Attachment Flashcards
-Who investigated stages of attachment
Schaffer and Emerson
4 stages of attachment
Asocial- first few weeks
Indiscriminate - 2-7 months
Specific- 7 moths
Multiple - 9-10 months
Describe each stage of attachment
Asocial- infant show innate behaviours to adults and inanimate objects
Indiscriminate- infants show pref to adults over objects and no stranger / sep anxiety
Specific- start forming attachments, show sep/stranger anxiety. 65% show attcahmnet w mother
Multiple- start to form attachments with other regular caregivers, Stranger anx decreases
What does Grossman suggest in the role of the father
Suggest that fathers are responsible for the QUALITY of attachment and mothers for the attachments in adolescence. Mothers atke up a more nurturing role whilst fathers for play and stimulation.
What does Field suggest in the role of the father
He concludes that gender is not important in formimg attachments with the infant but the level of responsiveness is.
What was Grossman’s experiment?
*longitudinal study
*looking at parents behaviour and its relationship to quality of childs attachmnet into teens.
What was Field’s experiment
*lab experiment
Sample:
*had primary caregiver mothers and fathers, and secondary caregiver fathers
Findings;
found that primary fathers and mothers were SMILING, IMITATING and holding infants more than secondary
What does Bowlby’s monotropic theory suggest
Suggests that attachment is evolutionary whilst the classical and operant conditioning explanation suggest that attachment is learnt.
Describe the elements to Bowlby’s monotropic theory- ASCMI
Adaptive- attachment is innitate system, INHERITED to IMPROVE survival
Social releasers- infants, smiling, crying acting cute triggers response of caregiver and enables intercation to take place.
Critical- if infants dont form attachment in 2,5 years of life, theyll never be able to.
Monotropy- most important, suggests that its mothers, doesnt need to be biological
Internal Working Model- mental represantion of how relationships are meant to be like based on attachment w caregiver.
What are the 2 laws within the element of monotropy and what do they suggest
Law of accumlated seperation- if caregiver is away from infant for too long it can cause poor quality attachment.
Law of continuity- attachment is better if CONSITENT and PREDICTABLE care
Describe Harlow’s experiment and findings into animal studies
*controlled experiment
*16 rhesus monkys seperated from mothers and placed in cages
*cloth mothers (comfort), wire (food)
*scared them with loud noises and a monster to see what mother theyd go to which was cloth.
*spent more hours w cloth- 17-18 hrs
Found later that the monkeys had emotional damage, and were prone to getting bullied and less likely to mate. If they did mate they were INADEQUATE mothers and abuse children
Describe Lorenz’s experiment and findings
*12 goslings
half of them were placed in an incubator, other with their mother, Those in incubator first moving thning they saw was Lorenx whilst for the others it was their mother.
After he mixed them uip and observed who they followed. Found that the goslings imprinted on Lorenz and followed him everywhere. Critical period is 12-17 hrs.
Goslings that imprinted ion humans try to later on mate with them
What is classical conditioning
Suggest that babies attach due to stimulus, association and response
When a feeder is feeding a child what are are the stimuleses?
Milk- unconditional stimulus that get san unconditional response of pleasure from the baby
Feeder- neutral stimulus- thru repoition baby associates them w pleasure and food
Feeder then turns into conditioned stimulus because baby knows thell get feed when they see them, leads to conditioned reponse of pleasure
What is maternal deprivation?
*prolonged loss of emotional care from a mother figure, without substitute of care it can have serious long term issues.
Negative effects of MD
*emotional damage- affectionless psychopathy in which individual finds it hard to feel guilty or any strong emotions to others, no empathy towards victims, not able to form relationships and associated w criminality
intellectual damage- low IQ (Goldfarb low IQ if remained in institution than those fostered- emotional care)
Define attachement
*emotional link between caregiver and infant
*each seek closeness and feel secure in the presence of attachment figure
*responsiveness opf caregiver to infants signals has a deep effect on the child
Define reciprocity
*two-way mutual conversation between caregiver and infant to sustain a conversation.
*behaviours ellicit a response from both parties
Define interactional synchrony
*caregiver and infant respond in time to keep communication going. for example infant smiles and acregiver smiles at the same time.
Describe Meltzoff and Moores experiment
*controlled experiment
*with 40 2 week old infants
*researcher showed facial expressions like poutring tongue
*childs response was filmed and investigated by a independent researcher.
What was found in Meltzoff and Moores experiment?
Link was found between the facial expression of the adult and the response of the infant.
Outline Schaffers and Emersons study into the stages of attachment
*longitudinal study with 60 working class babies and their mothers from glasgow
*infantys were visited every month for first year of infants life and then 18 months
*observations and interwievs were used
*measured stranger anxiety by researched starting home visit by approaching infant
*meausred sep anxiety- leaving infant in the room alone or asking mother how infant reacts
*asked mothers who trhe infant would smile at etc.
Influence of the internal working model on childhood relations
*secure attachment- more quality relationships w peers
*insecure attcahments- difficulty making friends
Smith et al- insecure avoidant- most likely to be victims of bullying, resistant likely to be bully
What research was conducted on the impact of the internal working model on the influence of adult relatioships?
*Hazen and Shaver- Love quiz questionnaire- printed in newspapers 620 reponses- high pop
asked questions on current romantic beliefs
Found:
+56%- securely attached- positive and longer lasting relationships.
*25%- insecure- av as children- feelings of jealoust and feared intimacy
*19%- insecure- res- fear being abandoned, too much pressure on partner
Outline Ainsworths Stranger Situation
*100 middle class american infants and mothers
*controlled ob
AIM- assess strength/security of an attach betyween infant and caregiver
Procedure- 7 eps- 3 mins:
1) parents enters room w child, child explores
2)stranger enters tried to interact w child- measure sr anxiety
3)parent leaves w stranger- measure sr and sp anxiety
4) parent returns, stranger leaves- measure reunion behaviour
5)parent leaves child alone- sep anxiety
6)stranger returns- sr anxiety
7) parent returns, stranger leaves
Findings of Ainsworths Strange Situation
*secure attachment;
*expores enviro- mother secure base
*upset when mother leaves
*avoidant of stranger- friendly when mum present
*happy when mother returns
*insecure- avoidant- unresponsive
*explores
*unconcerned by mother laving
*unconcerned often avoidant of mother and stranger
*unresponsive when returns
*insecure-resistant- inconsistent
*low willing to explore
*intensly distressed when mother leaves
*extreme fear of stranger
*clinginess mixed w rejection on return
insecure res is caused by what type of caregiver
inconsistent
insecure avoidant is caused by what type of caregiver
unresponsive
Outline Cultural variations into attachemnt
*Van Ijzerdoon= 32 studies, 8 countries, 2000 children, meta analysis
*18 studies conducted in the USA
*conducted:
*Germany, Israel, UK, Holland, Sweden
*China, Japan
Findings:
*insecure- av most dominant in west cultures
*most common was secure- lowest per in china, highest in Britain
*insecxure- res most dominant in non-west except china
*150% variation within cultures than between
Whats one example that shows that variation within cultures was 150% greater
One study found that 46% secure, compsred to other that was 90% within states
What did Takahashi find for the variations of attachment?
*replicated stranger situations w 60 middle class japanese infants and mothers using same behavioural categories and procedure
*68%- secure
*32% insecure resistant
tEffects of Institutionalisation
*reactive attachemnt- child unable to trust/ love others, isolated, very selfish, unable to understand needs of others, lack remorse
*disinhibted attachment- children select attach figures very indiscriminately, over familiarity w strangers
*cog imparremnet- low IQ, problems w conc, diff in learning new concepts and behaviours
*attention seeking- Zeenah et Al
What the cause of reactive attachment
lack of sensitive responsiveness from a parent
Why is disinhibited attachment abnormal and how is it caused
- as usually, young kids shows stranger anxiety
*caused by long periods of insti care, children adapted to having multiple caregivers
Rutter’s study into effects of insti
aim- investigate if love and nurturing care could overturn effects
*longitudinal study- physical, emotional, cog developmemt assesed at 4,6, 11, 15
Sample: 111 romanian orphans adopted into british fams
3 groups:
*adopted BEFORE 6 months
*adopted BETWEEN 6m- 2 years
*adopted AFTER 2 years
compared to control group of 52 british adopted children.
Findings;
*when first arrived- 50% showed signs of cog imparement
*4 years old- good recovery, adopted before 6 months doing weel as british adopted.
*sdopted after 2 years higher levels of disinhibited attachment
*age 11- adopted after 2 years- mean IQ lower than adopted BEFORE 6m who had normal IQ
What was the conclusion for Rutter’s exp
*neg effects can be overcome by sensitive, nurturing care, so more if adoptive is earlier
Research to support effects of insti by Zeanah et Al
*compared 95 romanian orphans aged betwwen 12-31 months, spent 90% of lives in institution, gto control gtp of normal romanian children
*attcahment type asses using strange situation
Findings:
*44% of insti children showed dis attachemnt, compared >20% of control grp
What does attachment mean
*emotional link between caregiver and infant
*both seek closeness and infant feels more secure with attachment figure
*level of caregivers responsivness to signals has deep effect on infant
16m into caregiver interactions
AO1:
-define attachment
theres 2 types of caregiver intercations, one is interactional synchrony. Interactional synch refers to infants and caregivers reposnding to signals at the same time to keep conversation going for example, the caregiver smiling and the infant smiling back. Meltzoff and Moore conducted a controlled observation viewing 40 2 week old infants, in which the researcher showed facial expressions like poutruding tongue and recorded the infants response. Using an indepndent observer they found that the was a link between infants facial expressions and researchers.
Another type of interaction is reciprocity refers to a two- way mutual process between the infant and caregiver in which gthey both take turns to respond to their signals. Brzelton et al describes this process as a dance as both infants and caregiver takes time to inititate a conversation.
AO3;
Strengths:
P- often filmed observations in a laboratory so high control over extraneous variables.
E- control minimizes distractions and allows for meticulous observation, reducing the likelihood of missing any crucial details. Multiple observers can also record data, ensuring the study’s inter-rater reliability and mitigating observer bias. Moreover, since babies are unaware of being observed, their behaviour remains unaffected, eliminating concerns regarding overt observation.
L- Consequently, this methodology ensures high internal validity and reliable data collection in such research.
Limitations:
P- critics argue that its prone to bias
E- infants cant speak and we dont know wther theyre actions are meaningful as infants as young as 2 weeks old have little motor coordination.
E- this means that inferences must then be drawn about their behaviour, this means that a psychologist may interpret their bhaviour in a way that supports their hypothesis, for eg infant may have wind but psych may infer as smile.
L- this therefore reduces the internal validity of research into caregiver interactions.
Discuss: however the observer was an indepndent observer- means that less prone to rs bias.
P- lacks eolocical valifity
E- rs was conducted in a controlled environments such as controlled observation in which caregiver interaction is filmed.
E- diff to generalise as infants bheaviour may be different than normal due to being in an unfamiliar environment, when goes back to nat environment like home, they may interact with parent more.
L- therefore lowers the external validity of rs into caregiver interactions . However could say that because oinfant is too young may not notice chnage in environment
16 m into stages of attachment
Support:
P- strength- rs conducted longitudinally meaning that observations where repeated over long period of time with the same children.
E- strength as rs doesnt have confounding variable of individual differences between children for eg a child’s natural temperament could influence how their attachment behaviors are perceived.
-If used a cross-sectional design (studying different children at different ages), these differences in temperament been mistaken for differences in attachment development.
L- therefore increasing the internal validity as it ensures that changes in attachment are genuinely due to development rather than pre-existing personality differences..
Limitations:
P- social desirabilty
E- interviews were used in which they asked mothers questions like who do they smile at etc
E- mothers couldve lied about their child behaviour to present their parenting in the best light for eg say theyre distressed when they leave the room even if theyre not s
o L- results may have lacked internal validity
P- cultural bias- ethoncentrism
E- sample were all from glasgow not able to gen findings
E- rs studying non- western collectivist vultures were families oftrn work together to look after a child found that infants can form mult attachments from outset w/o forming specific attachemnt first.
L- limits external validity of rs as formation of attachments may differ between cultures
Evaluate role of the father
Support:
P=+- can be praised for practical applications
E- as findings of Fields research that responsiveness tro childs needs, npt gender is most important when forming attachments, has been used to change policies and allowed Shared Parental leave. aloows mothers and fathers to share leave from work to care for their child within 1st year of life.
E- very useful in families where father wants to take role of PCG and mother wants to return bavk to work.
L- therefore rs into role of father is important.
P- one strength to support Grossman’s theory that the mothers role into attachment is more important is the biological basis.
E- women have have high levels of oestrogen, a hormone associated with nurturing and care, whilst men produce more testorterone which is linked with dominance, aggression, and less emotional responsiveness.
E- this shows that women may have been biologically predisposed to be the role of the primary attachment figure for children.
L- therefore supporting Grossman’s suggestion that the womans role is more important due to impacting the child’s attachment in adolescence. However socially sensitive, suggesting that men are biologically less capable of nurturing due to higher testosterone levels may lead to the belief that fathers are naturally less competent caregivers. can be damaging, as it may discourage men from taking active parenting roles or make them feel that they cannot provide the same emotional support as mothers. It may also reinforce gender stereotypes and negatively influence custody decisions in court.
L – Therefore, limiting the appropiatness of exp.
Limitations:
P- Rs to contradict Grossman’s findingswas conducted by MaCallum and Gollombok.
E- they gave single mother and lesbian- parent families questionnares and interviewed them to asses the cog and social development in their children .
E- they found that children raised by single mother and lesbian parent families didnt develop any diffrently to the children raised by a 2 parent heterosexual familly.L- therefore supporting Field/ contradicting Grossmans findings.
Discussion: however it could be argued that parents in sin mother or lesbian parent families adapt to accomodate the role played by fathers, suggesting when father present they do adapt to disctinctive role.
Evaluate Lorenz
Support;
P- strength- prac apps
E- because principles of rs that goslings had to imprint within 12-17hrs otherwise would not imprint at all and the fact that goslings who imprint on to humans later show sexual behavipur towards humans when adult birds, shows importance of critical period in attachmnet for future relatioships.
E- psych can use this info in order to promote the importance of early interactions between parents and infants, to reduce issues in later life.
L- therefore important part of applied psych.
Limitations:
P- criyicised for animal bias as conducted on goslimgs to investigate attachment
E-problem cause human behaviour is more complex than animal as human emtions and cognitive processes are more sophisticated towards their children compared to birds.
E- for eg attachment in humans 2 way process as its not just the offspring who become attached but also mothers shpw emotional attachmnet.
L- issues in extrapolating findings of Lorenz rs into attachmnet to humans, therefore limiting extent to which can be used to explain human attachments.
P- rs bias.
E- recorded own observations- may have chosen findings that support his theory of imprinting and ignore findings such as goslings that didnt imprint on him.
L -therfore lowering int validity as may not be measuring effects.
Evaluate Harlow
Support:
P – practical applications.
E – The findings highlighted the importance of emotional care in attachment, as the monkeys preferred comfort from the cloth mother over food from the wire one.
E – This led to improvements in childcare practices, such as encouraging consistent emotional support in orphanages, foster care, and hospitals, where emotional bonds are now recognised as essential for healthy development.
L – Therefore, Harlow’s research has made a positive contribution to society, especially in the fields of social work and childcare, by promoting the importance of emotional nurturing.
Limitations:
P- criyicised for animal bias as conducted on goslimgs to investigate attachment
E-problem cause human behaviour is more complex than animal as human emtions and cognitive processes are more sophisticated towards their children compared to monkeys
L- issues in extrapolating findings of Harlows rs into attachmnet to humans, therefore limiting extent to which can be used to explain human attachments.
P- ethical issues
E- as a result of his procedures, like scaring the monkeys with a louid noise, scary mascot, lead to emotional damage, leading to a decrease in the qual of life due to being more suceptible to bullying, and having diff mating.
L- therfore limiting his rs into attach for animals.
However Harlow argued that the findings outweighed the psychological distress caused to monkeys, as before his rs ppl believed that attachment was due to food rather than emotional care, leading to his findings having a grand impact on society.
What does operant conditioning suggest in formation of attachments
*positive reinforcements- behaviour is rewarded and then repeated to receive same reward- for eg child crying, getting food, behaviour is positively reinforced to get reward of food.
*negatively reinforcemnet- doing something to get rid of neg consequence- mother feeding children to stop them crying
What does the overall learning theory of attachemnt suggest
*infants attach feeder
Evaluate the learning theory of attachment
Limitations:
P- rs to contradict by Harlow
E- harlow conducted exp investigating whether food or comfort more important in forming attachments and found that monkeys spent around 17-18hrs with cloth mother than milk. Same must be true for humans as learning theorists believe that humans and non are equal.
E- shows that comfort is the most important factor in forming attach rather tha food.
L- therefore contradicting theory.
P- Schaffer and Emerson
E- found that infants were msot likely to fotm and attachment with mother whether or not she was the feeder as attach was due to responding to infants signals and int with them. Also Field showed that best qual attach is with caregivers that responsive and senstitive to infants needs- beyond feeding infant.
L- thefrore limiting as shows that infant doesnt appear to be the most important factor.
P- environmental reductionism
E- reduces complex human bheaviour into simple basic units of learning thru stim, response and association. Neglects holistic approach- takes acc persons culture and social context would influ and explain attach.
E- eg in collectivist cultures where fam work together to look after children, children may form multiple attach from outset not just w who feeds them.
L- therefore may lack validity
Evaluate monotropic theory
Support:
P-RS to support monotropic theory and the concept of the internal working model- Hazen and Shaver
E- conducted love quiz in which they studied peoples adult attach and their early childhood attach. Found that those w secure attach had happy long lasting relatioships in later life whereas insecure attach found hard to maintain relationships, many divorced.
E- supports IWM as shows that early infant attachments acted as template on how future relationships shpuld be like.
L- therefore increasing the validity of IWM
Limitations:
P- socially sensitive research.
E- Despite Bowlby not specifying that the primary attachment figure must be the mother, it often is (in 65% of cases).
E- Therefore, puts pressure on working mothers to delay return to work to ensure that their child develops a secure attachment. Any developmental abnormalities in terms of attachment are therefore blamed on the mother by default. L- idea of monotropy may stigmatise ‘poor mothers’ and pressure them to take responsibility.
P- Rs to contradict monotropic theory by Schafferand Emerson- found evidence to support that children have multiple attach.
E- found multiple attach may help children develop socially, emotionally and cognitively.
E- contradicts monotropy and idea that infants have one attach thus limiting.
Evalaute the stranger situation
Strengths:
*conducted in lab- high reliabilty able to do exp again due to standardised procedure of having 7 episodes, 3 minutes etc.
Limitations:
P- conducted with infants and their mothers
E- it neglects to consider the attachment types to other caregivers as it assumes that all mothers are PCG However according to Fields rs fathers can also be PCG.
E- therefore if the mother isnt the infants primary caregiver then the infant might show a diff attachment style than when with the actual PCG.
L- therefore mloweing the int validity.
P- imposed etic
E- based on american child rearing principles due to the sample only including 100 american infants and their mothers, and it ignores child rearing practices in other cultures.
E- for eg in germany its a common prasc for indep to be encouraged at a young age leading to insecu- av attachmenet hwich is more desribale in this culture.
L- therefore stranger sit may not be appropiate to measure attach types
Evalute the influence of early attachment on childhood and future relatiosnhips.
Support:
P- rs by harlow
E- explain procedure, had no early attachments. found that monkeys found it very diff mating and females were inadiquate mothers.
E- supports bcs shows thta having negative early attach can lead to negative relatiosnhips with partenrs and even own children.
Limitations:
P dterministic- according to the principles of theory behaviour in later relatiosnhips determined by early relationships
E- for eg neg attach will lead to person have neg attach children
E- however ngeletcs individuals free will as person can have choice to seek help thru therapy allowing a change in their behaviour leading to more positive attach in the future.
L- limits rs into early attach.
P- based on retrospective data
E- in Hazen and Shavers love quiz they studied person’s attach in childhood thru a questionnare nin which theyd have to think back to early attachments
E- this is a limitation as their recall cpuld be inaccurate due to schemas and therefore just saying what they thought happened.
L- this tyerefore lowers the int validity.
P: Hazan and Shaver’s- cultural bias.
E: st conducted in a Western, individualistic society (the USA), where romantic love is highly valued. In non-Western cultures, relations based more on family ties and community interdependence, rather than romantic love being the central focus.
E: Because Hazan and Shaver’s participants were mainly from a culture where romantic relationships are seen as crucial, their findings may not be applicable to collectivist cultures. In those cultures, attachment and relationship dynamics may not follow the same patterns as in individualistic ones, where romantic love plays a central role in adult relationships.
L: This cultural bias lowers the generalizability
