Attachment

Question 1

What is an attachment?

Answer 1

An attachment is a strong, long-lasting emotional tie or bond between two people, usually an infant and caregiver. It is characterised by behaviours such as proximity seeking, separation distress and pleasure on reunion.

Question 2

What is the Infant Attachment Cycle?

Answer 2

Baby has a need - baby cries - need met by caregiver - trust develops

Question 3

What is Reciprocity?

Answer 3

(Reciprocal means 2-way) The actions of one person get a response from the other person, although the response is not necessarily the same, e.g. when a badly cries the are-giver responds and picks the baby up. From birth, babies interact with adults as if they were taking turns in a similar way to a convention. From the age of 3-4 weeks a baby begins to communicate with their care-giver by smiling. When one person smiles, it triggers a smile in the other. This develops into an emotional connection between care-giver and baby.

Question 4

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 4

(Simultaneous actions - think of synchronised swimming) Behaviour is synchronised when it is carried at the same time. Care-giver and babies tend to mirror each other’s behaviour and emotions.

Question 5

Is there any overlap between interactional synchrony and reciprocity?

Answer 5

There is some overlap between interactional synchrony and reciprocity, but interactional synchrony is broader and focuses on emotions as well as behaviour. It includes turn taking, but also includes two people being ‘in tune’ with each other.

Question 6

Who did research studies into caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 6

Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

Tronick et al (1979)

Question 7

What was Meltzoff and Moore’s (1977) study that researched caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 7

A controlled observation with infants 2-3 weeks old. The adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions (mouth opening, tongue protruding, lip protrusion) and one hand gesture (opening the hand). The behaviour/facial expressions of infants response to these were observed and recorded. They found that there was an association between the behaviour of the infant and that of the adult model. A later study (1983) found that the same levels of international synchrony with infants only 3 days old, suggesting this behaviour is innate.

Question 8

What was Tronick et al’s (1979) study that researched caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 8

Filmed controlled observations of mothers with their baby. At first mothers interacting normally with their babies. They then asked mothers to stop moving and maintain a static unsmiling expression on their faces. They observed that babies would try and get their mothers to interact, and showed confusion and distress when the mother would not engage. This demonstrates that babies are not passive in their interactions with caregivers and have an active role in reciprocal interactions.

Question 9

What is the evaluation of research into caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 9

+ One strength of the research into caregiver-infant interactions is that they use well controlled observations procedures, which were filmed so that findings can be carefully checked.
+ This research has been replicated many meaning that the findings are valid.

Question 10

Who did the research study into the development of attachment?

Answer 10

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) - stages of attachment.

Question 11

How did Schaffer and Emerson carry out there study into the development of attachment?

Answer 11

A large-scale longitudinal study that lasted two years. They followed 60 infants, ages from 5-23 weeks, from a mainly working class area in Glasgow. The infants were observed every four weeks until they were 1 and then again at 18 months.

Question 12

What are the two ways attachment was measured in Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?

Answer 12

Using separation anxiety (crying when an adult left the room).
Using stranger anxiety (anxiety response to unfamiliar adults).

Question 13

What were the did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) find in there study into the development of attachment?

Answer 13

Between 25 and 32 weeks of age half the babies showed separation anxiety towards a specific adult (a specific attachment).
Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infants signals and facial expressions (ie reciprocal). This was not necessarily the person who spent most time with the infant.
By 40 weeks 80% of the babies had a specific attachment (e.g. the mother) and 30% displayed multiple attachments (e.g. the father or siblings).

Question 14

What many stages of attachment are there?

Answer 14

4 stages of attachment.

Question 15

What is the first of attachment and between what age does it occur?

Answer 15

The asocial stage - birth to 2 months.

Question 16

What happens in the first stage?

Answer 16

Babies respond to people in much the same way as they do to objects, and to voices much the same as to sounds. They don’t distinguish between different people.

Question 17

What is the second of attachment and between what age does it occur?

Answer 17

The indiscriminate attachment stage - 2 to 7 months.

Question 18

What happens at the second stage?

Answer 18

Infants can now distinguish between people and things and show sociability towards people over inanimate objects. They are not yet attached to individuals. They show no fear of strangers and can be comforted by anyone. During this time, reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing the infant’s relationships but this is not oriented towards specific individuals.

Question 19

What is the third of attachment and between what age does it occur?

Answer 19

The specific attachment stage - 7 to as months.

Question 20

What happens at the third stage?

Answer 20

Babies in the stage show separation protests, separation anxiety and stranger fear. They typically form a strong attachment to one individual, the primary attachment figure. This is the person who is most responsive to the baby’s signals.

Question 21

What is the fourth of attachment and between what age does it occur?

Answer 21

Multiple attachments - shortly after the main attachment is formed.

Question 22

What happens at the forth stage?

Answer 22

Shortly after demonstrating attachment behaviours towards one primary caregiver, babies typically extend this towards other adults with whom they spend time.

Question 23

What are the evaluating points of the stages of attachment?

Answer 23

• It has been suggested that the reason Schaffer found ‘asocial’ behaviour very early on is because the babies have poor mobility and coordination and not necessarily because they are asocial.
• Unreliable data: the data collected in the study may be unreliable because it was based on mother’s reports. Some mothers may be less sensitive to their infants protests so less likely to report them. This can create a systematic bias which questions the validity of the experiment.
  + Bowlby thought that infants develop one special bond first, and that all other attachments come from that. - However other research indicates that all attachments are equivalent.
• There may be some issues with the population and temporal validity of Schaffer and Emerson’s study. All families were from a similar area of Glasgow in the 1969’s and were typically from the same socio-economic background.
• A problem is that families are judged based on these inflexible stages. If their child’s attachments do not follow the stages it would reflect badly on them.

Question 24

Why is it difficult to draw firm conclusions on the role of the father from research?

Answer 24

Different research studies take a different focus. E.g. whether the children are in two-parent or one-parent households. This means it is different to draw any firm conclusions over the role of the father in infant attachment as the research is so varied. In addition, even when differences are found they may be small.

Question 25

What did Schaffer and Emerson’s study show about the role of the father?

Answer 25

Only 3% of the infants had their father as their fist attachment, but fathers were the first joint attachment figure in nearly a third of the babies. However, society has changed a lot. Father’s today are much more likely to be involved with their babies than skilled working class fathers in Glasgow in 1964. Office for national statistics in 2013 showed 10% of those who care for children whilst their partner goes to work are male, and 9% of British single parents are male.

Question 26

What did Lamb’s (1977) study show about the role of the father?

Answer 26

Lamb observed 7-13 month old infants at home and found that mothers and fathers hold their children for different reasons. Mothers hold to nurture or restrict, whilst fathers hold for playful purposes. Mothers seem to be preferred as sources of comfort - particularly in unfamiliar settings. Fathers are preferred as playmates.

Question 27

Who supported Lamb’s (1977) study more recently (2004)? What was found?

Answer 27

Paquette (2004) - found that fathers are more likely to encourage toddlers to take risks and to be brave during physical play than mothers.

Question 28

What did Grossman’s (2002) study find out about the role of the father?

Answer 28

They found a relationship between infant relationships with their mother and attachments in adolescence, but no relationship between infant relationships with their father and attachments in adolescence. However, the quality of father’s play was related to the quality of adolescent attachment. All of his research suggests fathers have a different role in attachment- one that has more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with nurturing.

Question 29

What is the evaluating points of research into the role of the father?

Answer 29

~The idea that fathers are secondary attachment figures may be supported by research into biological sex differences. For example, the female hormone oestrogen is linked to caring behaviour and might explain the heightened emotional sensitivity of mothers over fathers.
~A serious challenge to the view that fathers take a qualitative different role in attachment comes from studies into single parent families.

Question 30

Who conducted a study about the role of the father? What was found in this study?

Answer 30

MacCallum (2004) found that children growing up in single parent units did not develop and differently form those children growing up in traditional nuclear families. This seems to indicate that fathers may not have a distinctly different role.

Question 31

What are animal studies of attachment?

Answer 31

Animal studies have looked at the information of attachment between animal parents and offspring. Animal studies are of interest in their own right, but may also help us understand attachment in humans.

Question 32

Who was Konrad Lorenz?

Answer 32

An ethologist who published research around the 1930’s. He investigated a type of attachment called imprinting.

Question 33

What is imprinting?

Answer 33

A primitive type of learning that occurs during the early part of an animal’s life, whereby an attachment is formed to another animal that is difficult to change

Question 34

How did Lorenz study imprinting in animals?

Answer 34

He randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs. Half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment and the other half in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.

Question 35

What were the findings of Lorenz’s study on imprinting?

Answer 35

The incubator group followed everywhere whereas the control group, hatched in the presence of their mother, followed her. When the two groups were mixed up the control group continued to follow the mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz.

Question 36

What did Lorenz conclude for his study on imprinting?

Answer 36

Imprinting is unique in that it only occurs during a brief critical period early in the bird’s life, and that once it has occurred it is irreversible. if no imprinting occurs within 24hrs of hatching, the goslings will not be able to attach to a mother figure.

Question 37

What are the evaluation point on Lorenz’s (1935) study on imprinting?

Answer 37

• It is difficult to generalise (extrapolate) the findings of Lorenz from bird species that are mobile from birth to attachments in mammals.
• It has been argue that Lorenz may have overstated the importance and permanence of imprinting. Guiton et al (1966) found that chickens who had imprinted on yellow rubber gloves would try to mate with them as adults, but, after engaging with their own species were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour. Therefore imprinting may not be as irreversible as Lorenz found and may be a little more ‘plastic’ in natural.

Question 38

What did Harlow (1958 onwards) do in terms of animal studies?

Answer 38

He conducted a series of experiments aimed at demonstrating that attachments were not based on feeding.

Question 39

What was Harlow’s research in terms of animal studies?

Answer 39

Harry Harlow carried out perhaps the most important animal research in terms of informing our understanding of attachment. Harlow worked with rhesus monkeys, which are much more similar to humans than Lorenz’s birds.

Question 40

What was the procedure of Harlow’s (1958) animal study?

Answer 40

Harlow tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother. In one experiment he reared 16 badly monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’. In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother whereas in a second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered mother.

Question 41

What was the findings of Harlow’s (1958) animal study?

Answer 41

It was found that the baby monkeys cuddled the soft object in preference to the wire one and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which dispensed milk. This showed that ‘contact comfort’ was of more important to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour.

Question 42

What is the critical period for normal development that was purpose by Harlow?

Answer 42

Like Lorenz, Harlow concluded that there was a critical period for this behaviour - a mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 day’s for an attachment to form. After this time attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible.

Question 43

What are the main evaluating points of Harlow’s animal studies?

Answer 43

+Ethical issues
-Ethical issues
+Practical value
-Theoretical value

Question 44

How is Harlow’s research criticised on ethical grounds?

Answer 44

The monkeys suffered greatly as a result of Harlow’s procedures. This species is considered similar enough to humans to be able to generalise the findings, which also means that their suffering was presumably quite human-like. Harlow himself was well aware of the suffering he caused - Harlow referred to the wire mothers as ‘iron maidens’ after a medieval torture device.

Question 45

How is Harlow’s research be supported by practical value?

Answer 45

The insight into attachment for Harlow’s research has had important applications in a range of practical contexts. For example, it has helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse and so intervene to prevent it. Of course these findings are also important in the captive monkeys; we now understand the importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and also in breeding programs in the wild.

Question 46

How is Harlow’s research into animals supported by a theoretical value?

Answer 46

Harlow’s findings have had a profound effect on psychologists’ understanding of human mother-infant attachment. Most importantly Harlow showed that attachment does not develop as the result of being fed by a mother figure but as a result of contact comfort. Harlow also showed us the importance of the quality of early relationships and successfully rear children.

Question 47

What are the two parts to the Learning Theory of Attachment?

Answer 47

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Question 48

What is the main assumption behind the learning theory expiation of attachment?

Answer 48

The main assumption behind the learning theory expiation of attachment was that children learn to become attached to their caregiver because they give them food. Learning can be due to associations being made between different stimuli (classical conditioning) or behaviour can be altered by patterns of reinforcement (operant conditioning).

Question 49

What is meant by classical conditioning?

Answer 49

The caregiver who feeds the infant becomes associated with pleasure through satisfying the main drive of hunger. This eventually generalises into a feeling of security (an attachment) whenever the caregiver is present. This kind of association is called classical conditioning.

• Food I am unconditioned stimulus that produces an unconditioned response (pleasure).
• At first the caregiver is a neutral stimulus who produces no response.
• However, because she is conditioning paired with the unconditioned stimulus (food) she slowly becomes associated with it until eventually mother alone can produce pleasure.
• Mother has now become a conditioned stimulus and the pleasure she brings is a conditioned response.

Question 50

What is meant by operant conditioning?

Answer 50

The main principle of operant conditioning is that behaviour which is reinforced will be repeated. Babies who cry are likely to be fed. Food reduces hunger and is therefore a primary reinforcer. The mother provides the food so she becomes a secondary reinforcer.

• Any behaviour resulting in rewards (pleasure consequences) will be repeated.
• A hungry infant feels uncomfortable and is driven to reduce discomfort. When fed it feels pleasure (rewards).
• The food is a PRIMARY reinforcer as it directly satisfies hunger.
• The caregiver is a SECONDARY reinforcer as she provides the primary reinforcer (food).
• So, attachment occurs because the child seeks the person who can supply the reward (food).
• At the same time the caregiver is negatively reinforced because feeding the badly stops the crying, so mothers are also learning to become attached to their babies.

Question 51

What are the evaluating points of the Learning Theory of Attachment?

Answer 51

+One strength of this theory is that there is a substantial body of laboratory evidence to support the principles of learning theory. This has the benefit of being well controlled, objective and replicate.

• Research has shown that Classical Conditioning is not a sufficient explanation for attachment. Learning Theory would predict that the infant’s strongest attachment would be no the person who most often provides food, comfort etc. However, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) in a longitudinal home-based observation of Scottish infant found that less than half of the children in their research had attachments to people with this kind of care-giving responsibility. For example, babies become attached to fathers and siblings even though they did not feed them. This contradicts the learning Theory of attachment.
• Also, Harlow found that physical contact, rather than food, is vital for attachment in infant rhesus monkeys.

Question 52

Apart from Learning Theory of Attachment what is another explanation for attachment?

Answer 52

Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment (1958).

Question 53

What influence Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment?

Answer 53

Bowlby disagreed with the learning theory of attachment. He was heavily influenced by evolutionary theory and saw attachment as serving to promote surviving of the baby. It is in the baby’s interest to become attached to one person (the primary care giver) so that he will be cared for.

Question 54

What are the three parts of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment?

Answer 54

1. Attachment has survival value.
2. The relationship with the mother acts as a template or model for later relationships. This template is termed an ‘internal working model’.
3. There is a critical period (special time) for attachment to form between the mother and child.

Question 55

Outline what is meant by part 1. of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachemnt.

Answer 55

Bowlby was influenced by research with animals, especially imprinting in birds such as geese (Lorenz (1935)). He believed that babies’ behaviour has evolved to behave towards their primary care givers in ways that ensure their survival. Infants who stay close to their mothers are more likely to avoid dangers and thus survive until sexual maturity. Infants are born with a drive to become attached. They encourage care giving from others by social releases such as facial features, smiles and cries. Bonds are formed with adults who are most sensitive to these social releases.

Question 56

Outline what is meant by part 2. of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachemnt.

Answer 56

Bowlby believed that infants form one special relationship (monotropy) that is qualitatively different to all other relationships formed in childhood. This attachment is important in influencing the quality of later social and emotional relationships as it provides a child with a template of the rules and expectations of relationships.

Question 57

Outline what is meant by part 3. of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachemnt.

Answer 57

Bowlby believed if mothering was delayed of 12 months it was useless for most children and if delayed for 3 years it was almost useless for all children. He said ‘mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health’.

Question 58

What is the Internal Working Model?

Answer 58

The first attachment serves as a template or model that is the basis of relationships in later life.
If the first relationships is loving this will provide an expectation for future relationships.
However, if the first relationship is poor, this will be reflected in later relationships.
It will also affect the child’s later ability to be a good parent.

Question 59

What are the positive points of Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment?

Answer 59

+Bowlby’s work has been very influential as it has stimulated a great deal of research and many of the ideas of have been applied to a wide variety of stimulations. Bowlby was working as a site psychiatrist and discovered that characteristics such as delinquency, affectionless psychopathic and intellectual retaliation seemed to be linked with early problems of attachment. This led to change in the way young children are looked after, especially a move away from institutional care such as orphans which gave children little opportunity to form attachments. This means that the research has practical implications for the economy.
+There is some evidence that early attachments do form an internal working model which subsequently influences later relationships. Hazan and Shaver (1987).

Question 60

What are the negatives points of Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment?

Answer 60

• Bobby may have been criticised for being ethnocentric. In many cultures, the normal patterns of child rearing is quite different from the Western practice. e.g. in is Israeli Kibbutz children are looked after by a metapelet and and may have several attachments.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) in a longitudinal home-based observation of Scottish infants found that at 8 months 50 of the infants had more than 1 attachment.
• The findings from the Kibbutz children and Schaffer and Emerson’s study go against Bowlby’s idea of monotropy because both suggest multiple attachments and formed.
• The theory ignores the role of the father. Times have changed and in many families division of care is more shared between the mother and the father that it would have been at the time of Bowlbys’ writing. In some families fathers are mothers too.

Question 61

Who was Mary Ainsworth?

Answer 61

She worked with psychologist, John Bowlby, at the Tavistock Clinic in England where she started her research on maternal-infant attachments. Most known for her “Strange Situation” assessment, which observes a child’s reactions when their mother briefly leaves them in a unfamiliar room.

Question 62

What is the Strange Situation?

Answer 62

The Strange Situation is a controlled observation and is so called because it places infants in a strange situation to see how they react to the mild stress. The stress is created by separation from their caregiver (to test separation anxiety and reunion behaviour) and by the presence of a stranger (to test stranger anxiety).

Question 63

What did Mary Ainsworth find in her research into Strange Situation?

Answer 63

Mary Ainsworth found that most children in the USA showed secure attachment, but some insecure attachment (avoidant or resistant). Ainsworth devised a method of controlled observation called the strange situation to see how infants behaved under conditions of mild stress and novelty. Stress was created by the presence of a stranger (to test stranger anxiety) and by separation from a caregiver (to test separation anxiety), observers also recorded reunion behaviour.

Question 64

What are the aim of Mary Ainsworth study into Strange Situation?

Answer 64

The aim was to test the quality of infant’s attachment by looking at exploration, reactions to a strange and reunion with mother.

Question 65

How long did the procedure by Mary Ainsworth about Strange Situation last and how ant infants were involved?

Answer 65

The procedure lasted around 20 minutes and was used with about 100 middle class USA infants from 12 to 18 months old. If the infant became very upset, or if the caregiver wanted to return, then episodes 4, 6 and 7 were cut short.

Question 66

Ainsworth found and identified 3 types of attachment, what were they?

Answer 66

Securely attached
Insecurely-avoidant attached
Insecurity-resistant attached

Question 67

What percentage of infants were found securely attached in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation study?

Answer 67

70%

Question 68

What percentage of infants were found insecure-avoidant in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation study?

Answer 68

20%

Question 69

What percentage of infants were found insecurely-resistant attached in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation study?

Answer 69

10%

Question 70

What are the characteristics of an Securely attachment type?

Answer 70

When the caregiver is present the infant explores the strange environment, plays happily with the toys and uses the caregiver as a secure base. The infant shows moderate distress when separated from the caregiver, goes to her for comfort when she returns and is easily soothed. This is because the infant is confident that the caregiver will return. The infant clearly prefers the caregiver to the stranger.

Question 71

What are the characteristics of an Insecurely-avoidant attachment type?

Answer 71

The infant pays little attention to the caregiver and shows little concern when she leaves, as the infant does not use the caregiver as a secure base. The caregiver tends to ignore the infant. The infant shows little stranger anxiety and, if distressed, is as likely to be comforted by the stranger as the caregiver. On reunion the infant makes little effort to renew constant and sometimes actively avoids contact by looking or turning away. Shows no real preference for stranger or caregiver.

Question 72

What are the characteristics of an insecure-resistant attachment type?

Answer 72

The infant is very distressed when separated from the caregiver and is difficult to comfort on reunion. The infant rushes to her but may show anger and struggle to get down. The caregiver’s behaviour is similarly inconsistent - sometimes rejecting and angry, sometimes overly sensitive and responsive. The infant tends to ignore the stranger and resists her attempts to interact and provide comfort. Exploration of the environment is limited as the infant had difficulty moving away from the caregiver.

Question 73

What conclusions were concluded in Ainsworth’s research using the Strange Situation?

Answer 73

It was concluded that a secure attachment is seen as ‘normal’ and ‘best’. Most American children were securely attached, but there were differences between infants.
The study shows there are individual differences between infants in attachment types.
It shows that most children are securely attached.
There appears to be a association between the mother’s behaviour and the infant’s attachment type.

Question 74

How does the sensitivity of the caregiver help explain the type of attachment?

Answer 74

The caregivers of most securely attached infants were very sensitive to their needs and responded in an emotionally expressive way.
The caregivers of avoidant infants were uninterested in their infants, often rejecting them, and tending to be self-centred and rigid in their behaviour.
Caregivers of resistant infants behaved inconsiderately.

Question 75

What are the positive points of Ainsworth research using the Strange Situation?

Answer 75

+The Strange Situation is easily replicated because of its systematic procedures. This means all the infants are responding to the same situation.
+In relation to reliability, we might also argue that research conducted using the strange situation has high levels of inter-observer reliability - this is where we compare the ratings made by observers to assess their consistency/agreement. Ainsworth et al (1978) found a near perfect agreement when rating behaviour. This means that there is evidence to suggest that the strange situation has high reliability.
+Easy to replicate: method has been used in studies the world over - especially in cross-cultural research increasing its validity.

Question 76

What are the negative points of Ainsworth research using the Strange Situation?

Answer 76

• Reaction to the Strange Situation may not be a valid measure of attachment. Children who have been in day care may show insecurely attached avoidant behaviour. They are used to being left by their mother, so show little concern when she leaves.
• Another threat to validity was raised by Main and Weston (1981) who found that children behaved differently depending upon which parent they were with. This suggests that the classification may not be valid as the strange situation only assesses mother-child relationships.
• Validity: location is different from infant’s normal environment. However, many infants experience new locations quite naturally e.g. with a babysitter, at play group, etc.
• Generalisations: it would be unreasonable to generalise about all infant behaviour as the findings of this study are restricted to it’s sample type (middle-class Americans).
• Ethics: consider distress of infants. What about informed consent? Did the mother really appreciate that she might be classified as an insensitive mother? This might have influenced who signed up for the study.

Question 77

Some cross-cultural studies support Bowlby’s view the attachment is universal. Who were they and what did they study?

Answer 77

Fox (1977) studied Israeli Kibbutzim where children spent a large proportion of time looked after by a metapelet in a communal children’s centre. Tests in a strange situation showed that was still the primary attachment figure despite shared care.
Tronik (1992) studied an African tribe, the Efe, from Zaire where infants are looked after and breast fed by different women, although they did sleep with their mothers at night. At six months the infants still showed one primary attachment.

Question 78

Some crooks-cultural studied there are important cultural differences. Who are they?

Answer 78

Takahashi (1990).

Van Ijendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) - VI and K.

Question 79

What did Takahashi (1990) do interns of Cultural Variations in Attachment?

Answer 79

Takahashi (1990) used the strange situation to study 60 middle-class Japanese infants and their mothers. 
In comparison with Ainsworth original research in USA, he found similar rates of secure attachment but there were no infants classified as avoidant-insecure. 
32% were classified as resistant-insecure. 
The Japanese infants were much more upset when left alone in the Strange Situation.
The ‘infant alone’ step was stopped for 90% of the participants because the infants were so distressed.

Question 80

What did VI and K (1988) find in their research into Cultural Variations in Attachment?

Answer 80

Secure attachments were the most common form in all of the cultures studied.
The highest % of secure attachment was in the UK.
Avoidant attachment were most common in West Germany - probably because children are brought up to be independent.
Resistant attachments were commonly found in Japan where babies are rarely separated from mum, and Israeli Kibbutz where children rarely meet strangers.
The variation within cultures was one and a half times greater than the variations between different cultures.
This demonstrates that it is an over-simplification to assume that all children are brought up in exactly the same way within a country or culture.

Question 81

What are the evaluating points of research into Cultural Variations in Attachment?

Answer 81

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg used a large sample size, but 18/32 studies were carried out in US.
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation was developed in America and may not be suitable for use in other cultures.
-The Strange Situation may be unsuitable for classifying attachment in different cultures. It reflects the norms and values of USA society and might therefore be considered an ethnocentric tool. However, German children are encouraged to be independent but this is interpreted as avoidance behaviour. Israeli children are used to being separated from their mothers, but rarely see complete strangers. Japanese children are practically never separated from their mothers. In Israel and Japan the children’s behaviour is interpreted as resistant.
-It is false to see each country e.g. Japan as a single culture. Variations within cultures suggests there are in fact various sub-cultures including rural/urban. Van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg conclude that ‘great caution should be exercised in assuming that an individual sample is representative of a particular culture’.
-Cross-cultural similarities may be explained by the effects of mass media (e.g. TV and books) rather than innate cultural similarities.

Question 82

What did IV and K (1988) do in terms of Cultural Variations in Attachment?

Answer 82

They used a meta-analysis, comparing the results of 32 studies using the Strange Situation in 8 different countries, including West Germany (3 studies), Israel (2 studies), Japan (2 studies) and USA (18 studies).

Question 83

What are the research that lead to Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

Answer 83

Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory is based on his work as a psychiatrist in a child guidance clinic in London in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
In 1944 he published 44 Juvenile Thieves: Their characters and home lives.
This analysis cases of adolescents in his Child Guidance Clinic.
All of the children were ‘emotionally maladjusted’. He studied 88 of these - 44 who had been caught streaking (thieves) and 44 who acted as a control group.
Bowlby suggested that some of the thieves exhibited signs of affectionless psychopathy which is characterised by lacking normal signs of affection, guilt or remorse for their actions.
Through interviews with the children and their families he found that some of the thieves had experienced prolonged separations from their mothers at a young age, often being hospitalised or put into foster care.

Question 84

What are the two points to Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

Answer 84

1. There is a Critical Period
   Bowlby saw the first 30 months of life as a critical period for psychological development. If a child is deprived of emotional care for an extended period of time, there is a high chance of psychological damage.
2. Effects of Maternal Deprivation
   i) Mental retardation
   ii) Affectionless psycholopathy (the inability to have deep feelings for other people and the consequent lack of meaningful relationships).

Question 85

What are the evaluating points of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

Answer 85

Rutter (1981) heavily criticised Bowlby’s research by arguing that he failed to distinguish between the effects of maternal deprivation (being separated from a mother figure) and privation (the effects of never forming an attachment to begin with). Rutter points out that the effects of privation are usually longer lasting and more serious and may well have been what Bowlby had investigated.
Lewis (1954) partially replicated the 44 thieves study but assessed 50 young people. In this larger sample, prolonged separation / deprivation did not predict later criminality or emotional disturbance.
Bowlby (1954) himself found evidence to challenge some of his claims. He studied a group of children with TB. They were all under 4 when they were first hospitalised. The nursing regimes tended to be strict and the care impersonal. Many of the children were visited once a week by their family. Psychologist continued to assess the children up until 14 and compared them with a control group of children who were not in hospital. It was found that there were no difference in terms of delinquency or problems forming social relationships. Therefore it may be argued that not all children will be affected by emotional disruption in the same way; it may possibly be those who are insecurely attached who become especially distressed.

Question 86

Who studied into the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 86

Hodges and Tigard (1989)

Question 87

What did Hodges and Tizard (1989) aim to investigate in terms of the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 87

They aimed to investigate the effects of failure to form attachment (privation) on later social and emotional development and to test Bowlby’s hypothesis that lack of a continuous relationship between infant and mother figure in the first few years of life would have permanent long-term negative effects.

Question 88

What did Hodges and Tizard (1989)to in terms of researching the effect of institutionalisation?

Answer 88

They compared children who lived in an high quality institution, with a control group of children.
They studied 65 children placed in the institution before 4 months of age.
Some of these children were adopted, some restored to their biological parents.
It was a longitudinal study lasting for 16 years.
Measures of social and emotional competition were made at 4, 8 and 16 years.

Question 89

What was found in Hodges and Tizard (1989) study regarding the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 89

They found mixed evidence for reversibility
-The adopted group developed apparently normal attachments.
-The restored group had poor attachments and often presented behavioural problems.
But both groups had problems outside the family: all the institution reared children.
-Had poorer peer relationships than controls.
-Showed more attention seeking behaviour.

Question 90

What are the evaluating points of Hodges and Tizard’s (1989) research into the effects of institutionalisation?
Positive and negatives.

Answer 90

-The sample was quite small and more than 20 of the children couldn’t be found by the end of the study. This is known as attrition. This meant the sample may be biased, because it is possible that the more troubled children dropped out. So it’s hard to generalise the results.
+This study exploits a naturally occurring situation, which could not be set up deliberately for ethical reasons therefore it is high in validity.
-We cannot be certain that the IV caused the DV. As this was a natural experiment, and there was less control than a lab experiment, we are unsure as to whether the type of subsequent care was the only factor affecting social development. It may have been that the children selected for adoption were more attractive and socially able in the first place. This means that the children’s temperament becomes a confounding variable and we cannot be sure about the effects of early privation on later social development.

Question 91

Who studied Romanian orphans?

Answer 91

Rutter et al (2007)

Question 92

What was concluded in Hodges and Tizard (1989) study regarding the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 92

It was concluded that children given good quality loving environments (the adoptive families) can recover and form attachments. This goes against Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory because the children did not show characteristics of delinquency, affectionless psychopathy and intellectual retardation which he predicted, despite their lack of early attachments. However, there was some support for his maternal deprivation hypothesis because the early privation did seem to have long-term negative effects on children’s peer relationships at 8 and 16.

Question 93

Who studied Romanian orphans?

Answer 93

Rutter et al (2007)

Question 94

What was found in Rutter et al (2007) study into Romanian orphans?

Answer 94

Those children who were adopted by British families before the age of 6 months have shown ‘normal’ emotional development when compared with UK children adopted at the same age.
However, many of the Romanian adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment and had problems with peers. This suggests that the long-term consequences may be less severe that was once thought if children have the opportunity to form attachments. However, when children continually fail to form an attachment then the consequences are severe.

Question 95

What are the evaluating points of Ritter et al (2007) study into Romanian orphans?
Positives and negatives.

Answer 95

-There are methodological issues with the research. Rutter et al acknowledge that it has been difficult to obtain information about the quality of care in many of the institutions in Romania making it difficult to assess the extent of privation in the early environments of the children in the study.
-Participants attrition is also an issue in this longitudinal research.
+This study used a range of methods to assess the children’s behaviour including semi-structured interviews and observations to see if the child makes inappropriate physical contact. This makes the research rich and detailed.
-Individual differences: some children coped with institutionalisation better than others. This might be because they smiled more and gained special attention from the cares.
+Real life application: we try to ensure children are adopted as early as possible, and put into foster care rather than institutions whilst they await adoption.
-Development differences: it may be that the effects of institutionalisation can disappear over time if children experience good quality care later in childhood. Perhaps these children need more time than usual to mature sufficiently and learn how to cope with relationships. This suggest that the affects of institutionalisation are not irreversible as once thought.
-The Romanian orphans had to cope with much more than just emotional deprivation. The physical conditions were appalling and this affected their health. The lack of cognitive stimulation would have affected their development too.

Question 96

What are the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 96

Physical under-development.
Intellectual under-functioning.
Disinhibited attachment - treating strangers with inappropriate familiarity.
Poor parenting - Harlow and Quinton.

Question 97

What are the evaluation points of research into institutionalisation?

Answer 97

+One strength is that it has important practical applications which may have benefited the economy through government social policy.
+Rutter’s study has led to important changes to adoption policy. Now attempts are made to place children with adoptive parents before the age of 6 months to minimise disruption.
-There is a lack of control over the research.
-The main methodological issue with such research is that they employ the natural experimental design / case study. This means that we are uncertain as to the actual effects of institutions on later experience. One important extraneous variable is the fact that some children may have been placed within an institution because of pre existing problems i.e. behavioural issues. Therefore we cannot be certain that it is only institutionalisation that causes these effects.

Question 98

Who studied the influence of early attachment on childhood relationships?

Answer 98

Sroufe et al (2005)

Question 99

Who studied the influence of early attachment on adult relationships?

Answer 99

Hazard and Shaver (1987)

Question 100

What research was conducted into the influence of early attachments on childhood relationships?

Answer 100

Sroufe et al (2005) conducted the Minnesota Parent-Child study. They followed participants from infancy to late adolescence and found continuity between the classification of an early attachment and social competence in later childhood. Those who were previously classified as securely attached were less isolated, more popular with peers and more empathic as older children.

Question 101

What research was conducted into the influence of early attachments on adult relationships?

Answer 101

Hazard and Shaver (1987) published a ‘love quiz’ in an American newspaper, collecting information from people about their early attachment experiences. They analysed 205 male responses and 415 female responses.

Question 102

What was found in the research into the influence of early attachments on adult relationships?

Answer 102

Hazan and Shaver (1987) found that people who are securely attached as infants tends to have happy and lasting love relationships in adulthood. These people also believed that both enduring and based on mutual trust. Insecure types, on the other hand, found adult relationships more difficult, when more likely to be divorced and felt that true love was rare. Those classified as securely attached tended to have a longer lasting relationships (on average 10 years), compared to resistant (5 years) and avoidant (6 years).

Question 103

What were the evaluating points of the research into the influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships?

Answer 103

~The research suggests that very early relationships have a fixed effect on later relationships. Children with poor attachment experiences are doomed to experience unsatisfactory adult relationships. However, this may not fit always be the case. Lots of research shows that many people have experienced happy adult relationships, despite not having good internal working model is from early childhood.
~Most studies rely on retrospective data - asking adults about their early attachment experiences. This may be unreliable because our recollection may be flawed. However, longitudinal studies seem to support Hazel and Shaffer’s original findings.
~Research findings are correlational rather than casual. Other factors may play a role. For example, Kagan put forward the temperament hypothesis, which suggests that infants innate temperament affects the way the parents responds, and thus determines both attachment types and future adult relationships.
~The internal working model is unconscious. We are not aware of it on a daily basis. When we try to study the effects of the internal working model, we are asking participant’s for their conscious experience. At best, this only gives us indirect experience about the internal working model.