Attachment

Question 1

Attachment

Answer 1

A close two way emotional bond between two individuals. It takes a few moths to develop. It can be recognised if they are in close proximity, get distressed if they are separated (separation distress.) and make regular contact with them. (Secure base behaviour.)

Question 2

Reciprocity

Answer 2

How two people interact. Eg. Mother and infant respond to each others signals and each elicits a response.
(Brazelton et al, like a dance.)

Question 3

Interactional synchrony

Answer 3

Mother and infant reflect both actions and emotions of the other and do it in a synchronised way.
High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachment. (Isabella et al.)

Question 4

Caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 4

Reciprocity and interactional synchrony

Question 5

Attachment figures

Answer 5

Parent-infant attachment, the role of the father, fathers as primary carers.

Question 6

Parent infant attachment

Answer 6

Schaffer and Emerson found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mother first. After 7 months, they then begin to form secondary attachments. Eg. Father.
75% at 18 months had all created secondary attachments.

Question 7

The role of the father

Answer 7

Grossman- longitudinal study found that fathers have a different role in attachment, theirs is to do with play and stimulation and less nurture.

Question 8

Fathers as primary care givers

Answer 8

Father adapts behaviour to be more nurturing. Eg. Smiling, imitating and holding them. Key to attachment is level of responsiveness, not gender.

Question 9

Evaluation- caregiver infant interactions

Answer 9

Its hard to know what is happening when observing infants, don’t know if its deliberate/special.
Good validity, studies are controlled and recorded so can be watched back and later analysed.
Observations don’t tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity.

Question 10

Evaluation- attachment figures

Answer 10

Inconsistent findings on fathers, as psychologists are researching different questions.
If fathers have a distinct role why aren’t children without fathers different? Suggests fathers S.A aren’t important.
Fathers may not become P.A because of gender roles or lower levels of female nurturing hormones.

Question 11

Key study: Schaffer and Emerson. Method

Answer 11

Method: 60 babies, 31 males and 29 females from Glasgow. Working class families. Mothers were visited every month for first year then at 18 months. Questionnaire about separation anxiety (leaving the room) and stranger anxiety (unfamiliar adults).

Question 12

Key study: Schaffer and Emerson. Findings.

Answer 12

Between 25-32 weeks 50% showed separation anxiety. By 40 weeks 80% had a specific attachment and 30% had multiple attachments.

Question 13

Stages of attachment

Answer 13

Asocial stage, Indiscriminate attachment, Specific attachment and Multiple attachments.

Question 14

Stage 1: Asocial stage

Answer 14

First few weeks, baby recognises and forms bonds with its carers. Reactions towards objects and humans is similar. Some preferences for familiar adults.

Question 15

Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment

Answer 15

2-7 months. Preference for humans rather than objects. Recognise and prefer familiar adults. Usually accept cuddles and comfort from any adult. So don’t show stranger or separation anxiety.

Question 16

Stage 3: Specific attachment

Answer 16

7+ months, start to display anxiety towards strangers and separation from one particular adult (usually mother). Formed first primary attachment.

Question 17

Stage 4: Multiple attachment

Answer 17

Shortly after stage 3 they begin to form other attachments with other adults who they see regularly. In Schaffer and Emersons study one month later after primary attachments formed 29% had created multiple attachments.

Question 18

Schaffer and Emerson evaluation

Answer 18

Good external validity- study done in natural environment (home) and reported later so babies behaviour less likely to be affected by presence of observers.
Longitudinal design- better than using different children (cross sectional) as then theres no confounding variables meaning higher validity.
Not generalisable- same district, social class, same city and 50+ years ago.

Question 19

Stages of attachment evaluation

Answer 19

Problem studying asocial stage, hardly any observable behaviour as they are immobile, evidence cant be relied on.
Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments, some believe that babies form multiple attachments first from particular cultures where families work together in everything.
Bowlby pointed out that children can become distressed when a playmate leaves, this doesn’t signify attachment.

Question 20

Lorenz’s research procedure

Answer 20

Observed imprinting, he randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs, half were hatched with the mother goose, then the others in an incubator where they saw Lorenz first.

Question 21

Lorenz’s research findings

Answer 21

The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere when the control group followed the mother. When the two were mixed up, they continued to follow Lorenz. (Imprinting.)

Question 22

Imprinting

Answer 22

Where bird species which are mobile from birth attach and follow the first moving object they see. Lorenz identified a critical period where imprinting needs to take place. If it doesn’t occur during the critical period, chicks didn’t attach to a mother figure.

Question 23

Sexual imprinting

Answer 23

Birds that were imprinted to a human from birth would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans.

Question 24

Evaluation of Lorenz’s research

Answer 24

There is a problem generalising the study to humans since it was done on birds. (Mammalian mothers are more emotional).
Imprinting behaviour may not be as permanent, chicks imprinted on rubber gloves found later they learned to prefer hens.

Question 25

Harlow’s research procedure

Answer 25

Reared 16 monkeys with 2 different wire ‘monkeys’. One condition milk was dispensed by the plain wire, the other condition milk was dispensed by the wire monkey covered in cloth.

Question 26

Harlow’s research findings

Answer 26

Baby monkey’s cuddled the cloth for comfort when they were scared.

Question 27

Maternally deprived monkeys as adults

Answer 27

Severe consequences when they had been deprived of a ‘real’ mother. They were more aggressive, less sociable and bred less often. When they became mother monkeys, they neglected their young.

Question 28

Harlow’s research evaluation

Answer 28

Attachment doesn’t develop as the result of being fed but as a result of contact comfort. Showed importance of early relationships on future.
Helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect so they intervene to prevent it.
Ethical issues, monkey’s in horrible conditions.

Question 29

Explanations of attachment- Learning theory (classical)

Answer 29

Classical conditioning- in the case of attachment. Food is the unconditioned stimulus, Pleasure from food is unconditioned response, Care giver starts as neutral stimulus. Then the caregiver becomes the conditioned stimulus. Then they become a conditioned response. (This is love).

Question 30

Learning theory (operant)

Answer 30

Can explain baby’s crying for comfort. Crying leads to a response from the care giver, as long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced. The care giver receives negative reinforcement to stop the baby crying.

Question 31

Learning theory- Attachment as a secondary drive

Answer 31

Hunger can be thought as a primary drive, it’s innate. We are motivated to eat to reduce the drive. This makes attachment the second drive learned by association between the caregiver and the satisfaction from primary drive.

Question 32

Learning theory evaluation

Answer 32

Counter evidence- Lorenz geese imprinted before being fed and maintained these relationships regardless of who fed them. In Schaffer and Emerson, the babies developed primary attachment to their biological mother even though other carers did most of the feeding.

Question 33

Explanations of attachment- Bowlby’s theory

Answer 33

Rejected learning theory as an explanation. Believed that attachment is innate that gives us a survival advantage. He believed that one care giver is different and more important (primary caregiver-monotropic)

Question 34

Bowlby social releasers

Answer 34

To activate the adult attachment system, to make the adult feel love. Cooing. Trigger a response in caregivers.

Question 35

Bowlby critical period

Answer 35

An attachment must form in this period if it’s to form at all, if it’s not formed by the age of 2, a child will find it much harder to form one later.

Question 36

Bowlby internal working model

Answer 36

A child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary caregiver. It serves as a model for what relationships are like. We base our future relationships on the primary attachment.

Question 37

Bowlby evaluation

Answer 37

Support for internal working models- Bailey et al, 99 mothers with 1 year olds. The parents who reported poor attachments to their own parents were most likely to have children classing as poor according to observations.
Schaffer and emerson found that a child could form multiple attachments. (Doesn’t support monotropy.)
Brazelton et all told mothers to ignore their child, they curled into a ball and laid motionless (social releaser).

Question 38

Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 38

Aimed to measure the security of attachment a child displays towards a caregiver. Lab condition with a 2 way mirror.

Question 39

Ainsworth’s strange situation behaviours used to judge attachment

Answer 39

Proximity seeking- a child with good attachment will stay close.
Exploration and secure base behaviour- good attachment enables a child to feel confident to explore.
Stranger anxiety.
Separation anxiety.
Response to reunion.

Question 40

Ainsworth’s strange situation procedure

Answer 40

1. the child is encouraged to explore.
2. a stranger comes in and tries to interact.
3. the caregiver leaves the child and stranger together.
4. the caregiver returns and stranger leaves.
5. caregiver leaves child alone.
6. stranger returns.
7. caregiver returns.

Question 41

Ainsworth’s strange situation findings

Answer 41

3 main types of attachment- secure attachment, insecure avoidant attachment and insecure resistant attachment.

Question 42

Secure attachment

Answer 42

Most desirable attachment, healthy outcomes. Moderate stranger and separation anxiety.

Question 43

Insecure avoidant attachment

Answer 43

Low anxiety but weak attachment. Low stranger/separation anxiety, little response to reunion.

Question 44

Insecure resistant attachment

Answer 44

Strong attachment and high anxiety. They get angry when the mother comes back.

Question 45

Ainsworth’s strange situations evaluation

Answer 45

Insecure resistant is associated with the worst outcomes bullying in later child hood (Kokkinos), this is valid as it can explain some outcomes.
High inter-rater reliability, other researchers agree with observations (controlled settings).
Not culturally generalizable, in Japan it’s rare to be separated from mothers meaning high levels of anxiety.

Question 46

Cultural variations

Answer 46

Culture refers to the norms and values between a group of people. Cultural variations refers to the differences in norms/values from different groups.

Question 47

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 47

Continuous care from a mother is essential for normal psychological development. Separation from this adult causes serious damage to emotional and intellectual development.

Question 48

Separation

Answer 48

Not being in the presence of a primary attachment.

Question 49

Deprivation

Answer 49

Lose an element of the primary attachments care.

Question 50

Bowlby’s critical period (maternal deprivation)

Answer 50

First 30 months, if they are separated within this time or deprived, then psychological damage is inevitable.

Question 51

Effects on intellectual development (maternal deprivation)

Answer 51

Lower IQ. Goldfarb found lower IQ in children who remained in institutions than those who were fostered.

Question 52

Effects on emotional development (maternal deprivation)

Answer 52

Affectionless psychopathy- associated with criminality, they can’t feel guilt or strong emotion for others.

Question 53

Bowlby 44 thieves

Answer 53

44 criminal teenagers. All were interviewed for affectionless psychopathy. 14 of 44 had affectionless psychopaths. 12 of the 14 had prolonged separation from mothers in first 2 years of life. In control only 2 had prolonged separation.

Question 54

Bowlby maternal deprivation evaluation

Answer 54

44 thieves- Bowlby carried out the assessments, researcher bias.
Hilda Lewis replicated 44 thieves study with 500 young people, in hers, a history of prolonged separation did not predict criminality.

Question 55

Romanian orphan studies

Answer 55

Rutter, 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain. Found that when they first arrived in the UK they showed signs of delayed intellectual development. If the child was adopted after 6 months, they showed an attachment style called disinhibited attachment where they were attention seeking and clingy.

Question 56

Evaluation of Romanian orphan studies

Answer 56

Real life application- each child has one or 2 keyworkers rather than loads.
Able to study institutionalisation without confounding participant variables such as trauma or loss- higher internal validity.
Lack generalizability, Romanian orphanages had poor standards or care and low intellectual stimulation.