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Psychology - Paper 1 > Attachment > Flashcards

Attachment Flashcards

1
Q

What is attachment?

A

A two-way emotional relationship in which people depend on each other for their sense of security

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2
Q

What are the three ways infants show attachment?

A

Seeking proximity
Secure base behaviour
Distress if separated

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3
Q

What is seeking proximity?

A

The way infants try to maintain physical contact or be close with attachment figure

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4
Q

What is distress if separated?

A

Degree of distress shown by the child when separated from the caregiver

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5
Q

What is secure base behaviour?

A

How independent the child is and how much support they need to explore an unfamiliar area.
Attachment figure acts as a bas of security from which the child can explore

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6
Q

What is Meltzoff and Moore’s research and what did they find?

A

Adult model did 1 of 3 facial expressions - tongue out, open mouth, press lips forward
Observers watch baby and describe what expression it made
Most often replicated the adult models face

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7
Q

What is reciprocity?

A

One person responds to another. Turn taking behaviour

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8
Q

What is interactional synchrony (mirroring)?

A

Doing same act at same time.
Meltzoff and Moore observed in infants aged 2 weeks or older

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9
Q

What is the evaluation for caregiver-infant interactions?

A

Well controlled procedures - usually filmed, inter observer reliability, empirical
Hard to know what the infant is thinking e.g. some don’t mirror but still strong attachment
Social sensitivity - suggests women should prioritise work or children not both

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10
Q

What are the different stages of attachment?

A

Asocial stage (birth - 2 months)
Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months)
Specific attachment (7 months +)
Multiple attachments (by one year)

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11
Q

What happens in the asocial stage of attachment?

A

Many stimuli produce positive reaction
Very few protest
Young infants asocial

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12
Q

What happens in the indiscriminate stage of attachment?

A

Enjoy human attachment
Upset if no interaction
No stranger anxiety
Regular caregiver easily comfort infant

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13
Q

What happens in the specific stage of attachment?

A

Protest separation and try to stay close to one individual
Stranger anxiety

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14
Q

What happens in the multiple attachments stage?

A

Begin to attach with others
18 months - multiple attachments should be formed

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15
Q

What is the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s Glasgow study?

A

60 infants from working class homes in Glasgow
Aged from 1 week - 23 weeks
Studied for a year
Mothers visited every four weeks to report on infant’s response to separation in everyday situations (left in a room)
Mothers asked to describe intensity of protest. Rated on a 4 point scale
Mother asked whom the protest was directed at

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16
Q

What were the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s Glasgow study?

A

Found four distinct stages:
By 32 weeks, 60% had formed a specific attachment, 57% with mother, 3% with father
By 36 weeks, 73% were showing stranger anxiety

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17
Q

What is the evaluation for research into the development of attachments?

A

Small ethnocentric sample - small area in Glasgow, may not be representative. Lack of temporal validity as study done in 1960s, may not be generalisable
Suggests development is inflexible - fixed stages, may label baby as abnormal if develop multiple attachments early
Culture bias - May only apply to individualist cultures as collectivist cultures often share childcare. Cause an imposed etic

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18
Q

What is the role of the father in infants forming attachments?

A

Attachment to mother is more important than attachment to father. Key to attachment it the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent

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19
Q

What is the evaluation for role of the father?

A

Economic implications
Socially sensitive

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20
Q

What are the two animal studies of attachment?

A

Lorenz - geese
Harlow - monkeys

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21
Q

What is imprinting?

A

Rapid learning that takes place early in the life of a social animal and establishes a behaviour pattern. Form an attachment to the first moving object the animal sees during a sensitive period.

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22
Q

What is Lorenz’s study and what did he find?

A

Group of eggs. Half to mum and half to him. Put back together and see who they follow
Lorenz’s geese followed him and the other half followed mum.

If not exposed to moving object within critical period then imprinting does not occur

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23
Q

What is Harlow’s study and what did he find?

A

Lasted 165 days. 8 motherless monkeys with 2 surrogate mothers. One wire with milk and one cloth.
Found spent less than an hour on wire monkey. 16-17 hours on cloth monkey. If scared went to cloth monkey

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24
Q

What were the long lasting effects of Lorenz’s study?

A

Process is irreversible
Sexual imprinting - not wanting to reproduce with other geese

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25
What were the long lasting effects of Harlow's study?
Became socially and sexually abnormal around other monkeys. If before 3 months, babies could recover if time spent with monkey 'peers'
26
What is the evaluation of Lorenz's animal study of attachment?
Research support - Concept of imprinting. Chicks exposed to simple shapes (e.g. triangle with rectangle in front). Range of other similar shapes moved in front of chicks but they only followed the original Not generalisable - mammal attachment is different e.g. don't lay eggs
27
What is the evaluation of Harlow's animal study of attachment?
Confounding variables - two 'mothers' varied in more than the food and comfort - cloth had more monkey head - lacks internal validity Social sensitivity - lasting emotional harm as cannot form connections with peers HOWEVER, understanding from the study has helped to better care for human infants
28
What does the learning theory of attachment suggest?
When born children are blank slates. Behaviour is learnt, everything they become can be explained in terms of experiences e.g. attachment
29
What is classical conditioning in terms of attachment?
Food (UCS) -> Happiness (UCR) Mum (NS) + UCS -> UCR Mum (CS) -> Happiness (CR)
30
What is operant conditioning in terms of attachment?
Drive reduction theory. When fed, drive is reduced and baby is happy (positive reinforcement). Behaviour that led to being fed is more likely Hunger causes crying -> food provided (primary reinforcer) -> mum gave food (secondary reinforcer) -> attachment forms
31
How does evidence from animal studies contradict the learning theory of attachment?
Harlow - contact may be more important than food - more time on cloth mother than wire food giving mother HOWEVER not generalisable
32
What is the AO3 for the learning theory of attachment?
Evidence from animal studies Evidence from human studies Reductionism
33
How does evidence from human studies contradict the learning theory of attachment?
Schaffer and Emerson - Glasgow study - children form attachments to those not involved in food e.g. siblings Proves food is not the leading factor causing attachments to form
34
How is the learning theory of attachment reductionist?
Reduces complex behaviour down to S-R link - other research suggests attachments are more complex and include other factors than just food
35
What is the acronym to remember the process of forming behaviour in Bowlby's Monotropic Theory of Attachment?
ASCMI
36
What does ASCMI stand for in relation to Bowlby's Monotropic Theory of Attachment?
Adaptive behaviours Social releasers Critical period Monotropy Internal working model
37
What does Bowlby suggest that adaptive behaviour is?
Attachments are adapted - keep safe, warm and fed Make us more likely to survive
38
What does Bowlby suggest social releasers are?
Features that make adults take care of them Physical - baby features, body proportion Behavioural - crying, cooing, smiling
39
What is the critical period?
Attachment must be formed between birth and 2 1/2 yrs otherwise child is damaged for life
40
What is monotropy?
One special attachment to biological mum If mum not present then form the attachment to another ever-present substitute
41
According to Bowlby's Monotropic Theory what is the internal working model?
Special schema for relationships Contains info about availability and responsiveness of caregiver Future relationships based on this
42
What is the evaluation of Bowlby's Theory of Attachment?
Issues with monotropy Support for internal working model Nature vs nurture debate
43
What are the issues with monotropy?
Schaffer and Emerson - noted specific attachments start at around 8 months then attachments form to others
44
What is the support for the internal working model?
Harlow - showed that monkeys reared in isolation from their mother suffered emotional and social problems in older age. The monkey’s grew up with impaired IWM and as such grew having problems interacting with other monkeys.
45
How does Bowlby's Theory of Attachment suffer from being socially sensitive?
He believed the mother to be the most central caregiver and that this care should be given on a continuous basis an obvious implication is that mothers should not go out to work. This therefore could lead to potential discrimination or negative attitudes towards working mothers, indeed when the theory was first published there was a marked drop in females in the workforce.
46
What are the seven episodes of the strange situation?
1. Baby encouraged to explore 2. Stranger comes in, talks to caregiver and approaches baby 3. Caregiver leaves baby and stranger together 4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves 5. Caregiver leaves baby alone 6. Stranger returns 7. Caregiver returns and is reunited with baby
47
What behaviours was Ainsworth looking for in her strange situation?
Proximity seeking Exploration and secure base behaviour Stranger anxiety Separation anxiety Response to reunion
48
What is a Type A attachment?
Insecure-avoidant
49
What is a Type B attachment?
Secure Attachment
50
What is a Type C attachment?
Insecure-resistant
51
What are the characteristics of a Type A, insecure-avoidant baby?
High willingness to explore Low stranger anxiety Indifferent separation anxiety Avoid contact upon reunion with caregiver
52
What are the characteristics of a Type B, secure attachment baby?
High willingness to explore Moderate stranger anxiety Some easy to sooth after separation Enthusiastic upon reunion with caregiver
53
What are the characteristics of a Type C, insecure-resistant baby?
Low willingness to explore High stranger anxiety Distressed separation anxiety Seeks and rejects upon reunion with caregiver
54
What did Ainsworth find the percentages of infants in each category were (US babies)?
Type A - 22% Type B - 66% Type C - 12%
55
What is the evaluation for the Strange Situation?
Good predictive validity Good inter-observer reliability Culture bound
56
How does the Strange Situation have good predictive valdity?
Attachment type predict later behaviour e.g. secure attachment = better school success and relationships compared to insecure resistant associated with bullying and mental health issues
57
How does the Strange Situation have good inter-observer reliability?
Observers generally agree on attachment type (+0.80) Due to taking place in controlled environment Easy behavioural categories
58
How is the Strange Situation culture bound?
May not have same meaning outside America or Western Europe e.g. Japanese mothers and infants rarely separate - high anxiety May not be valid across all cultures
59
What is the procedure of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's study into cultural variations in attachment?
Meta-analysis of 32 studies of attachment Over 2000 Strange Situations in 8 countries
60
What were the findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's study into cultural variations in attachment?
Between cultures variations were small Secure attachment was most common in every country Variation within cultures was 1.5x greater than variation between cultures Collectivist (Israel): High insecure resistant (C) and low insecure avoidant (A) Individualist (Germany): High insecure avoidant (A) and low insecure resistant (C)
61
What are cultural variations?
The ways in which different groups vary in terms of their social practices and the effects these practices have on development and behaviour
62
What is the evaluation for cultural variations in attachment?
Indigenous researchers - enhance validity Confounding variables - secondary data, not methodologically matched Imposed etic
63
How does research into cultural variations in attachment demonstrate an imposed etic?
Based off middle-class American infants e.g. infant exploring by itself is avoidant based off American standards but independent in Germany (prized trait) Cause misclassification
64
In the context of child development what is deprivation?
Loss of emotional care that is normally provided by a primary caregiver
65
What are the three important strands linked to Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?
Value of maternal care Critical period Long-term consequences
66
What does Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory suggest about the value of maternal care?
Believed that infants and children need a 'warm, intimate and continuous relationship with a mother (or a permanent mother substitute) to ensure continued normal mental health
67
What are the long-term consequences that may occur from no attachments being formed in the critical period, and from a lack of monotropy?
Reduced intelligence Impaired emotional development (affectionless psychopathy) Aggression Depression Impaired internal working model Quasi-autism Physical underdevelopment
68
What is quasi-autism?
Autism due to early lack of social experience. When deprived of experience, the brain is left to wire itself and processes can go away
69
What is affectionless psychopathy?
Inability to show affection or concern for others e.g. no guilt for anti-social behaviour. Act on impulses with little regard for consequences of their actions
70
What is Bowlby's 44 thieves study and what does it support?
Supports Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation 44 thieves compared to 44 non-thieves from a delinquency centre Via interviews and questionnaires found that 17/44 thieves had been separated from their mothers before 5 years 14/17 classed as affectionless psychopaths Only 2/44 non-thieves experienced separation Support MDH as link shown between disruption in first 5 years and maladjustment
71
What is the evaluation for Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?
44 thieves - + and - Real world applications Social sensitivity
72
What are the issues with Bowlby's 44 thieves study?
Poor quality of evidence as Bowlby carried out the interviews - bias as knew in advance which people he expected to show signs of psychopathy
73
How does the maternal deprivation hypothesis have practical applications?
Highlight importance of attachment and maintaining a monotropic bond in the first 5 years Greater stability in childcare practices - day-care centres assigning caregivers to children and hospital hours changing to allow children contact with parents
74
How does the maternal deprivation hypothesis demonstrate social sensitivity?
Suggests women should stay home and look after the kids instead of pursuing careers Published near the end of the war and criticised for trying to force women out of the workforce
75
Which study shows research into the effects of institutionalisation?
Rutter's Romanian orphan adoption study
76
What was Rutter's procedure into discovering the effects of institutionalisation?
111 Romanian children either aged 4,6 or 11 Tested on physical and intellectual ability on arrival 3 conditions 1 - adopted before 6 months 2 - between 6 months and 2 years 3 - after 2 years
77
What were Rutter's findings into the effects of institutionalisation?
Avg IQ on arrival - 63 Avg IQ for those adopted after 6 months - 45 Avg IQ increased to 107 Avg IQ for those adopted after 6 months - 90 Physical development = 51% in bottom 3% of pop for weight, also shorter ad smaller heads than normal Age 4 compared against 52 British adopted children Adopted before 6 months = normal 6 years old - some showed disinhibited attachment 11 years old - 54% show disinhibited attachmetn

Psychology - Paper 1 (4 decks)

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