attachment Flashcards
describe the 2 different types of infant interaction
reciprocity synchrony- when a baby and its caregiver respond to eachothers actions, they both give and elicit a response from eachother e.g. mum smiles, baby smiles
interactional synchrony- caregiver and infant reflects the actions and emotions of eachother in a rhythmic fashion. the infant and caregivers behaviour and emotions are synchronised because theyre moving in a similar pattern e.g. the baby smiles and the caregiver laughs
who invented the stages of attachment and what was the procedure
schaffer and emerson
studied 60 babies at mouthly intervals for the 1st 18 months of their life (longitudinal study). they were studied in their own home and a regular pattern was identified. . their interactions with their carers were observed and carers were interviewed. a diary was kept by the mother to give evidence for the development of attachment
what are the stages of attachment
asocial attachment (0-6 weeks) indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks- 6 months) specific attachment (7 months>) multiple attachment (10-11 months>)
describe asocial attachment
babies produce similar emotions to people and objects
they dont prefer specific people
they have a bias towards human like stimuli and prefer faces and eyes
describe indiscriminate attachment
babies become more vocal
they can tell people apart and prefer human company
they dont prefer specific people and dont show a fear of strangers
describe specific attachment
babies begin to show separating anxiety and fear of strangers
describe multiple attachment
multiple attachment are made after the first attachment
babys shows attachment behaviour towards several people
evaluate schaffer and emersons stages of attachment, 3 W and 1 S
W- low population validity because most Ps came from Glasgow and were working class families, which means they cant be generalized
W- small sample size (60) reduces the strength of the conclusions drawn from the study
W- the diary could hold demand characteristics
S- a diary allows better recall in the inrerviews.
describe the role of the father
mothers usually adopt a more caregiving nurturing role, whereas a father adopts a more play-mate role .e.g fathers encourage risk taking
infants prefer contact with their father when in a postive emotional state and their mothers when theyre distressed and wanting comfort
why is it hard to generalise the role of the father
cultural issues- in modern families fathers are less likely to engage in physical play in middle-class Indian families
social policy- in the UK fathers have only recently been given parental leave
biological factors- HEERMAN men seem to lack the emotional sensitivity to infant cues
the child- GENDER FREEMAN suggested that male infants prefer the attachment of their father. children are more likely to attach to their father during late childhood
temperament- MANLOVE fathers are less likely to be involved with their infant if the child has a difficult temperament
describe Bowlbys monophonic theory and the important aspects it contains
we have an innate to attach for survival, which gives us an adaptive advantage
social releasers- babies have social releasers which unlock the innate tendency of adults to care for them. crying to attract attention and smiling to maintain interest
critical period- babies have to form the attachment with their caregiver during a critical period. this takes place during birth-2 1/2 years. Bowlby said that if this doesnt happen the baby will be damaged for life
adaptive- this is because if an infant has an attachment to a caregiver theyre kept safe, given food and kept warm
monotropy- bowlby believed that infants form one very special attachment with their mother
internal working model- the IWM is a template for all furture relationships. your IWM is a schema that determines in your mind how far your capable of being loved and how far you can give love
explanations for attachment- learning theory
dollard and miller. state that attachment is learnt through classical and operate conditioning
CLASSICAL- food (UCS) produces pleasure (UCR). the infant associates food with their mother (CR)
OPERANT- the presence of the caregiver is reinforcing for the infant. the infant gains pleasure/reward as they are being fed. the reinforcement process is therefire reciprocal and strengthens the emotional bond
what does secondary drive hypothesis mean in terms of learning theory
dollard and miller used this term to describe the process of operant and classical conditioning. this involves primary drives (food) being associated with secondary drives (closeness)
describe and evaluate Harlows research into animal studies 2 W and 1 S
he reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model ‘mothers’. in one condition milk was dispersed by the plain wire monkey and in the 2nd the milk was dispersed by the cloth-covered monkey
findings- the baby monkeys cuddled the soft object in the preference to the wire and sought comfort from the cloth covered monkey regardless of dispersed milk
conclusion- showed that contract comfort was more important to monkeys than food when it came to attahment. he concluded that the critical period is 90 days otherwise attachment is impossible. when the monkey grew older they become aggressive and less social from being maternally deprived
W-cant be generalized to humans
W- ethically questionable for the monkeys
S- can help us understand some human behaviour as monkeys are the closest animal (psychologically) to humans
describe and evaluate lorenz research into animals studies, 1 W and 1 S
imprinting theory- took a large clutch of goose eggs and kept them until they hatched. half of them were placed until a goose mother whilst lorenz kept the other half. when the geese hatched lorenz imitated a mother duck quacking, upon which the ducks regarded him as their mother
conclusion- he found that geese followed the 1st moving object they see during a 12-17 hour period which suggests that attachment is innate and programmed genetically
W- GREEN states that on a biological level all mammals have the same brain structure as humans, the only difference relates to size and number of connections
S- questionable whether findings can be applied to complex human behaviour. it is unlikely that observations of animals reflect the emotional connections and interactions that characterize human behaviour
