Attachment Flashcards
Care giver infant interaction main study for evaluation
MELTZOFF AND MOORE
Investigate Age imitation occurs
Babies as young as 2 weeks would attempt to imitate facial expression of adult
:) and they had and independent observer that was not aware of the aims of the study to avoid bias
Studies for reciprocity and interactional synchronicity
Reciprocity- TRONICK ET AL
still face paradigm
Mother interacting with infant then suddenly instructed stop responding to signals and display a neutral face
Babies first continue smiling and try get a response from mother, then become distressed and cry
Lack of interaction may have negative affect on attachment and relationship and child’s ability to understand effect their behaviour has on others
Interactional synchrony- ISABELLA AND BELSKY
Mother infant relationships that went on to develop to be a secure attachment had highest amount of interactional synchrony when observed between 3 and 9month
Strengths of most observations
Highly controlled
No problem with demand characteristics, more natural behaviour
Practical application- drawn attention to importance of __ needed to help development
Weakness of most observations
Intentionality?
Difficult to determine infants intention, limited ability to communicate
So inferences have to be made
Bias- observation so may interpret infants behaviour as a direct response to attachment figures behaviour as that is what they’re hoping to find
Raise question of validity and weakens out understanding
Socially sensitive
Empthansised between mother and infant
Could put pressures on to not return to work
Problems for economy?
Research on role of the father
FIELD
film interaction between babies and care givers
3 groups
1= primary caregiver mother
2= primary caregiver father
3= secondary caregiver father
Father hold infant less and engage in more play
However primary care giver mother and fathers engage in more smiling, imitative facial expressions and high pitched imitative voices than secondary fathers
So being primary care giver not about gender but quality of relationship in terms of how they interact
Strength of animal studies
Practical application
Draw attention to importance for social workers
Groundwork for other theory’s such as critical period and bowlbys theory
Limitation of animal studies
Remember to relate back to human studies or you won’t get marks
Can’t be generalised to humans, interactions will be different
Lorenz suggest CRITICAL period (irreversible) but other studies such as Romanian orphan studies show this can be over come
Ethical issues
Harlow
Harm caused
Damaging
Cruel
Harlow- “the effects of 6 months of total social isolation were so devastating that we had assumed that 12 months would not produce any additional decrement”
ARGH I HATE THAT CUNT
Evaluation of Ainsworths strange situation
Standardised yay
So can be replicated
High reliability as high inter observer reliability
HOWEVER
Child’s behaviour in highly controlled unfamiliar room so behaviours may not represent attachment type at home
Lacks ecological validity
Doesn’t take in the new 4th attachment type (disorganised) as doesn’t fit into the other 3
Cultural issues
All American
Culturally relative?
Main study of cultural variation
Van Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg
Meta analysis
32 studies, 8 countries
All using strange situation to measure attachment
FINDINGS:
Secure attachment most common in all
Germany=highest amount of avoidant (individualistic culture)
Japan= lowest amount of avoidant (collectivist culture)
Japan, china and Isreal had higher resistant rates
Found more variation within cultures than between them
Evaluate cultural variation research
3 points
STANDARDISES- yay
Same method of strange situation used, a highly controlled observation
Research can be accurately compared across cultures without problem of extraneous variables
Many countries such as Japan have SUBCULTURES, so is one or two studies (as uneven distribution of the studies) representative and comparable?
*32 studies spread across 8 countries but UK only had one and USA had 18
ETHNOCENTRIC
Strange situation created in America suggest secure is best and has the highest level of secure attachment rates
All American children used when creating
Biased to American westernised culture
TAKAHASHI- strange situation had to be stopped in 90% of participants in the episode where mother leaves in Japan because of how extream anxiety became
As separation from mother so rare
What was bowlbys study of maternal deprivation
44 thieves
Group one- 44 child thieves
Group two- 44 children referred to bowling for emotional problems
Matched on IQ and age to cancel out extraneous variables
14/44 from thieves= affectionless psychopaths
12/14 of these experiences prolonged separation from mother in first 2 year
2nd group= only 2 experience separation and non affectionless psychopaths
Strengths of Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
Practical application- maternity leave and how vulnerable children are cared for
Limitation of Bowlby theory of maternal deprivation
No control group, limit extent you can say maternal deprivation is the route cause
Bias
Bowlby is the one who carried out research and assessments
May have unconsciously been more likely to interpret what the child says to fit in with what he was hoping to find
Mother was interviewed may not mention events that put her in a bad light
Social desirability
Research relies on their honesty so validity questioned
Case study that support Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
KOLUCHOVA
twins Andrei and Vanya
Mother died shortly after birth, raised by father who abused and kept them in a cellar
Discovered at 7, less physically developed with limited speech
Doctor report said they were permanently damaged physically and mentally
They were adopted and put into a school for children with learning difficulties
They caught up academically and developed normally
They went on to get respectable jobs and both married with children
So questions Bowlbys idea that this damage is irreversible?
BUT EXTREME CASE NOT GENERALISABLE
Supporting study for Romanian orphans
CHUGANI ET AL
Scaned (PET) brains of some of Orphans to note any difference in development
Compare with two compare groups- normal adult group and children group
Orphans brains showed dysfunction in the brain regions thought to be responsible for
Impulsivity
Attention
Social skills
Cognitive ability
Strength of Romanian orphans studies
Practical application
Importance for children raised in care to have a key worker rather than multiple
Also shows importance of early adoption into stable families for recovery
Limitation of Romanian orphan studies
GENERALISABILITY
Extream situation
Not typical representation
LONG TERM AFFECTS not yet clean
Stopped studying children at age 15
SOCIALLY SENSITIVE
Negative implications for adopted children (low IQ)
Self fulfilling prophecy?
Those teaching them have lower expectations
Strengths of behaviourist explanation
Based on an established theory
And scientific principles
Because
Research support for this theory such as SKINNER is done in highly controlled setting
So applying to attachment behaviour seen as plausible, face validity
Research contradicting behaviourist explanation for attachment
SCHAFFER AND EMERSON
Glasgow study
Key finding- person baby forms attachment with isn’t necessarily person who spends most amount of time with them
It was caregiver that was most interactive and sensitive to behaviours
Undermines as primary attachment figure not a result of who feeds baby more about quality of interaction
CAN SAY SAME ABOUT HARLOW- cloth mum
BUT ANIMAL SO CANT GENERALISE
Limitation for behaviourist explanation
Too much emphasis on nurture
Ignore biological factors
So maybe Bowlby monotropic theory better as discusses innate factors such as adaptation and social releasers
ALSO
ENVIRONMENTAL REDUCTIONISM
break down behaviour into basic process of stimuli and response associations
Maybe too simplistic to explain complex attachment behaviours
Supporting evidence for Bowlbys monotropic theory
Through animal studies
LORENZ
show adaptive, critical period, monotropy
HARLOW
Shows internal working model
BUT ANIMALS SO CANT GENERALISE TO HUMANS SO QUESTIONS THEORY
Limitation for Bowlbys monotropic theory
Socially sensitive
Emphasis on mothers role
Underestimates role of father
Research for how attachment in infancy affects future relationships
Internal working model
HAZAN AND SHAVER
the love quiz
Questionnaire
Positive correlation between attachment type and later love experience
Insecure avoidant in childhood= most likely to fear closeness, believe love doesn’t last
Secure= most likely to have good n long lasting, believe love lasts
Resistant= needy for love, fall in love easily
HOWEVER- unable to identify cause n effect, correlational
ALSO HARLOWS MONKEYS
Contradicting research of internal working model
Andrei and Vanya case study by KOLUCHOVA
Despite lack of maternal figure and abusive father both went on to have stable marriages and have children
So can recover from
