Attachment Flashcards

Question

what is the internal working model

Answer 1

The idea that the infants attachments affect attachments in later life and serve as a role model for later relationships It also affects the infants themselves as parents in later life

Answer 2

mixed evidence for monotropy because schaffer and emmerson state that we can form multiple attachments at the same time as primary support for social releasers because of interactions between carer and child Some argue that a child's genetically influenced temperament can explain the child's later social behaviour. controversial to suggest that the quality of attachment and child development is based on the law of accumulated separation as it puts pressure on mothers to sacrifice their careers 99 mothers were assessed on their quality of attachment with their own mothers; the babies attachment to the mothers was also tested. Mothers with poor attachments to their mothers were more likely to report poor attachments to their kids

Answer 3

``` Proximity seeking Exploration and secure base behaviour Stranger anxiety Separation anxiety Response to reunion ```

Answer 4

``` Child’s encouraged to explore Stranger comes in - tries to interact with child Caregiver leaves Caregiver returns and stranger leaves Caregiver leaves, leaving child alone Stranger returns Caregiver returns ```

Answer 5

will explore freely using mother as a secure base moderate stranger and separation anxiety requires comfort on reunion with carer

Answer 6

overly attached to carer, will not explore high stranger and separation anxiety resists comfort on carers return

Answer 7

Explore freely with no seeking of proximity or secure base behaviour Little stranger or separation anxiety No comfort requirement upon reunion

Answer 8

cultural differences as it is more suited to western cultures Main and Solomon observed a fourth attachment type in which the children display a combination of avoidant and resistant behaviour. This is commonly known as disorganised attachment it has good reliability because all researchers usually agree on the attachment type of children It is argued that the main influence on the anxiety produced is not type of attachment but temperament. Temperament may be a confounding variable There is validity as it can explain subsequent outcomes. Securely attached kids tend to achieve high in both relationships and life while insecure resistant have poor relationships and poor social life often getting bullied.

Answer 9

32 studies researching attachment in children using Ainsworth’s strange situation across 8 countries and 1,990 children were analysed FINDINGS In all countries secure attachment was most common Insecure - resistant was the least common Variations within countries was 150% greater than across countries

Answer 10

Simonella et al conducted a study researching whether attachment was still the same compared to previous studies. 50% were securely attached (lower than before) 36% were insecure - avoidant suggests that cultural changes can affect attachment

Answer 11

Strange situation used to asses 87 children Proportions of secure and insecure attachments were similar to other countries Most were resistant. Only one was avoidant Similar to distribution on Japan - maybe because of similar child rearing styles

Answer 12

A strength of cross cultural studies is that you end up with large sample sizes which increases internal validity - ijzendoorn had nearly 2000 children The samples are unrepresentative of cultures as research was between countries not within cultures. A weakness is that the method of assessment is biased as it is a British theory with an American made study. Etic and emic are to be included. Etic = cultural universals Emic = cultural uniqueness Applying an American study in other countries is imposed etic Strange situation lacks validity as it could be measuring anxiety rather than attachment

Answer 13

the idea that prolonged separation from the mother figure, now known as primary attachment figure, can be detrimental to a child’s mental health.

Answer 14

Separation is the brief absence of a caregiver | Deprivation is prolonged separation from a caregiver which in the long run can cause harm

Answer 15

According to Bowlby, the critical period is 30 months. After this psychological damage is inevitable.

Answer 16

If children are deprived too long after the critical period of 30 months they would suffer delayed intellectual development. Mental retardation would occur which is characterised by abnormally low IQ One psychologist found lower IQ in kids placed in institutions as opposed to those who had been adopted

Answer 17

Affectionless psychopathy is an emotional side effect of deprivation. This is where a person suffers an absence of guilt or strong emotion for others

Answer 18

44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing were interviewed by Bowlby for signs of affectionless psychopathy. A control group of emotionally disturbed young people were also interviewed for signs FINDINGS 14 of 44 thieves were described as affectionless psychopaths 12 of these were deprived as kids 2 of 44 in the control group experienced long separations

Answer 19

evidence may be poor due to the trauma the kids faced in younger years. Bowlby used war orphans who had suffered significant trauma as a kid and that could act as a confounding variable. also, the 44 thieves is biased because bowlby knew what he was looking for and did the interviews himself A larger recreation of 44 thieves, with 500 young kids, showed that a history of separation does not predict criminality Psychological damage can be reversed after the critical period if there is adequate after care The 2 twins from czechoslovakia who were locked in a cupboard fully recovered once helped Baby rats separated for a day showed a permanent effect on social development bowlby was confusing two concepts: deprivation and privation Privation is the failure to form an attachment at all Deprivation is the loss of an attachment figure

Answer 20

Rutter followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted into Britain to see whether good aftercare could make up for previous traumatic events as a child A control group of 52 British orphans adopted at the same time were also watched FINDINGS The children’s IQ was different dependent on their age of adoption: Before 6 months = 102 Between 6 months and 2 years = 86 Some also showed disinhibited attachment if adopted after 6 months. This is clinginess, attention seeking and social behaviour directed at adults

Answer 21

Attachment was assessed in 95 children aged 12 - 31 months whereby 90% had spent majority of their lives in care. There was a control group of 50 kids who had never been institutionalised FINDINGS 74% of control group were securely attached but only 19% of the institutionalised group were 65% of institutionalised group had disorganised attachment

Answer 22

disinhibited attachment. this has been explained by the fact that in institutions children could have up to 50 carers and so cannot form a proper attachment

Answer 23

Led to improvements in institutionalisation Care homes now avoid having multiple care givers - they have a keyworker In previous orphan studies orphans were given up because of war or other confounding variables however romanian orphans did not suffer any trauma before hand and therefore effects of institutionalisation can be studies in isolation conditions in these orphanages were so bad that it may be that we cannot generalise the findings to english care homes with better standard of living The orphans were only followed up till their mid teens. They could catch up as adults

Answer 24

attachments in infancy detect our understanding of what is a healthy relationship for the future. therefore having a healthy early attachment will form the basis for good relationships in the future

Answer 25

Securely attached infants tend to form the best quality relations. insecurely attached have friendship difficulties Avoidant children are most likely to be bullied Resistant children are most likely to be bullies

Answer 26

psychologists studied 40 adult woman who had previously been studied for infant attachment types. Securely attached had the best adult relationships Resistant had problems maintaining relationships Avoidant had problems with intimacy

Answer 27

the quiz had three sections: 1) assessing current or most important romantic relations 2) general love experiences 3) attachment type 620 replies were sent into the love quiz 56% of respondents were securely attached 25% avoidant 19% resistant Avoidant respondents were likely to have feelings of jealousy and fear of intimacy those reporting secure were most likely to have a good relationship

Answer 28

if you had a positive parental role model growing up you are also likely to mimic how your parent raised you and will turn out to be a good parental figure.

Answer 29

In one study conducted by Zimmerman on infant and adolescent attachment type there was very little relationship between quality of infant attachment and adolescent attachment Most studies do not use strange situation to assess attachment, instead they use questionnaires. This relies on self report in which we have to trust that carers have an honest and realistic view of their relationship. Most studies focus on the link between infant attachment and later attachments however this two may not be so tightly linked. Parenting style or temperament may explain the continuity between infancy and later life. While there is evidence to suggest strong links between infant attachment and later relationships it is not a definitive relationship. This suggests that some researchers have exaggerated the link and that poor infant attachments does not mean you are doomed to have bad relationships later. Because internal working model is something we are not consciously aware of and we can only report what we are consciously aware of self report techniques only give us indirect evidence at best.