Attachment Flashcards
define attachment
a strong emotional, reciprocal bond between an infant and it’s primary caregiver. It is important for survival and for future relationships
why do we study animals in psychology?
it’s too unethical to use humans and take babies away from their mothers- also animals display similar attachment characteristics to humans
what is imprinting?
an adaptive strategy that is useful for survival
define imprinting
an innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother, normally in the first few hours of birth or hatching, normally with the first ‘mother figure’ that it encountered
describe the method of Lorenz’ study into imprinting
1.Lorenz divided a clutch of eggs into two; one half hatched with the mother (control group) and the other half hatched in an incubator, where the first moving thing that they saw was Lorenz
2.the control group followed their mother goose everywhere whereas the second group followed Lorenzo
3.he marked the goslings to show which group of eggs they come from and then let them out together from an upturned box; each gosling went straight to its mother figure (Lorenz’ goslings showed no recognition of their real mother)
4.in some of his experiments, Lorenz got goslings to imprint on inanimate objects such as Wellington boots
what was the IV for Lorenz’ experiment into imprinting?
who the goslings imprinted on
what was the DV for Lorenz’ experiment into imprinting?
who they segregate to
what was the aim of Harlow’s research?
to find out if the basis of attachment is food (wire mother) or comfort (cloth mother)
describe the procedure of Harlow’s research
-8 monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately at birth and placed in cages with access to two surrogate mothers, one made of wire and one covered in soft cloth
-four of the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother and four from the cloth mother
-the animals were studied for 165 days
what were the findings of Harlow’s research?
-both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother (even if she had no milk)
-the infant would only go to the wire mother when hungry, once fed it would return for the cloth mother for most of the day
-if a frightening object was placed in a cage it would take refuge from the cloth mother
what is the conclusion of Harlow’s research?
-Harlow concluded that for a monkey to develop normally s/he must have some interaction with an object to which they can cling to during the first months of life (critical period)
-he also conducted that early maternal deprivation leads to emotional damage which can be reversed if an attachment was made before the end of the critical period
what are some variations of Harlow’s study?
- an object was placed to frighten monkey (monkey ran straight to cloth mother)
- monkey was put into a foreign room with no mother (when wire mother was placed in the monkey didn’t go to it but when the cloth mother was placed in it ran to the cloth mother for comfort)
what was the independent variable for Harlow’s study?
type of surrogate mother
what was the dependent variable for Harlow’s study?
number of hours spent on each mother
what are the limitations of using animal studies to display attachment?
-cannot be generalised to humans
-there may be confounding variables
-ethical issues with animal studies
what makes up Bowlby’s theory of attachment?
-Adaptive
-Social releasers
-Critical period
-Monotropy
-Internal working model
what is the acronym to remember Bowlby’s theory?
A Snap Chat Makes Images
describe the adaptive part of Bowlby’s theory on attachment
-infants are born with the drive to become attached
-Infants attach to caregiver because attachment is adaptive (good for reproductive success as when babies survive they have their own babies)
-attachment gene is perpetuated and infants are born with the innate drive to attach
why is attachment good?
-baby is defenseless and so it survives with attachment
-attachments form the basis for social relationships- this promotes survival and reproduction
describe the critical period of Bowlby’s theory of attachment
-this is a certain window of time where it is most likely and easiest for an attachment to form
-this is an innate window of time, if the baby does not make an attachment during this time, it will be very hard for them to ever form an attachment
what age is the critical period according to Bowlby’s theory?
3-6 months
why do people respond to babies?
because they have:
-big eyes
-big foreheads
-little chins
-little noses
describe social releasers in Bowlby’s theory of attachment
-infants are born with social releasers e.g. baby smiles/cries= this creates care giving in others nearby
-adults have to respond to these social releasers
what would happen without social releasers?
adults would ignore the baby and they would not survive
