Attachment

Question 1

What is Reciprocity?

Answer 1

When the mother and infant responds to each others signals of attention/communication

Question 2

What are Alert Phases?

Answer 2

Periodic phases where the baby signals that they are ready and want interaction

Question 3

What is Interactional Synchrony?

Answer 3

When the mother and infant reflect both actions and emotions of each other in a coordinated way

Question 4

Who did the study of the beginning of interactional synchrony?

Answer 4

Meltzoff and Moore (2007)

Question 5

Aim of study? (Meltzoff & Moore)

Answer 5

They observed the beginning of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks

Question 6

Procedure of study? (Meltzoff & Moore)

Answer 6

-An adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or distinctive gestures.
-The child’s response was filmed and identified by an independent observer.

Question 7

Findings of study? (Meltzoff & Moore)

Answer 7

An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the response of the babies

Question 8

Who did the study of the importance of interactional synchrony for attachment?

Answer 8

Isabella et al. (1989)

Question 9

Aim/Procedure of study? (Isabella et al.)

Answer 9

-Observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed degree of synchrony.
-The researchers also assessed the quality of the mother-infant attachment.

Question 10

Findings of study? (Isabella et al.)

Answer 10

High levels of synchrony was associated with the better quality mother-infant attachment

Question 11

Strength of Caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 11

P - Filmed Observations
E - Interactions are filmed in a lab, meaning other variables can be controlled, findings can be analysed after
T - Therefore, the data has good reliability and validity

Question 12

Limitation of Caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 12

P - Difficulty observing babies
E - Babies are uncoordinated and are almost immobile, the movements being observed are small and subtle so can be hard to interpret
T - Therefore, we can’t be sure the behaviours observed have a special meaning

Question 13

Limitation of Caregiver-infant interactions? Counterpoint?

Answer 13

P - Observing behaviour doesn’t tell us it’s developmental importance
E - Feldman points out ideas like synchrony only gives names to patterns of observable behaviours
T - Therefore, we can’t be certain from observational research that if affects the development of a child

P - Supporting evidence
E - Isabella et al. found that interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality mother-baby attachment
T - Therefore, caregiver-infant interaction is probably important in development

Question 14

What are the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 14

1. Asocial stage
2. Indiscriminate attachment
3. Specific attachment
4. Multiple attachments

Question 15

What is the Asocial stage?

Answer 15

-A babies first few weeks of life
-Behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is similar
-The baby starts to form bonds with certain people
-Babies show preference to humans specifically familiar ones

Question 16

What is the Indiscriminate attachment stage?

Answer 16

-2-7 months old
-Display more obvious and social behaviours
-Clear preference for humans
-Recognise and prefer company of a familiar person
-Accepts cuddles from anyone

Question 17

What is the Specific attachment stage?

Answer 17

-From 7 months old
-Display classic signs of attachment towards 1 person
-Signs include anxiety towards strangers and when separated from attachment figure
-Formed a specific attachment to a primary attachment figure, 65% mother

Question 18

What is the Multiple attachments stage?

Answer 18

-Takes place after specific attachment
-Show attachment behaviour to multiple people
-Forms secondary attachments
-29% of children formed secondary attachment within a month of forming primary attachment
-By 1yr babies have made multiple attachments

Question 19

Who did the study for the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 19

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Question 20

Aim of study? (Schaffer and Emerson)

Answer 20

-To measure the babies’ attachment
-The researchers also assessed stranger anxiety

Question 21

Procedure of study? (Schaffer and Emerson)

Answer 21

-Studied 60 babies - 31 boys and 29 girls from Glasgow
-Majority from working class
-Researchers visited babies in their home at 1yr and again at 18 months
-Asked mothers about the protest shown in seven everyday separations
-Measured separation and stranger anxiety

Question 22

Findings of study? (Schaffer and Emerson)

Answer 22

Identified 4 distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour

Question 23

Strength of the Stages of attachment? Counterpoint?

Answer 23

P - External Validity
E - Most of the observations were made by the parents
T - Therefore, babies likely behaved naturally while being observed

P - Parents are unlikely to be objective observers
E - Being the parent introduced bias of what they report and notice
T - Therefore, even if babies acted naturally it may not have been accurately recorded

Question 24

Limitation of the Stages of attachment?

Answer 24

P - Poor evidence
E - Babies have poor coordination and are immobile so when feeling anxiety will be very subtle and hard to observe
T - Therefore, mothers had difficulty observing and reporting signs of anxiety, meaning babies could be social but due to flawed methods, appear to be asocial

Question 25

Strength of the Stages of attachment?

Answer 25

P - Real world application E - The stages have practical application in day care T - Therefore, parents use of day-care can be planned using Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachment

Question 26

Strength of the Stages of attachment? Counterpoint?

Answer 26

P - Good Generalisability E - They based their scale on a large scale study with good design features T - Therefore, it can be generalised to a large population P - Lack of generalisability E - Participants were specifically from Glasgow and from a working class T - Therefore, it cannot be generalised to other cultures such as collectivist cultures

Question 27

Who did the study for imprinting?

Answer 27

Lorenz (1952)

Question 28

What is the aim of the study (Lorenz)?

Answer 28

To test imprinting and see if baby geese attach to the first moving object they see

Question 29

What was the procedure for the study? (Lorenz)

Answer 29

He divided a clutch of eggs in half. Half were hatched in an incubator, seeing Lorenz first. And the other half were hatched with the mother goose. He then put them in a box, then released them to see who they would follow.

Question 30

What were the findings of the study? (Lorenz)

Answer 30

The half incubated followed Lorenz. The half hatched naturally followed the mother.

Question 31

Strength of the study? (Lorenz)

Answer 31

P - Research support E - Regolin and Vallortigara (1995) did a study where chicks were shown shapes that moved, and they followed the original shape most closely T - Therefore, this supports young animals are born with the mechanism to imprint on the first moving object

Question 32

Limitation of the study? (Lorenz)

Answer 32

P - low generalisability E - mammal attachment is much more complex than the attachment in birds. e.g mammal attachment is a two way process T - Therefore, it's not appropriate to generalise to humans

Question 33

Who did the animal study of comfort?

Answer 33

Harlow

Question 34

What was the aim of the study (Harlow)?

Answer 34

To view the importance of love and contact comfort

Question 35

What was the procedure of the study (Harlow)?

Answer 35

Tested 16 baby monkeys with 2 wired model mothers. 1 had a milk dispenser and plain wire. The other had a milk dispenser but was covered in cloth. The monkeys were then scared by a noisy mechanical toy.

Question 36

What were the findings of the study (Harlow)?

Answer 36

When scared the monkeys cuddled the cloth covered mother and sought comfort.

Question 37

A strength of the study (Harlow)?

Answer 37

P - real-world application E - helps social workers and clinical psychologists understand that lack of bonding can stunt child development allowing them to prevent poor outcomes T - Therefore, Harlow's research is practical

Question 38

A Limitation of the study (Harlow)?

Answer 38

P - Low generalisability E - The human brain is much more complex than than the brain of monkeys T - Therefore, it's not appropriate to generalise to humans