attachment

Question 1

1. What is attachment ?

Answer 1

1. Attachment refers to a close relationship (bond) between two people in which both feel more secure in the presence of their attachment figure

Question 2

1. What is reciprocity

Answer 2

1. Traditionalist believe that babies take a passive role in attachment, however reciprocity state that both mother and baby take turn at initiating interactions strengthening their bond. Brazelton et al described reciprocity as a dance in which both dancers react to eachothers moves

Question 3

1. What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 3

1. Mother and baby replicate each others behaviour signalling a closeness between them eg if baby smiles mother smiles back

Question 4

1. Name one study into international synchrony
2. What was the aim of this study
3. What was the procedure of the study
4. What were the results of this study?

Answer 4

1. Melzoff and Moore’s observational study
2. To investigate interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old
3. An adult made 1 of 3 distinct facial expressions and 1 or 3 gestures. The infants reaction was filmed and payed back to independent observers who had it played in real time, slow motion and frame by frame if required. They were made t make notes on behavioural categories, each scored twice
4. average rating was 9.2, establishing a strong correlation between the behaviour of the adult pps and the infant pps, signalling the presence of interactional synchrony

Question 5

1. Name a suppletory study into interactional synchrony?
2. What was the aim of this study?
3. What was the procedure of this study?
4. What were the findings of this study?

Answer 5

1. Isabelle at al’s correlation study
2. To investigate whether there is a link between interactional synchrony and quality of attachment
3. 50 mothers and infants were used, researcher assessed quality of attachment (emotional intensity) and interactional synchrony
4. The more interactional synchrony the better the relationship

Question 6

1. Evaluate studies into interactional synchrony

Answer 6

1. Puts too much pressure on mother- The link implies through isabelle et als study put pressure on mothers to be with their child to prove that interactional synchrony that seems critical for a good heathy attachment. This makes lifestyle choices like going back to work increasingly difficult for mothers to make. Hence the studies finding is largely unpopular with modern feminists and is accused of being unethical
   Helpful for society- Crotwell found a 10 minute interactional therapy session helped 20 low income mothers form attachments with their child compared o a control group. This demonstrates how this psychological research has aided the development of attachment therapies to help society most unable subsections
   High level of control- observational studies included the filming of behaviour so it could be revisited and analysed in great depth increasing the likelihood of accurate findings and conclusions. Furthermore babies do not understand the basics of the world around them and therefore are never going to guess that aim of the study, therefore there is no risk of demand characteristics that would devalue results
   Doesn’t establish purpose- its been pointed out that although interactional synchrony is easy to observe it is merely a behaviour, establishing that it is there tells us nothing about its purpose. Isabelle et als study attempt at doing so but in reality only establishes a correlation between the behaviour and a good attachment, one doesn’t necessarily cause the other
   Hard to observe infants- because infants are small so are their movements, making them harder to pick up on, furthermore they are immobile meaning their behaviour is eve further limited. Such large conclusions perhaps shouldn’t be derived from such minimal evidence

Question 7

What is schaffer and emersons understanding of the role of the father?

Answer 7

Babies tend t attach to their mother firstvatvaroundb7 months. At the 3% rate they attach to fathers first, 27% rate have their mother and father as their joint object of attachment and 75% will attach to their fathers by 18 months

Question 8

1. Name on study into the role of the father
2. What was its aim?
3. What was the procedure?
4. What were the findings?

Answer 8

1. Grossman’s longitudinal study
2. To investigate how the role of the mother and father in attachment plays into a child’s later attachments in adolescents
3. It was a longitudinal study in which the role of the mother and father were assessed, the child was then followed in till adolescence where their attachments were assessed
4. The role of the father was centred around play and correlated with the quality of attachment their child would develop later on in life. The others role was centred round nurturing, the quality of attachment wit the mother affected the type of attachment her child would develop in adolescent. Tis implies that the mother and father have their own separate roles, the fathers being more of a secondary one

Question 9

1. Name one study into the role of the father?
2. What was the aim of this study?
3. What was its procedure?
4. What were the findings?

Answer 9

1. Tiffany et al
2. To investigate the role of a father as a primary care giver
3. Primary caregiving mothers and fathers along with secondary caregiving fathers were filmed having face to face interactions with their babies
4. It was found that primary caregiving fathers (just like mothers) spent more time smiling at and holding their babies. This suggest that gender has nothing to do with caregiving and instead its dependent on the level of interaction

Question 10

1. Evaluate studies into the role of the father

Answer 10

1. reduces pressure put on mother- suggesting that the father can also for fill the role of primary caregiver makes lifestyle choice like going back to work easier for mothers to make

studies interested in different research questions- some studies are concerned with fathers as a primary caregiver whist others are more interested In fathers as a secondary caregiver. These conflicting interests making it increasingly difficult to answer the fundamental question ‘what is the role of the father’

doesn’t explain why fathers tend to take secondary roles- may be due to social expectations or biological influences (eg hormone) research however doesn’t attempt t answer these major questions. if there are issues in attachment then the origins of these issue must be understood for any change to take place

evidence to undermine fathers having a role at all-McCallum and Golobok conducted a study that conducted on the note that children on families with single or same sex parents develop attachment in the same way as a child from a more conventional family unit would

social bias effect in observational studies- We are more likely to recall schemas (what we would expect to see) instead of what we actually saw. we expect fathers to be less affectionate therefore we under play the observations of fathers being openly affectionate

Question 11

1. Name one study into stages of attachment
2. What was the aim of that study?
3. What was the procedure of that study?
4. What were the findings of that study?

Answer 11

1. Schaffer and Emerson’s longitudinal study
2. To investigate when attachment forms, its emotional intensity and to whom it is directed
3. As a longitudinal study, 60 babies were used (31 male, 29 female) for mainly working class families from Glasgow. They were visited by a researcher evert month for their first year of life and then again at 18 months. The mother was interviewed as the researcher asked abut how the baby protested in 7 everyday situations (eg mum leaving the room) to establish separation anxiety. Stranger anxiety was also tested through the presence of the researcher
4. 25-32 weeks 50% showed separation anxiety indicating specific attachment
   40 weeks 80% indicated that they had a specific attachment, 30% had multiple attachments
   attachments tended to be with who was the most responsive to the child, not who they spent the most time with

Question 12

1. Evaluate one study into the stages of attachment

Answer 12

1. good external validity- natural experiment, tested in their own homes behaving how they normally would. This is an indication of how everyday babies develop in their homes
   problems with generalisability- from a specific part of Britain (Glasgow) and all having the same socio-economic background
   good internal validity- babies cannot show demand characteristics at a matter of weeks old, also y using a longitudinal study instead of a cross sectional design the issue of individual differences is ruled out. The DV is a direct result of the IV

Question 13

1. name and explain one theory on the stages of attachment

Answer 13

1. Schaffer and Emerson’s theory- there are distinct and specific stages every baby goes through
   Asocial stage- happens during the first few weeks of life, involves the baby beginning to recognise family people, whom they show a slight preference to but generally happier to be around anyone than alone. The baby will show no preference for animate objects over inanimate objects
   indiscriminate stage(2-7 months)- baby now shows a preference for animate objects, is still happy to be cuddled by anyone (no separation or stranger anxiety)
   specific attachment stage (around 7 months)- baby shows preference for family people, stranger and separation anxiety implies a specific attachment to the person whom is most responsive to them
   multiple attachment stage(by 1 year)- baby begins to branch out and form other attachments, 29% of babies did this within one month of forming their primary attachment in their study

Question 14

1. Evaluate one theory on the stage of development

Answer 14

1. methodological issues with supporting study- only tested separation and stranger anxiety, attachment is far more complex than that
   issue with strange situation- may be measuring whether or not you are a playmate instead of attachment figure
   conflicting debates on multiple attachment- Bowlby argued that multiple attachments only happen after the specific attachment, however psychologists that work in collectivist cultures disagree with that
   issues with measuring indiscriminate stage- large conclusions drawn from such small evidence, at that stage of development babies do not have the tools to express themselves

Question 15

1. Research into imprinting

Answer 15

1. Lorenzo studies 12 gooselings in his ethology experiment, using a cross sectional design in an attempt to investigate the power of imprinting (biological readiness to form a strong bond with mother- assumed to be the first animate object seen). As the gooselings were halved, one condition would hatch and have their first object they see be him, whereas the others would be left in their natural habitat and their real mother first. They were then mixed up to see in an open space who they would follow, their real mother or Lorenz.
   Lorenz’s gooselings followed him, he argued this was due to imprinting. He used this information to identify the critical period which as a few hours after hatching or birth, if an attachment didn’t form then it never would

Question 16

1. Research into sexual imprinting

Answer 16

After the success of his initial gooseling experiment Lorenz prepared a follow up experiment regarding how imprinting affects later sexual preference. He used a peacock who was reared in a reptile zoo, who had imprinted on a giant tourist. He peacock later went on to display mating behaviour towards giant tortoises. Lorenz concluded that this meant we innately has sexual preferences for those who share traits with our mother or father

Question 17

1. Evaluate Lorenz’s research

Answer 17

1. issues with generalising- mammalians are far more developed and therefore have complex emotional and cognitive systems that animals do not share. finding cannot be generalised from ethology studies

conflicting research- Guiton et al conducted a study in which chick were made to imprint on yellow washing up gloves, despite this they grew up to show mating behaviour towards their own species

Question 18

1. Name one study into contact comfort
2. What was the aim of this study?
3. What was the procedure of this study?
4. What were the findings of the study?

Answer 18

1. Harlow’s monkeys
2. To investigate contact comfort in attachment
3. 16 monkeys split into groups deprived of their real mother, put into cages, under one condition they were given a wire mother that displaced ilk, in another they were given a cloth mother that dispensed milk. to further test attachment monkey were put in high stress situations eg a noise making monkey was put in their cage
4. regardless of which dispensed milk the monkeys would go to the cloth mother for contact comfort when afraid
   monkeys developed to be aggressive as they were deprived of their real mother, and had poor skills to deal with their own offspring (often killing them)
   This lead Harlow to conclude that there as a critical period of 90 days, if attachment didn’t form in that time then it never would and consequences of early deprivation are irreversible

Question 19

Evaluate Harlows research

Answer 19

theoretical value- helps us understand the importance of contact comfort in the formation of development, research has played a role I many discussions surround theory’s of attachment
practical value- zoos make sure orphaned animals have a mother or father figure to avoid negative irreversible affects of early deprivation
unethical- monkeys subjected to intense emotional distress, validated as animals that are the most similar to humans ie they suffer as we do, However many have argued the ends justly the means

Question 20

1. Describe the Learning Theory

Answer 20

1. The Learning theory is based on the principle of classical conditioning (learning through association) first proposed by Pavlov and operant conditioning (learning through consequence) first proposed by skinner. The theory places an emphasis on food hence why the term ‘cupboard love’ is often used when discussing the theory.
   For example, a mother is the NS, which innately triggers no response, Food however us a UCS as it produces the UCR of pleasure as it prevents hunger. Wen the mother feeds the baby this is the NS being matched with eth UNS, eventually pairing the make the mother the CS, which produced the CR of pleasure. This is how attachments are formed
   Attachments are sustained through operant conditioning. This works by rewarding both mother and baby, for example if baby is fussy and mother tends to it the mother can then feel relaxed, this is positive reinforcement fore her. When baby smiles and the mother reacts by cuddling it this is pleasurable for the baby, and is therefore positive reinforcement
   Within this understanding attachment is a secondary drive. Hunger, what attachment centres around is a primary drive as we innately get pleasure from eating when we are hungry, attachment therefore is a secondary drive as it only forms as a consequence

Question 21

evaluate the Learning theory

Answer 21

Focus on association may be correct- lots of psychologist agree with the ide of classical conditioning, but the focus on food being the sole object of the association has been widely rejected. Its been suggested the theory should look at UCS other than food
conflicting animal studies- Lorenz geese and Harlows monkeys has nothing to do with who feeds them
conflicting human studies- Schaffer and Emerson, its about who is the most responsive
more modern learning theory- attachment behaviour is modelled and rewarded when replicated
reductionist- ignores major findings in the attachment field of psychology eg the importance of interactional synchrony (Isabelle et al)

Question 22

Bolwby’s theory- evolutionary theory

Answer 22

innate- attachment happens naturally as a way of survival for n otherwise vunrable infant
monotropy- one important primary care-giver that is more important than the rest
law of continuity- care should be predicable on constant
law of accumulation-separation periods add up therefore ‘the best dose is a 0 dose’
social releasers- innate behaviours adults deem as ‘cute’ that activate their attachment system eg cooing
critical period- first 2 years a child attachment system is the most active, he later said that is more of a sensitive period but attachment outside of those 2 years would be difficult
internal working model- a mental framework of the first relationship formed that the child will carry with them throughout life and use as a template for future relationships

Question 23

evaluate Bowlby’s theory

Answer 23

socially sensitive- law of accumulation makes lifestyle choices harder for mum
issue with monotropy- Schaffer and Emerson found 27% of babies in their study attached to mum and dad at the same time
support for critical period- Brazelton et all asked caregivers to ignore their babies social releasers, the babies were extremely distressed as a result, some crawled into a ball on the floor
support for internal working model- bailey et al: 99 mums compared their attachment with the ones they have with their babies, those who had bad attachments with their mums were the most likely to have bad attachments with their babies
more to do with genetic- Kegan argued some babies are genetically made to be social and therefore will form better attachments

Question 24

The Strange situation

Answer 24

Designed to investigate a child’s attachment type through key attachment behaviours
conducted (usually) in high controlled lab setting with a two way mirror so psychologist can observer behaviours

5 attachment behaviours are measured, proximity seeking, secure base behaviour and exploration, Stanger anxiety, separation protest, response to reunion

stages to the experiment. 1) baby encouraged to play,2) Stanger enters and attempts to play with baby,3) mum leaves,4) mum returns and Stanger leaves, 5) mum leaves baby is alone, 6) stranger enters 7) stranger leaves and mum enters

3 attachment types
secure- 60-75% of British toddlers
insecure avoidant- 20-25%
insecure resistant- 3% of British toddlers

Question 25

evaluate the Strange situation

Answer 25

ethnocentric - Japanese mothers cuddle their babies right away
inter-rater reliably- clear behaviour categories 94% agreement level
another attachment type- mix of insecure called disorganised attachment identified by Solomon and main
temperament as a confounding variable
predictive of later life- insecure resistant linked to bulling and poor mental health

Question 26

1. Name one study into cultural variations
2. What was the aim of this study
3. What was the procedure of this study
4. What was the findings of this study

Answer 26

1. Van Ijzendoor and Kroonenberg
2. To investigate attachment type proportions across a variation of countries and within cultures
3. It was a meta-analysis with over 1990 pps, 32 studies were used covering 8 different countries, 15 of the studies were from the USA.
4. Generally secure attachment was the most frequent, highest in Britain at 75%, lowest in china at 50%. Insecure resistant was highest in Israel at 30% and lowest in Britain at 3%, finally insecure avoidant was highest in Germany and lowest in Japan. Within cultures difference was 150% greater than across culture

Question 27

1. Name a suppletory study into cultural variations
2. What was the aim of this study?
3. What was the procedure of this study?
4. What were the findings of this study?

Answer 27

1. Jin et al
2. To investigate the difference between portions at attachment in Korea with other countries
3. Meta-analysis of studies using the strange situation
4. Korea was similar to most countries in their proportion at secure to insecurely attachment children, however they were only particularly similar to Japan in their proportion of avoidant to resistant children. This has been put down to the similarity in child rearing techniques

Question 28

1. Name one study into cultural changes and attachment
2. What was the aim of this study
3. What was the procedure of this study?
4. What were the findings of this study?

Answer 28

1. Simonelli et al (an Italian study)
2. To investigate whether the proportion of attachment types has changed in Italy over and number of years
3. 76 babies that were 12 months old were tested using the strange situation. These attachment proportions were then compared with past studies
4. 50% were secure and 36% were avoidant, this is a very big change from past result- far fewer children were securely attached. This has been put down to cultural changes such as mothers going back to work earlier

Question 29

1. Evaluate studies into cultural variations

Answer 29

1. samples are not representative- there are multiple cultures in each country, the assumption was made that all people in the same country follow the same cultural practises. For example japan, in Tokyo child rearing is very westernised however in rural japan this isn’t the case and there is an over-representation of the resistant attachment type

culture bias in Strange Situation- made by an British psychologist who was inspired by a American psychologist, upholds westernised ideas of attachment as the norm

lack of validity in Strange Situation- may be measuring innate temperament (states Kegan) and not attachment type

alternative explanation of cultural similarities- Bowlby argues its because attachment is innate and therefore universal, we are born with a readiness to attach to our caregivers for survival purposes. others have also argued that the medias representation of what attachments should be may of unified countries n their child rearing techniques

large sample- decreases the effect of anomalous results

Question 30

1. Name one theory of deprivation and its effects

Answer 30

1. Bowlby’s theory one deprivation. He claimed deprivation was the prolonger separation from a mother or substitute mother figure that was associated with the removal of an element of care. This has negative impacts on the development of the child that are irreversible. He argued derivation should not be confused with separation which is just temporary short term absence that’s unlikely to have any negative affects children. Deprivation occurs usually within the critical period which Bowlby identified as the first 30 months of a persons life- this being their most important time of psychological development. The consequences are intellectual- being mental retardation characterised by extremely low IQ, Goldfarb supports this as his study found institutionalised children had lower IQ than those who were found foster homes. There are also emotional consequences being affectional psychopathy- the lack of remorse or guilt often associated with criminals

Question 31

1 .Name the study that supports Bowlby’s theory of deprivation

2. What was the aim of this study?
3. What was the procedure of this study?
4. What were the findings of this study?

Answer 31

1. Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
2. To investigate whether or not there is a link between deprivation and criminal behaviour (affectionless psychopathy)
3. 44 teenagers who were accused of stealing were interviewed to established signs of affectionless psychopathy, their families were also interviewed to find out if they had experienced prolonged periods of separation from their mothers during their critical periods
4. 14/44 were affectionless psychopaths
   12/14 did experienced prolonged separation from their mothers
   only 2 of the control group (not emotionally disturbed teens) had prolonged separation from their mothers

Question 32

1. Evaluate Bowlby’s theory of deprivation

Answer 32

1. problems with existing research- goldfarbs study into orphans has mass amounts of confounding variables. Being separated from their mothers due to war they experience extreme stress that doesn’t mimic an average mother child separation. Furthermore when they returned home they returned to extremely poor living conditions, this likely effected their development. Bowlby’s study was also likely to have elements of researcher bias

support from ethology studies- Levy conducted a study on mice, he found that early separation from their mothers did effect their later social development

counter evidence- Lewis replicated Bowlby’s study and found no link between separation and affectionless psychopathy

differentiating privation and deprivation- Rutter argued Bowlby confused privation and deprivation. he felt privation meaning a child never forms an attachment was responsible for irreversible negative effects on the child’s development

critical period is more of a sensitive period- Czech twins were separated from their mothers for 18 months, however after being rescued and cared for they developed as normal adults, both have happy home lives and doing well in their academic fields

Question 33

1. name one study into the effects of institutionalisation
2. what was the aim of this study
3. What was the procedure of this study
4. What were the findings of this study

Answer 33

1. Rutter et als Romanian orphanage study
2. To investigate the effects of early institutionalisation of later development
3. 165 oprhans were followed from their extremely poor quality orhapage in Romania were the suffered from poor care due to under funding and lack of staff and regulatiosn to enalnd were they went to their adoptive families. Their physical, cognitive and emotional development was measured at 4,6,11 and 15 years old.
4. By 11 years Rutter claimed it was obvious that the extent to which they could develop was dependant on the age they were adopted
   the average IQ from those adopted before 6 months was 102, 6 months- 2 years it was 86 and after 2 years it was 77. Those adopted after 6 months often displayed disinhibited attachment in which the child is clingy been towards strangers- this has been linked to the high turn over of staff

Question 34

1. name a supplementary study into the effects of institutionalisation
2. what was the aim of this study?
3. What was the procedure of this study?
4. What were the findings of this study?

Answer 34

1. Zeanah et al
2. to investigate the effect of institutionalisation on attachment type
3. 95 12-31 month olds who had all spent the majority other lives in institutions (90% on average) had their attachment types measured using the strange situation, and caregivers were asked about any unusually clingy behaviour. they were then compared against a control group of 50, normal children who has spent none of their lives in institutions .
4. 19% were securely attached, 65% were disorganised and 44% were disinhibited

Question 35

evaluate studies into institutionalisation

Answer 35

unethical- Zeanah interfered with the adoption process by implementing random allocation, this prevented some children who otherwise would of been adopted remaining in damaging institutions
good control of variables- most of Rutters sample had been given up at birth
Romanian orphanages not typical- extremely had conditions and poor funding, this wouldn’t of happened in a British orphanage
real life application- to avoid disinhibited attachment foster care is favoured, within institutions orphans are given individual key worker to tend only to them to void negative impacts to high turnover of staff

Question 36

1. Attachment and internal working model

Answer 36

1. our first attachment moulds our internal working model that serves as a framework that we approach all other relationships with

Question 37

1. Attachment on children’s behaviour

Answer 37

1. Wilson study conducted 196 children aged 7-11 in London to investigate the link between attachment type and childhood bulling behaviour. Through a standardised questionnaire it was established that securely attached children are the most likely to be uninvolved in bulling, the insecure resistant children are the most likely to be the bullies and the insecure avoidant are most likely to be the victims

Question 38

1. Attachment on adults relationships

Answer 38

1. Mc Carthy conducted a study into the link between infant attachment type and adult relationships, her sample conducted of 40 women all who had their attachment type assessed in infancy through the strange situation. Securely attached were the most likely to have happy healthy relationships.
   Hazen and shaver used their ‘love quiz’ questionnaire to investigate the link between attachment type and adult relationships. the quiz tested pps on 3 categories, their current most important (romantic) relationship, their general love experiences eg how many partners, and then to assess their attachment type pick 1 out of 3 statements they most agree with. it 56% were secure, 25 were insecure avoidant and 19% were resistant. securely attached where the most likely to have a happy relationship whereas the insecure avoidant were the most likely to be jealous an fear of intimacy

Question 39

1. attachment on relationships in adulthood as a parent

Answer 39

1. bailey at al used a sample of 99 mums with their babies to investigate the continuity of attachment types. the strange situation was used to establish the infants attachment type whilst a questionnaire was used to establish the attachment type they had with their mothers. He found strong continuities in attachments between mothers and their babies, known as the continuity theory

Question 40

1. Evaluate attachment of later relationships

Answer 40

1. theoretical issues with the internal working model- its an unconscious system and therefore cannot be investigated using self report techniques
   methodological issue with self report- open t bias, asking very personal things may give socially desirable answers
   conflicting research for attachment as parent- bailey et als study was replicated by Zimmerman and no link was found
   correlation not causation- bailey at als findings may be due to genetics
   culture bias- all conducted in westernised cultures, upholding the ideals of the west attachment as the norm, how attachment manifests may different is different cultures