Attachment Flashcards
What is attachment?
An enduring, two-way, emotional tie to a specific other person
What behaviours can be recognised as attachment?
• Proximity to primary caregiver: people try to stay
physically close to those whom which they are attached
• Separation distress: people are distressed when an
attachment figure leaves their presence and show pleasure
when they are reunited
• Stranger anxiety: distress in the presence of unknown
individuals
• Secure-base behaviour: even when we are independent
of our attachment figures we tend to make regular contact
with them
What are the 2 names caregiver-infant interactions that are named on the specification?
Interactional synchrony
Reciprocity
What is interactional synchrony?
The temporal co-ordination of micro-level
social behaviour
• E.g. baby moves her head in time with her mother
React in time with caregivers’ speech, resulting in a
‘conversation dance’
• Mirror each other in terms of facial and body movements
• It is believed that interactional synchrony is important for the
development of mother-infant attachment
What is reciprocity?
An interaction is reciprocal when each person responds to the other’s signal
and elicits a response – results in turn - taking
• It seems the baby is not passive but takes an active role
• Mother and child can initiate interaction and appear to
take turns in doing so
• Interactions between carers and infants result in mutual
behaviour – they flow back and forth
• This also helps to strengthen the attachment bond
what is the difference between interaction synchrony and reciprocity?
Interactional synchrony is when a caregiver and infant reflect the actions and emotions of the other in a coordinated (synchronised) way. They mirror each other in terms of their facial and bodily movements.
This is different to reciprocity as in reciprocity the responses aren’t necessarily similar
What is the caregiver-infant interaction of bodily contact?
•Physical interactions
between carer and infant
help form the attachment
bond
•Especially in the period
immediately after birth
What is the caregiver-infant interaction of caregiverese/mother eve?
•Adults who interact with infants use a
modified form of vocal language
•High-pitched, song-like, slow and repetitive
•This aids communication between carer and
infant
•Serves to strengthen the attachment bond
(however evidence is lacking to support this
idea)
What are 2 strengths of caregiver-infant interactions?
Controlled observations capture fine detail
• Observations of mother-infant interactions are generally wellcontrolled procedures, with both mother and infant being filmed from
multiple angles
• This ensures very fine details of behaviour can be recorded and later
analysed
• Babies don’t know or care they are being observed,
so their behaviour does not change in response to
controlled observation (generally a problem for
controlled observations)
• This research therefore has high validity
Condon and Sandler (1974)
• Analysed frame-by-frame video recordings of infants’
movements
• Found they co-ordinated their actions in sequence with
adults’ speech to form a kind of turn-taking conversation
• Supports the idea of interactional synchrony
What are 2 weaknesses of caregiver-infant interactions?
Observations don’t tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity
• Synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviours that occur at the same
time
• These are robust phenomena in the sense that they can be reliably observed
• This might not be useful as we don’t know their purpose
• However there is some evidence
that reciprocal interaction and
synchrony are helpful in the
development of mother-infant
attachment, empathy, language
and moral development
Socially sensitive research and economic implications: working mothers
Research into mother-infant interaction is socially sensitive because it
suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing
practices
• In particular, mothers who return to work shortly after a child is born
restricts the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony
• Interactional synchrony has been argued to be important in developing
infant-caregiver attachment
• The suggestion that mothers should not return to work too soon has
socially sensitive implications
• Research findings suggesting mothers should delay
their return to work could also have economic
implications – maternity cover needed, mother not
receiving wage, spending less in local economy etc
What are the Difficulties encountered when trying to investigate caregiver–infant interaction and how they might be addressed?
• Context affecting behaviour – research
could take place in a natural setting
• Observational bias (observer’s
interpretation) – use more than one
observer and compare results
• Babies have limited waking periods –
have shorter observation periods
• Ethics (ensure child/parent not affected
in any way) – protection from harm,
confidentiality, right to withdraw
What was the aim of Schaffer and Emmerson’s key study?
Aim:
• To investigate the process of how early developments formed
• To investigate whether there was a distinct pattern of formation, common
to all infants
• To identify and describe the distinct stages by which attachments form
Name some elements of method in the Schaffer and Emerson study.
- longitudinal study
- 60 newborn babies from a working-class area of Glasgow
- observations and interviews conducted
- attachment measured by separation protest and stranger anxiety
How did Schaffer and Emerson measure attachment?
Separation protest – assessed through several everyday situations e.g. infant left alone in
room, left alone with others, left in pram outside house, left in pram outside shops, left in cot at
night etc
• Stranger anxiety – assessed by the researcher starting each home visit by approaching the
infant to see if this distressed them
What were the findings of Schaffer and Emmerson’s study?
Most infants started to show separation protest when parted from their attachment
figure between 6-8 months
• Stranger anxiety was shown about a month later
• Strongly attached infants had mothers who responded to their needs quickly and
gave more opportunities for interaction
• Weakly attached infants had mothers who responded less quickly and gave fewer
opportunities for interaction
• Most infants went on to develop multiple attachments. At 18 months 87% had at
least two attachments
• Attachments to different people were of a similar nature -
infants behaving in a similar way to different attachment figures
What did Schaffer and Emmerson conclude from their study into attachment?
There is a pattern of attachment formation common to all infants – suggest
the process is biologically controlled
• Attachments are more easily made with those who display ‘sensitive
responsiveness’ (recognising and responding to an infant’s needs) rather
than those spending the most time with a child
• Multiple attachments are the norm and of similar qualit
What were the strengths of Schaffer and Emersons study?
Validity
The study was carried out longitudinally – same children were
followed-up and observed regularly.
Longitudinal designs have better internal validity – they don’t
have the confounding variables of participant variables
(differences between participants)
What are the weaknesses of Schaffer and Emmerson’s study?
Generalisability
The sample size of 60 babies and carers was good particularly as large
volume of data on each participant
• All families were from the same district and social class in the same city
at a time over 50 years ago is a limitation
• Child-rearing practices vary from one culture to another and one historic
period to another
• These results do not generalise well to other social
and historical contexts
Validity
Data collected by direct observation or self report from
mothers
• Both sources prone to bias and inaccuracy
what are the stages of attachment development?
1) pre-attachment/ asocial stage
2) indiscriminate stage
3) specific attachment
4) multiple attachments
When does the pre-attachment/asocial stage happen?
0-3 months
When does the indiscriminate attachment stage happen?
3-7/8 months
When does the specific attachment stage happen?
7/8 months onwards
When does the multiple attachments stage happen?
9 months onwards
What happens in the pre-attachment/ asocial stage?
Stage 1: Pre-attachment (or asocial) stage
• 0-3 months
• Baby learns to separate people from objects
• From 6 weeks, infants become attracted to other humans,
preferring them to objects
• This is demonstrated by them smiling at people’s faces
• Baby doesn’t have any strong preferences about who cares
for it
What happens in the indiscriminate attachment stage?
Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment
• 3 - 7 or 8 months
• Babies display more observable social behaviour
• Begin to discriminate between familiar and
unfamiliar people
• Smiling more at known people
• Babies usually still accept cuddles and comfort from any adult
• Do not usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
• Attachment behaviour is therefore indiscriminate – not
different towards any one person
What happens in the specific attachment stage?
• 7/8 months onwards
• Infants begin to develop a specific attachments
• Stay close to particular people, become distressed when
separated from them and happy when they return
• They avoid unfamiliar people and protest if strangers try to
handle them
• Baby has formed a specific attachment – this adult is termed
the primary attachment figure
• This person is not necessarily the person the child spends
most time with, but the one who offers the most interaction
and responds to baby’s ‘signals’ with most skil
What happens in the multiple attachments stages?
Stage 4: Multiple attachments
• 9 months onwards
• Infant extends attachment behaviour to multiple attachments
with other adults with whom they regularly spend time
• These relationships are called ‘secondary attachments’
• Strong emotional ties with other major caregivers, like grandparents, and other
non-caregivers, like other children
• Some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions e.g.
for play or comfort
• There doesn’t seem to be a limit to the number of attachments it can make
• By the age of one year, the majority of infants have developed multiple
attachments
• The fear of strangers weakens, but attachment to the mother figure remains
strongest
What are the weaknesses of the stages of attachment (3)?
Problem studying the asocial stage
• The first few weeks of life were described as the ‘asocial’ stage although
important interactions take place
• The problem is that babies at this age have poor coordination and are
immobile
• It is therefore difficult to make any judgements about them based on
observations of behaviour – there isn’t much observable behaviour
• This doesn’t mean the child’s feelings or cognitions are not highly social
• Evidence cannot be relied on
Carpenter (1975)
Presented infants with familiar and unfamiliar
voices and faces
• Sometimes face and voice would be of the same person and
sometimes not
• Found two week old babies looked at a face longest when it was the
mother’s accompanied by her voice
• They were distressed when it was the mother’s face with a different
voice
• Suggests babies can recognise and are attracted by their mothers from
an early age
• Contradicts Schaffer’s belief that initially babies were attracted to any
person interacting with them
Behavioural measures of attachment are too simplistic
Schaffer and Emerson were able to carry out a
scientific study of attachment development because
they used simple behaviours
• ‘stranger anxiety’ and ‘separation anxiety’ were used to
define attachment
• Some critics believe these are too crude as measures
of attachment
• There may be other factors and behaviours which
should have been taken into account
• This questions the validity of the stages – whether they
were truly measuring attachment
What type of role does the father have?
Less of a caregiver but more of a an exciting playmate
What happens when fathers take the role of the primary caregiver?
They adopt behaviours more typical of mothers
What did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) find about attachment to the father?
In 75% of infants an attachment was formed with the father by 18 months
What factors have been identified that affect the relationship between fathers and children?
Degree of sensitivity
Marital intimacy
Supportive co-parenting
What is the degree of sensitivity as a factor that effects the relationship between fathers and children?
More secure attachments found when fathers show more sensitivity to children’s needs
What is marital intimacy as a factor that effects the relationship between fathers and children?
The degree of intimacy a father has with the relationship with his partner will affect the type of attachment he will have with his children
What is supportive co-parenting as a factor that can affect the relationship between fathers and children?
The amount of support a father gives to his parter in helping to care for children affects the type of attachment he will have with his children
what are 4 discussion points about the role of the father?
Why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?
- this could be a result of traditional gender roles, or could be that female hormones eg oestrogen create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figure.
- breast feeding mothers may also take on the more nurturing role for practical reasons
Grossman (2002)
- found fathers as a secondary attachment figure had an important role in their children’s development. He found the quality of the play was related to the quality of the attachment.
- this suggests fathers have a different role in attachment - to do with
play simulation rather than nurturing
Fathers are important to mothers too
- supportive fathers o provide mothers with much needed time away from children
- this can help reduce stress in mothers, improve self-esteem and improve the quality of a mothers relationship with her children
Absent fathers leads to higher levels of risk taking and depression
- particularly boys - suggest fathers can help prevent negative developmental outcomes
- however, most studies have focused on female single mothers from poor socio-economic backgrounds
- it may therefore be social factors related to poverty that produce these outcomes, not the absence of a father
What was Lorenz’s aim?
To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where the young follow and form an attachment to the first large moving object they see
What was Lorenz’s procedure when investigating importing?
Split goose eggs into 2 groups. One hatched naturally by the mother and the other in an incubator with Lorenz being the first moving object they see
He then marked all the goslings to determine if they were naturally hatched or hatched in an incubator
He placed them under an upturned box and when the box was removed he recorded the following behaviour
What were Lorenz’s findings?
Immediately after birth the naturally hatched goslings followed their mother about, while the incubator hatched ones followed Lorenz around
When released from the upturned box the naturally hatched went to their mother while the others went to Lorenz
He also found that imprinting would only occur within 4-25 hours after hatching (critical period)
What is imprinting?
A form of attachment exhibited by most birds where an attachment is formed between the first large moving object they encountered
What is the critical period in imprinting?
The time in which imprinting needs to take place
If it doesn’t happen in this time the chicks will not attach themselves to a mother figure
What is sexual imprinting?
Lorenz observed that bird imprinted on humans would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans
Describe Lorenz’s study into sexual imprinting (1952)
A peacock has been reared in the reptile house of a zoo where the first moving object it saw was a giant tortoise
As an adult this bird would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises
What is a strength of Lorenz’s research?
Reliability
His research has been replicated by other researchers e.g Hess (1959)
However, other researchers have suggested that the critical period was not as fixed as he suggested
Ducklings that were kept in isolation were able to imprint after the suggested critical period
What are 2 weaknesses of Lorenz’s research?
Generalisability to humans
- mammals’ attachment system is different to birds - e.g show more emotional attachment to young.
-Mammals may also be able to form attachments at any time.
- therefore not appropriate to generalise Lorenz ideas to humans
Some of Lorenz’s observations have been questioned
- later researchers have questioned some of Lorenz’s conclusions
- Guiton et al (1966) found that chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try and mate with them as adults (as Lorenz predicted)
- but with experience they eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens
- suggesting the impact of imprinting on mating behaviour is not as permanent as Lorenz believed)
What did Harlow conduct his research into?
Used monkeys to see is attachments are primarily formed thought food (as explained by learning theory)
What types of surrogate mothers were constructed in Harlow’s research?
Wire mothers
Soft towelling mothers
What were the 4 conditions in Harlow’s research?
- wire mother producing milk and towelling mother producing no milk
- wire mother producing no milk and towelling mother producing mil
- wire mother producing milk
- towelling mother producing milk
What did Harlow conclude?
Monkeys preferred contact with towelling mother when given the choice (regardless of milk)
Monkeys with wire mother only had diarrhoea (sign of stress)
When frightened, monkeys clung to towelling mother where available
Monkeys with towelling mother explored more
What did Harlow conclude?
Monkeys have an innate, unlearned need for contact comfort
Suggests attachment concerns emotional security more than food
What was the critical period Harlow’s investigation?
A mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form
After this time attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation was irreversible
What are signs of maternally deprived monkeys as adults?
- do not develop social behaviour
- aggressive
- unskilled at mating
- as mothers some deprived monkeys neglected, attacked and even killed their young in some cases
What are 2 strengths of Harlow’s research?
Theoretical value
- his findings have had a profound effect on psychologists’ understanding of human mother-infant interaction
- he showed that attachment doesn’t develop as a result of being fed by a mother figure but from contact comfort
- he also showed us the importance of the quality of early relationships for later social development
Practical value
- his research has had important practical applications in a range of contexts
- it has helped social workers understand risk factors in child reflect and abuse and allow intervention to prevent it
- these findings are also important in the care of captive monkeys - we now understand the importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild
What are 2 weaknesses of Harlow’s research?
Generalisability to humans
- even thought monkeys are more similar to humans than geese, they are not human ‘
- there may be other factors involved in the attachments of humans so it may be inappropriate to generalise the findings of monkeys to humans
Ethical issues
- the monkeys suffered greatly as a result of Harlow’s procedures
- this species is considered similar enough to humans to be able to generalise the findings, this means their suffering was presumably quite human like
- he was well aware of the suffering he caused - he referred to the wire mothers as ‘iron maidens’ after a medieval torture device
- the counter argument is that Harlow’s research was sufficiently important to justify the effects
What was the aim of Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Assess the quality of a child’s attachment to a caregiver
How many children participated in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
106
how old were the infants in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
9-18 months
Describe the procedure of Ainsworth’s strange situation.
Controlled observation (every 15 seconds the category of behaviour displayed was recoded and scored on intensity 1-7)
Controlled conditions with a two way mirror where the psychologists can observe the infant’s behaviour
What behaviours were used to judge attachments in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Proximity seeking
Exploration and secure-based behaviour
Stranger anxiety
Separation anxiety
Response to a reunion
What is proximity seeking in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
An infant with a goof attachment will stay fairly close to their caregiver
What is exploration and secure-based behaviour in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Goof attachment enables a child to feel confident to explore, using their caregiver as a secure base
What is stranger anxiety in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Display of anxiety when a stranger approaches
What is separation anxiety in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Protest at separation from the caregiver
What is response to a reunion in Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Response to a reunion with a caregiver after segregation for a short period of time
Describe the stages in Ainsworth’s strange situation.
- child and caregiver enter unfamiliar playroom and child is encouraged to explore (tests exploration)
- stranger comes in and tries to interact with the child. Caregiver leaves, leaving the child and stranger together (stranger and separation anxiety)
- caregiver returns and stranger leaves (reunion and secure based behaviour)
- caregiver leaves child alone (serration anxiety)
- stranger returns (stranger anxiety)
What are the 3 main types of attachment according to Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Type A (insecure-avoidant)
Type B (securely attached)
Type C (insecure-resistant)
What are the features of insecure-avoidant attachment (type A)?
- high levels of independent behaviour
- explore freely and do not seek proximity
- low levels of separation and stranger anxiety
- little effort to make contact at reunion
How many British children are classed as insecure avoidant?
20-25%
What are some features of a securely attached child (type B)?
- explore happily but regularly go back to caregiver (secure base behaviour)
- moderate stranger and separation anxiety
- joy at reunion
How many British infants are classed as securely attached (type B)?
60-75%
What are the features of an insecure-resistant attached child (type C)?
- seek grater proximity
- explore less
- show extreme stranger and separation anxiety
- seek and then reject comfort at reunion
How many British toddlers are classes as insecure resistant?
3%
How many British toddlers are classes as insecure resistant?
3%
What were the conclusions of Ainsworth’s strange situation?
Sensitive responsiveness is the major factor determining the quality of attachments
Sensitive mothers tend to have securely attached babies
Intensive mothers tend to have insecurely attached mothers
What are 2 strengths of Ainsworth strange situation?
Good validity
Attachment defines by the strange situation is strongly predictive of later development.
Babies assessed as secure typically go on to have better outcomes in many areas - success at school/romantic relationships and friendships in adulthood
Insecure - resistant attachment is associated with the worst outcomes including bullying later in childhood and mental health problems
Good reliability
Good inter-rater reliability
Different observers watching the same children In the strange situation generally agree on what attachment type to classify them with
Brick at al (2012):
Looked at inter-rater reliability in the strange situation and found agreement on attachment type for 94% of tested babies
Can confirm that the attachment type is not just dependent on who is observing them
What are 2 weaknesses of the Ainsworth strange situation?
There is at least one more attachment type
Main and Solomon pointed out that a minority of children do not fall in types ABC
This is known as ‘disorganised attachment’
Disorganised children display an odd mix of resistant and avoidant behaviours
Ainsworth hasn’t acknowledged this attachment type
Main and Weston
Found that children acted differently in the strange situation depending on which parent they were with
Children may have different attachments for different parents
This illustrates that attachment types are linked to individual relationships not the set characteristics of children
This suggests that the strange situation might not be a valid measure of attachment types
How did Van IJendoorn use meta-analysis?
Uses data from a large number of studies which have involved the same reseach questions and methods of research are combined
What was the procedure of Van IJendoorn and Kronenberg?
Analysed 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation has been used to investigate the proportions of infants with different attachment types
They were conducted in 8 countries
Yielded the results for 1990 children
What were Van IJendoorn and Kroonenberg investigating?
The proportions of attachment types across a range of countries
What did Van IJzedoorm and Kroonenberg find from their investigation?
There was a wide variation between the proportions of attachment types in different studies
What did Van IJzedoorm and Kroonenberg find about the securely attached type of attachment?
In all counties secure attachment was the most common classification
The proportion carried from 75% in Britain to 50% in china
What did Van IJzedoorm and Kroonenberg find about the insecure-resistant type of attachment?
It was overall the least comment type
However the proportions ranged from 3% in Britain to around 30% in Israel
What did Van IJzedoorm and Kroonenberg find about the insecure-resistant type of attachment?
It was overall the least comment type
However the proportions ranged from 3% in Britain to around 30% in Israel
What did Van IJzedoorm and Kroonenberg find about the insecure-avoidant type of attachment?
Insecure-avoidant attachments were observed most commonly in Germany and least commonly in Japan
Give an example of a study of cultural variation.
Korean study
Jin at al (2012)
Conducted a study to compare the proportions of attachment types in Korea to other studies
Strange situation used
87 children assessed
Found overall proportions of insecure and secure babies were similar to those in most counties
Most infants were secure
Most insecurely attached were resistant - this is similar to what IJsendoorm and Kroonenberg found
What was concluded about cultural variations?
Secure attachment seems to be the norm in a wide range of cultures
This supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate and universal and being securely attachment is the universal norm
The research also clearly shows that cultural practices have an influence on attachment type
What is a strength of research into cultural variations into attachment?
Large samples
Studied overview 1990 babies
Large samples increase internal validity by reducing the impact of anomalous results caused by bad methodology to very unusual participants
How many studies were used in IJendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?
32
How many countries were studies in IJendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?
8
How many babies were studied in IJendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?
1990
Which country had the most insecure-resistant babies in IJendoorn and Kroonenberg’s study?
Isreal (30%)
Which country had the greatest proportion of insecure avoidant babies?
Germany
Which country had the least number of insecure-avoidant babies?
Japan
What are the weaknesses of cultural variations into attachment?
Samples comparing counties not cultures:
The comparisons Van IJendoorn made were between countries not cultures. Within countries there may be different child-rearing practices. E.g one sample might overrepresent people living in poverty (the stress of which affect caregiving and patterns of attachment). This means comparisons between countries might have little meaning.
Method of assessment is biased:
Cross cultural psychology includes the ideas of etic (cultural universalities) and emic (cultural uniqueness). The strange situation was deigned by an American researcher based on a British theory.
This questions wether these theories and assessments can be applied to other cultures. Trying to apply a theory or technique designed for one culture to another is known was imposed etic
Strange situation lacks validity:
The test itself may be culture-bound. The strange situation contains elements unfamiliar to some cultures like babies being left with strangers (not common in Japan).
The greater amounts of insecure-resistant attachment type in Japan may result from stress during the strange situation due to infants’ unfamiliarity at being left with strangers. Temperament may e more influential on behaviour than attachment- therefore anxiety is being assessed rather than attachment.
The artificial nature of the strange situation lacks ecological validity.
What are the weaknesses of cultural variations into attachment?
Describe how classical conditioning can form an attachment?
Caregiver(NS) —> no response
Food(UCS) —> pleasure(UCR)
Caregiver (NS)+food(UCS) —> pleasure(UCR)
Caregiver(CS)—> pleasure(CR)
How can operant conditioning be important in forming an attachment?
When a baby cries and the caregiver provides the correct response, the crying is positively reinforced.
The baby is positively reinforced by the feeding and is also more likely to cry again to reduce the unpleasant feeling of hunger (negative reinforcement).
The caregiver also receives negative reinforcement as the baby stops crying (escaping something unpleasant).
The interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthen an attachment
How can operant conditioning be important in forming an attachment?
When a baby cries and the caregiver provides the correct response, the crying is positively reinforced.
The baby is positively reinforced by the feeding and is also more likely to cry again to reduce the unpleasant feeling of hunger (negative reinforcement).
The caregiver also receives negative reinforcement as the baby stops crying (escaping something unpleasant).
The interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthen an attachment
What is a strength of using the learning theory as an explanation of attachment?
Dollard and Miller (1950)
Argues that in their 1st year babies are fed 2000 times generally by the main carer
This creates ample opportunity for the carer to become associated with the removal of the unpleasant feeling of hunger (negative reinforcement)
This gives support to the idea that attachment are learned through operant conditioning
What are the weaknesses of using the learning theory to explain attachment?
Counter evidence from animal research:
Lorenz found that geese imprinted before they were fed and maintained these attachments regardless of who fed them.
Harlow’s monkeys attached to a soft surrogate in preference to one who produced milk.
Ignores other factors associated with forming attachments:
Research suggests that the quality of attachment is assisted with developing reciprocity and Interactional synchrony.
If attachment developed purely becomes of feeding there would be no point in these complex interactions.
Reductionist:
Behaviourist explanations are reductionist as they explain complex behaviour in the simplest way possible.
When explaining attachments as simply down to feeding, behaviourism does not consider internal cognitive processes or the emotional nature of attachments.
What was a Bowlby’s evolutionary explanation of attachment?
Attachment was an innate system that gave a survival advantage
Attachments evolved via the process of natural selection to ensure offspring shared close to their caregivers
Through evolution infants became genetically programmed to behave towards their mothers in ways that increased their survival chances
Why is Bowlby’s theory described as monotropic?
Because he placed great emphasis on a child’s attachment to one particular caregiver (‘mono)
He believes the child’s attachment to this one caregiver is more important than the others.
He believed the more time spent with the primary attachment figure the better.
What are the 2 principles that Bowlby proposed about attachment?
The law of continuity
The law of accumulated separation
What is Bowlby’s law of continuity?
The more constant and predicable a child’s care, the better quality of their attachment.
What is Bowlby’s law of accumulated separation?
The effects of every separation from the mother adds up. ‘The safest dose is therefore a zero dose’.
What are social releasers?
Innate species-specific attachment behaviours that activates the adult attachment system (make an adult feel love towards the baby)
What are some social releasers?
Crying - to attract parent’s attention
Looking, smiling, vocalising - to maintain parental attention and interest
Following and clinging - to gain and maintain proximity to parents
Bowlby recognised attachment was a ___________ process as attachments only form if carers respond to infant attachment behaviours in a meaningful way.
Reciprocal
What is the critical period?
The time within an attachment must form
How long did Bowlby say the critical period was in humans?
Up to 3 years
What is the internal working model?
It sates that the first attachment forms a blue print for future relationships. A schema if formed about what relationships are like.
A child whose first experience of a relationship is positive and loving, they will form an expectation that all relationships are loving and will go onto form successful relationships. Visa Versa with a negative relationship.
What are the weaknesses of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
Imprinting may not relate to humans:
Imprinting applies mainly to precocial animals (mobile soon after birth). Humans are an altricial species (Born at an early stage of development) so imprinting may not relate to humans. Bowlby’s idea of attachment being a form of human imprinting suggests that mere exposure to another individual is sufficient for attachment to develop.
Lamb at al (1982) - multiple attachments:
Studies the attachment infants has with people like fathers, grandparents and siblings. Found that infants had different attachments for different purposes, rather than attachments being on a hierarchy. E.g infants go to fathers for play but mothers for comfort, going against the idea of monotropy.
Monotropy is socially sensitive:
It has major implications fro the lifestyle choices mothers make when their children are young. The law of accumulated seperation states that having time apart from their child risks having a poor attachment. This will increase pressure on mothers. They are set up to blame for anything that goes wrong later in life form the child. Bowlby’s theory has been used by right wing political figures as proof that women should be at home mothering children.
What is a strength of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
Support for internal working models:
The idea is testable as it predicts that patterns of attachment will be passes on from one generation to the next.
Bailey at al (2007) asses 99 mothers with one year old babies on the quality of their attachment to their own mothers by interviewing them. They also assessed the attachment of the babies to the mothers by observation. It was found that the mothers who reported poor attachments to their own partners were more likely to have poor attachments to their child according to the observations.
Bowlby thought _________ could relate to humans.
Imprinting
What are the weaknesses of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
Mixed evidence for monotropy
- Bowlby believed that babies generally formed one attachment to their primary caregiver.
- Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found most babies did attach to one person at first but a significant minority were also able to form multiple attachments at the same time.
- It’s unclear wether there is something unique about the first attachment.
Lamb at al(1982)
- studies attachments infants had with people like fathers, grandparents and siblings.
- found that infants had different attachments for different purposes rather than attachments being a hierarchy.
- e.g infants go to fathers for play but mothers for comfort, going against the idea of monotropy.
Monotropy is socially sensitive
It has major implications for the lifestyle choices mothers make when their children are young.
The law of accumulated separation states that having substantial time apart from a primary attachment figure risks having a poor quality attachment.
This increases pressure on mothers as they are set up to blame for anything that goes wring later in life for the child.
It also pushes the mother into particular choices e.not returning to work later in life for the child.
What is the strength of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
Support for internal working models
Bailey et al (2007)
Assessed 99 mothers with one year old babies on the quality of their attachment to their own mothers by interviewing them.
They observed the attachments of the babies to the mothers by observation.
It was found that the mothers who reported poor attachments to their own parents in the interviews were more likely to have attachments to their children classified as poor.
This supports the idea that an internal working model of attachment was being passes through families.
What type of relationships do securely attached infants make in later childhood?
Securely attached ———> tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships
What type of relationships do securely attached infants make in later childhood?
Securely attached ———> tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships
What type of relationships do insecurely attached infants make in later childhood?
Insecurely attached infants ——> have friendship difficulties
What did Smith (1998) find about relationships in later childhood?
Insecure-avoidant ———> most likely to be victims of bullying
Insecure- resistant ——- most likely to be bullies
What did Smith (1998) find about relationships in later childhood?
Insecure-avoidant ———> most likely to be victims of bullying
Insecure- resistant ——- most likely to be bullies
Describe the study of Smith (1998).
Assessed attachment type and bullying involvement in 196 children (7-11)
Describe the study of Smith (1998).
Assessed attachment type and bullying involvement in 196 children (7-11)
What did McCarthy (1999) study?
40 adult women who had been assessed as infants to establish their early attachment type to determine their relationship in adulthood with romantic partners
What did McCarthy find about securely attached infants relationships in adulthood with romantic partners?
Securely attached infants ——> had best adult friendships and romantic relationships
What did McCarthy find about insecure-resistant attached infants relationships in adulthood with romantic partners?
Insecure-resistant ——> had particular problems maintaining friendships
What did McCarthy find about insecure-avoidant attached infants relationships in adulthood with romantic partners?
Struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships
Describe the procedure of the study of Bailey at al (2007)
Assessed 99 mothers with one year old babies on the quality of their attachment to their own mothers by interviewing them.
The researchers also assessed the attachment of the babies to the mothers by observation.
What did Bailey at al (2007) find about the link between attachment types and relationships in adulthood as a parent?
It was found that the mothers who reported poor attachment to their own parents in the interviews were much more likely to have attachments to their children classified as poor according to the observations.
What did Bailey at al (2007) find about the link between attachment types and relationships in adulthood as a parent?
It was found that the mothers who reported poor attachment to their own parents in the interviews were much more likely to have attachments to their children classified as poor according to the observations.
What is the strength of the influence of early attachment on later relationships?
Supported by research evidence:
Hazan and Shaver (1987)
Conducted a classic study of the association between attachment and adult relationships.
Analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ in an American local newspaper.
The quiz assessed general love experiences.
Found:
Securely attached (56%) -> most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic experiences.
Insecure-avoidant (25%) -> tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy.
Insecure-resistant (19%) -> most vulnerable to loneliness.
These findings suggest that a patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships.
What are the weaknesses of the influence of early attachment on later relationships?
Most studies have issues of validity:
- most studies of attachment to primary caregiver and other significant people do not use the strange situation.
- infant-parent attachment is assessed by interview or questionnaire.
- it is also not assessed in infancy but years later.
- this creates validity problems as assessment realised on self-report techniques.
- they depend on respondents being honest and having a realistic view of their own relationships and having accurate recollections.
Deterministic:
- people are not doomed to always have bad relationships just because they had attachment problems - they may just have a greater risk of problems.
- other factors may be influential too e.g financial pressure, age, differences between partners.
- the internal working model is therefore is therefore quite deterministic and people may become too pessimistic about their future.
Self report is conscious but the internal working models are not:
- internal working models are unconscious, we are not directly aware of their influence on us.
- we wouldn’t expect to get direct evidence about them by interviews or questionnaires.
- we can only self report what we are aware of. When people are using self-report, they are relying on their conscious undemanding of those relationships.
- so, at best self-report gives us I desire t evidence about internal working models. This is a potential limitation of most research involving the concept of internal working models.
What did Bowlby believe about prolonged separation in the critical period?
If there was prolonged separation before 2 1/2 years there could be an issue.
During this period if a child is separated from mother and no substitute care, the child will be deprived of emotional care fro an extended period - psychological damage is inevitable.
What are the 3 ways in which disruptions in attachment can happen?
Short-term separation
Long-term deprivation
Privation
What is short-term separation?
Consists of brief, temporary separating from attachment figures e.g. attending daycare.
What is Bowlby’s PDD model in short-term separation?
It describes the distress caused during short-term separation.
Protest- immediate reaction of separation (crying, screaming etc). Outward expression of a child’s fear, anger and confusion.
Despair- calmer, more apathetic behaviour. Anger and feat still felt inwardly. Little response to offers of comfort. Child may comfort themself e.g thumb-sucking.
Detachment- child responds to others again but treats everyone warily. Rejection of caregiver on return is common as is signs of anger.
What is long-term deprivation?
Involves lengthy or permanent separations from attachment figures e.g divorce or death
How has long-term deprivation been linked to education and intellectual development?
Long term deprivation has been linked to educational attainment.
Bowlby believed if children were deprived of maternal care for too long in the critical period, they would suffer delayed intellectual development - characterised by abnormally low IQ.
How has long-term deprivation been linked with emotional and behavioural development?
Long-term deprivation has been linked with emotional well-being, social development, self-concept, stress and depression.
Bowlby identified ‘affectionless psychopathy’ as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others.
This prevents the person from developing normal relationships as is associated with criminality.
What is privation?
It concerns children who never formed an attachment bond.
More likely than deprivation to lead to lasting damage.
Research is contradictory- some individuals fully recover whilst others make little if any improvement.
Cases of privation are relatively rare.
What are some of the problems found in privation cases?
Language problems
Hostility to adults
Physical underdevelopment
Low IQ
Learning difficulties
What are the strengths of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
Supporting evidence:
Rodgers and Pryor (1998)
Found that children experiencing two or more divorces have the most behavioural problems.
Suggesting that continual broken attachments increase the chances of negative outcomes for children.
This supports Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis.
Support from case studies:
Curtis (1977)
Reported on Genie, a girl denied human interaction.
Bayern and strapped into a potty seat until discovered at age 13.
She could not speak or stand up.
Received years of therapy and her IQ improved from 38 to 74.
She loved with her mother at age 18 and then moved to foster homes where she was physically abused.
She deteriorated physically and mentally.
Went to live in a home for people with learning difficulties.
This may support the theory of deprivation, however there are other factors e.g physical abuse.
It is also problematic to generalise from such unique cases.
What are the weaknesses of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?
Deterministic:
The idea that broken attachments will have serious and permanent effects on development is also very deterministic.
The viewpoint that the negative effects of maternal deprivation are irreversible may be overstated.
For example, the children whose privation experiences were followed by positive experiences made good recoveries.
This suggest that such a pessimistic view of the future may not be necessary.
It also suggests that the ‘critical period’ may be a sensitive one but not actually critical.
Individual differences:
It has been argues that individual differences in reactions to short-term separation are important.
E.g securely attached children and more mature children cope better with separations.
This suggests only some children experience distress.
Why were Romanian orphanages created?
The former Romanian president requires Romanian women to have 5 children
They could not afford to keep their children so large orphanages were created
What study investigates Romanian orphans?
Rutter’s English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study 2011
When was Rutter’s English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study?
2011
What was the procedure of Rutter’s English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study?
Followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to test to what extent good care could make up for early experiences in institutions.
Physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15.
A group of 52 British children adopted around the same time serves as a control.
What were the findings of Rutter’s English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) study?
When they first arrived in the uk half the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development.
Majority were severely undernourished.
At age 11 the children showed different rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption.
What was the mean IQ of Romanian orphans with an adoption age of before 6 months?
102
What was the mean IQ of Romanian orphans with an adoption age of 6moths - 2 years old?
86
What was the mean IQ of Romanian orphans with an adoption age of after 2 years old?
77
What is institutionalisation?
The effects of living in an institutional setting.
In such place there is often very little emotional care provided.
What are the effects of institutionalisation?
Delayed intellectual development - low IQ, concentration problems, may not learn new concepts quickly.
Emotional development- shown by more temper tantrums.
Lack of internal working model- shown by difficulties interacting with peers and forming close relationships.
Quasi-autism- shown by problems understanding the meaning of social contexts, may display obsessive behaviour.
Disinhibited attachment
What causes disinhibited attachment?
Living with multiple caregivers during the critical period
In Romanian orphanages children may have had 50 carers
What are the signs of disinhibited attachment?
No knowing what counts as appropriate behaviour towards strangers.
Clingy, attention seeking behaviour towards all adults.
How could the effects of disinhibited attachment be reversed?
Sensitive parenting
If adopted before 6 months old the effects may not be as severe/ long-term
What are 2 strengths of Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee (ERA) study?
Real life application:
- it has enhances our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation.
- e.g orphaned now ensure there is a key worker for each child to prevent disinhibited attachment.
- this shows that such research has been valuable in practical terms.
Fewer extraneous variables than other orphan studies:
- previous studies included orphans who experienced trauma before institutionalisation e.g abuse.
- these factors functioned as confounding participant variables.
- Romanian orphans can be studies without these confounding variables which increases internal validity.
What are 2 weaknesses of Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee (ERA) study?
The Romanian orphanages were not typical:
- It is possible the conditions were so bad that results cannot be applied to understanding the impact of better quality institutional care or any other situation where children experience deprivation.
- Romanian orphans has particularly poor standards of care and low levels of intellectual stimulation.
- the unusual situational variables mean the study may lack generalisability.
Methodological issues:
- the children were not randomly assigned to conditions.
- the researches did not interfere with the adoption process.
- this means children adopted early may have been the more sociable ones.
- this is a confounding variable as the children adopted early would have all been a certain type of person.
