attachment

Question 1

definition of attachment

Answer 1

a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary care giver

Question 2

definition of reciprocity

Answer 2

a two way, mutual, infant led interaction between infant and caregiver

Question 3

definition of interactional synchrony

Answer 3

a coordinated interaction led by the infant between infant and caregiver (mirrored actions and emotions)

Question 4

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) stages of attachment

Answer 4

aim - To identify stages of attachment

procedure - longitudinal study in which 60 infants from Glasgow were analysed in their homes with family once a month for 12 months and then again at 18 months. their interactions were analysed, the carers were interviewed and the carers had a diary to track the infants behaviours.

findings - by 7-8 months, 50% of the babies showed separation anxiety towards mothers. by 10 months, 80% had a specific attachment and 30% had multiple.

conclusion - attachments develop through a series o stages

Question 5

AO3 of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment

Answer 5

strengths:
-longitudinal study
-ecological validity (done in a natural environment, reduces demand c)

weaknesses:
-lacks population validity (infants all came from Glasgow and possibly working class families)
-asocial stage cant be studied as objectively (infants as young as 6 months lack basic motor skills, we cannot interpret their separation anxiety as deliberate)
-lacks internal validity (uses self-report technique therefore the accuracy of the data collection may not be the best)

Question 6

4 stages of attachment

Answer 6

1) asocial stage - 6 weeks, infant has no discrimination between humans and objects but responds more to faces and eyes
2) indiscriminate stage - 6 weeks - 6 months, no fear of strangers, can be comforted by anyone, begin to bond with familiar adults
3) specific stage - 7 months, separation anxiety, distress in the company of strangers, prefers one particular carer
4) multiple stage - 10 months, attachment to primary caregiver grows, seeks security comfort and protection in multiple people

Question 7

role of the father - Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 7

75% of the infants formed a secondary attachment to their father by 18 months
29% did so within a month of forming a primary attachment
suggests the fathers role is important, but they’re unlikely to be the primary attachment formed.

Question 8

role of the father - Field

Answer 8

She observed interactions between infants and their primary caregiver mothers or fathers, and found that primary caregivers, regardless of gender, were more attentive towards the infant and spent more time holding and smiling at them. This suggests that although mothers are often expected to become primary attachment figures, this does not always have to be the case

Question 9

animal studies - Harlow (1958)

Answer 9

aim - to investigate the cupboard love theory

procedure - longitudinal study over a period of 165 days with 8 rhesus monkeys. they were placed in cages where there were 2 surrogate mothers present one providing food but no comfort and the other comfort but no food.

findings - when the monkeys were scared with a noisy mechanical object they always ran to the surrogate mother that provided comfort.

conclusion - attachment is more concerned with warmth and emotional security than food. early deprivation causes irreversible damage

Question 10

AO3 of Harlow’s study

Answer 10

strengths:
-longitudinal study
-real world application (social workers now know it is important for babies to be adopted quickly as possible in order for them to form an attachment)

weaknesses:
-generalisability (difficult for humans to be compared to animals, attachment in humans may differ)
-reliability, this cannot be repeated therefore making it unreliable

Question 11

animal studies - Lorenz (1952)

Answer 11

aim - to investigate how attachments form in geese

procedure - 12 geese eggs, 6 for control group with mum and 6 placed in incubator until hatched. when they hatched Lorenz was the first moving thing they saw. he imitated geese quacking noises to trick the gozzlings into believing he was the mother.

findings - gozzlings imprinted onto Lorenz, followed him to provide food and their critical period is 12-17 hours

conclusion - once imprinting has occurred it cannot be reversed, nor can a gozzling imprint on anything else.

Question 12

AO3 of Lorenz’s study

Answer 12

strengths :
-successfully identified critical period in animals

weaknesses :
-researcher bias

Question 13

Bowlby’s learning theory

Answer 13

-maternal deprivation before the age of 5 for 6 months or more can affect your cognitive and emotional development
-could have increased aggression possibly leading affectionless psychopathy
-reduced intelligence

Question 14

Bowlby 44 thieves study

Answer 14

aim : investigate long-term effects of maternal deprivation on people to see if delinquents suffer it

procedure : opportunity sample 88 children, 44 control group and 44 for experimental group. they were asked to take IQ tests and the social workers asked to make reports.

findings : 32% shows affectionless psychopathy

Question 15

Bowlby’s monotropic theory

Answer 15

So : social releasers - crying and looking cute
M : monotropy - forming one special attachment with mother
A : adaptive advantage - attachments enable us to adapt to our environment e.g. learning to walk
G : good quality care - mothers are responsive to the child’s needs
I : internal working model - first attachment forms a template for future relationships
C : critical period - babies must form an attachment within the first 12 months otherwise they are damaged socially, emotionally and intellectually

Question 16

Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 16

aim : to observe 10 infants ages between 9-18 months and assess them for the quality of their attachments

procedure : 8 stages
1) mother and child enter
2) child is encouraged to explore by the mother
3) stranger enters and attempts to interact with the child
4) mother leaves, just stranger and child
5) mother enters and stranger leaves
6) mother leaves
7) stranger returns
8) mother returns and interacts with child

findings : 70% secure
15% insecure avoidant
15% insecure resistant

conclusion : the way the mother acts towards the child and the child’s needs will have an impact on the child’s behaviour

Question 17

AO3 of Strange situation

Answer 17

strengths : easy to replicate
-gives clear insight into attachments in infants
-lamb said it was the best study to look into attachments

weaknesses : Solomon and Main argued putting infants into 3 categories is reductionist, they created a fourth (disorganised attachment)
ethnocentric - cross cultural research suggests this study uses western values to judge attachment types
validity - laboratory settings were unfamiliar which leaves room for demand characteristics

Question 18

types of attachment

Answer 18

secure - uses mother as secure base, moderate distress when separated from mother, won’t interact with stranger, joy upon reunion with mother

insecure resistant - intense distress when separated from mother, alternated between seeking closeness and wanting distance, not easily comforted when mother returns as was angry at her

insecure avoidant - shows willingness to explore, no interest when separated from mother and will happily play with strangers, ignores mother after separation

Question 19

Cultural Variations

Answer 19

collectivist culture - one that emphasises family and work goals above individual needs, high degree of dependence on people

individualistic culture - emphasises personal independence and achievement at the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition

Question 20

Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)

Answer 20

aim : to investigate how attachment types vary across cultures

procedures : completed a meta-analysis on 32 studies using Ainsworth’s strange situation of over 1990 babies. attachment types both within and between different cultures was studied.

findings : secure attachment was most common in all countries.

variation within cultures was 1.5 times greater than variations between cultures

England had the most secure, Germany had the most insecure avoidant and Israel had the most insecure resistant.

conclusion : caregiver and infant interactions were similar around the world with some intra-cultural variation

Question 21

AO3 of Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg

Answer 21

strengths :
large sample size - this significantly developed our understanding of different child rearing practices around the world
meta analysis - more evidence based data
longitudinal - more valid data

weaknesses :
different sample sizes - 18 out of the 32 studies were from the US and Japan had 2, distorts overall findings difficult to make true cultural comparisons
culture bound - biased due to only using American children, difficult to generalise

Question 22

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 22

if continuous care from a mother is absent from a child’s life for 6 months or longer before the age of two they could develop affectionless psychopathy, have low IQ and delayed intellectual development.

Question 23

AO3 of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation

Answer 23

strengths :
-44 thieves study - proof that time spent away from mother can cause cognitive issues

weaknesses:
-Czech twins were locked away in cupboard between ages 18 months to 7 years but were able to form attachment with new parents
-privation, Rutter argues Bowlby confused deprivation and privation (attachment was not there to begin with)

Question 24

Rutter

Romanian Orphanages research

Answer 24

aim : to investigate the effects of early institutional care and deprivation on later life development
procedure : 165 romanian infants, 58 adopted before 6m, 59 adopted betwwen 6m and 1y, 48 babies between 2-4, control group of 52 english children adopted at the same time.
physical, emotional and cognitive development was assessed at a variety of ages.
findings : all showed delaed intellectual development, at 11 the mean IQ score for those adopted before 6m was 102. those adopted between 6m and 1y the mean IQ score was 86. those adopted after 2 years had a mean IQ score of 77.
conclusion : those adopted after the age of 2 showed attachment style called disinhibited attachment, clingy and attention seeking. when children dont form attachments, the consequences are likely to be severe.

Question 25

AO3

AO3 of romanian orphanage study

3 strengths 2 weaknesses

Answer 25

strengths : confounding variables, high internal validity because these orphans did not suffer abuse beforehand like other studies
real world application, has led to improvements in how we care for looked after children
longitudinal, also makes the findings more reliable because it records any changes that could have happened over a long period of time
weaknesses : low ecological validity - the orphanages did not provide any intellectual stimulation for the orphans, which may have had a
larger impact on their intellectual development compared to maternal
deprivation as a single cause.
environmental factors - the study doesnt consider there may still be adverse affects for the children adopted before 6 months

Question 26

effects of institutionalisation compared to family led care

Answer 26

orphanage : no attachment figure, less sociable and less intelligent
family led care : strong emotional attachment, more sociable and more intelligent

Question 27

early attachment and later relationships

internal working model

Answer 27

a baby’s first attachment will form a template for their future relationships, if their first attachment was loving and secure they will form funtional relationships. however if they suffered abuse or neglect as a child, they may reject intimacy in adulthood.

Question 28

AO3

AO3 of early attachment and later relationships

Answer 28

strengths : Bailey - found most women had the same attahcment style with their children they had with their mothers.
weaknesses: causal relationship - just because there is a relationship between attachment type and later relationships does not mean one caused the other