Attachment

Question 1

carer-infant interactions: reciprocity

Answer 1

when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them

Question 2

carer-infant interactions: interactional synchrony

Answer 2

the temporal co-ordination of micro level social behaviour

mirroring each other’s actions and emotions. E.g a baby laughs and giggles at the same time the carer pulls silly faces.

Question 3

carer-infant interactions: interactional synchrony research - facial expressions

Answer 3

Meltzoff and Moore

observed beginnings of IS in babies as early as 2 weeks

adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or distinctive gestures

childs response was filmed and identified by independent observers

an association was found between the expression or gesture and the actions of the babies

Question 4

carer-infant interactions: interactional synchrony research - quality of attachment

Answer 4

Isabella

observed 30 mothers and infants together

assessed the degree of synchrony and the quality of the mother-infant attachment

found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachments

Question 5

attachment figures: parent-infant attachment - research

Answer 5

Schaffer and Emerson

found majority of babies did become attached to their mother first

formed secondary attachments to other people in the family after a few weeks or months

75% of infants had attached to father by 18 months

Question 6

attachment figures: role of the father - research - play

Answer 6

Grossman

longitudinal study

looking at parents’ behaviour and its relationship with the quality of the children attachments into their teens

found that the quality of the infant-mother attachment was related to children’s attachments in teen years but NOT the infant-father attachment

BUT

quality of fathers’ play with infant did relate to the quality of adolescent attachment

Question 7

attachment figures: fathers as primary caregivers

Answer 7

evidence that when fathers are the primary caregivers they adopt behaviours more typical to mothers

Field

filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers and fathers and secondary caregiver fathers

primary caregivers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants

these behaviours seem to be more important in building an attachment with the infant

fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure

the key the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent

Question 8

carer-infant interactions evaluation: observations

Answer 8

its hard to tell if the interactions are the same or similar

we can’t be certain, based on these observations, whats taking place from the infants perspective

Question 9

carer-infant interactions evaluation: good control

Answer 9

observations are generally well controlled

both are filmed from multiple angles

this means very fine details can be recorded and analysed

the infant doesn’t care about being observed so their behaviour doesn’t change in response to the controlled observation

Question 10

attachment figures evaluation: inconsistent findings in role of the father

Answer 10

research into the role of the father is confusing as different researchers are interested in different questions

seeing the father as the primary or secondary attachment figures

generally have seen for secondary figures have behaved differently from mothers and having a distinct role

for primary figures have seen that they take on the maternal role

this means its hard to answer the question: what is the role of the father?

Question 11

attachment figures evaluation: limited generalisability

Answer 11

Grossman

found fathers as secondary figures had an important role in their child’s development

however

MacCallum and Golombok

found children growing up in single or same sex families do not develop differently from those in heterosexual families

this suggests that the fathers role isnt as important as first thought

Question 12

attachment figures evaluation: gender

Answer 12

fathers might not become primary figures due to traditional gender roles

women are expected to be more caring and nurturing

or

it could be female hormones (oestrogen) create higher levels of nurturing and so women are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary figure

Question 13

Schaffers stages of attachment: study

Answer 13

longitudinal study

60 babies

31 male

29 female

Glasgow, skilled working class families

babies and mothers visited in their homes:

every month for a year

then after 18 months

asked mothers questions about the kind of protest the babies showed in seven everyday separations

also assessed strange anxiety

found:

50% showed separation anxiety to a particular adult at 25-32 weeks

attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to the signals and facial expressions

80% had a specific attachment and almost 30 % had multiple attachments at 40 weeks

Question 14

Schaffers stages of attachment: stages

Answer 14

Asocial - first few weeks

baby is recognising and forming bonds with cares

behaviour to human and non human objects is the same

Indiscriminate attachment - 2-7 months

show preference for people

no separation or stranger anxiety

Specific attachment - 7 months

show stranger and separation (from one particular adult) anxiety

primary attachment figure

Multiple attachments - 8 months

extend attachments

secondary attachment figures

Question 15

Schaffers stages of attachment evaluation: good external validity

Answer 15

carried out in the families’ home and most of the observation was done by the parents

so the babies behaviour is unlikely to be affected by the presence of others

Question 16

Schaffers stages of attachment evaluation: longitudinal design

Answer 16

same children where followed up and observed regularly

better internal validity than a cross-sectional design

dont have the confounding variable of individual differences

Question 17

Schaffers stages of attachment evaluation: limited sample

Answer 17

only 60 babies

all from same area, class, culture, 50 years ago

child rearing practices differ from one culture to another and from one historical period to another

hard to generalise to other social and historical contexts

Question 18

Schaffers stages of attachment evaluation: asocial stage

Answer 18

babies are so young and have poor co-ordination and immobile

hard to observe their behaviour

can’t rely on the evidence

Question 19

Schaffers stages of attachment evaluation: conflicting evidence for multiple attachments

Answer 19

when they form multiple attachments

psychologists working in cultural contexts where multiple carers is normal suggest babies have multiple attachments from the outset

collectivist cultures

Question 20

Schaffers stages of attachment evaluation: measuring multiple attachments

Answer 20

Bowlby

pointed out that children have playmates as well as attachment figures

may get distressed when playmate leaves but it doesn’t signify an attachment

Schaffers and Emersons observations dont allow us to distinguish between playmates and attachment figures

Question 21

animal studies: Lorenz

Answer 21

studied imprinting

divided a clutch of goose eggs

1. hatched with mother
2. hatched in incubator with Lorenz as the first moving object they see

found that incubator group followed Lorenz even when mixed

however there was a critical period in which imprinting needed to take place (depends on species)

Question 22

animal studies: Lorenz case study

Answer 22

peacock that was brought up in a reptile house of a zoo

first moving thing it saw was giant tortoises

as an adult would only direct courtship behaviours towards giant tortoises

sexual imprinting

Question 23

animal studies: Harlow.

Answer 23

separated baby rhesus monkeys from mother and put in harlow’s lab.

Importance of tactile comfort - why we attach.

experiment 1: two groups of monkeys, both provided with two surrogate mothers in a cage, one made out of wire and the other made out of soft towelling cloth.
First group: cloth mother provided milk, wire mother provided no milk
second group: wire mother provided milk, cloth mother no milk.

Question 24

Harlow - findings

Answer 24

found that monkeys cuddled soft object in preference to the wire one, spent more time with cloth mother, only went to wire mother for food.

sought comfort from towelling when frightened

released maternally deprived monkeys back into wild

found that monkeys in 3. were most dysfunctional

those with a soft toy still didn’t develop normal social behaviour

more aggressive and less sociable and bred less

as mothers some of them neglected their young or attacked their children even killing them in some cases

concluded theres a critical period for this behaviour

mother figure had to introduced within 90 days for an attachment to form

early deprivation is irreversible

Question 25

Lorenz evaluation: generalisability

Answer 25

problem with generalising

mammalian attachment system is very different from birds

e.g. mammalian mothers show more emotional attachments to their young than birds do

Question 26

Lorenz evaluation: questioning of his conclusions

Answer 26

researchers have questioned some of his conclusions

e.g. the idea that imprinting has a permanent effect on mating behaviour

Guiton

found chickens that imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them but with experience would learn to prefer mating with other chickens

Question 27

Harlow evaluation: theoretical value

Answer 27

findings has a profound effect on psychologists understanding of human attachment

Harlow showed that attachment doesn’t develop as a result of being fed by a mother figure but as a result of comfort

showed the importance of the quality of early relationships on later social development

Question 28

Harlow evaluation: practical value

Answer 28

important applications

e.g. social workers understand the risk factors in child neglect and abuse and so intervene to prevent it

important in the care of captive monkeys for zoos and in breeding programs

Question 29

Harlow evaluation: ethical issues

Answer 29

monkeys suffered greatly

species are considered similar enough to humans to generalise findings therefore means their suffering was likely to be human-like

but

the rewards outweighed the costs

Question 30

learning theory of attachment

Answer 30

Dollard and Miller

cupboard love approach using learning theory

emphasises on caregiver giving food - children learn to love whoever feeds them

Question 31

learning theory of attachment: classical conditioning

Answer 31

learning to associate the mother with food

unconditioned stimulus = food

being fed = unconditioned response (pleasure)

caregiver = initially neutral stimulus

mother then through constant association with being fed becomes conditioned stimulus producing conditioned response

Question 32

learning theory of attachment: operant conditioning

Answer 32

if behaviour produces a pleasant consequence then its likely to be repeated again

behaviour has been reinforced

explains why babies cry for comfort which builds attachment

crying = response from carer e.g. feeding

response = pleasure

crying is reinforced

baby then directs crying to the caregiver that responds to the crying

two way process

this is negative reinforcement for the carer

they respond = crying stops

so they repeat their behaviour to avoid the unpleasant crying

Question 33

learning theory of attachment: attachment as a secondary drive

Answer 33

draws on the concept of drive reduction

hunger is the primary drive - we are motivated to eat to reduce the hunger drive

Sears

suggested that the caregivers that provide food have the primary drive of hungry generalised to them

so attachment is the secondary drive learned by association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of the primary drive

Question 34

learning theory of attachment evaluation: counter evidence from animal research

Answer 34

a range of animal studies has shown that young animals don’t attach for food but for comfort instead

Lorenz’s geese imprinted before being fed

Harlow’s monkeys

using the learning theory this should be the same for humans as they believe that non-human animals and humans are equivalent

Question 35

learning theory of attachment evaluation: counter evidence from human research

Answer 35

Schaffer and Emerson

many babies formed primary attachments to their mother figure even though other carers did most of the feeding

shows that feeding isnt the key element to attachment so theres no unconditioned stimulus or primary drive

Question 36

learning theory of attachment evaluation: ignores other factors

Answer 36

factors like reciprocity and good interactional synchrony is associated with attachment

studies have shown the best attachments are with sensitive carers that pick up infant signals and respond appropriately

doesn’t support cupboard love theory

Question 37

Bowlbys monotropic theory

Answer 37

evolutionary explanation

attachment is an innate system that gave a survival advantage

imprinting and attachment evolved because they ensure that young stay close to their caregivers and this protects them from any hazards

Question 38

monotropy

Answer 38

he placed great emphasis on a childs attachment to one particular caregiver

this was the ‘mother’ - doesn’t have to be biological

he believed this attachment is different and more important than the others

more time spent with the baby = better

Question 39

law on continuity

Answer 39

more constant and predictable the care = better quality of attachment

Question 40

law of accumulated separation

Answer 40

effects of every separation adds up

the safest dose is zero

Question 41

social releasers

Answer 41

innate behaviours

cute behaviours like smiling and cooing

they encourage attention from adults

purpose is to activate the adult attachment system

Question 42

critical period

Answer 42

around 2 years

baby has to attach or the baby will find it hard to make future attachments

Question 43

formation of the internal working model

Answer 43

child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver

this serves as a model for what relationships are like

affects the childs ability to be a parent themselves

Question 44

Bowlbys monotropic theory evaluation: mixed evidence

Answer 44

Schaffer and Emerson

support:

primary attachment (specific) had to be formed first

counter:

a significant minority of the babies formed multiple attachments at the same time

its unclear if theres something unique with the first attachment

Question 45

Bowlbys monotropic theory evaluation: support for social releasers

Answer 45

Brazleton

observed mothers and infants during interactions

reports the existence of interactional synchrony

extended the study to experiment

primary attachment figures instructed to ignore infant

babies initially showed signs of distress but then curled up and lied motionless

shows the social releasers elicit caregiving behaviours

Question 46

Bowlbys monotropic theory evaluation: support for internal working model

Answer 46

Bailey

assessed 99 mothers with 1 year old infants on the quality of their attachment to their infants and their own mothers

found that mothers who reported poor attachments with their parents where more likely to have a poor relationship with their infant

Question 47

strange situation

Answer 47

Ainsworth

controlled observation

measure the security of attachment a child displays towards a caregiver

Question 48

proximity seeking

Answer 48

infant with a good attachment will stay fairly close to the caregiver

Question 49

exploration and secure-base behaviour

Answer 49

good attachment enables a child to feel confident to explore while using their caregiver as a secure base

Question 50

stranger anxiety

Answer 50

displaying anxiety when a stranger approaches

Question 51

separation anxiety

Answer 51

protest at a separation from caregiver

Question 52

response to reunion

Answer 52

with the caregiver after separation for a short period of time

Question 53

strange situation: procedure

Answer 53

1. child encouraged to explore
2. stranger comes in and tries to interact with child
3. caregiver leaves the child and stranger together
4. caregiver returns and strange leaves
5. caregiver leaves the child alone
6. stranger returns
7. caregiver returns and is reunited with child

Question 54

strange situation: findings

Answer 54

identified 3 types of attachments:

1. secure
2. insecure-avoidant
3. insecure-resistant

Question 55

secure attachment

Answer 55

explore happily but regularly go back to caregiver

(proximity seeking and secure base behaviour)

moderate separation and stranger anxiety

require and accept comfort in reunion stage

60-75% british toddlers

Question 56

insecure-avoidant attachment

Answer 56

explore freely but not proximity seeking or secure base behaviour

show little or no separation anxiety and response to reunion

little stranger anxiety

20-25% british toddlers

Question 57

insecure-resistant attachment

Answer 57

children seek greater proximity than others and explore less

show huger stranger and separation anxiety

resist comfort at reunion

3% british toddlers

Question 58

strange situation evaluation: support

Answer 58

attachment type is strongly predictive of later development

secure - go on to have better outcomes in many areas

insecure-resistant - associated with the worst outcomes including bullying and mental health problems

evidence for the validity of the concept because it can explain subsequent outcomes

Question 59

strange situation evaluation: good reliability

Answer 59

good inter-rater reliability - multiple observers

generally agreed

controlled conditions and behavioural categories are easy to observe

we can be confident that the attachment type of an infant studied doesn’t depend on who is observing them

Question 60

strange situation evaluation: cultural bias

Answer 60

cultural differences in childhood experiences means children will respond differently in the strange situation

caregivers from different cultures behave differently in strange situation

Takahshi

test doesn’t work in Japan because mothers are rarely separated from the babies that there are high levels of separation anxiety but in reunion mothers rushed and scooped up baby so it was hard to observe the babies behaviour

Question 61

cultural variations in attachment

Answer 61

van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg

32 studies of strange situation conducted in 8 countries

results meta analysed

Question 62

Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg findings

Answer 62

-Secure attachment most common in all countries.
China = 50%
Britain = 75%

individualist cultures - insecure-resistant attachment - similar to Ainsworth’s original samples (all under 14%).

However, collectivist samples - E.g Japan, China and Israel - rates above 25% - insecure avoidant reduced.

-suggest cultural differences in distribution of insecure atatchment.

Variations between results within country - 150% greater than between countries.

USA - one study found 46% securely attached - others found 94%.

Question 63

Simonella et al

Answer 63

italian study - strange situation

76 12 month old babies

50% secure

36% insecure avoiding

= lower number of secure

because increasing number of mothers work long hours and use childcare

Question 64

Jin et al

Answer 64

Korean study - strange situation

87 children

overall proportions the same between secure and insecure

however only 1 insecure avoidant

similar to Japanese distribution - they have similar child rearing practices

Question 65

cultural variations in attachment evaluation: large samples A03

Answer 65

large sample = large comparison groups

increases internal validity

reduces impact of anomalous results caused by bad methodology or individual differences

Question 66

cultural variations in attachment evaluation: unrepresentative samples AO3

Answer 66

van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

claimed it was a comparison between different cultures when it was a comparison between countries

within a country there are many different cultures with different child rearing practices

van Ijzendoorn and Sagi - analysed attachment types in Tokyo

urban areas = similar to western

rural - over-representation of insecure resistant

may have little meaning

Question 67

cultural variations in attachment evaluation: biased AO3

Answer 67

cross cultural psychology includes ideas of etic and emic

strange situation is designed by a western psychologist based on another western theory

imposed etic - e.g.

stranger anxiety and lack of pleasure at reunion = insecure

in Germany thats seen as independence

Question 68

etic meaning

Answer 68

cultural universals

Question 69

emic meaning

Answer 69

cultural uniqueness

Question 70

imposed etic

Answer 70

trying to apply a theory or technique based on one culture onto another culture

Question 71

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 71

the continuous presence of a mother figure is essential for normal psychological development both emotionally and intellectually

Question 72

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation: separation vs deprivation

Answer 72

separation = child not being in the presence of primary attachment

deprivation = extended separations where the infant looses an element of care

Question 73

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation: critical period

Answer 73

first 30 months

critical period for psychological development

Question 74

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation: effects on development - intellectual.

Answer 74

intellectual

suffer from mental retardation - abnormally low IQ

Goldfarb

found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions as a opposed to fostered children

Question 75

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation: effects on development - emotional

Answer 75

emotional

affectionless psychopathy - inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others

prevents the person from developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality

Question 76

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation: 44 thieve study procedure

Answer 76

Bowlby

44 criminal teenagers - stealing

interviewed for signs of affection less psychopathy

families also interviewed

compared against group of emotionally disturbed teenagers

Question 77

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation: 44 thieves study findings

Answer 77

14/44 of thieves = affectionless psychopaths

12/14 had experience prolonged separation from their mothers in the first 2 years of their lives

5 out of rest of thieves had experienced separation

control:

2/44 experienced long separations

concluded:

prolonged early separation = affectionless psychopathy

Question 78

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation evaluation: poor evidence

Answer 78

Bowlby used evidence from his study and studies of children orphaned during WW2

these are all flawed as evidence

war-orphans are traumatised and often had poor-after care

children growing up in institutions were deprived of many aspects of care

44 thieves had major design flaws - bias (Bowlby carried out the assessments)

these factors could have caused problems to later development difficulties

Question 79

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation evaluation: counter evidence

Answer 79

Lewis

partically replicated 44 thieves on a larger scale

looked at 500 young people

history of prolonged separation didn’t predict criminality or difficulty to forming close relationships

suggests there are other factors for the theory of maternal deprivation

Question 80

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation evaluation: sensitive period

Answer 80

later research showed that damage isn’t inevitable

some cases of very severe deprivation have had good outcomes provided the child has some social interaction and good aftercare

Koluchova

twin boys

isolated at age of 18 months until 7 years old - locked in a cupboard by their step mother

after care - looked after by 2 loving adults and appeared to recover fully

show the critical period is a sensitive one instead

Question 81

Romanian orphan study: Rutter’s ERA study procedure

Answer 81

English and romanian adoptee

165 Romanian orphans

52 British orphans

all adopted in Britain

physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed at ages 4, 6, 11, 15

Question 82

Romanian orphan study: Rutter’s ERA study findings

Answer 82

first arrival:

signs of mental retardation

severely undernourished

11:

differential rates of recovery related to age of adoption

mean IQ:

adoption before 6 months = 102

adoption 6 months - 2 years = 86

adoption after 2 years = 77

these differences remained at the age of 16

those adopted after 6 months had disinhibited attachment - attention seeking, clinginess, social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults

Question 83

Romanian orphan study: Bucharest Early Intervention project

Answer 83

Zeanah

95 children that had spent 90% of their lives in institutional care, aged 12-31

control group - 50 children who had never lived in institutional care

attachment type measured using strange situation and carers were asked about unusual behaviour

findings:

74% of control = securely attached

19% of institutional group = securely attached

65% of institutional group = disorganised attached

44% vs 20% - showed disinhibited attachment

Question 84

effects of institutionalisation pt 1

Answer 84

disinhibited attachment:

equally friendly and affectionate to everyone

Rutter - explained it as an adaption to living with multiple careers during sensitive period

Question 85

effects of institutionalisation pt 2

Answer 85

mental retardation:

damage to intellectual development can be recovered provided adoption takes place before the age of 6 months

Question 86

Romanian orphan study evaluation: real life application

Answer 86

enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation

led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions

orphanages and children homes avoid large numbers of caregivers for each child and ensure that a smaller number of people play an essential role for the child

research has had a lot of valuable practical terms

Question 87

Romanian orphan study evaluation: fewer extraneous variables

Answer 87

other orphan studies often involved children who had experienced loss or trauma before they were institutionalised

therefore its hard to observe the effects of institutionalisation in isolation - confounding participant variables

NOT case with Romanian studies

increases internal validity

Question 88

Romanian orphan study evaluation: unlikely

Answer 88

Romanian orphanages had such bad conditions that it might mean we cannot apply the findings onto institutional care and deprived children

unusual situational variables

lack generalisability

Question 89

internal working model

Answer 89

quality of first relationship is crucial as its a template that will powerfully affect the nature of their future relationships

secure loving = assume this is how relationships should be = seek out functional relationships

insecure - avoidant = too uninvolved or too emotionally close

insecure - resistant = controlling and argumentative

Question 90

attachment on later childhood

Answer 90

attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood

secure - form best quality childhood friendships

insecure - have friendship difficulties

bullying:

Wilson and Smith

questionnaire - 196 children aged 7-11

secure - unlikely to be involved in bullying

insecure - avoidant - most likely to be victims

insecure - resistant - most likely to be bullies

Question 91

attachment on adulthood: McCarthy

Answer 91

40 adult women who had been assessed as infants

securely attached = best romantic and friendships

insecure resistant = struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships

Question 92

attachment on adulthood: Shaver and Hazen

Answer 92

analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’

3 sections:

1. assessed current/ most important relationship
2. assessed general love experiences
3. assessed attachment type

findings

56% = secure = most likely to have longer and good relationships

25% insecure - avoidant = tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy

19% insecure - resistant

suggests patterns of attachment behaviour

Question 93

attachment on adulthood: parenting

Answer 93

internal working models also affect the childs ability to parent their own children

Bailey

99 mothers

attachments to their infants and mothers

using strange situation and adult attachment interview

majority of women had the same attachment classification to both

Question 94

attachment on later relationships evaluation: mixed evidence

Answer 94

for continuity of attachment type

for:

McCarthy

support continuity

against:

Zimmerman

assessed infant attachment and adolescent attachment

found very little relationship between quality of infant and adolescent attachment

Question 95

attachment on later relationships evaluation: validity issues

Answer 95

studies of attachment to primary caregiver and other significant people dot make sure of strange situation

use interviews or questionnaires years later = validity problems

self-report techniques = depend on honesty and realistic views = limited validity

retrospective evaluation of attachment = relies on accurate recall

Question 96

attachment on later relationships evaluation: association DOES NOT = causation

Answer 96

attachment type is ASSOCIATED with the quality of later relationships

there are alternative explanations

environmental factors - parenting style, child temperament