Attachment 2 - Bowlby

Question 1

Bowlbys theory of attachment
Innate process

Answer 1

Based on evolution - staying close to caregivers provides us with safety and protection. These needs are innate

Question 2

Monotropy

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Law of continuity

Answer 3

The more constant a child’s care the better the quality of attachment

Question 4

Law of accumulated separation

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Social releasers

Answer 5

A set of innate ‘cue’ behaviours eg smiling that encourage attention from caregivers

Question 6

Critical period

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Internal working model

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Evaluation of monotropic theory
Strength
Evidence for internal working models

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Evaluation of monotropic theory
Strength
Evidence for social releasers

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Evaluation of monotropic theory
Limitation
Socially sensitive

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Evaluation of monotropic theory
Limitation
1st attachment acts as guide may be false

Answer 11

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

Question 12

The strange situation

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Characteristics of insecure avoidant

Answer 13

Little stranger anxiety, little separation anxiety, little need or want for comfort
22% of infants with this type of

Question 14

Characteristics of insecure avoidant

Answer 14

Little stranger anxiety, little separation anxiety, little need or want for comfort
22% of infants with this type

Question 15

Characteristics of secure attachment

Answer 15

Moderate stranger anxiety - not comforted by stranger
Moderate separation anxiety, comforted at reunion
66% of infants with this type of

Question 16

Characteristics of insecure resistant

Answer 16

Severe stranger anxiety, severe separation anxiety, resists comfort when reunited with caregiver
12% infants with this attachment type

Question 17

Strength of strange situation
Inter rater reliability

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Strength of strange situation
Later development

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Limitation of strange situation
Sample

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Limitation of strange situation
More attachment styles

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Culture refers to

Answer 21

The norms and values that exist within a group of people

Question 22

Cultural variations refers to

Answer 22

The differences in those norms and values that exist between different groups

Question 23

Culture and attachment
1. Individualistic

Answer 23

Western cultures such as UK, USA and Europe
Values independence and importance of the individual

Question 24

Culture and attachment
2. Collectivist

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Studies of cultural variation
Van Ijzendoorn et al
Procedure

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Van Ijzendoorn’s findings

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Additional study of cultural variations
Simonella

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Strength of cultural variations
Sample size

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Strength of cultural variations
Meta analysis

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Limitation of cultural variations
Culturally biased

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Limitation of cultural variations
Unrepresentative

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Separation definition

Answer 33

The child not being in the presence of the caregiver

Question 34

Deprivation definition

Answer 34

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

Question 35

Maternal deprivation effects on development
Effects on IQ

Answer 35

Children who have been deprived usually suffer from learning difficulties and or unusually low IQ

Question 36

Maternal deprivation effects on development
Effects on emotional development

Answer 36

Affectionless psychopath - inability to feel emotions such as guilt/remorse towards others - Linked to criminal activity
Affects their ability to form relationships
Lack empathy

Question 37

Bowlbys 44 thieves study
Procedure

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Bowlbys 44 thieves findings

Answer 38

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