachment forms a mental template for all future relationships and parenting abilities

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4
Q

What are social releasers?

A

Behaviours babies do that activate interaction from caregiver and encourage attachment (Crying, giggling etc)

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5
Q

What is the law of accumulated separation?

A

The effects of each separation from the mother adds up

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6
Q

What is the law of continuity?

A

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

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7
Q

What does monotropic mean?

A

A child’s attachment to one caregiver is different (a better quality) to all others

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8
Q

What kind of explanation is Bowlby’s monotropic theory?

A

An evolutionary explanation arguing attachment is innate, providing a survival advantage

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9
Q

What is a strength of the learning theory of attachment?

A

It can provide an adequate explanation due to real life application in fears, suggesting it can apply to other aspects - so may be involved in attachment

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10
Q

What is a limitation of the learning theory of attachment?

A

Attachment is possible not based on feeding as demonstrated by Harlow’s monkeys who sought comfort even when the towel mother had no milk - other factors may be involved in attachment

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11
Q

How is attachment maintained, according to the learning theory of attachment?

A

Through operant conditioning and mutual reinforcement:
Infant - positive reinforcement (cry-fed)
Mother - negative reinforcement (feed-avoid cry)

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12
Q

What is the process for the formation of attachment, according to learning theory of attachment?

A

Classical conditioning:
NS - Mother -> NR
UCS - Food -> UCR - Pleasure
NS + UCS -> UCR
CS - Mother -> CR - Pleasure

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13
Q

What is cupboard love?

A

When an attachment develops between an infant and a caregiver because the infant learns to associate a caregiver with food

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14
Q

What is a strength of animal studies of attachment?

A

Harlow - it has important practical applications as it has helped social workers to identify risk factors in child abuse, this usefulness increases the value of research

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15
Q

What is a limitation of animal studies of attachment?

A

Problems with generalising the findings to from animals to humans - mammal attachment is different to birds (Lorenz) so psychologists disagree to the extent comparisons can be made

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16
Q

What is the definition of attachment?

A

A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals

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17
Q

What is interactional synchrony?

A

When infant and caregiver carry out the same action at the same time - mirror each other

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18
Q

What did Meltzoff and Moore find out about interaction synchrony?

A

Interaction synchrony occurs from 2 weeks as distinctive gestures/facial expressions

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19
Q

What did Isabella observe about interactional synchrony?

A

High levels of synchrony associated with better quality attachments

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20
Q

What is reciprocity in interaction?

A

When infant and caregiver carry out an action by taking turns to elicit a reaction from the other

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21
Q

What did Feldman and Eldaman find out about reciprocity in interaction?

A

Mothers pick up on 2/3rds of signals from the infant and respond to them

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22
Q

What are the two stages of reciprocity in interaction?

A

Alert phase - baby signals they are ready for interaction (eye-contact)
Active involvement - baby can initiate interactions and takes turns with the mother

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23
Q

What is a strength of the research into the importance of caregiver-infant interactions?

A

The interactions are filmed in a lab and the recorded procedure can be kept allowing for replication, which increases the reliability of the findings

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24
Q

What is a limitation of the research into the importance of caregiver-infant interactions?

A

It is difficult to interpret a baby’s behaviour as they largely lack control of their muscles making intentional movements hard to find, suggesting conclusions may not be accurate

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25
Q

What was Harlow’s research on?

A

The importance of contact comfort

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26
Q

What was Lorenz’s research on?

A

Imprinting

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27
Q

What were the findings of Lorenz’s research?

A

Incubator group: followed Lorenz
Control group: followed mother
Showing a critical period occurs in which imprinting needs to occur, if not they will not attach themselves

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28
Q

What was the procedure used in Lorenz’s research?

A

12 goose eggs randomly divided into: 6 hatched with mother, 6 hatched with Lorenz (incubator)
Then mixed to see who they would follow

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29
Q

What were the findings of Harlow’s research?

A

Monkeys preferred contact with towel mother regardless of food, if only have wire mother they were stressed, if frightened would go to towel mother, explored more with towel mother, emotional security more important than food

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30
Q

What was the procedure used in Harlow’s research?

A

16 baby monkeys separated from their mothers and placed in 4 conditions with wire and towel mothers
Recorded: time spent with mother, feeding time, mother preference during stress, degree of exploration

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31
Q

What are the four stages of attachment identified by Schaffer?

A

Asocial stage
Indiscriminate attachments
Specific attachments
Multiple attachments

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32
Q

When is the asocial stage?

A

A few weeks old

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33
Q

When is the indiscriminate attachment stage?

A

2-7 months old

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34
Q

When is the specific attachment stage?

A

7-10 months old

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35
Q

When is the multiple attachments stage?

A

18 months old and onwards

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36
Q

What happens in the asocial stage?

A

Baby is recognising and forming a bond with carers but shows a similar behaviour towards objects

37
Q

What happens in the indiscriminate attachment stage?

A

Baby is showing a preference for people over objects and accepting of comfort from any adult
No separation or social anxiety

38
Q

What happens in the specific attachment stage?

A

Baby develops primary attachment figure to the adult most attentive to baby’s signals
Has separation and stranger anxiety

39
Q

What happens in the multiple attachments stage?

A

Baby makes attachments to other adults regularly (secondary attachments)

40
Q

What was the aim of Schaffer’s experiment?

A

To investigate the formation of early attachments

41
Q

What were the two variables Schaffer was looking at?

A

Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety

42
Q

How many babies were involved in Schaffer’s experiment?

A

60 babies - 31 male, 29 female

43
Q

What was the procedure of Schaffer’s experiment?

A

Baby and mother visited at home every month for the first year and then again at 18 months.
Mother was asked questions about the babies response to separation and to unfamiliar strangers

44
Q

What were the key findings of Schaffer’s experiment?

A

25-32 weeks old - 50% showed separation anxiety
40 weeks old - 80% had a specific attachment, 30% had multiple attachments

45
Q

What is a strength of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

A

It has high levels of external validity as it was carried out in the home, allowing the babies behaviours to be more likely to be natural and reflect their normal behaviour

46
Q

What is a limitation of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

A

It used a self report method and mothers may ignore aspects such as separation anxiety in order to appear in a better light social desirability bias), therefore baby behaviour may not be accurately recorded

47
Q

What did Bowlby find about the role of the father in attachment?

A

That in most cultures it is uncommon for the father to take on a similar role to the mother - instead be involved in active play

48
Q

What did Grossman find about the role of the father in attachment?

A

Father’s role was more to do with play and stimulation of the child and was not to do with nurturing

49
Q

What did Feid find about the role of the father in attachment?

A

Found that fathers engaged more in game playing and help their child less - but if primary caretaker they acted closer to the mother’s role

50
Q

What is a strength of research into the role of the father?

A

Increased understanding of the role of the father can inform law and policy, the suggestion it is an important role can impact on paternity leave times

51
Q

What is a limitation of research into the role of the father?

A

Findings are inconsistent, some suggest primary importance and others suggest secondary importance, so conclusions are unclear and hard to draw

52
Q

In Ainsworth’s strange situation what is the behaviour of an infant with a secure attachment type?

A

Child explores happily
Uses caregiver as a secure base
Stranger anxiety - moderate
Separation anxiety - moderate
Child seeks and accepts comfort in reunion

53
Q

In Ainsworth’s strange situation what is the behaviour of an infant with an insecure avoidant attachment type?

A

Child explores happily
Does not use caregiver as a secure base - doesn’t seek proximity
Stranger anxiety - low
Separation anxiety - low
Child does not require comfort in reunion

54
Q

In Ainsworth’s strange situation what is the behaviour of an infant with an insecure resistant attachment type?

A

Child does not explore
Child seeks greatest proximity
Stranger anxiety - high
Separation anxiety - high
Child resists comfort in reunion

55
Q

What are the three attachment types identified in Ainsworth’s strange situation?

A

Secure
Insecure avoidant (independent)
Insecure resistant (dependent)

56
Q

What is the process of Ainsworth’s strange situation?

A
  1. Child encouraged to explore
  2. A stranger enters room and attempts to interact
  3. Caregiver leaves stranger and child alone
  4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves
  5. The caregiver leaves child alone
  6. Stranger returns
  7. Caregiver returns and is reunited with child
57
Q

What is a strength of Ainsworth’s strange situation?

A

Has good inter-rater reliability, observers will be able to both agree on the attachment type after observing the behaviour - suggesting the procedure is controlled and objective

58
Q

What is a limitation of Ainsworth’s strange situation?

A

A child’s behaviour may not be due to their attachment type - individual differences such as a child’s temperament may impact on how they interact with the stranger/mother, so may not be a true reflection of attachment type

59
Q

How is only having three attachment types a limitation of Ainsworth’s strange situation?

A

Some children may show behaviours that are not only one attachment type, so limits the value as it can’t equally apply to all children

60
Q

What did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg study for cultural variations in attachment?

A

The proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant, and insecure-resistant attachments across a range of countries and compared them

61
Q

How many studies of attachment did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg use to investigate different attachment types across cultures?

A

32 studies, in 8 countries

62
Q

In Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study what country had the highest and lowest number of insecure avoidant attachment type?

A

Highest: Germany
Lowest: Japan

63
Q

What did Bowlby argue the first attachment sets?

A

An internal working model

64
Q

What is an internal working model, according to Bowlby?

A

A template of future relationships

65
Q

What constitutes a functional relationship, according to Bowlby?

A

Not too uninvolved and not too argumentative

66
Q

What did Kerns find the impact of early attachment to be on childhood relationships?

A

If they had a secure attachment type, they formed the best quality childhood friendships
If they had an insecure attachment type, they found friendship difficulties

67
Q

What did a London study find the influence if early attachment to be on bullying?

A

Insecure-avoidant attachment: usually ended up being victims
Insecure-resistant attachment: usually ended up being bullies
Secure attachment: didn’t take part

68
Q

What did Hazen and Shaver find about the influence of early attachment on adult relationships?

A

56% of participants had secure adult relationships (long lasting)
19% of participants had insecure-resistant adult relationships (fear of leaving)
25% of participants had insecure-avoidant adult relationships (fear of closeness)
Which are the same proportions in childhood as in adulthood

69
Q

How does early attachment influence an individuals own parenting style?

A

They tend to be based on their internal working model, which means attachment types can be passed through generations

70
Q

What did Bailey et al, find out about the influence of early attachment on individuals’ own parenting style?

A

The majority of mothers interviewed had the same attachment classification to both their baby and their mother, showing its generational.

71
Q

Why does the influence on early attachment research lack validity?

A

Most of the studies assessed early attachment used self report methods (interview/questionnaires), which means data collected was subjective and relied on individuals’ ability to recall accurately from early childhood, which may be difficult. So findings should be treated with caution.

72
Q

Why may the research on the influence of early attachment on later relationships have long-lasting negative impacts?

A

Overemphasising the link between early attachments and later relationships may result in people thinking they’re always doomed to always having bad adult relationships because they had attachment problems - it may increase risk but shouldn’t be viewed as inevitable.
It may cause individuals to remain in dysfunctional relationships as they feel they have no choice

73
Q

What research criticises the supporting evidence for the influence of early attachment on later relationships?

A

Zimmerman - assessed infant attachment type and adolescent attachments to parents and found very little relationship between the quality of infant and adolescent attachment - challenges if an IWM is created at all

74
Q

What is the definition of separation, according to Bowlby’s theory of material deprivation?

A

Child not physically in the presence of the primary attachment figure

75
Q

What is the definition of deprivation, according to Bowlby’s theory of material deprivation?

A

Child loses emotional care as a result of separation, causing psychological harm

76
Q

What is the definition of deprivation, according to Bowlby’s theory of material deprivation?

A

Child loses emotional care as a result of separation, causing psychological harm

77
Q

What did Bowlby argue, according to Bowlby’s theory of material deprivation?

A

Continual care from mother (or substitute) is essential for normal psychological development and separation leads to serious consequences

78
Q

According to Bowlby’s theory of material deprivation, when is the critical period for psychological development?

A

The first 30 months

79
Q

According to Bowlby’s theory of material deprivation, what are the effects on physical and cognitive development?

A

Affects a child’s developing brain - can lead to abnormally low IQ and ‘mental retardation’

80
Q

According to Bowlby’s theory of material deprivation, what are the effects on emotional development?

A

Affectionless psychopathy - inability to feel guilt or strong emotions towards others
Disinhibited attachments
Associated with criminality

81
Q

What study did Bowlby conduct to support the effects of deprivation?

A

44 juvenile thieves
17 of them had prolonged separation from mother by 5yrs old
15 of the 17 had affectionless psychopathy
2 of the 44 non thieves had prolonged separation from mother, showing that disruption to attachment and later deviance are linked

82
Q

Why is the evidence to support the effects of maternal deprivation weak?

A

Family interviews and assessments in the 44 thieves were conducted by Bowlby - therefore, findings may have been biased in his favour - weakening validity

83
Q

What recent research supports Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

A

Levy et al - separating baby rats from their mother’s, even for only a day, had a permanent impact on their social development

84
Q

Why might Bowlby setting a specific critical period be too rigid?

A

Study on twin boys showed that the damage is not inevitable and recovery is possible once children are placed back in the care of loving adults. Suggesting the critical period may be more of a ‘sensitive period’

85
Q

What did Rutter’s research on the effects of institutionalisation find?

A

IQ:
Adopted before 6mnths : 102
Adopted between 6mnths-2yrs : 86
Adopted after 2yrs : 77
At 15yrs these differences still existed. Suggesting privation has a long term impact

86
Q

What did Zenah’s research on the effects of institutionalisation find?

A

Control group:
Secure attachment- 74%
Disinhibited attachment - less than 20%
Vs
Institutionalised group:
Secure attachment - 19%
Disinhibited attachment - 44%

87
Q

What is the main strength of the Romanian studies for effects of institutionalisation?

A

It has important practical applications for children who grow up away from the family home in children’s homes, who now have large numbers of caregivers for each child who play a central role enabling normal attachments to develop

88
Q

Why is it difficult to generalise the findings from Romanian orphan studies on the effect of deprivation to other cases of deprivation?

A

The conditions of the orphanages were particularly bad with extreme situational variables, so cannot conclude the impacts were the result of lack of attachment only.

89
Q

What’s a limitstion other than generalisation of the Romanian orphan studies into the effects of deprivation?

A

The long term effects of early experience are not yet clear as the data only goes to 22-25yrs old so effects over a lifetime (relationships or parenting styles) are not clear, so cannot be used for future predictions.

Psychology Paper 1 (4 decks)

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