Attachment Flashcards
done
what is an attachment?
a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary care giver
what does reciprocal mean?
both ways - both the child and infant mus be able to contribute to the relationship and generate a response, such as when a parent smiles at the child, the child would smile too
who demonstrated the importance of reciprocity?
Brazleton et al
what did Brazleton et al do regarding reciprocity?
found that children as young as 2 weeks can attempt to copy their caregiver. who in turn responds to the child’s signals 2/3 of the time
why is reciprocity important?
teaches the child to communicate
allows parent to better care for the child as they can detect certain cues from the baby and respond to their needs sooner and more effectively
what is interactional synchrony?
when the infant and primary caregiver becomes synchronised in their interactions
what did Condon and Sander (1974) do regarding interactional synchrony?
said that children can synchronise their movements with the sound of an adult’s voice
what did Brazleton et al do regarding interactional synchrony?
demonstrated that young infants can copy displayed distinctive facial expressions or gestures
the wat the two interact changes slightly according to the rhythm, pitch, volume etc of the adult speech
been found to be better between the parent and child when child is older
what is the strength to the studies investigating reciprocity and interactional synchrony?
controlled observations
Brazleton et al even filmed the interactions from different angles
ensures high level of accuracy and detail, allows valid conclusions to be drawn because inter-rater reliability can be established
what is the limitation to the studies investigating reciprocity and interactional synchrony?
young children - we do not know if their actions are meaningful - 2 week olds have little or no motor coordination
Bremmer drew the distinction between behavioural response and behavioural understanding - just because an action is reciprical, does not mean the child understands the purpose of reciprocity or interactional synchrony
what year was Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
1964
what was the aim Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964)?
to identify stages of attachment/ find pattern in development of an attachment between infants and parents
who were the participants in Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964)?
60 babies from Glasgow, same estate
what was the procedure Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964)?
they analysed the interactions between the infants and carers
interviewed carers
mother had to keep a diary to track the infant’s behaviours based on the following measures:
- seperation anxiety
- stranger anxiety
- social referencing
longitudinal study lasting 18 months
visited infants on a monthly basis and again at the end of the 18 months
what is seperation anxiety?
signs of distress when the carer leaves and how much the infant needs to be comforted when carer resturns
what is stranger anxiety?
signs of distress as a response to a stranger arriving
what is social referencing?
how often the infant looks at their carer to check how they should respons to something new
what did Scaffer and Emerson (1964) find?
found that babies of parents/carers who had ‘sensitive responsiveness’ were more likely to have formed an attachment
found that sensitive responsiveness was more important than the amount of time spent with the baby, infants formed more attachments with those who spent less time with them but were more sensitive to their needs
infants who had parents who responded to their needs quickly and spent more time interacting with the child had more intense attachments
attachments seemed to form when the carer communicates and plays with the child rather than when the carer feeds or cleans the child
came up with the different stages of attachment
what is ‘sensitive responsiveness’?
more sensitive to baby’s signals
what are the stages developed by Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?
1) Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
2) Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks - 6 months)
3) Specific (7 months+)
4) Multiple (10/11 months+)
what is the Asocial stage (0-6weeks)?
when infant responds to objects and people similarly - but may respond more to faces and eyes
what is the Indiscriminate attachment stage (6 weeks - 6 months)?
when the infant develops more responses to human company
although they can tell the difference between people, they can be comforted by anyone
what is the Specific stage (7 months +)
when the infant begins to prefer one particular carer and seeks for security, comfort and protection in particular people
start to show stranger anxiety and seperation anxiety
what is the Mulitple stage (10/11 months +)?
when infant forms multiple attachments and seeks security, comfort and protection in multiple people
may also show separation anxiety for multiple people
what are the limitations to Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964)?
lacks population validity and temporal validity = infants all came from Glassgow and mostly from working class families, cannot be generalised, parenting techniques have changed sine 1960s
may lack internal validity = uses self report method, parents may have been busy so may not have included full details, social desireability bias, demand characteristics as they try to tailor their report to firt or go agaisnt what they think the aim is of the study
asocial stage cannot be studied objectively = children at 6 weeks lack basic motor co-ordination skills, we cannot establish whether their responses are deliberate, just because a bond is apparent, does not mean the child understands the significance of such bond
what percent of the infants in Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964) formed a secondary attachmetn to their gather by 18months?
75%
how many infants in Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964) formed a secondary attchment to their father within a month of forming their primaru attachment?
29%
what is the role of the father as suggested?
less of a caregiver and more as a playmate
what does Tiffant Field suggest about primary attachments?
found that primary caregivers, regardless of gender, were more attentive towards the infants and spent more time holding and smiling at them
suggests that althought mothers are often expected to become primary attaahcment figures, this is not always the case
what did MacCallum and Golombok demonstrate?
that children gorwing up in homosexual or single-parent families were not different compared to children with 2 heterosexual parents - if the father was crucial in the development of an attachment with the infant then we would not expect these findings
what suggests the social and biological constraints on who the primary attachment figure is?
gender of the primary caregiver is largely dictated by society were women are expected to be caring and sensitive
biological = women have higher levels of oestrogen and lower levels of testosterone compared to men
what is a limiation of research into the role of the father?
socially sensitive
abnormalities in development are often blames on the parents (e.g., intellectual disability)
means single father or mother may be pressured to return to work at a later point to increase the likelihood that their child will form a secure attachment
what did Lorenz (1935) do?
demonstrated the concept of imprinting - animals will attach to the first moving object or person they see directly after giving birth
what was Lorenz (1935)’s aim?
to investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where the youngsters follow and form an attachment to the first large, moving object they meet
what was Lorenz (1935)’s procedure?
split large cluth of greyag goose eggs into 2 batches - one naturally with mother, one hatched in an incubator with Lorenz making sure first moving object was Lorenz
gosling’s behaviour recorfded
placed all goslings under an upturned box - box then removed and goslings behaviour was recorded
what did Lorenz (1935) find?
after birth, the naturall hatched goslings followed their mother whilist incubated goslings followed Lorenz
when released from the upturned box, natually hatched goslings went straight for their mother whilist incubated goslings went straight for Lorenz - no bond to natural mother
bonds proved to be irreversible
when must imprinting occur?
within the critical period - 4-25 hours
what is sexual impriniting?
where animals will attach to and display sexual behaviour towards the first moving object or animal thet see directly after birth
e.g., lorenz reported case of a peacock born surrounded by turtles and only wanted to mate with turtles in later life
what is a strength to Lorenz’s study?
highly influential in developmental psychology - lead developmental psychologists to develop well recognised theories of attachment (e.g., Bowlby)
what are the limitations to Lorenz’s study?
hard to generalise to humans
mammalian attachments are different to birds - mammals can potentially form attachments at any time during life and at a greater emotional intensity
low ecological validity
sexual imprinting is not as permanent as Lorenz thought
Guiton et al
what did Guiton et al do regarding sexual imprinting?
demonstrated that chickens who’d imprinted on washing up gloves eventually learned to prefer to mate with other chickens despite intial imprint
what did Harlow (1958) do?
demonstrated the importance of contact comfort with rhesus monkeys and 2 ‘iron madiens’
what was the aim of Harlow (1958)’s study?
to test learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in baby monkeys given a wire surrogate mother producing milk with those given a soft towelling mother producing no milk
what was Harlow (1958)’s procedure?
2 types of surrogate mothers constructed - harsh wire mother and a soft towelling mother
16 monkeys used - 4 per condition
4 conditions:
- cage containg a wire mother producing milk and a towelling mother producing no milk
- cage containing wire mother producing no milk and a towelling mother producing milk
- cage containing wire mother producing milk
- cage containing a towelling mother producing milk
amount of time spent with each mother recorded
monkeys were also frightened with loud noises to test for mother preference during times of stress
what did Harlow (1958) find?
monkeys prefferred contact with the towelling mother when given a choice of surrogate mother (regardless of if she produced milk)
monkeys reached across wire monket to feed whilist still clinging to towelling mother (providing comfort)
monkeys with the only wired mother suffered from diarroheoa (sign of stress)
when frightened by loud noise monkeys went to towelling mother (when avaliable)
in larger cage conditions, monkeys with the towelling mothers explored more and visited surrogate mother more
what did Harlow (1958) conclude?
monkeys have an innate, unlearned need for contact comfort, suggesting that attachment concerns emotional security more than food - associated with lower levels of stress and a willingness to explore, indicating emotional security
what is a strength of Harlow’s study?
conducted in a controlled, laboratory setting
Harlow was able to control potential extraneous variable such as monkeys being taken away from their mother straight after birth
high internal validity
allows for a cause and effect relationship to be established
what are the weaknesses of Harlow’s study?
unethical - monkeysare caused distress when removed from bio mothers and when frightened
doesn’t tell us anything about the formation of human attachments - lack of generalisability
conducted in controlled artificial lab setting - does not reflect real life settings
lacks ecological validity
how do we learn to form attachments?
classical and operant conditioning
what is ‘cupboard love’?
idea that we form attachments to the person providing us with food - hunger is a primary drive and attachment is the result of an association formed between the caregiver and the satisfaction of primary drive reduction
whats an example of classical conditioning?
Pavlov’s dogs (1890s)
how does classical conditioning apply in attachments according to the idea of ‘cupboard love’?
the baby forms an association between the mother (neutral stimulus) and the feeling of pleasure that comes with being fed (an innate unconditioned response)
at first a#baby feels comforted by food
each time it is fed, mother is also present
baby quickly associates mother with the pleasure of being fed
mother becomes unconditioned stimulus and also causes pleasure for the child
means the baby feels happier when mother is near
beginning of formation of an attachment
what is an example of operant conditioning?
Skinners box (1948)
how does operant conditioning apply in attachments according to the idea of ‘cupboard love’?
child carries out an action (e.g. crying) which triggers response such as mother coming to comfort or feed baby
more this happens the more that the action is reinforced as the child associates the mother with those rewards
food is the primary reinforcer
mother is secondary reinforcer
what are the limitations of the learning theory?
animal studies - Harlow demonstrated that contact comfort was more important than food in development of an attachment
Brazleton et al emphasised importance of interactional synchrony and reciprocity in the secure formation of attachments between a primary caregiver and infant - unconditioned stimulus of food is irrelevant in most cases
focus on unconditioned and conditioned stimuli means that there is a loss of focus in other areas
learning theory does not account for other aspects so is a limited explanation of only some aspects of an attachment formation
what is bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment?
states that attachments ar e innate
ASCMI summarises the theory
what does ASCMI stand for
Adaptive
Social releasers
Critical period
Monotropy
Internal working model
what does adaptive mean as apart of ASCMI?
attachments are an advantage or beneficial to survival as it ensures a child is kept safe, warm and fed
what does social releasers mean as apart of ASCMI?
e.g. cute face on a baby, unlock the innate tendency for adults to care for a child
what does critical period mean as apart of ASCMI?
time which an attachment can form (2.5 to 3 years) Bowlby suggested that if an attachment is not formed in this time, it never will. if an attachment does not form, you will be socially
what does monotropy mean as apart of ASCMI?
one carer - bowlby suggested that you can only form one special intense attachment (typcially mother) - unique, stronger and different to others
maternal deprivation results in emotional and intellectual developmental deficits
what does Internal working model as apart of ASCMI?
area in the brain where information allows you to know how to behave around people
what is a strength of bowlby’s monotropic theory?
evidence for the importance of IWM
what did Bailey et al do regarding Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
observed 99 mothers and the recording of their children’s attachment type using the strange situation
researchers found that poor, insecure attachments coincided with the mothers themselves reporting poor attachments with their own parents
suggests IWMs are likely to be formed during the first, initial attachment and that this has a significant impact upon the ability of children to become parents themselves later on in life
what are the limitations to bowlby’s monotropic theory?
socially sensitive - mother is often primary attachment (65% of cases) - puts pressure on working mothers to delay return to work in an effort to ensure tha their child develops a secure attachment
any developmental abnormalities in terms of attachment are therefore blamed on the mother - suggests idea of monotropy may stigmatise ‘poor mothers’ and pressure them to take responsibility
monotropy may not be evident in all children Izjendoorn and Kronenberg found that monotropy is scarece in collectivist cultures where the whole family is involved in rasisng and looking after the child - means that monotropy is unlikely to be a universal feature of infant-caregiver attachments and so is strictly limited explanation fo some cases of attachments
what is Ainsworth’s strange situation?
procedure to assess how securely attached a child was to its caregiver and if it is insecurly attached , to assess which type of insecure attachment it has
when was Aisnworths strange situation?
1969
how was the strange situation conducted?
controlled observation
2-way mirror
what were the 7 stages of the strange situation?
Caregiver, Child
Caregiver, Child and Stranger
Child, Stranger
Caregiver, Child
Child
Child, Stranger
Caregiver, Child
how long did each stage last in the strange situation?
3 minutes
what were the 3 attachment types ainsworth identified?
secure attachment
insecure resistant attachment
insecure avoidant attachment
what is the secure attachment type?
most popular
some separation anxiety when caregiver leaves room
can eaasily be soothed by caregiver
able to play independently
used caregiver as safe base
65% of children
what is the insecure resistant attachment type?
least popular
infant becomes distressed and tries to follow caregiver when parent leaves
infant repeatedly switches from seeking and rejecting social interaction and intimacy with them when caregiver returns
less inclined to explore new environments
3% of children
what is the insecure avoidant attachment type?
infant shows no stranger anxiety when caregiver leaves
may show anger and frustration towards their carer and actively avoid social interaction and intimacy with them
able to explore and play independently easily
accounts for 20% of children
what are the strengths of the strange situation?
provides controlled and standardized way to assess attachment, fostering reliable research and comparisons
offers valuable insights into early parent-child relationships and their potential impact on later development
easily replicable
what are the limitations?
only measured the relationship type with one attachment figure - only uses mothers and their child - wrong attachment type for a child can be identified as they may not be strongly attached to the mother, could be father or other family member
lacks internal validity
ethical issues - 20% of children cried desperately at one point - experienced psychological harm - could cause long term emotional damage
lacks population validity - based on western culture - carried out in American - cultural bias
lacks ecological validity - conducted in lab, highly controlled, not representative of real life
what did Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg (1988) do?
conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies
how many countries did
what did Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg (1988) do in their meta-analysis?
investigated the patterns of attachment across a variety of cultures
what country had the most secure attachment types?
UK (75)
Sweden close second (74)
what country had the least secure attachment types?
China (50)
Germany close second (57)
what coutry had the most avoidant attachment types?
Germany (35)
Holland close second (26)
what country had the least avoidant attachment types?
Japan (5)
Israel close second (7)
what country had the most resistant attachment types?
Israel (29)
Japan close second (27)
what country had the least resistant attachment types?
UK (3)
Sweden close second (4)
whats another study that investigated the distribution of attachment patterns across carious cultures?
Simonella et al
Jin et al (2012)
what did Simonella et al demonstrate?
the proportion of securely attached children in Italy was only 50% - lower then expected and lower then predictions from various cultures
researchers suggested that these changes may be due to changing cultural and social expectations of mothers - more mothers are working and are choosing to use professional childcare to enable them to - decreasing likelihood that their children will securely attach to them
what did Jin et al (2012) find?
that when the Strange situation was used to assess 87 Korean infants at 6 months, the vast majority of insecurely attached children were actually classed as insecure resistant as opposed to avoidant
since pattern is similar to Japan, suggest that similarities in child-rearing practices are influential in establishing patterns of attachment
what are the limitations of Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg’s (1988) study?
may lack ecological validity - did not measure what it intended
multiple different cultures can exist in the same country - unlikely acknowledge
e.g., Sagi and Van Izjendoorn found that rural areas had an overrepresentation of insecure-resistant individuals, whereas urban areas had similar attachment patterns to the Western world - suggests that Van and Kronenburg didnt account for such differences
Strange situation had been criticised as being-culture bound, sample was biased, findings are unlikely to be generalised to other cultures (e.g. collectivist cultures) - example of imposed etic because Ainsworth assumed that the stages of attachment could be universally applied to all children acroos all cultures
what is the strength of Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg (1988)?
reliable due to large samples - 1990 children
increases validity and faith in conclusions because it decreases the likelihood that the observed results were due to chance or a ‘one-off’
what is Bowlby’s theory of Maternal Deprivation?
theory that an attachment is essential for healthy psychological and emotional development
what are 4 negative consequences of maternal deprivation?
an inability to form attachments in the future
affectionless psychopathy (unable to feel remorse)
Delinquency
problems with cognitive development
what is Privation?
when a child forms no attachments - more harmful to a child
what is the most common cause of privation?
institutional care
what are the effects of institutionalisation?
physical underdevelopment - children in institutional care are usually physically small - Gardner (1972) sasid that lack of emotional care rather then poor nurishment causes deprivation dwarfism
mental retardation - in rutter’s study the children were assessed as mentally retarded when they first arrived in Britain - those adopted by age 6 months caught up by age 4
disihibited attachment
what did bowlby conduct to assess the effects of maternal deprivation?
44 juvenile thieves study
what did Bowlby find with her 44 juvenile thieves study?
14/44 displayed signs of affectionless psychopathy and 12/44 suffered from maternal deprivation during critical period of attachment formation
compared to 5 affectionless psychopaths in the remaining 30 theives
therfore bowlby believed that early maternal deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy and consequently, criminality
what are the limitations of bowlby’s 44 juvenile thieves study?
Lewis et al - collected qualitative data from interviews conducted with 500 juveniles, researchers found no link w MD and difficulty forming relationships in later life
researcher bias - bowlby aware of what she wanted to find - based theory in war-orphans - does not control confounding variable of poor quality care or PTSD - may ahve been a large influence
effects of critical period may not be as concrete as bowlby believed - case of 2 twins locked away in cupboards in Czechoslovakia for the first 7 years of life - Koluchova - with appropriate fostering the twins made a full psychological recovery
what is an example of a study into the effects of institutionalisation?
Hodges and Tizard (1989)
what was Hodges and Tizard (1989)’s aim?
to obsreve the effects of institutionalisation on how infants form attachments and the quality of attachments they form
what was Hodges and Tizard (1989)’s procedure?
65 British children from early life to adolescence
children had been placed in one institution where they were less than 4 months
had not yet formed attachments
explicit policy in the institution agaisnt ‘caretakers’ forming attachments with the children
70% described as not able ‘to care deeply about anyone’
can conclude that most of the children had experienced early emotional privation
what was Hodges and Tizard (1989)’s findings?
children assessed at regular intervals up to the age of 16
some children remained in the institution - most had left and had been adopted or restored to their original families
‘restored’ children were less likely to have formed attachments with their mothers but the adopted children were as closely attached to their parents as both gorups of ex-institutionalised children had problems with peers
less likely to have a special friend and less likely by other children
also more quarrelsome and more likely to be bullies and sought more attention from adults
what was Hodges and Tizard (1989)’s conclusion?
findings suggest that early privation had a negative effect on the ability to form relationships even when given good subsequent emotional care
supports Bowlby’s view that the failure to form attachments during the sensitive peiod of development has an irreversible effect on emotional development
children cope well at home when the other person in the relationship was working hard on their behalf but same was not true for peer relationships
what study did Rutter et al do?
Romanian orpahn studies
what was Rutter et al (2007)’s procedure?
165 Romanian orphans and assessed them at 4, 6 and 11 in terms of psychological, emotional and physical development
results were copared to 50 children adopted in Britain at roughly the same time, which acted as a control group
what was Rutter et al (2007)’s findings?
majority of orphans were malnourished
mean IQ was dependent upon the age of which orphans were adopted, e.g., those adopted before 6 months had an IQ of 25 points higher then those adopted at 2 years of age - Goldman
those adopted after 6 months displayed signs of disinshibited attachment (disorganised) whereas those adopted before 6 months rarely showed such signs - characterised by atten-seeking and affectionate behaviour being shown towards any or all adults and is thought to be the result of having too many caregivers within the critical period of attachment formation so a secure attachment cannot develop
what was Rutter et al (2007)’s conclusion?
demonstrated the importance and effects of adopting orphans at different ages related to rate of recovery
full recovery could be made if adoption before the age of 6 months , includes both emotional and intellectual development recoveries
conclusions supported Bucharest Early Interventionproject carried out by Zeanah et al (2005) - deomnstrated that 56% of their sample of 95 orphans displayed signs of disorganised attachments, compared to only 20% of the healthy, non-deprived group
what are the strengths of Rutter et al (2007)?
able to remove confounding and extraneous variables of PTSD and trauma associated with war orphans
increases confidence that researchers can place in drawing reliable conclusions about the effects of institutionalisation and the displayed differential rates of recovery
what are the limitations of Rutter et al (2007)?
focuses on short-term recovery rather then long-term rates
to increase the validity of conclusions, it would have been better to carry out the study across a longer time
low ecological validity because the conditions of romanian orphanages were especially poor - didnt have intellectual stimulation, may have impacted intellectual development, cases of abuse often reported
findings cannot be generalised beyond the research setting
what do children with an attachment disorder experience?
no preferred attachment figure
an inability to interact and relate to others that is evident before the age of 5
experience of severe neglect or frequent change of caregivers
what are the 2 kinds of attachment disorders?
Reactive or inhibited: shy and withdrawn, unable to cope with most social situations
Disinhibited attachment: over-friendly and attention seeking
what did bowlby suggest about the influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships?
that there will be a continuity between your experiences as a baby/your attachment type or quality, and your relationships later in life (child and adulthood) e.g., friendships, romatic relationships and familial relationships
what have early attachments also been found to determine?
various personality types
e.g., parenting style - found that we are more likely to raise our children similarly to how we are raised (IWM built on parents parenting style, determined by Bailey et al 2007)
whats an example of how your IWM affects your expectations of others and your attitude towards them?
someone who is insecure resistant may have trust issues and may find it hard to commit to one person
how does abuse in childhood affect someone in later life?
may grow up to resist or reject intimacy in their adult relationships
may lead to a lack of responsiveness or excessive over-familiarity
what are the strengths of bowlby’s suggestion of the influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships?
supported by Bailey (2007) - found majority of women had same attachment classification both to their babies and mothers, supports idea of continuity
Hazan and Shaver supported the idea that the quality/type of early attachments have a significant impact on our ability as adults to form attachments - securely attached = happier and long lasting relationships, insecurely attached = more divorces and tended to believe love was rare
Simpson et al - longitudinal study, participants studied at 4 keypoints: infancy, early childhood, adolescence adn adulthood. attachmetn types adn romantic relationships assessed at different stages. securely attached = expressive and emotionally attached in later relationships
what are the limitations of bowlby’s suggestion of the influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships?
many cases of insecurely attached children growing to have strong happy relationships
Fraley conducted met-analysis of studies - found correlations of up to 0.50 between early attachment types and later relationships, suggests that some attachment types are more unstable over time, reduces confidence that can be placed in Bowlby’s theories
deterministic - theory suggests that children who are insecurely attached are doomed for later relationships, assumes/implies no free will
