Attachment

Question 1

what is reciprocity

Answer 1

Interactions between caregivers and infant involving mutual responsiveness - biological

Question 2

what is interactional synchrony

Answer 2

interaction between caregiver and infant are ‘synchronised’ so that their responses reflect each other (mirroring)

Question 3

what are the 4 key behaviours that show attachment

Answer 3

Maccoby (1980):
Seeking proximity by child and PAF
distress on separation (separation anxiety)
pleasure when reunited
general orientation of behaviour towards PAF

Question 4

give research support for reciprocity

Answer 4

Tronick et al (1975):
condition 1- mother presents herself but doesn’t respond to baby smiling, baby becomes distressed
condition 2 - mother presents herself but father talks behind her, baby becomes distressed
condition 3 - mother presents herself and responds to baby, baby isn’t distressed

Question 5

give research support for interactional synchrony

Answer 5

Meltzoff and Moore (1997):
found babies as young as 12-27 days old were able to imitate facial and physical gestures to some degree

Question 6

describe Shaffer and Emerson’s study into stages of attachment (1964)

Answer 6

• longitudinal study in Scotland following attachments of 60 infants
• using naturalistic observations every 4 weeks up to 1 year and again at 18 months
• attachment was measured by assessing
  condition 1: levels of separation protest (how they react to being separated from attachment figures)
  condition 2: levels of stranger anxiety (how they react to strangers)

Question 7

what were the results of Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964)

Answer 7

39% of babies formed PAF with someone other than main carer
31% of infants had 5+ attachments
87% of infants had 2+ attachments
If an infant was less attached to their mothers, then the mothers would take longer to respond to the babies needs (sensitive responsiveness)

Question 8

what are the 4 stages of attachment according to Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Answer 8

1: Asocial stage/pre-attachment (0-3 months) - before any attachments form
2: indiscriminate attachment stage (3-7 months) - don’t fully discriminate against strangers. begin to show discrimination
3: discriminate/specific attachment stage (7-8 months) - attach to people of preference. stranger anxiety/fear develops
4: multiple attachments (9+ months) - form stronger attachments. stranger anxiety reduces

Question 9

what are the aspects to the role of the father

Answer 9

1: degree of sensitivity - must have a small amount of sensitivity in order to meet needs of baby
2: type of attachment - how you were parented affects how you parent
3: marital intimacy - more intimate with partners means more likely to have better attachment with baby
4: supportive co-parenting - bigger role, mother more likely to have secure attachment with baby

Question 10

give research support for equal roles of parents

Answer 10

Frodi et al (1978):
measured bp and sweat of mothers and fathers when their own baby is crying. found there was no physiological difference between mothers and fathers suggesting they have the capacity of an equal role as parents

Question 11

give research support for opposing roles of parents

Answer 11

Geiger (1996):
showed fathers’ play interactions are more exciting and pleasurable than mothers’, while mothers are more nurturing and affectionate supporting idea fathers being playmates rather than caregivers - complimentary roles

Question 12

what are the categories for species in development

Answer 12

altricial animals - born underdeveloped and need constant care e.g. humans
precocial animals - animals that are born fully developed therefore don’t need constant care e.g. giraffes

Question 13

what is imprinting and the types

Answer 13

attach onto first big moving object they see when born
filial imprinting - social attachments between parents and offspring
sexual imprinting - learn to direct sexual behaviour at members of own species

Question 14

outline Lorenz’ study into imprinting (1935)

Answer 14

took 12 greylag gosling eggs. left half with mother. took other half. put in incubator and raised them. ones left with mother were normal. ones taken - offered himself as a model for imprinting. they followed him around as if he was their mother. they didn’t recognise their own mother. tended to develop relationships with humans rather than geese. some attempted to mate with humans.

Question 15

outline the results and conclusion of Lorenz’ study (1935)

Answer 15

put all geese in box (closed). when opened all geese raised by the mother went to the mother. all geese raised by him went to him.
suggests tendency to respond to first object is innate.
imprinting is genetic - respond to specific animal/object

Question 16

what were the 4 conditions in Harlow’s Maternal deprivation study (1958)

Answer 16

1: cloth mother provides food, wire does not
2: wire mother provides food, cloth does not
3: only wire mother in cage - has milk
4: only cloth mother in cage - has milk

Question 17

what were the results of Harlow’s study (1958)

Answer 17

1: infants spent more time with cloth mother no matter food provider.
2: ones only with wire had diarrhea - stress
3: clung to cloth mother when scared
4: monkeys explored more in larger cages when with cloth mother

Question 18

what were the conclusions of Harlow’s study (1958)

Answer 18

1: biologically preprogrammed need for comfort - suggests comfort is more important than food
2: contact comfort is associated with lower stress - better security
3: likely crucial factor in human infant-parent attachment

Question 19

Describe the learning theory as an explanation of attachment

Answer 19

involves classical conditioning (association between events and stimuli) and operant conditioning (reinforcement). both cause and strengthen attachment bond between carer and infant

Question 20

describe Bowlby’s monotropic theory as an explanation of attachment

Answer 20

• attachment is monotropic (preference for one person)
• innate and adaptive (biological and evolutionary)
• infants use social releasers to elicit caregiving and develop attachment with PAF
• monotropic attachment has a critical period of 2.5 years
• monotropic attachment forms our internal working model (attachment we use as a model for all other attachments)

Question 21

what is the law of accumulated separation

Answer 21

the more frequent and the longer an infant is separated from who they have their monotropic attachment with, the more damaging it is for them - leads to maternal deprivation

Question 22

what is the law of continuity

Answer 22

the more time spent between an infant and the person they have their monotropic attachment with, the healthier the attachment will be and therefore the healthier they will be

Question 23

what is sensitive responsiveness

Answer 23

to what extent does the parent respond to their infant in a meaningful way AND how quickly do they do so - the more meaningful response and the faster response, the healthier the attachment bond is (according to Bowlby)

Question 24

describe Ainsworth’s strange situation (1969)

Answer 24

• took 100 infants aged 9-18 months
• 7.8 by 7.8 room
• time sampling recording infant actions every 15 seconds
• measured behaviour in 5 categories: prox seeking, reunion behaviour, exploration, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety

Question 25

what was Ainsworth trying to investigate

Answer 25

the characteristics and percentages of the three main attachment styles.
the characteristics were:
Proximity seeking
Reunion behaviour
Exploration and secure base behaviour
Separation anxiety
Stranger anxiety
(PRESS)

Question 26

what are the three main attachment styles and their percentage rates according to Ainsworth (strange situation)

Answer 26

secure (70%)
insecure-avoidant (15%)
insecure-resistant (15%)

Question 27

describe Van Ijzendoorn’s 1988 study into cultural variation of attachment styles

Answer 27

• meta-analysis measuring results of Ainsworth’s strange situation across 8 countries and 32 studies
• most secure was Britain (75%), 3% resistant.
• average across 8 countries: secure 67%, avoidant 21%, resistant 12%

Question 28

name studies investigating the reliability of Van Ijzendoorn’s meta-analysis study

Answer 28

Takahashi (1990):
60 middle class Japanese families. infants distressed when alone. secure 68%, resistant 32%, avoidant 0%. 90% of the time the child alone stage was removed due to excessive distress.
Van Ijzendoorn found 68% secure, 5% avoidant and 27% resistant

Question 29

outline Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 29

maternal deprivation refers to the separation of primary attachment figure without a substitute. often referred to as privation.
- separation from mother would result in severe damage to social, emotional and cognitive development (affectionless psychopathy)

Question 30

outline Bowlby’s PDD model

Answer 30

Protest - infant experiences severe separation anxiety
Despair - infant calms down but still holds resentment
Detachment - temporarily detaches from primary attachment figure after reunion but quickly returns back to normal

Question 31

what is the internal working model

Answer 31

losing primary attachment figure negatively impacts all other attachments. you can never have a healthy attachment again

Question 32

what is the continuity hypothesis

Answer 32

you can’t change you attachment style. unable to change over the course of your entire life. attachment with primary attachment figure acts as a template for all future attachments throughout your entire life

Question 33

outline Goldfarb’s 1943 study into developmental retardation

Answer 33

• 2 groups of 15 children
• 1 raised in social isolation, other raised in foster care
• children aged between 6 months and 3 years old
• instituted group lagged behind foster group on all measures (IQ, abstract thinking, social maturity, rule following)

Question 34

outline Bowlby’s 44 thieves study

Answer 34

• 86% of psychopaths experienced severe emotional trauma as a child (separation or otherwise)
• 17% of other thieves had experienced separations at an equal level to the psychopathic thieves
• 4% of control group has experienced frequent separations

Question 35

describe research into influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships

Answer 35

Hazen and Shaver (1987) - Love Quiz:
- predicted there will be a correlation between adult attachment styles and types of parenting when being raised.
- analysed 620 replies to a quiz in a newspaper
- sections included current or most important relationship, general love experiences (number of partners), attachment type based on 3 statements
- 56% secure, 25% avoidant, 19% resistant
- secure had longer and healthier relationships.

Question 36

describe the procedure of the Romanian orphan study (2007)

Answer 36

• longitudinal study started in early 1990s following group of Romanian children adopted in the UK from institutions in Romania
• random sample of 165 children adopted by UK families. 144 had previously been institutionalised with placements before the age of 4
• studied at 4, 6 and 11
• comparison between 52 non-institutionalised kids British kids adopted pre 6 months

Question 37

describe the results of the Romanian orphan study (2007)

Answer 37

• babies adopted pre 6 months - mean IQ 102 at age 11
• babies adopted 6 months to a year - mean IQ 86 at age 11
• babies adopted 2 to 4 years - mean IQ 77 at age 11. also had impaired language and social skills

Question 38

describe the sample population of the Romanian orphan study (2007)

Answer 38

• 58 adopted pre 6 months
• 59 adopted 6 months to a year
• 48 adopted 2 to 4 years

Question 39

what is institutionalisation

Answer 39

so used to set rules/behaviours you think they are normal everywhere

Question 40

what are the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 40

• disinhibited attachment
• developmental retardation
• deprivation dwarfism (Genie)