Attachment Flashcards
What is the difference between the critical and sensitive period?
Critical period: the time period that was thought to be critical for the formation of any attachment, between 6 months and 3 years, after this time it’s difficult for a bond to be formed
Sensitive period: revised from the critical period, timeframe where bonds are more readily formed than at other times in life. Bonds can still be formed after this period, just more difficult
What is the adult attachment interview used for? How does a secure and insecure attachment with their primary caregiver affect their relationship with their child?
Adult Attachment Interview: semi structured interview, retrospective, memories of her earliest experiences with her primary caregiver, this is strongly related to their child’s attachment
Talks more openly about their experiences with their caregivers if they have positive memories and will have a secure attachment with their child
If childhood relationships were difficult, they may be dismissive or emotionally burdened by them. This creates an insecure attachment with their child as they can’t draw upon positive experiences
What is proximity seeking?
A set of behaviours shown by children to draw attention from the primary caregiver towards themselves
What is monotropism?
A child can only form a strong attachment to one person
What is attachment?
Emotional tie that one individual forms with another
Endures over time
This bond will have critical survival values:
- Protection
- Security
- Nurturance
What is Bowlby’s attachment theory?
Infants have a motivational system for establishing attachment
Critical period between 0 to 2.5 years
Selective: focused on specific individuals
Physical proximity seeking
Provides comfort and security
Stranger anxiety
Separation elicits crying
What are the phases of attachment?
Pre-attachment: 0 to 2 months, shows little differentiation in responses to the mother and other people
Early attachment, 2 to 7 months, recognise mother, more likely to be comforted by her
Separation protest, 7 to 9 months to 2 years, seeks proximity to mother, wary of strangers, protests when separated
Goal corrected, 2 to 3 years and upwards, begins to understand mothers needs and has increased independence
What is the maternal deprivation hypothesis?
Dangerous outcomes can occur later in life if there is a lack of a consistent attachment figure in early childhood
What was the procedure for the Harlow monkey study? What is contact comfort?
Rhesus monkey
Wire mother: get food
Cloth mother: get comfort
Monkey went to cloth mother, contact comfort is a primary need
How did Harlow’s monkeys study support the maternal deprivation hypothesis?
Withdrawn
Fearful
Attack others
Unlikely to mate successfully
What is Lorenz’s imprinting theory?
Proximity maintaining behaviour
What are the criticisms with Bowlby’s theory?
Bowlby worked primary with traumatised children, not controls
No account for infant temperament
Cultural variation
Not just the mother
What is the procedure for Ainsworth’s strange situation?
- mother and baby alone
- stranger, mother and baby
- stranger and baby
- mother and baby
- baby alone
- stranger and baby
- mother and baby
What were the results of the strange situation study?
Mothers presence facilitated exploration
Mothers absence decreased exploration
Separation elicited crying
Reunion produced proximity seeking, contact behaviours increased
What is type B (secure) attachment?
care giver facilitates exploration
distressed at separation
actively seeks contact at reunion
soothed by mothers return
66%
What is type A (avoidant) attachment)?
readily explores
little distress at separation
doesn’t avoid stranger
doesn’t proximity seek during reunion
20%
typically parent is rejecting
What is type C (resistant/ambivalent) attachment?
doesn’t explore
anxious or clingy prior separation
intense distress at separation
during reunion, ambivalent behaviour
12%
parenting is typically inconsistent
What is type D (disorganised) attachment?
unusual behaviours
unable to handle stressful situations
may appear dazed, frightened or depressed in the presence of the mother
typically parenting is neglectful or abusive
2%
What are the criticisms for the strange situation study?
Not appropriate for all cultures, type C is more common in Israel and Japan
Based on middle class families
Low ecological validity
Relationships between people differ between different times
What are the criticisms of the type C attachment type?
In children’s day care, many were insecurely attached
Insecure attachment may represent positive adaptation to a normal routine away from their mother
What is the preschool attachment classification system? (PACS)
Used the 4 categories of attachment
3 to 5 years old
Separation from caregiver, reunion, 2nd separation, and 2nd reunion
Child left alone rather than in the presence of a stranger
Based on the strange situation
What is the internal working model?
Cognitive framework
Based on relationship with primary caregiver
Prototype for all future social relationships
How do attachment types impact the IWM of individuals as they get older?
Secure: mother is often available, will return to me after separation, others are available and responsive
Insecure avoidant: mum is rejecting, doesn’t expect much on reunion, others are rejecting, conditionally available, hostile
Insecure resistant: mum is cold, others are unavailable, unreliable
Disorganised: no current IWM
What are the long term outcomes for an individual whose securely attached?
Socially skilled
Empathetic
Compliant
Intellectually curious
Good problem solvers
Self directed
Good social skills at 6 years
What are the outcomes for an individual whose been insecurely attached?
Boys are more likely to be depressed
Social withdrawal at 6 years
Less harmonious relationships at 4 years
Girls at higher risk of anxiety, depression and loneliness
What is maternal sensitivity?
Parents ability to respond sensitively and be emotionally available to the child
How do parents behave in the different types of attachment (a, b , c, d) ?
secure: consistently responsive, read babies signals
resistant: inconsistent, may be anxious
avoidant: dismissive, cold or rejecting
disorganised: frightening, insensitive, disturbances in emotional communication
How could the role of a child’s temperament impact attachment types?
Temperament is attribute of an individual
Attachment is attribute of relationships
Some correlation between them but irritable infants can form secure attachments
What are the attachment types for parents? How do these match with the child attachment types (a, b, c ,d)?
Dismissive: matches with insecure avoidant types, recalls events with little emotion, denies the significance of early experiences
Autonomous: matches secure types, talks frankly and in detail about positive and negative experiences
Preoccupied: matches insecure resistant, talks emotionally about events, remembers experiences in an unstructured way, often repetitions
Unresolved: matched disorganised, failed to organise life after traumatic event
