attachment Flashcards
stage three of attachment
specific, show separation and stranger anxiety. formed specific attachment
stage one of attachment
asocial, behaviour towards human and non human objects are similar, happier in the presence of humans, show preference for familiar adults
stage two of attachment
indiscriminate, recognise specific faces, preference for familiar adults, smile at anyone, prefer faces to non faces, accept comfort from any adult, do not usually show separation and stranger anxiety
stage four of attachment
multiple, form secondary attachment with familiar adults, use familiar adults as a secure base
four stages of attachment
asocial
indiscriminate
specific
multiple
schaffer and emerson findings
first attachment at around 6-8 months with person that was most caring towards the infant, by 40 weeks 80% had formed specific and 30% had formed multiple
schaffer and emerson procedure
60 children in glasgow, homes visited monthly, interactions between care giver and infant were observed and care giver was interviewed on infants behaviour
Grossman research into role of the father
quality of attachment with mother affects attachments in adolescence but quality of fathers play affected attachment in adolescence
Fields research into father as primary caregivers
filmed 4 month old infants interaction with primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers and found primary caregiver fathers tended to smile more and hold hands with the infant
weaknesses of studies into attachment figures
confusing as different researchers want to find out different things so specific questions are answered but not the main question of ‘what is the role of the father’ and if they have a distinct role then why arent children without fathers different
weaknesses of studies into caregiver infant interactions
dont tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity, can be easily observed but serve no purpose in the explanation of attachment, hard to know what is going on from the infants perspectives as what is being observed is merely hand movements or expressions
strengths of studies into caregiver infant interactions
often involve recordings which can be replayed and analysed which increases internal validity
bailey et al procedure and findings
99 mothers attachments to their babies and their attachment to their own mothers assessed. attachment with own mothers was assessed through questionairres, majority had same attachment with their mother as they did with their child
reciprocity
description of how two people interact. both infant and mother respond to each others signals and take in turns eliciting a response
synchrony
when infant and caregiver reflect both the actions and emotions of each other and do so in a co ordinated way
meltzoff and moore
observed interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old, adult displayed action or expression and childs response was filmed. association found between expression and response
schaffer and emerson findings of parent infant attachment
babies become attached to mothers first, form secondary attachments within a few weeks or months. 75% form attachment with father within 18 months
strenghts of romanian orphan studies
add to knowledge of effects of institutionalisation. led to improvement in child care. real life application. increased internal validity as didnt involve children that had experienced loss
weaknesses of romanian orphan studies
lacks external validity as was a bad and unique situation, not clear what long term effects are
disinhibited attachment
friendly and affectionate to new people which is unusual and may be explained as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers
mental retardation
most showed signs of retardation but most adopted before 6 months caught up so can recover
attachment as secondary drive
primary is food and becomes generalised to the person supplying the food so they become the secondary drive as association is made between them and the satisfaction of food
strengths of studies of cultural variations
large samples so increases internal validity by reducing impact of anomalous results
weaknesses of learning theory and attachment
animal studies show animals do not necassarily form attachments with who feeds them, same must be true for humans, research from humans show feeding is not an important factor
strengths of schaffer and emerson study
good external validity as done in home, longitudinal study meant minimised effect of individual differences, good sample size
weaknesses of cross cultural variation studies
samples tend to be unrepresentative as they are between countries not cultures, method of assessment is biased, designed around british theory, may not measure attachment but rather temperament
monotropy
human infants have an innate tendency to form attachments. attachment to one person is most important and essential for healthy psychological development
weaknesses of schaffer and emerson study
biased sample as all from same social class and area, conducted long time ago so could be outdated
bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
continual presence of nurture from mother or mother substitute is essential for normal development of babies and toddlers
law of continuity
more constant and predictable a childs care the better the quality of the attachment
law of accumulated separation
effects of every separation add up and the safest dose in the zero dose
social releasers
born with attachment behaviours known as social releasers that are cute and illicit attention from adults
bowlbys critical period
2 years
if no attachment formed there may be difficulties in forming attachments later on
weaknesses of the stages of attachment
problems studying the asocial stage as babies are pretty much immobile, diff cultures have diff attachments, problem with observing multiple attachments
separation vs deprivation
separation is when the child is not in the presence of the primary attachment figure, only becomes an issue when the child is deprived, brief separations not significant, extended periods can lead to deprivation and cause harm
internal working model
special mental schemas for relationships, continuity hypothesis is that a childs future adult relationships is based on early experiences of attachment and will also affect their parenting
lorenzs procedure
divided batch of goose eggs, half hatched with mother half hatched wit lorenz, first moving object they saw was lorenz
strengths of bowlbys monotropic theory
lots of research evidence to suppport all aspects
lorenz findings
incubator followed lorenz and other group followed mother, known as imprinting, if imprinting doesnt occur they do not form attachments
effects of maternal deprivation on intellectual development
suffer delayed intellectual development, found lower IQ’s in those in institutes compared to those who had been fostered
weaknesses of bowlbys monotroic theory
not all infants show monotropic attachment, largely ignores role of the father, ignores role of temperament, critical period more likely to be sensitive period
sexual imprinting
birds imprinting on humans would later show courtship behaviour towards humans
effects on maternal deprivation on emotional development
affectionless psychopaths that have an inability to show guilt or emotions, prevents them forming notmal relationships
ainsworths procedure
100 middle class american infants, controlled observation, reactions video taped, child encouraged to explore, stranger comes in, mother leaves, mother returns stranger leaves, mother leaves child on own, stranger returned, mother returns
harlows procedure
reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire mothers, in one condition milk was dispensed by plain wire and in another milk was dispensed by cloth covered mother
secure attachment
explore happily, regularly return to care giver, moderate separation and stranger anxiety, accept comfort at reunion
harlows findings
monkeys cuddled with cloth and sought comfort when frightened with cloth regardless of which dispensed milk, showed contact comfort was more important than food
insecure avoidant attachment
explore freely, do not seek proximity, little or no stranger and separation anxiety, do not need comfort at reunion
maternally deprived monkeys as adults
severe consequences, reared with mire mother most dysfunctional but those reared with cloth did not develop normal social behavipur
weakness of bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
evidence may be poor. 44 theives suffered investigator bias, critical period thought to be more of a sensitive period
insecure resistant attachment
explore less, seek greater proximity, huge stranger and separation anxiety, resist comfort at reunion
harlows critical period
90 days
if not formed by then attachment is impossible
strengths of bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
animal studies suport
strengths of ainsworths strange situation
strongly predictive of later development, high internal validity, confident results dont depend on whos observing
weaknesses of lorenz research
low external validity, observations questioned, impact of imprinting not as permanent
operant conditioning in explaining attachment
learn through rewards and punishment, primary reinforcer is food secondary is the person
classical conditioning in explaining attachment
learn to associate mother with satisfaction of being fed and form an attachment
bucharest early intervention project procedure
95 children aged between 21 and 31 months who lived in instituional care, compared with 50 children who never lived in an institute, strange situation used
weaknesses of harlows study
ethical issues, suffering was huaman like, questions whether research is important enough to justify this
van ijzendoorns procedure
meta analysis of over 2000 strange situations, 32 studies in 8 diff countries
rutters era procedure
165 orphans adopted in britain, physical cognitive and emotional development assessed, 52 british children used as control group
rutters era findings
half showed signs of delayed intellectual development, addoption after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment, later adoption the longer lasting the effects
strengths of harlows research
practical value, helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and neglect
van ijzendoorns findings
secure most common second most common was avoidant with exception of japan and israel
weaknesses of ainsworths strange situation
culture bound, controversial whether main influence on anxiety is attachment, may assess temperament not attachment, at least one more attachment type which is disorganised
