Attachment 2 - Bowlby Flashcards
Bowlbys theory of attachment
Innate process
Based on evolution - staying close to caregivers provides us with safety and protection. These needs are innate
Monotropy
Places emphasis on child’s attachment to ONE particular caregiver
Bowlby stated that this was the mother but this didn’t necessarily need to be the biological mother
Law of continuity
The more constant a child’s care the better the quality of attachment
Law of accumulated separation
Bowlby argued that effects of separation add up. These effects would have a negative effect on the child. Safest option would be to not separate them.
Social releasers
A set of innate ‘cue’ behaviours eg smiling that encourage attention from caregivers
Critical period
Time within an attachment must form
In first 2 years of life
After this critical period has passed the baby will have difficulty forming attachments in later life
Internal working model
Children form a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver
It provides a model for all future relationships
If the child forms a positive first internal representation then the child will form a similar expectation for all future relationships
Impacts on child’s ability to be parents at later date
Evaluation of monotropic theory
Strength
Evidence for internal working models
P: there is evidence to suggest internal working models exist
E: evidence for those internal models in predicting future patterns of relationships. Studies found that mothers who reported poor childhood relationships were more likely to have poor relationships with their own children
C: suggests that internal working models are passed through generations
Evaluation of monotropic theory
Strength
Evidence for social releasers
P: evidence to suggest at that children do display social releasers
E: clear evidence that babies show cue behaviours eg smiling. Research from interactional synchrony eg Meltzoff + Moore proved this. The babies copied the facial changes in the researcher
C: it’s argued that by doing this the child is eliciting attention from caregiver and displaying this type of behaviour is an example of a social releasers
Evaluation of monotropic theory
Limitation
Socially sensitive
P: some of Bowlbys ideas about attachment are socially sensitive
E: Bowlby states that mothers have main responsibility in forming and maintaining the 1st attachment with child. So they are to blame if things go wrong with attachment - unfair
C: research puts mothers under pressure to make decisions related to the upbringing of their child. So mother may not be able to go back to work which creates financial difficulties
Evaluation of monotropic theory
Limitation
1st attachment acts as guide may be false
P: the idea that the first attachment acts as a guide for all future attachments may be false
E: may be other factors that determine whether people have good attachments in later life eg bullying, separation etc
C: fails to take into account these ideas. So we could say that idea of internal working models are reductionist
The strange situation
Used to measure attachment types in children aged 9-18 months
Set into 3 minute stages: mother and child, stranger enters, parent leaves, parent returns, parent leaves, stranger enters, parent returns
Characteristics of insecure avoidant
Little stranger anxiety, little separation anxiety, little need or want for comfort
22% of infants with this type of
Characteristics of secure attachment
Moderate stranger anxiety - not comforted by stranger
Moderate separation anxiety, comforted at reunion
66% of infants with this type of
Characteristics of insecure resistant
Severe stranger anxiety, severe separation anxiety, resists comfort when reunited with caregiver
12% infants with this attachment type
Strength of strange situation
Inter rater reliability
P: it has good inter rater reliability
E: inter rater reliability is where 2 or more researchers observe the same event but work separately. Before observation the researchers agree on behavioural category eg stranger anxiety. Once it’s complete they compare results with aim to have an 80% similarity rate. Ainsworth found this
C: findings are reliable in observing behaviours in the strange situation
Strength of strange situation
Later development
P. Used to predict later development
E: research found that children who have secure attachments tend to develop better eg friendships. But children who have insecure resistant tend to develop less well eg being bullied. Insecure avoidant - bullies
C: suggests findings have high validity
Limitation of strange situation
Sample
P: the sample they used
E: all children used in study were from US. sample is ethnocentric so we can’t generalise the findings to diff countries/cultures
C: cultural differences may affect type of attachment we form with our mothers. We can criticise Ainsworths work as being culturally biased
Limitation of strange situation
More attachment styles
P: modern research suggests there are actually 4 attachment styles rather than the 3 suggested by Ainsworth
E: studies revealed there was a small minority of children who didn’t fit into either of the three attachment styles. Disorganised attachment - where a child shows a combination of both insecure avoidant and resistant
C: Ainsworths work is proven to be not accurate and is outdated
Culture refers to
The norms and values that exist within a group of people
Cultural variations refers to
The differences in those norms and values that exist between different groups
Culture and attachment
1. Individualistic
Western cultures such as UK, USA and Europe
Values independence and importance of the individual
Culture and attachment
2. Collectivist
Classed as non western cultures and include places such as Japan, India, Israel and china
Emphasises importance of the group and often involve a greater amount of sharing eg large families living and working together
Studies of cultural variation
Van Ijzendoorn et al
Procedure
Meta analysis of 32 studies that used strange situation
Conducted in 8 countries- UK, Sweden, Japan, Netherlands, USA, Israel, Germany and china
Looked at the 3 attachment types and their tendency in each country
Van Ijzendoorn’s findings
Most common attachment in each country was secure attachment - 75% in Britain to 50% in china
Insecure resistant was most common in Israel - 63%
Insecure avoidant was most common in Germany
Additional study of cultural variations
Simonella
Conducted a study in Italy - 76 children aged 12 months
Used strange situation
50% of children had secure attachment
36% had insecure avoidant
Lower levels of secure attachment due to parent sending children to childcare
Strength of cultural variations
Sample size
P: sample size used in Van Ijzendoorn’s research
E: He used 1990 children so sample is representative
C: we can generalise findings and they are high in validity. Suggests most popular attachment style worldwide is secure
Strength of cultural variations
Meta analysis
P: Van Ijzendoorn is a meta analysis
E: meta analysis is a collection of studies that are researching the same topic to generate an overall conclusion. Results are more reliable as they are all suggesting the same thing eg secure attachments are most common
C: results from many studies show that we do form attachments regardless of culture and for 2/3s people it is secure attachments. So regardless of culture we aim to form secure attachments
Limitation of cultural variations
Culturally biased
P: method that was used in cultural variation research; strange situation is culturally biased
E: strange situation was conducted on individualistic ideas eg what the US would define as starcher anxiety. Little thought given to how this may appear in different cultures
C: fails to take into account views from other cultures and simply assesses attachment style using the view point of individualistic cultures. We could argue that cultural variation research imposes their views on attachment on to other cultures when it shouldn’t. Imposed etic approach
Limitation of cultural variations
Unrepresentative
P: despite cultural variations being representative in terms of sample size we could still criticise the research as being unrepresentative
E: in Van Ijzendoorn’s study Africa, oceana and South America were excluded from sample. So we can’t generalise results
Don’t know whether attachment styles differ in these countries or whether they show a similar pattern as the rest of the world eg secure attachments most common
Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their caregiver
These consequences are negative and can often cause serious damage to child’s development
Separation definition
The child not being in the presence of the caregiver
Deprivation definition
When emotional care is withheld from the child
Can occur even if mother is with the child eg she suffers postnatal depression and is not able to emotionally care for the child
Maternal deprivation effects on development
Effects on IQ
Children who have been deprived usually suffer from learning difficulties and or unusually low IQ
Maternal deprivation effects on development
Effects on emotional development
Affectionless psychopath - inability to feel emotions such as guilt/remorse towards others - Linked to criminal activity
Affects their ability to form relationships
Lack empathy
Bowlbys 44 thieves study
Procedure
Examined the link between Affectionless psychopathy and criminality
44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
Interviewed for signs of Affectionless psychopathy
Families interviewed to establish if any separation had occurred
Bowlbys 44 thieves findings
14/44 were classified as affecfionless psychopaths
12/14 has experienced prolonged separation from mothers in first 2 years of life
They concluded that the prolonged early separation from their mothers had caused Affectionless psychopathy
strength of maternal deprivation
supportive research - Harlow
P: Harlow’s research supports Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
E: harlow + bowlby highlight importance of critical period and that failure to form an attachment in it causes permanent damage. eg. monkeys were aggressive + isolative and humans were APs and criminal behaviour
C: studies found consistencies in animal + humans so theories are reliable
strength of maternal deprivation
44 thieves is natural experiment
E: a natural experiment uses a naturally occurring IV - children had already been separated from mothers before study
C: so bowlby was able to study something that wouldn’t normally be able to be studied. so, we can study effects of mat dep in a more ethical + practical way
limitation of mat dep
Bowlby carried out assessments of AP + family interviews knowing what he hoped to find
E: so he displayed researcher bias as any anomalies would be discounted to fit with hypothesis - data manipulation
C: lowers validity
limitation of mat dep - contradictory evidence suggests issues with critical period
E: the Czech Twins - twin boys isolated from 18 months to 7 years by their step mother. they were locked in a cupboard - physically + intellectually damaged when found. Now they live ‘normal’ lives - married, uni, good jobs
C: twins contradict critical period as they have been able to develop normally despite what happened in their early childhood
