Attachment

Question 1

What did Bowlby believe the lasting effects of separation and deprivation would be?

Answer 1

An inability to form meaningful attachments in later life.

Question 2

The results of Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation experiment showed three attachment styles. What were they?

Answer 2

• Secure attachment
• Avoidant attachment
• Ambivalent attachment

Question 3

What is secure attachment?

Answer 3

The mother responds appropriately to the child’s needs

Question 4

What is avoidant attachment?

Answer 4

The mother shows little response to the child’s distress

Question 5

What is ambivalent attachment?

Answer 5

The mother is inconsistent - sometimes appropriate, other times neglectful.

Question 6

What did Bowlby believe about fathers?

Answer 6

That the have no direct emotional significance to the young infant, only an indirect value as an emotional and economic support for the mother.

Question 7

What did Bowlby believe about the critical period?

Answer 7

Mothering after this period is useless.

Question 8

What did Bowlby believe would happen if mother-infant attachment was broken in the first few years?

Answer 8

Serious and permanent damage to the child.

Question 9

Who did Bowlby study to form his maternal deprivation hypothesis?

Answer 9

Studies were conducted in the 1930s and 40s on children brought up in institutions.

Question 10

What does deprivation refer to?

Answer 10

Loss through separation from an attachment figure.

Question 11

Offer some examples of separation that may lead to deprivation.

Answer 11

• Parental separation or divorce
• Death of the mother
• Natural disasters

Question 12

Are the effects of deprivation long or short term?

Answer 12

Both

Question 13

What does privation refer to?

Answer 13

The absence of an attachment figure (having never formed an attachment in the first place).

Question 14

Are the effects of privation long or short term?

Answer 14

Long

Question 15

What are the positive effects of secure attachment?

Answer 15

• Good peer relations
• Good social skills
• Understanding others’ emotions
• Liked by others
• Good grades

Question 16

What are the negative effects of deprivation/privation?

Answer 16

• No close relationships with peers
• No close relationships with siblings
• Bullying behaviour
• Quarrelsome at school

Question 17

What did Harris believe about parental influence?

Answer 17

That parents do not shape their child’s behaviour or personality. Peers have more influence.

Question 18

Describe Harlow’s attachment study.

Answer 18

The study was conducted using rhesus monkeys taken from their mothers shortly after birth.

They were reared in isolation and then given two surrogate mothers - a wire monkey with a feeding bottle attached and a cloth monkey with nothing attached.

The study found that the monkeys sought warmth and the cloth monkey provided security, however it was not an adequate alternative. It was found that infant monkeys raised with no contact with other monkeys adopted abnormal behaviour in social situations.