Attachment Flashcards
What is reciprocity?
When babies and careers mutually respond to each other’s behaviour.
What is interactional synchrony?
Detailed mimicry and mirroring between care and baby which forms the basis of communication.
What did Meltzoff and Moore aim to study?
Whether babies and adults show interactional synchrony.
What was a conclusion of the Meltzoff and Moore study?
- Early IS may strengthen the bonds between parents and infants.
- A close bond may be vital for the baby’s survival.
How many mothers and children did Isabella study?
30
What did Murray and Trevarthen (1985) investigate in 1985?
When babies show IS, whether they are mimicking movement patterns or trying to communicate.
In Murray and Trevarthen’s study, the babies showed signs of distress when the mother didn’t respond in synchrony, what does this suggest?
Babies are actively trying to communicate.
Not responding can cause problems in the child’s emotional development.
In Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964) on the development of attachment, how often were the children observed?
Every 4 weeks until they were one year old, and then again at 18 months old.
What are the 4 stages of attachment and what age is the child at each stage?
Pre-attachment (birth-2 months) Indiscriminate attachment (2 to 7 months) Discriminate attachment (7 to 9 months) Multiple attachments (9 months upwards)
In Scaffer and Emerson’s study, what percentage of children’s primary attachment figure was the not the same person who fed, bathed and changed the baby?
39%
What is a problem with Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
It was done over 50 years ago, so there is limited temporal validity.
Give an example of a situation where children formed multiple attachments before single ones?
Israeli Kibbutzim children.
Why the strange situation devised?
To study attachment in controlled conditions.
What are the 4 stages of the strange situation?
1) child alone with carer
2) carer leaves room
3) stranger anxiety
4) reunion
What 3 characteristics does a baby show if they’ve developed an attachment?
Separation distress
Proximity seeking
Stranger anxiety
What are the ethical issues of Ainsworth and Bell’s study (1970)?
Child is put under stress
Categorising a child as insecure could cause the caregiver stress.
How many studies were in Vanljzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s (1988) meta-analysis?
32 studies
What were the conclusions made in Vanljzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s (1988) meta-analysis?
The most common type of attachment in all cultures was secure, which suggests children have an instinctive drive to form an attachment.
Cultural differences in parenting styles may also influence attachment.
What is a strength of Vanljzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s (1988) meta-analysis?
Nearly 2000 children were analysed, which increases the validity of the conclusions that can be drawn as the impact of animalises is likely to be reduced.
What is a problem with Vanljzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s (1988) meta-analysis?
Some of the countries involved in the meta-analysis only have a small number of people in their study, e.g. China’s study used 25 children.
This study does not tell us why some cultures vary in their patterns of attachment.
Bowing argued early attachments create internal working models about relationships which continue to affect later relationships, what is an internal working model?
A mental representation of the world and relationships which influence how we feel and behave.
Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) used questionnaires to assess attachment type and bullying in 196 children (7-11 years), what were the results of their study?
Securely attached children were least likely to be involved in bullying; insecure avoidant were most likely to be the victims; insecure resistant were most likely to be the bullies.
What theory does Quinton’s (1984) study using 50 women raised in institutions give evidence for?
The influence of early attachments on parenting.
What was the aim of Hazan and Shaver’s (1987) study?
To test if there was a relationship between childhood attachments and adult relationships.