Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

what is meant by institutionalisation

A

refers to the effects of living outside of the family/family home in an ‘institution’
-an ‘institution’ could be a hospital or orphanage etc where children live for continuous periods of time

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2
Q

what can institutionalisation lead to

A

social, mental and physical underdevelopment

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3
Q

Describe the aim of rutters English and Romanian Adoptee study (ERA)

A

to investigate to what extent a loving and nurturing care could make up for poor early expereinces in institutions

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4
Q

how many orphans, conditions, compared to, what was assessed

describe the procedure of Rutters ERA study

A

-longitudinal natural experiment which followed 165 romanian orphans adopted in britain
-three conditions :
1. adopted before the age of 6 months
2. adopted between 6 months and 2 years
3. adopted after two years
-information was gathered at ages 4,6, 11 and 15 years to asses their physical, cognitive and emotional development
-gathered via interviews with parents and teachers and progress was compared to a control group of 562 british adoptees adopted before 6 months

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5
Q

IQs at age 11, when they first arrived

Describe the results and findings of rutters ERA study (intellectual delay as an effect of institutionalisation)

A

-when the adoptees first arrived in the uk around half showed signs of intellectual delay however by age 4 most of those adopted before 6 months had caught up to british counter parts
At age 11:
IQ of those adopted before 6 months = 102
-those adopted between 6 months and two years = 86
-adopted after 2 years = 77

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6
Q

What did rutter conclude about intellectual delay and disinhibited attachment as an effect of institutionalisation

A

appears that damage to intellectual development can be recovered provided adoption takes place before the age of 6 months (the age at which attachment forms)
-children can recover from institutionalisation if they receive good quality care
-removal from institutions should occur before 6 months

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7
Q

explain disinhibited attachment as an effect of institutionalisation from Rutters ERA study

characteristics, why this occurs

A

-those adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment such as: attention seeking, clinginess, friendliness to any available adult, equal treatment to all adults, tendency to go off with strangers
-rutter explained this attachment style as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period, as these poor quality institutions may have had 50 caregivers
-no secure attachment formed due to inconsistency within caregivers

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8
Q

Describe the Bucharest early intervention project (romanion orphan studies)

type of study, aim, conditions

A

-longitudinal study of 36 orphans adopted to families in canada.
-aimed to investigate the physical effects of institutionalisation as previous research had sggested that lack of emotional care could cause deprivation dwarfism
-the orphans were compared to two matched control groups:
control 1. canadian born non-adopted children
control 2. early adopted romanion children without institional experience

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9
Q

evaluate the practical applications of romanian orphan studies

A

-enhanced our understanding into the effects of institutionalisation
-led to improvements within institutions e.g orphanages/childrens homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child, instead have only one or two people who play a central role to the child = ‘key worker’
-having a ‘key worker’ increases childrens chances of developing a normal attachment and help avoid disinhibited attachment
-increases the value of these studies

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10
Q

evaluate using longitudinal studies when studying the effects of institutionalisation

A

strength: research strengthens the argument that recovery is possible even after sever privation, if a loving environment is provided
-demonstrates with sufficient time and early intervention that damage is reversible
-results are real so researchers haven’t just guessed what the long term effects will be
limit; ‘subject attrition’ - where participants drop out of the study
-particular kinds of participants are more likely to drop out. such as those less well adjusted
-this can result in a bias sample being studied and findings are alot harder to generalise

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11
Q

evaluate the population validity of Romanian orphan studies

A

-limited as Romanian orphans were not typical
-orphanages had such extreme depriving environments
-had particular low standards of care, low level of intellectual stimulation
-these extreme experiences of ONLY Romanian orphans make results extremely hard to generalise due to unusual situational variables
-this questions population validity

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12
Q

evalauate a limitation of Rutters ERA study

A

-children were not randomly assigned to conditions and the researcher had no intervention in the adoption process
-those adopted earlier may have been because the individuals were more sociable - a cofounding variable
-however there would be no way to manipulate the IV (allocating children to foster care or institutional care due to the huge ethical implications, although it would be methodologically better
-highlights importance of ethical consideration

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13
Q

describe and explain the role of the internal working model on childhood and adult relationships

A

internal working model is a mental representation of a child’s first relationship with the primary attachment figure, which then acts as a template for future attachment
-resembles a schema
-provides bias for forming expectations about relationships and own success as a parent

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14
Q

what research has been done into the effect of early relationships on childhood relationships

A

(Smith) investigated the IWM and association between early attachment and participation in bullying behaviour
Procedure
-196 7-11 year olds
-assessed for attachment type and quality of relationship with parents (separation anxiety test and parenting styles questionnaire) and then separated into attachment types
-involvement in bullying assessed through ‘participant roles scale’ where child identifies peers as victim, bully or being involved in bullying

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15
Q

discuss the findings from research into childhood relationships

A

-secure = very unlikely to be involved in bullying
-insecure avoidant = most likely to be victims of bullying
-insecure resistant= most likely to be rated by their peers as bullies

findings support the continuity hypothesis (Bowlby) suggesting a link between early attachment and quality of peer relationships
-attachment types predict some of the most negative peer interactions

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16
Q

what research has been done into the effects of early attachment on adult relationships

A

Hazan investigated IWM and whether early attachment style would be reflected in adult romantic relationships
Procedure:
-analysed 620 responses from a ‘love quiz’ posted in newspaper (205 M 415F)
-questionnaire assessed current attachment type through respondents choosing one of three statements best describing there romantic relationship (relating to secure/insecure avoidant/insecure resistant)
-asked to complete checklist describing childhood relationships with parents

17
Q

discuss results of research into adult relationships

A

prevalence of attachment types
-56% = secure
positive IWM, relationships were happy friendly and trusting, longer lasting, not divorced
-25%= insecure avoidant
more doubtful, maintained that they did not need love to be happy
-19% = insecure resistant
tend to fall in love easily, demonstrated jealousy, trust issues surrounding abandonment

found a correlation between attachment style and degree of sensitivity shown by mothers (based on memory)

Conclusion
-early patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in adult romantic relationships supporting continuity hypothesis

18
Q

evaluate supporting evidence for the IWM forming mental representation for later relationships

A

Simpson longitudinal study
-assessed attachment type and one years old and then continued to gather data through interviews and questionnaires up to the age of 20-23
-those more securely attached were rated as:
-higher social competence as kids
-closer to friends at 16
-more expressive and emotionally attached to romantic partners

supports view that attachment does predict childhood and adult relationships

19
Q

evaluate contradictory evidence about the impact of IWM on early and later relationships

A

Zimmerman’s longitudinal study
-results showed that life events often altered attachment types from secure to insecure in adulthood
-life events such as loss of a parent, parental divorce, life threatening illness of parent or child
-44% of infants who had experienced a negative life event changed attachment classification from infancy to adulthood
-evidence that positive or negative environmental changes can improve/compromise attachment type so the continuity hypothesis may not always hold true
-can question validity of early attachment as a predictor for later relationships

20
Q

evaluate a limitation of linking the IWM and later relationships through correlation

A

-can not claim or establish cause and effect
-temperament hypothesis is an alternate to the continuity and suggests that infants are born friendly and this leads to secure attachment
-suggests that later relationships are not due to early attachment rather the child’s own innate temperament
-limitation to counter Bowbly’s view

21
Q

evaluate the research into the effects of IWM into later relationships as deterministic

A

-suggests early attachment has a fixed effect on later relationships
-those insecurely attached at age one are doomed to experience emotionally unsatisfactory relationships
-plenty of instances where this is not the case
-research shouldnt suggest past determines future but it may put them at greater risk
-

22
Q

what is Bowlbys theory of material deprivation

A

-an explanation of what will happen in the absence a ‘mother figure’
-suggested that if an infant is unable to develop a warm intimate continuous relationship with their mother they will have difficulty forming relationships
-risks of behaviour disorders
-emotional care was seen as important as physical care

23
Q

what does bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation state about the critical period

A

-first two and a half years for psychological development
-if a child is deprived of emotional care due to prolonged or frequent separation then psychological damage is inevitable (law of accumulated separation)
-continued risk up until age 5 (sensitive period)

24
Q

what did bowlby suggest the risks of maternal deprivation were

A

-long term effects to intellectual and emotional development
-intellectual delay characterised by abnormally low IQ
-

25
Q

What is affectionless psychopathy

A

-inability to feel guilt or other strong emotions for others
-lack of affection, guilt, empathy
-prevents development of normal relationships
-associated with criminality
-can not appreciate the feelings of victims and lack remorse for actions

26
Q

explain Bowlbys 44 theives study

A

-aimed to investigate the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation
-natural experiment in which he analysed the case histories of 88 patients who were all emotionally maladjusted
-44 had been accused of stealing = thieves
-44 non-criminals (control)
-all were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathology
-families interviewed to establish whether there was prolonged early separation from mothers

27
Q

discuss the findings from Bowblys 44 theives study

A
  • 14/44 theives described as affectionless psychopaths and 12/14 had experienced prolonged separation from mothers in early life
    -5/remaining 30 theives had experienced prolonged separation
    -control : 2/44 had experienced prolonged separation

concluded that prolonged maternal deprivation caused effectionless psychopathy and lack of continuous care may result in emotional maladjustment or psychological disorders

28
Q

evaluate the real world applications of research into maternal deprivation

A

-led to major changes to infant care in hospitals
-before parents were discouraged from visiting and professionals were only concerned with physical needs
-robertson filmed a 2 year old during an 8 day period she was in hospital
-was frequently distressed and begged to go home
-highlights positive implications of attachment research and childcare practices

29
Q

evaluate limitations of Bowlbys research and theory of maternal deprivation

A

-contradictory evidence, lewis replicated 44 theives study and found prolonged separation did not predict criminality/difficulty forming relationships
-researcher bias as bowlby conducted interviews and assessments himself which questions validity
-individual differences were not considered for example research has shown those securely attached coped better with separation whereas insecure become especially distressed

30
Q
A