Attachment

Question 1

What are the two main types of caregiver infant interactions?

Answer 1

reciprocity and interactional synchrony

Question 2

What is reciprocity

Answer 2

two way interaction between caregiver and infant where both the caregiver and. infant are active contributors. They take turns to illicit responses from each other.

Question 3

What is interactional synchrony

Answer 3

When two people interact, they tend to mirror each other in terms of their actions and emotions, research has demonstrated interactional synchrony in caregiver-infant interactions

Question 4

Explain the experiments of Meltzoff and Moore and give the year conducted

Answer 4

conducted in 1977
- Meltzoff and Moore exposed 2-3 week old infants to an adult model
- adult model displayed one of 3 facial expressions
- dummy placed in infants mouth during display
- following display, dummy removed, infants response was filmed
- found infants often mirrored facial expressions displayed by adult model

Question 5

What is a strength of research into caregiver infant interactions

Answer 5

One strength = interactions usually filmed
Recordings of infants often analysed multiple times = unlikely key behaviour will be missed, by multiple observers = inter rater reliability established.
Experiments also conducted in controlled lab setting = control over other activity that may distract infants. Means research should have good reliability and validity

Question 6

What is a strength of research into caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 6

one strength = evidence to suggest they support development of attatchement bonds.
E.g Isabella et al (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants, assessed degree of interactional synchrony, found higher levels of interactional synchrony = better quality mother-infant attachment bonds
- Suggests interactional synchrony = important for good quality attatchment bonds

Question 7

What is a weakness of research into caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 7

Weakness = issues with research conducted by Meltzoff and Moore
E.g, issue of intentionality.
Infants mouths are in fairly constant motion, expressions being tested occur often = difficulty distinguishing between general behaviour and specific imitated behaviour.
Internal validity in this area of research = low

Question 8

What is a weakness of research into caregiver infant interactions

Answer 8

Weakness = some studies failed to replicate earlier findings
study by Koepke et al (1983) failed to find evidence of interactional synchrony in caregiver-infant interactions
Suggests research in this area lacks reliability and findings are inconsistent over time.

Question 9

Outline the research conducted by Schaffer and Emerson and give the year it was conducted

Answer 9

conducted in 1964
- studied 60 infants from working class families in Glasgow
- Infants visited at home by a researcher every month for first year and again at 18 months
- during visits, researcher interviewed mother about how infants respond to separation (separation anxiety)
and how infant responds to people (stranger anxiety)

Question 10

What did Schaffer and Emerson’s do with their findings

Answer 10

used findings to construct a description of how attatchment develops
- findings suggest there are 4 stages in development of attatchemnt

• asocial (pre-attatchment)
• indiscriminate attatchment (pre-attatchment)
• specific attatchment
• multiple attatchments

Question 11

What is a strength of the research conducted by Schaffer and Emerson (1964) into development of attachment

Answer 11

Strength = research has high external validity
Study carried out in familiy homes
observations of separation anxiety recorded while mothers performed ordinary, everyday tasks
findings gathered have good ecological validity and can be generalised to real life settings

Question 12

What is one strength of the research conducted by Schaffer and Emerson (1964) into development of attachment

Answer 12

Strength = research conducted longitudinally
- infants observed regularly
longitudinal designs have better internal validity than cross sectional designs, don’t have confounding variable of individual differences between participants
- research has good internal validity as findings weren’t affected by participant variables

Question 13

What is a weakness of research conducted by Schaffer and Emerson (1964) into development of attachment

Answer 13

One weakness = sample used = specific
all infants from same social class and city
study carried out 50 years ago, child rendering practices have changed, findings lack temporal validity
not necessarily generalise to other social contexts

Question 14

What is a weakness of research conducted by Schaffer and Emerson (1964) into development of attachment

Answer 14

Weakness = unclear when infants became capable of multiple attatchments
- some research e.g Schaffer + Emerson suggests infants form attachments to primary attatch. figure.
Other psychologists believe infants form multiple attachments from the outset.
- culturally biassed, specific to individualistic cultures.

Question 15

What is the role of the father

Answer 15

Schaffer and Emerson found father was primary attach. fig in only 3% cases.
- fathers = common secondary attach. fig.

Question 16

role of father as secondary attachment figure and findings

Answer 16

= Grossman et al (2002) conducted a longitudinal study of 44 families, looking at quality of infant-mother and infant-father attachments.

also assessed quality of mother and father’s play
- found that quality of infant-mother attachment was related to quality of adolescent relationships.
- quality of infant father relationships had no effect

BUT

• quality of fathers play was related to quality of adolescent relationships
• suggests fathers have a distinct role from mothers
• fathers role is more to do with play and stimulation.

Question 17

outline role of father as primary attachment figure

Answer 17

• when father takes on role of primary caregiver, able to adopt emotional role more typical of mothers
• Field (1978) filmed 4 month old infants in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers and secondary + primary caregivers
• fathers have potential to provide responsiveness required for a close attatchment, but perhaps only when given role of primary caregiver.

Question 18

What is a weakness of research into role of the father

Answer 18

Weakness = lack of clarity over question being asked
- some researchers want to understand role of father as secondary att. fig. = and how they behave differently from mothers
- others more concerned with fathers as primary attach. figs = found that fathers behave similarly to mothers
difficult to answer question ‘what is the role of the father?’ in context of attachment

Question 19

What is a weakness of research into role of the father

Answer 19

Weakness = conflicting evidence in research
- if fathers do have distinct roles as secondary attach. figs, we expect children who grow up in single parent or same sex parent families to be disadvantaged.
Research conducted shows children in these families don’t develop differently
- suggests father doesn’t have a distinct role - contradicts Grossman (2002) research.

Question 20

What is a strength of research into role of the father

Answer 20

Strength = research into role of father = used to offer advice to parents
- prospective parents may agonise over primary caregiver role.
-pressure - mothers to stay @ home, fathers to work
suggests research has useful applications in real world

Question 21

What was Lorenz’s (1935) procedure for investigating animal studies of attachment

Answer 21

• randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs in half
• half eggs hatched with mother goose in natural environment - first moving obj they saw = mother goose
• half hatched in incubator - first moving obj they saw = Lorenz

Question 22

What where Lorenz’s (1935) findings when investigating animal studies of attachment

Answer 22

• incubator group followed him everywhere.
• other group imprinted on mother goose + followed her everywhere
• to test imprinting, he marked two groups of goslings to distinguish them + placed them together]
• Both Lorenz + mother goose present
• goslings quickly divided, incubator group returned to Lorenz, showed no recognition of their natural mother

Question 23

What was Lorenz’s (1935) conclusion

Answer 23

research demonstrates process of imprinting
imprinting = process by which bird species that are mobile from birth, attach to and follow first moving obj they see.

Question 24

What was Lorenz’s (1935) critical period for imprinting

Answer 24

Lorenz identified that there is a critical period in which imprinting must take place, depending on species, can be only few hours
if imprinting doesn’t occur within this period, will not occur at all.

Question 25

What is Lorenz’s (1935) theory of sexual imprinting

Answer 25

• Lorenz investigated relationship between imprinting + adult mate preferences
• Observed peacock that had been reared in reptile habitat at zoo.
• first moving obj peacock saw = tortoise, only directed courtship behaviour towards tortoise. Lorenz suggested imprinting had influence on adult mate preferences

Question 26

What was the procedure of Harlow’s (1958) animal studies of attachment

Answer 26

• Harlow created two wire mothers
• one mother = bare, other mother = wrapped in soft cloth
• 16 infant monkeys removed from mothers @ birth.
• Each monkey placed in cage of two wire mothers
• for 8, milk attached to cloth mother, for other 8, milk bottle attached to bare mother.
• monkeys studied for 165 days
• measurements made for amount of time each monkey spent with each wire mother
• reactions when frightened or introduced to new toys recorded

Question 27

What were Harlow’s (1958) findings

Answer 27

• all 16 monkeys spent majority of time with cloth mother, regardless whether milk bottle attached
• 8 monkeys who fed from bare mother quickly returned to cloth mother
• when frightened, all clung to cloth mother
• when introduced to new toys, all kept foot on cloth mother for reassurance

Question 28

What was Harlow’s (1958) conclusion

Answer 28

• all infants do not necessarily form an attachment with person who feeds them, form an attachment with person who offers them contact comfort

Question 29

What was Harlow’s subsequent research

Answer 29

• focused on long lasting effects of early attachment experiences.
• studied monkeys as they grew up
• noted consequences of early attachment experiences
• all developed abnormally
• socially abnormal - all froze or fled when saw other monkeys
• sexually abnormal - didn’t show mating behaviour, didn’t cradle own infants, some attacked or killed own infants
• Harlow suggested contact - comfort alone with unresponsive mother figure is not enough for healthy social + emotional development.

Question 30

What is the strength of Lorenz’s (1935) research

Answer 30

• Strength = further research evidence demonstrates process of imprinting
• E.g Regolin + Vallortigara (1995) exposed chicks to simple shape combos that moved
  range of shape combos moved in front of chicks, found that followed the original most closely.
• Supports view that bird species born with innate mechanism to attach to and follow first moving obj they see

Question 31

What is the weakness of Lorenz’s (1935) research

Answer 31

• Weakness = mammalian attachment system very different to that of birds
• E.g in mammals, attachment = two way process, not just young who become attached to mothers but mothers who become attached to young
• Not appropriate to generalize Lorenz’s findings to humans, therefore very little can be concluded from his research

Question 32

What is the strength of Harlow’s (1958) research

Answer 32

• Strength = Harlow’s research = important in real world applications.
• E.g helped professionals e.g social workers understand lack of contact comfort may be risk factor in child development, allowing them to intervene when necessary.
• means value of Harlow’s research = practical as well as theoretical

Question 33

What is the weakness of Harlow’s (1958) research

Answer 33

• Weakness = research conducted by harlow = ethical issues
• Monkeys removed from mothers @ birth, raised in almost total isolation
  Many developed abnormalities later in life = not protected from psych harm.
• Suggests benefits of research outweigh costs to animals involved = questionable

Question 34

What is the learning theory of attachment

Answer 34

• learning theory of attachment suggests infant learn to form an attachment to a caregiver through classical and operant conditioning

Question 35

How does classical conditioning link to attachment

Answer 35

• food (UCS) produces pleasure (UCR) in infant
• mother (NS) initially causes no response in infant
• However, infant learns to associate mother with food, then mother alone (CS) produces pleasure (CR) that is usually produced by food
• infant therefore forms attachment to mother as she creates a sense of pleasure

Question 36

How does operant conditioning and attachment

Answer 36

• Dollard and Miller (1950) used operant conditioning to explain attachment
• According to their explanation, hunger creates discomfort in an infant
• When infant is fed, their discomfort is reduced, producing feelings of pleasure
• Food is their primary reinforcer - direct pleasure
• The infant also learns to recognise person who provides food
• person who provides food - secondary reinforcer - indirect pleasure
• if infant remains in close proximity to this person, they will be fed (positive reinforcement) and will avoid discomfort of hunger (negative reinforcement)
• infant will therefore repeat behaviour of remaining in close proximity to a person, forms an attachment to them

Question 37

What is cupboard love?

Answer 37

learning theory of attachment = also called cupboard love theory
proposes attachment bonds form based upon provision of food

Question 38

What is a weakness of the learning theory of attachment
- geese and monkeys

Answer 38

• Weakness = animal studies don’t support learning theory of attachment
• learning theory of attachment –> infants attach person who feeds them
• BUT Lorenz’s geese imprinted before they were fed, Harlows monkeys attached —> cloth mother, regardless of milk bottle
  Studies suggest attachment doesn’t develop as a result of feeding

Question 39

What is a weakness of learning theory of attachment - not necc food

Answer 39

• weakness = research with human infants shows feeding = not most important factor in development

-E.G Schaffer + Emerson (1964) found primary attach fig = not necessarily person who fed infant, person who interacted most, responded quickly + sensitively

• Suggests LT of attach cannot explain attach in human infants

Question 40

What is a weakness of learning theory of attachment - Ignores Isabella

Answer 40

• Weakness of LT of attachment - criticised for ignoring other factors associated with development of attachment
• E.g ignores importance of caregiver - infant interactions
• Isabella Et Al (1989) found high levels of interactional synchrony = high quality attachment bonds
• If attachment developed purely result of feeding, (as LT attachment suggests) no purpose for these complex interactions

Question 41

What is the strength of Learning theory of attachment

Answer 41

• Strength - although unlikely association with food plays a role in development of attachment, conditioning may still play a part.
• E.g infant may associate feeling warm + comfortable
  with presence of particular adult, may influence infants choice of main attachment figure
• Suggests LT of attachment may still be useful in understanding development of attachment.