attachment Flashcards
what is bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
Bowlby proposed that separation from the mother/mother substitute has a serious effect on psychological development
what is the definition of maternal deprivation?
the emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and his/her mother or mother substitute
what is the definition of maternal deprivation?
the emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and his/her mother or mother substitute
what is the difference between brief and extended separation?
•brief separations, particularly when there is a substitute caregiver, are not significant for development
•extended separations can lead to deprivation as the child has essentially lost an element of the mother’s care
what is the critical period for maternal deprivation?
Bowlby saw the first 30 months (2 and a half years) as a critical period for psychological development.
what happens to intellectual development if a child experiences maternal deprivation?
they would suffer delayed intellectual development, characterised by an abnormally low IQ
what study demonstrates delayed intellectual development in children that have experienced maternal deprivation?
Goldfarb followed up 30 orphaned children to 12 years old. Of the original sample, half had been fostered by 4 months and the other half were in an orphanage. At 12 their IG was assessed using the Stanford-Binet test. Found that the foster group had an average IQ of 96 whereas the group that remained in the orphanage averaged only 68.
what is attachment?
a close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
what 3 behaviours display an attachment?
•proximity
•separation distress
•secure-base behaviour
what is reciprocity?
a description of how two people interact. caregiver-infant interactions is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to each others signals and each elicits a response from each other
what did Feldman (2007) find about caregiver infant interactions?
from around 3 months caregiver-infant interaction tends to be increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each others verbal signals and facial expressions
what did Brazleton et al (1975) liken caregiver-infant interaction to?
described it as a “dance” because it is just like a couples dance where each partner responds to the others moves
what did Condon and Sander (1974) study and find?
studied reciprocity in infants. Analysed frame by frame recordings of infants’ movements whilst an adult was talking. Found that infants coordinated their actions in sequence with the adults speech to form a kind of turn-taking conversation.
what is interactional synchrony?
caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a coordinated way
what was Meltzoff and Moore’s study?
observed the beginnings of intersectional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old. An adult displayed an expression or gesture and the babies expression or gesture was more likely to mirror the adults than chance would predict
what was Isabella et al’s (1989) study?
observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the synchrony. Found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment
what are limitations of researching caregiver-infant interactions?
•hard to know what is happening when observing infants and impossible for us to tell whether the imitation or turn taking that we see is deliberate or conscious. This means we do not fully know whether the behaviours we see in caregiver-infant interactions have a special meaning
•observations also do not tell us the purpose of interactional synchrony or reciprocity. Feldman (2012) argues they simple describe the behaviours but do not tell us their purpose. Psychologists want to know why behaviours are occurring not just describe them, which may limit the impact of research in this area
•research into this area can be socially sensitive. If mothers return to work shortly after a child is born it restricts the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony. Could suggest children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices and may make some women feel guilty
what did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) find about fathers as a “secondary attachment”?
most babies attach to their mothers first, at around 7 months. In only 3% of cases was the father the first sole object of attachment. In 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother .
•in 75% of the infants studied an attachment was formed with the father by 18 months. This suggests that most fathers go on to become an important attachment figure
what did Grossman (2002) find about the distinctive role of the father?
he carried out a longitudinal study looking at both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachment in their teens. Quality of infant attachment with mothers, but not fathers, was related to attachments in adolescents, suggesting that father attachment was less important than mothers
what did Grossman think the role of the father was?
a play mate- more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing and emotional development
Who researched fathers as primary carers?
Field- filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers. These behaviours are all part of interactional synchrony and reciprocity which is part of attachment formation.This appears to show that fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary attachment figure if required. Suggests that the key to attachment is level of responsiveness and not gender of the parent
what are limitations on the research into the role of fathers?
•there are inconsistent findings on the role of fathers because different researchers are interested in different questions.
•if fathers have a distinct role we would expect those without them to be different, but they are not. Grossman’s study suggests that fathers have a distinct role in play however other studies such as MacCallum and Golombok (2004) have found that children growing up in single or same-sex families do not develop any differently. This suggests Grossman’s findings that the father has a unique role in child development are not supported.
what are strengths of the role of the father?
•research in this area could have benefits for fathers aiming to be granted joint or full custody of their children. Research suggesting that fathers have a unique role or that they can be just as nurturing if they take on the role of primary caregiver highlights the importance of a paternal relationship.This shows research has important implications.
•research into the role of fathers can be used to offer advice to parents. Parents sometimes agonise about decisions about who should take on the primary caregiver role.
what was Schaffer and Emerson’s key study (1964)?
to investigate the formation of early attachments in particular the age at which they developed their emotional intensity and to whom the emotions were directed
what was Schaffer and Emerson’s method?
•60 Glaswegian babies
•babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months
•researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday separations- this was designed to measure the infant’s attachment
what are the strengths of the research on caregiver-infant interactions?
•reliability is high
•generally well controlled procedures and often involve being recorded
•videos can be watched again (test-retest reliability and inter-observer reliability)
•increases both validity and reliability of the research
what was the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
•between 25 and 32 weeks about 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually the mother.This is called a specific attachment
•attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions- not necessarily who the infant spent the most time with
•by the age of 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments
what is stages of attachment?
a sequence of qualitatively different behaviours linked to specific ages all babies experience
what is the asocial stage?
•baby is recognising and forming bonds with its carers
•babies behaviour towards non-human objects and humans is quite similar
•babies show some preference for familiar adults
•babies are happier in the presence of other humans
what is the indiscriminate attachment stage?
•from 2-7 months babies display more observable social behaviour
•show a preference for people rather than inanimate objects
•recognise and prefer familiar adults
•usually accept comfort from any adult
•do not usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
•said to be indiscriminate because it is not different towards any one person
what is discriminate attachment?
•from 7 months the majority of babies start to:
•display anxiety towards strangers
•become anxious when separated from one particular adult (the biological mother in 65% of cases)
•have a specific attachment
what is multiple attachments?
•shortly after the specific attachment babies start to form multiple attachments to adults they regularly spend time with
•in Schaffer and Emerson’s study 29% of the children had secondary attachments within one month of forming a specific attachment
what are the strengths of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
•the use of simple behavioural measures (stranger and separation anxiety) allows researchers to scientifically study attachment development
what are the limitations of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
•problems studying the asocial stage- babies below 2 months have poor coordination and are generally immobile. Makes it difficult to make any judgements on them based on observations of their behaviour.
•mixed evidence on when babies develop multiple attachments. Bobby suggested they form one to a single carer first however researchers who have studied attachment in cultural contexts argue multiple attachments occur from the onset
who observed imprinting?
Lorenz
what was the aim of Lorenz’s study?
tested the idea of imprinting and how goslings attach to their caregivers
what was Lorenz’s procedure?
divided a clutch of goose eggs
half were hatched with their mother and other half in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz
what was the findings of Lorenz’s study?
•after hatching they proceeded to follow the first moving object they saw
•the incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere. Whereas, the control group followed their mother
•Lorenz marked the 2 groups and placed them together. They continued to do the same.
