Attachment Flashcards
role of the father
what is a father in terms of attachment?
a childs closest male caregiver
role of the father
what is attachment to fathers?
- evidence suggests that fathers are much less likely to become babies first attachment figure compared to mothers
- e.g in schaffer and emersons research they found that the majority of the babies became attached to their mothers first around 7 months
- only 3% cases the father was the first sole attachment figure
- in 27% of the cases the father was joint with the mother
- HOWEVER - it appears that most fathers become important af with 75% babies forming an attachment with their father by 18 months - shown by baby protesting when father walked away
role of the father
what does grossman et al’s research show about the distinctive role for fathers?
- longitudinal study where babies attachemnt was studied
- looked at both parent behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their babies later attachment to other people
- it was found that babies attachment to mothers not fathers was related to their attachemnts in adolesence
- suggests that attachment to fathers is less important than attachemnt to mothers
- but it was found that the quality of fathers play was related to quality of adolesencts attachment- suggets that fathers role is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with emotional developemt
role of the father
what does tiffany field’s research show about fathers as primary attachment figures?
evidence that when fathers take on the role of primary caregiver they are able to adopt the emotional role more that is more typically associated with mothers
* procedure- filmed 4v month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers
* found- like the pirmary mother the fathers spent more time smilling, imitating and holding baby than secondary father- smiling holding etc are all a part of recipriocity and inteactional synchrony (part of the proccess of attachemnt formation)
* so it seems that fathers do have the potential to be more emotion-focused primary att figures- as they can provide responsiveness required for that close emotional bond to be formed but this is only shown when given the role of primary att figure
cultural variations
what did Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg study look at?
the proportions of secure,insecure avoidant and insecure attachments across a range of countries to assess cultural variation
* also looked at diffs within the same countries to get an idea of variations within a culture
cultural variations
what was Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg procedure?
- meta-analysis of 32 studies using 8 countries
- overall gathered results for 1,990 children
- the data from the 32 studies were combined and analysed together, weighting each study for its sample size
Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg- cultural variations
what were the findings?
- in all countries secure attachment was the most common type
- however the proportion varied from 75% in britain to 50% in china
- in individualist cultures- insecure-resistant was similar to ainsworths original sample (all under 14%)
- BUT this was not true for the collectivist samples from china and japan where rates were above 25% ( and where rates of insecure-avoidant att were reduced
Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg- cultural variations
what was the intresting find?
variations between results of studies within the same country were actually 150% greater than those between countries e.g in US one study found only 46% securely attached compared to one sample as high as 90%
other cultural variations-simonelli et al
what was the italian study?
study in italy assesed 76 babies, 12 months old using s.s
* found 50% were secure, 36% insecure-avoidnat- lower rate of secure att and higher rate insecure-avoidant than other studies
* this is because increasing numbers of mothers of very young children work long hours and use professional childcare
* findings suggest patterns of att types are not the same and vary with cultural change
other cultural variations- jin et al
what was the korean study?
study of 87 babies assessed using s.s
* overall proportions of insecure and secure babies were similar to those in most countries with most being secure
* BUT- more of those classified as insecurely att were resistent and only one baby was avoidant
* this is similar to what i & k found in japan- since korea and japan have quite similar child-rearing styles this similarity might be explained in terms if child-rearing styles
other cultural variations
what are the conclusions from these cultural variation studies?
- secure attachment seems to be the norm in a wide range of cultures supporting bowlbys idea that attchemnt is innate AND universal
- however research does show that cultural practices do have an influence on attachment types
what is bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation?
a theory that focuses on the idea that the continual care from a mother or mother subsitue is essential for normal psychological development of babies and todlers (emotionally and intellectually)
* being seperated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences (maternal depriavtion)
bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
what is the diff between seperation and deprivation?
- seperation- means the child not being in presence of the primary af
- deprivation- means the lack or absence of the primary af
bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
what is the critical period?
first two and a half years of life - psychological damage is inevitable if a child is seperated from their mother and dosen’t have a subsitute providing them with emotional care
* continuing risk up to age 5
bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
what are the effects on intellectual development?
bowllby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period, they would experince delayed intellectual development, characterised by abnormally low IQ
* has been shown in adoption studies e.g lower IQ found in children who remained in institutions compared to those who were fostered and had a higher standard of emotional care
bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
what are the effects on emotional development?
bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experince guilt or strong emotion towards others
- this prevents a person devloping fulfilling relationships and is associated with criminality (cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions)
bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
what was bowlbys research?
44 thieves study demonstrated the link between afectionless psychopathy and meternal deprivation
* procedure- 44 criminal teens
* all were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
* families also interviewed to see whether the thieves had prolonged early seperations from their mothers
* sample compared to control group of 44 non-criminal but emotioanlly disturbed teens
bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
what was bowlbys research findings?
- 14/44 thieves affectionless psychopaths and 12 of them experinced prolonged seperation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives
- only 2 in the control group had experienced prolonged seperations
- concluded that prolonged deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
Romanian orphan studies
what was rutter et al’s research?
aim- investigate the extent to which good care could make up for the detrimental effects of poor care experienced in early childhood
Procedure- 165 Romanian orphans adopted by British families
physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed at 4,6,11,15, 22-25
• group of 52 UK adopted children around the same time- control group
Romanian orphan studies
what were rutter et al’s findings?
- when first arrived in the uk- 1/2 showed signs of delayed intellectual development and majority severely malnourished
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mean iq :
-adopted before 6 months 102 - adopted between 6 months and 2 years 86
- adopted after 2 years 77
- attachment- adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibitted attachment(attention seeking, clinginess, social behaviour targeted towards familiar and unfamiliar adults equally)
- those adopted before six months did not show signs of it
Romanian orphan studies
what was zenah et al’s research?
procedure- assessed the attachment in 136 orphans aged 12-31 months spent 90% of lives - in institution compared to those who spent life in foster care
• children were randomly allocated into the foster care condition or institution condition
• used the s.s and asked carers about unusual behaviours
Romanian orphan studies
what were zenah et al’s research findings?
- children who were allocated into foster care group before 24 months were more likely to have secure attachment and more likely to be organised in their relationships with caregivers
• contrast with disinhibited was 44% of institutionalised children compared to 20% of the controls
Romanian orphan studies- effect of institutionalisation
what are one of the effects of institutionalisation?
disinhibited attachment- the majority of the children who spent their early lives in an institution often showed signs of da, being equally friendly and affectionate towards familiar people AND strangers- highly unusual as most children at 2 show stranger anxiety
• rutter- explanied this as an adaptation to living with multiple carers during the sensitive period for attachment formation
• in poor quality institutions like those in Romania- a child might have 50 carers but doesnt spend enough time with anyones of them long enough to form a secure attachment
Romanian orphan studies- effect of institutionalisation
what is the intellectual disability effect?
- in rutters study- most children showed signs id when they arrived in Britain
- however most adopted before they were six months caught up with the control group by age four
- damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered if adoption takes place before the age of six months- age when attachments form
influence of early attachment on childhood and adult realtionships
what role does the internal working model play?
bowlby- suggested that a baby’s first relationship with primary af leads to a mental representation of this relationship
* the quality of a baby’s first attachment is very important as this template affects the nature of their future relationships
* if a baby’s first experince is loving relationship with a realible af they will assume that this is how relationships are meant to be
* but is their first attachemnt experince is bad they will bring these bad experinces in their later relationships
influence of early attachment on childhood and adult realtionships
what was hazan and shavers love quiz study?
aim- to see if there was a correlation between the infants attachment types and their future approach to romantic relationships
* procedure- love quiz consisted of two componets- a measure of attachement and a love experince questionare e.g questions about if love lasts forever etc
* was put in a local newspapper
* analysed the first 620 replies sent from people aged 14-82
* they classified the respondents using ainsworths attachment types and looked for corresponding adult love styles
