Attachment Flashcards
Around how many times do mothers respond to babies periodic alert phases
Two thirds of the time
What is interactional synchrony
The coordination of micro-level behaviour (Feldman)
When does interactional synchrony take place
When mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other
Who did a study on interactional synocrhony
Meltzof and Moore
What did the Meltzof and Moore study entail
Observed interactional synchrony in infants as young as two week old.
An adult displayed one of three facial expressions and the child’s response was filmed and an association was found between these
Why is synchrony important for the development of mother/infant attachment
Provides the necessary foundation for the connection which cns br built upon in subsequent years
What is reciprocity
Each person responds to the other and elicits a response form them like a conversation
When in a babies life do interactions become reciprocals
Around three months
How are traditional views of childhood changed in recent years
Have seen the baby in a passive role recieving cafe from the adult but it seems the baby takes an active role.
Limitation of observing infants
Hard to know what it happening when observing children. It is difficult to be certain what is taking place from the infants perspective like if their immitation or adult signals is conscious and deliberate or not. Means we can not know for certain if behaviours seen in mother infant interactions have special meanings
Strength of research into mother infant interactions
Involved well controlled procedures. They are usually filmed from multiple angles to ensure the fine details of behaviour can be recorded and analysed. Also babies don’t know they are being observed do their behaviour does not change in response to controlled observation. A strength because it means the research has good validity
Limitations of observations in mother infant interactions
Observations don’t tell us the purpose of interactional synchrony and reciprocity. It simply describes behaviours that occur st the same time but it does not tell us what the infant is learning. However there is evidence that they are helpful in the development of mother infant attachment.
What did Schaffer and Emerson find
The majority of babies became attached to their mother first and this happens around the age of 7 month.
In only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment.
In 27% the mother and father were joint.
75% of infants had a secondary attachment to their father by 18 months
Key study in mother infant interaction
Schaffer and Emerson
What is a sign of attachment
Protesting when someone walks away
What did Grossman find
Carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and it’s relationship to the quality of children attachment into their teens. Research suggest e that the father attachment was less important to the attachment type of teenagers
What suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment
The quality of fathers play with infants was related to the children’s attachments so their role is more to do with play and stimulation rather than nurture
When a father does take on the role of main caregiver what happens
They adopt behaviours more typical of mothers
What is the key to the attachment relationship
Level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent
What seem to be important actions in building an attachment with an infant
Smiling
Imitating
And holding infants
Limitation of the role of mothers in caregiver interactions
Important economic implications. Mothers feel pressured to stay at home because of research that says they are vital for healthy development. In some families this is not economically viable. Social implications.
Limitations of the role of fathers in caregiver interactions
Socially sensitive. The idea that fathers have distinctive roles is undermined by the evidence. Gross man found that fathers as a secondary attachment figure had important roles but other studies found that children with same sex families do not develop any differently. Suggest that a fathers role is not important
Limitation of fathers becoming primary attachment figures
They can become them but the answer of why they don’t remains unanswered. Could be result of traditional gentler roles therefore fathers may feel they shouldn’t act in a nurturing ways or it could be female hormones create higher levels of nurturing and therefore woman are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figure
Key study into the stages of attachment
Schaffer and Emerson
What are the four stages provided by Schaffer and Emerson
- Asocial stage (first few weeks)
- Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months)
- Specific attachment (around seven months)
- Multiple attachment (by one year)
What happens in the asocial stage of Schaffer and Emerson’s theory
Baby’s behaviour towards non human objects and humans are quite similar. Babies show some preference for familiar adults and are happier in the presence of other humans
What is the indiscriminate stage of Schaffer and Emerson’s theory
Shoe preference for people rather than inanimate objects and recognise and prefer familiar faces. Usually accept comfort from any adult and don’t show Stranger anxiety or separation anxiety.
What is stranger anxiety
Distress shown by infant when approached by unfamiliar person
What is separation anxiety
Distress shown by infant when separated form an attachment figure
What is the specific attachment in Schaffer and Emerson’s theory
Babies start to display anxiety towards stanrgets and become anxious when separated from one particular adult. (The mother in 65% of cases).
Who is usually the primary attachment figure
The person who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby’s signals with the most skill
What is the multiple attachments stage in Schaffer and Emerson’s study
Attachments form with other adults whom they spend time with, called secondary attachments. 29% had secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment.
Procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s study
60 Scottish babies from Glasgow. The babies and mothers were visited at home every month for a year and again at 18 months. Measured separation anxiety by asking mothers questions about their child’s behaviour during separation and stranger anxiety by observing the infants response to unfamiliar adults
Findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s study
50% formed specific attachments at 25-32 weeks.
Attachment tended to be the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions not necessarily who the infant spent the most time with.
Strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s study (external validity)
It has good external validity. Carried out in families own homes and most of the observations were done by the parent during everyday activities and reported back later. Means the behaviour of babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers. Means participants behaved naturally increasing the validity of the data.
What is external validity
The degree to which research findings can be generalised to for example other settings (ecological validity) other groups people (population validity) and over time (historical validity)
Strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s study (longitudinally)
Carried out longitudinally. Same children were followed up and observed regularly. The quicker alternative would have been to observe different children at each age this is called cross-sectional design. However longitudinal studies have better internal validity because they do not have the confounding variable of individual differences between participants
What is cross-sectional design
One group of participants representing one section of society compared to participants from another group
What is participant variables
Characteristics of individual participants like age that might influence the outcome of a study
Limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s study (asocial)
Problems studying the asocial year. Describe the first few weeks as asocial yet important interactions take place in those weeks. Problem is that babies that are young have poor coordination and are generally pretty immobile. Therefore it’s difficult to make judgment based on observations of their behaviour. May be that babies are asocial but can’t be sure because the method of measurement lacks validity
What are two animal studies of attachment
Lorenz
Harlow
What is the key study for imprinting
Lorenz
Key study for the importance of contact comfort
Harlow
Procedure of Lorenz’ study
Divided a clutch of goose eggs and half the eggs were bathed with the mother goose in the natural environment the other half hatched in an incubator and first saw Lorenz.
To investigate the relationship between imprinting Lorenz also observed birds and their later courtship behaviour
Findings of Lorenz’ study
The incubator group followed Lorenz around whereas the control group followed the mother. When the toe groups were mixed the experimental group still followed Lorenz.
There was a critical period where imprinting needed to take place and if it did not occur within a few hours the chicks would not attach themselves to a mother figure.
Birds who attached to a human would display courtship behaviour towards humans.
Limitation of Lorenz research
Problem in generalising findings about birds to humans. The mammalian attachment system is different to that of birds. Mammalian mothers shoe more emotional attachment to young than birds do so it is not appropriate to generalise any findings
Strength of Lorenz study
Further research supports the concept of imprinting. Guiton found the chicks imprinted in a yellow washing up glove would try to mate with them as adults. Supports the view that the young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on some sort of moving object that is present in the critical period. Supports Lorenz conclusion and increases validity of the research findings
Procedure of Harlows study
16 monkeys with two wire model mothers. In one condition milk was dispensed by plain wire monkey whereas a second condtion the milk was dispensed by the cloth covered monkey.
Frightening situations were also used and the reactions of the monkeys were observed. They also followed the monkeys who had been deprived of their real mother into adulthood
Findings of harlows study
Monkeys preferred contact comfort to food. The monkeys cuddled with the soft one when scared regardless of who gave the food.
Conclusions of harlows study
There was a critical period for this behaviour as a mother figure had to be introduced within 90 days for an attachment to form. After this attachment was impossible and the damage done by deprivation became irreversible
What is deprivation
The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and his mother or mother substitute.
When he followed the monkeys into adulthood he discovered severe consequences from maternal deprivation; more agressize, less socialsble and less skilled in mating. They also neglected and sometimes killed their offspring
Limitations of harlows study
Faced severe Criticism for the ethics of his research. The monkeys suffered emotionally as a result of the study. The specifies is considered similar enough to humans to be able to generalise the findings so it is possible their suffering was human like. Harlow knew the suffering he was causing and referred to the iron monkeys as ‘iron maidens’ a form of torture device. The counter argument is that harlows research was sufficiently important to justify this.
Strntgrh of Harlows research.
Important practical applications. It helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse and intervene to prevent it. Also important in the care of captive monkeys so zoos now can give proper attachment figures. The usefulness of harlows research increases its value as it’s important when considering ethical costs versus benefits
Who provided the learning theory
Dillard and miller
Why is the learning theory sometimes called ‘cupboard love theory’
Emphasis the importance of the caregiver as a provider of food. The children learn to love wherever feeds them
Wha does classical conditioning involved
Learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way as we respond to the other
How does clsssicsl conditioning work in the learning theory by Dollard and Miller
Food is an unconditioned stimulus creating a feeling a pleasure as an unconditioned response.
The mother is a neutral stimulus and be aimed associated with food becoming a conditioned stimulus. Once condtioning has taken place the caregiver produced a conditioned response.
According to the learning theory this is the basis of attachment.
How does operant conditioning work in Dollard and Millers learning theory
Crying from the baby leads to a response from the caregiver like feeding. As long as the caregiver provides the correct response the crying is positively reinforced because it produces a pleasurable consequence.
Also the caregiver is negatively reinforced because the crying stops - escaping from something unpleasant. This interplay of positive and negative reinforcement strngthens attachment
What is drive reduction in relation to the learning theory
Animal is motivated to act in order to satisfy biological needs, once satisfied the result is drive reduction
What is a primary drive
Innate drives (motivators) such as food, water and sex
What does the learning theory say about human and attachment
Hunger is a primary drive
Attachment is a secondary drive
What is a secondary drive
Learned drives acquired through association with a primary drive
What did Sears suggest
Caregivers provide food so the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is this a secondary drive learned by an association between the cetegiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive
Weakness of the learning theory (animal)
Animal studies provide evidence against food as the basis of an attachment. Harlows monkeys attached to a soft surrogates in preference to a wire one that gave milk. It is clear that attachment does not develop as a result of feeding. Therefore it must be the same for humans as learning theorists believe that humans and non-humans are equivalent
Weakness of the learning theory (other fsctors)
Learning theory ignores other factors associated with forming attachments. Early research into caregiver interaction suggests that the quality of attachment is associated with factors like developing reciprocity and interactionsl synchrony. It’s hard to reconcile these findings with the idea that attachment develops through feeding.
Strength of learning theory
Problem with learning theory is that feeding provides the unconditioned stimulus, reinforcment or primary drive. However we believe that may aspects of human development are affected by conditioning so it seems plausible that it could still play a role in attachment just not in relationship to feeding. Association bretern the primary caregiver and the provision of comfort could build attachment
What is the new learning explanation based on social learning
Social learning theory - based on the idea that social behaviour is acquired largely as a result of modelling and imitation behaviour
Who suggested the social learning theory
Hay and Vespo
What does the social learning theory suggest
Parents teach children to love them by modelling attachment behaviour e.g by hugger them and other family members and instructing and rewarding them with approval when they display attachment behaviour of the their own.
Why is the social learning theory a better theory of attachment than the learning theiry
Good explanation of why studies suggest interaction and reciprocity are important factors in the development of attachment
Who theorised ASCMIC
Bowlby
What does ASCMIC stand for
Adaptive Social releasers Critical period Monotropy Internal working model Continuity hypothesis
What idea did bowlby propose for his monotropic theory
Evolutionary explanation: attachment was an innate system that gave a survival advantage much like imprinting
Why did imprinting and attachment evolve
They ensure young animals stay close to their caregivers and this protects them from hazards
Why is bowlbys theory described as monotropic
He placed great emphasis on a child attachment to one particular caregiver and he believes their attachment is different and more important that others
What is monotropy
Mono means one and Indicates that one particular attachment is different from all others and of central importance to child’s development
What were the two reasons Bowlby believe the more time spent with the primary attachment figure the better
- Law of continuity: the more constant a child’s care the better quality of attachment
- Las or accumulated separation: the effects of every separation add up
What is separation
Physical loss of a mother-figure but not necesssrily maternal care as other people may continue to provide emotion care
What are social releasers and some examples
A social behaviour or characteristic that elicits a caregiver reaction like smiling, cooing and gripping to encourage attention from adults
Why did Bowlby call cute behaviour social releasers
Because their purpose is to activate the adult attachment ststem to make the adult feel love towards the baby
When is the critical period
Around two years (30 months)
What is a critical period
The time within which an attachment must form if it is to attach at slob
What is a sensitive period
Biologically determined period of time during which a child is particularly receptive to a specific form of stimulation, resulting in the development of a specific response or characteristic
What’s the difference between a critical period and a sensitive period
Sensitive period is a little less definite than a critical period as it implies behaviours can be learned upside of the sensible period but less easily
What is the internal working model
Mental representations we all carry with us of our attachment to our primary caregiver. The affect our future relationships because they carry our perception of what relationships are like (continuity hypothesis)
Limitation of Bowlbys monotropic theory
Socially sensitive because of the implications for mothers lifestyle choices. Law or depression states that having substantial time apart from the mother risks a poor quality attachment that will disadvantage the child later in life. Feminists like Burman have said this places a terrible burden of responsibility on mothers, setting them up to take the blame if something goes wrong. Also means mothers may not return to work. Wasn’t bowlby intention he wanted to highlight their importance.
Strength of Bowlbys monotropic theory
Clear evidence to support the existence and value of social releasers. In an experiment on mother and baby interaction the mother had to ignore the babies signals and the babies showed distress and some responded by curling up and lying motionless. Such a strong reaction supports Bowlbys ideas about the significance of social releasers.
Strength of Bowlbys monotropic theory (IWM)
Support for the internal working model. Mothers were interviewed about their relationships with their own parents and had their children’s attachment type determined. Found that mothers with poor attachments to own parents were likely to have children classified as poor in the observations. Supports Bowlbys idea of a working model.
Limitation for Bowlbys monotropy theory (monotropy)
Evidence for monotropy is mixed. Not supported by Schaffer and Emerson’s study which found that most babies did attach to multiple people. This contradicts Bowlbys assertion that babies form one attached that is special
Who created the strange situation
Ainsworth
Procedure of The strange sutstuon
Controlled observation in a laboratory with a two way mirror where pshychologists can observe infant behaviour.
5 categories used to judge quality attachment: proximity seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, response to reunion.
The procedure had seven parts to test the child’s reaction
Aims of the strange sitsutuon
Wanted to assess the quality of a child’s attachment to the caregiver
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: proximity seeking
Stay close to the caregiver
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: exploration and secure base
Gives the child confiderence to explore using the ceeegiver as a secure base
What is a secure base
Secure attachment provides a sense of safety to enable exploration and independence
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: stranger anxiety
Display anxiety when stranger approaches
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: separation anxiety
Protest separation from caregiver
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: response to reunion
Be happy to see their caregiver again
What are the seven episodes involved in the strange situation
- child encouraged to explore
- stranger enters and talks to parent
- caregiver leaves
- caregiver returns and stranger leaves
- caregiver leaves child alone
- stranger returns
- caregiver return
Findings of the strange situation
Of British toddlers:
60-75% secure attachment
20-25% insecure avoidant attachment
3% insecure resistant attachment
Characteristics of secure attachment (type B)
Children happy to explore but need secure base
Moderate separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
Accept comfort from caregiver on reuinion
Characteristics of insecure avoidant attachment (Type A)
Children explore freely and not no secure base
Snow little to no separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
Don’t require comfort at reuniting stage
Characteristics of insecure resistant attachment (type C)
Explore less
High separation and stranger anxiety
Resist comfort when reunited
Strength of The strange sitstuion (reliability)
Shows good inter-rater reliability. Different observers watching the same children in the strange situation generally agree on the attachment type to classify the children as. May be because it is a controlled condtion and the behavioural cstegories are easy to observe. We can be confident the attachment type of an infant in the strange sitstuion does not just depend on who is observing them.
Limitation of the strange sitstuion (culture)
Doubt whether the strange situation is a culture-bound test. May not have the same meaning in countries outside Western Europe and USA. This is because some cultures are collectivist and Takahashi notes the test doesn’t work in Japan because mothers are rarely separated from their babies so they show very high levels of separation anxiety
What is a culture bound test
Restricted to a particular culture
What is inter-rather reliability
Correlating the judgements of two or more ratings of behaviour
Limitation of the strange sitstuion (type D)
May have missed one attachment type. Main suggested that a minority didn’t fit within her three suggested attachment types. There’s on called disorganised attachment which is a mix of avoidant and resistant behaviours. Challenges her inition beliefs of attachment and questions whether the strange situation is a useful method to identify different types of attachment
Key study of the meta-analysis of cultural variations
Ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg
Procedures of Ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg study
Looked st proportions of secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant attachments acrods countries.
Located 32 studies using strange situation from 8 countries. 15 studies in the USA.
Results from the studies were meta-analysed
What is meta analysis
Process of combing results from a number of studies on a particular topic to provide an overall view
Findings from Ljzendoorn and Kroonenbergs study
Secure attachment was the most common in all culture. 75% in Britain to 50% in China.
In collectivist cultures insecure resistant was more common than individualist cultures. China, Japan and israel were 25% and above but for America all under 14%.
Variations within a culture was greater than variation between countries. In USA one study found 46% secure and other found 90%
Key study about Italian perspective on cultural variations in attachment
Simonella et al
Procedure of Simonella’s study
Assessment 76 12 month olds using the strange situation to see whether the proportion of attachment types still matched previous studies in Italy.
Varied sample with mothers of different backgrounds
Findings of Simomellas study
50% were secure and 36% were insecure avoidant.
Lower rate or secure attachment than the previous studies.
Conclusions of simonellas study
The findings were due to the increasing numbers of mothers working long hours and using professional childcare. Suggested that cultural change can make dramatic differences in the patterns of attachment type
Strength of combining results of attachment studies
Get very large samples. In the Kroonenberg study the meta-analysis has a total of 2000 babies and their attachment figures. Simonella has large comparison groups from previous research. Large samples increase internal validity by reducing impact of anomalies
Limitation of Kroonenbergs study
Not representative of the culture they are taken from. The comparison in the kroonenberg study are made between countries not cultures. Within each country there are many different cultures such as those poverty stricken vs the really rich. Means comparisons between countries like Italy and Korea have little meaning; the particular cultural characteristics of the sample needs to be specified mix
Limitation of using the strange situation method of assessing attachment types
Biased towards American/British cultural child rearing prscitices. Strange situation was designed by an American researcher based on British theory (Bowlby). Question over whether these theories can be applied to other culutres. This is imposed Etic which disregards the notion of cultural emic. E.g the idea that a lack of separation anxiety indicates an avoidant attachment but in Germany this behaviour might be seen as independence rather than avoidance
What was Bowlbys other theory besides the monotropic theory
Maternal deprivation
What does Bowlby theory of maternal deprivation focus on
The idea that the continuous emotional care from the mother is essential for the child’s normal psychological development, both emotional and intellectual. Without this a child is deprived of emotional care.
What may separation from a mother lead to (Bowlby)
Maternal deprivation
What is maternal deprivation
The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and his mother
What did Bowlby believe motherly love in infancy was as important for mental health as
Vitamins and proteins for physical health
What is the difference between separation and deprivation
Separation means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure. Deprivation means losing an element of her care as a result of separation.
Who created the strange situation
Ainsworth
Procedure of The strange sutstuon
Controlled observation in a laboratory with a two way mirror where pshychologists can observe infant behaviour.
5 categories used to judge quality attachment: proximity seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, response to reunion.
The procedure had seven parts to test the child’s reaction
Aims of the strange sitsutuon
Wanted to assess the quality of a child’s attachment to the caregiver
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: proximity seeking
Stay close to the caregiver
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: exploration and secure base
Gives the child confiderence to explore using the ceeegiver as a secure base
What is a secure base
Secure attachment provides a sense of safety to enable exploration and independence
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: stranger anxiety
Display anxiety when stranger approaches
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: separation anxiety
Protest separation from caregiver
What will an infant with a good attachment to the caregiver do in the cstegory of strange situation: response to reunion
Be happy to see their caregiver again
What are the seven episodes involved in the strange situation
- child encouraged to explore
- stranger enters and talks to parent
- caregiver leaves
- caregiver returns and stranger leaves
- caregiver leaves child alone
- stranger returns
- caregiver return
Findings of the strange situation
Of British toddlers:
60-75% secure attachment
20-25% insecure avoidant attachment
3% insecure resistant attachment
Characteristics of secure attachment (type B)
Children happy to explore but need secure base
Moderate separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
Accept comfort from caregiver on reuinion
Characteristics of insecure avoidant attachment (Type A)
Children explore freely and not no secure base
Snow little to no separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
Don’t require comfort at reuniting stage
Characteristics of insecure resistant attachment (type C)
Explore less
High separation and stranger anxiety
Resist comfort when reunited
Strength of The strange sitstuion (reliability)
Shows good inter-rater reliability. Different observers watching the same children in the strange situation generally agree on the attachment type to classify the children as. May be because it is a controlled condtion and the behavioural cstegories are easy to observe. We can be confident the attachment type of an infant in the strange sitstuion does not just depend on who is observing them.
Limitation of the strange sitstuion (culture)
Doubt whether the strange situation is a culture-bound test. May not have the same meaning in countries outside Western Europe and USA. This is because some cultures are collectivist and Takahashi notes the test doesn’t work in Japan because mothers are rarely separated from their babies so they show very high levels of separation anxiety
What is a culture bound test
Restricted to a particular culture
What is inter-rather reliability
Correlating the judgements of two or more ratings of behaviour
Limitation of the strange sitstuion (type D)
May have missed one attachment type. Main suggested that a minority didn’t fit within her three suggested attachment types. There’s on called disorganised attachment which is a mix of avoidant and resistant behaviours. Challenges her inition beliefs of attachment and questions whether the strange situation is a useful method to identify different types of attachment
What did Bowlby believe would happen to the intellectual development of children if they were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period
Suffer mental retardation and an abnormally low IQ
What did Bowlby day that lack of emotional care could lead to
The emotional development of affection less psychopathy: the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others. Prevents the person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality
What is the key study Bowlby did
44 thieves study
Procedure of Bowlbys 44 thieves study
44 theirves and their families interviewed to establish whether there had been any prolonged separation from their mothers.
Assessed them for affectionless psychopathy; characterised by lack of affection, guilt and empathy
Findings of Bowlbys 44 thieves study
Out of 14 Affectionless psychopaths, 12 experienced prolonged separation.
Out of 30 non-APs, 5 experiences prolonged separation.
Conclusions of Bowlbys 44 thieves study
Prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy to develop
Limitation of Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
Rutter claims Bowlby failed to distinguish between deprivation and privation. Rutter claimed that the severe long term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is more likely the result of privation. Many of the 44 thieves had moved from home to home in their childhood so never formed attachments in the first place, this could be the cause of AP instead of deprivation
What is privation compared to deprivation
The failure to form any attachment at all vs the loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment had developed
Strength of Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
Animal studies have demonstrated the effects of maternal deprivation. Levy showed that separating baby rats from their mothers for as little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development though not other aspects of developments. There is always doubt over the extent to which animal studies can be generalised to humans
Limitation of Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation (criticslcperiod)
Thought that the critical period is actually more of a sensitive period. The Czech twine were isolated until they were 7 but then looked after by two loving adults and appeared to fully recover. Suggests damage is not the inevitable consequence of prolonged depression and that some cases of servers deprivation have good outcomes, providing the child has some social interaction and good aftercare. Shows that the period identified by Bowlby may be a sensitive period rather than a critical one
What are the two effects of institutionalisation
Disinhibited attachment: equal affection to all people. Seems to be adaption to multiple caregivers
Damage to intellectual development: show signs of mental retardation. Not as pronounced if the children are adopted before six months
Key study about English and Romanian Adoptees
Rutter et el
Procedure of Rutter et als adoption study
165 Romanian orphans adopted in the Uk. Longitudinal study.
Physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed at 4,6,11 and 15 years oldest child.
Compared to a control group of 52 British adopteeesz
Findings of Rutgers adoption study
IQ scores were related to the age of adoption.
Adopted before 6 months had mean Iq of 102
Adopted between six months and two years: 86
Adopted beyond the age of two years: 77.
Frequency of disinhibited attached related to age of adoption. Children adopted after 6 months showed DA behaviours: clinginess, attention seeking, social behaviour indiscriminately at adults.
What has the follows up to Rutters study confirmed
Significant deficits remain in a substantial minoryity if individuals who had experienced institutional care to beyond the age of six months.
Key study of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project
Zeanah et al
Procedure of Zeanahs study
Assessed attachment in 95 Romanian children who had spent most of their lives in institutional care using the Strange Situstion. Compared to a control group or 50 children who had never been in institutional care.
Findings of Zeanahs study
19% secure attachment
65% disorganised attachment
Strength of studying Romanian orphans
Enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation. Such results have improved the way children are cared for in institutions. Orphanages now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child instead they have one or two key workers enabling children a chance of normal attachments. Shows that research has been immensely valuable in practical terms
Strength of Romanian orphan studies (variables)
Fewer confounding variables than in other orphan studies. Orphan studies usually involved children who had experienced loss or trauma before being institutionalised. Most of the Romanians orphans were abandoned at birth instead of being neglected than being given away. Increase internal validity
Limitation of Romanian orphanage studies
Issues with generalisation. Condition of orphanages are so bad that the results cannot be applied to understanding the impact of better quality institutional care or any situation where children experience deprivation. E.g Romanians orphanages have very poor standards of care. Limitation because the unusual situational variables means the studies lack generability
What is situational variables
Related to external circumstances rather than the personalities of people involved
In relation to the internal working model, what would a good/ bad first attachment mean to future relationships
Good experience = good relationship expectaction and the child will behave functionally within them
Bad experience = bad relationship expectation
What are the three ways past experiences are related to relationships in later childhood
- Securely attached infants form the best quality friendships
- Securely attached infants are less likely to bully
- Insecure avoidant children are most likely to be victims and insecure resistant are most likely to bully
How is attachment type passed on through generations
People base their parenting style on their internal working model
What did Bailey consider
Attachment of 99 mothers to their babies and own mothers. Majority of woman had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their mothers
Key study into relationships in adulthood with romantic partners
Hazan and Shaver
Procedure of Hazan and Shavers study
Analysed 620 replies to newspaper love quiz in American news paper.
Three sections assessing current/general love experiences/ attachment type (asked them to chose a statement that described their feelings)
Findings of Hazan and Shavers study
56% secure
25% insecure avoidant
19% insecure resistant .
Morris distribution found in many studies of infant attachment behaviour like Ainsworths original data.
Conclusions of Hazan and Shavers study
Attachment type was reflected in romantic relationships: secure people were most likely to have good long lasting relationships whereas avoidant people tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy
Limitation of studies to do with internal working model
Several studies suggests an association between attachment type and later relationships but correlation does not mean causation. There are alternative explanations for the continuity that often exists. The child’s temperament may influence both infant attachment and quality of later relationships. Counters Bowlbys view that the internal working model caused these outcomes
What is temperament
Emotional type such as being outgoing or reserved, moody or cheerful
Limitation of research related to internal working model (research)
IWM are unconcious and we are not directly aware of their infleunce on us. Therefore we would not expect to get direct evidence about them through self report methods which require conscious awareness. These give us indirect evidence about IWM. Potential limitation of most research involving the concept of internal working model
Limitation of studies to do with the internal working model (required honestly)
Many studies of attachments assess infant-parent attachment by means of interview or questionnaire, not in infancy, but in later years. Validity is limited because it depends on respondents being honest and having a realistic view of their own relationships. Retreospective nature of infant attachment, looking back at ones early attachment lacks validity because it relies on accurate recollection
What is a self report method
Any method in which a person is asked to state or explain their own feelings, opinions, behaviours and or experiences related to a given topic
