Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Psychology Paper 1 > Attachment > Flashcards

Attachment Flashcards

1
Q

Define reciprocity

A

Description of how two people interact. Mother-infant interaction is reciprocal in that they respond to each other’s signals and elicits a response

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Define interactional synchrony

A

Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other in a co-ordinate (synchronised) way

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Outline a study into interactional synchrony

A
  • Meltzoff + Moore
  • Controlled observation
  • Adult displayed 1/3 facial exp + child’s (2 weeks old) reaction was filmed
  • Results: association btw infant behaviour + adults
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Evaluate caregiver-infant interactions

A

(+) Controlled procedure - filmed + babies don’t know they’re being observed - high val

(+) Real life application - parent child interaction therapy improved interactional synchrony

(-) Observation don’t tell the purpose of IS + reciprocity - describe they occur but not purpose - not useful

(-) Socially sensitive research - suggests children at disadvantage by specific rearing practice eg. mothers may return to work

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

When do babies form a primary attachment and w/ who?

A
  • 7 months
  • Mother
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

When do babies form a secondary attachment and w/ who?

A
  • 18 months (75%)
  • Father
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Outline the role of the father

A
  • Grossman: longitudinal study looking at parents’ behaviour to teen attachment. Qual of attachment less important for father - less important in LT emotional development
  • Qual of father’s play related to qual of adolescent attachment - play + stimulation rather than nurture
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Outline a study into father’s being primary caregivers

A
  • Field
  • Adopt behaviour typcial of mother
  • Filmed 4 year old in FTF interaction w/ 1º mother, 2º father + 1º father
  • 1º father: more time imitating, smiling + holding babies than 2º father
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Evaluate the role of the father

A

(-) Researchers interested in diff Q - role of father as 1º + 2º both diff - can’t ans: what is the role of the father?

(-) If distinct role then those w/o must be diff - studies found children growing in single/ same sex families don’t develop diff

(-) Social bias prevent objective observation - stereotypes cause unintentional bias + see what they expect eg. father’s are playful

(-) Socially sensitive

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What are the stages of attachment?

A
  • Asocial stage
  • Indiscriminate attachment
  • Specific attachment
  • Multiple attachment
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Asocial stage

A
  • First few weeks
  • Behaviour towards humans + objects are similar
  • Prefer familiar adults
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Indiscriminate attachment

A
  • 2-7 months
  • Prefer people to objects
  • Don’t show stranger/seperation anxiety
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Specific attachment

A
  • 7 months
  • Form special attachment w/ primary attachment
  • Show seperation/stranger anxiety
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Multiple attachments

A
  • 1 year
  • Schaffer + Emerson: 29% have 2º attachment w/in month of forming 1º
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Outline a study into stages of attachment

A
  • Schaffer + Emerson
  • 60 Glaswegian babies from working class
  • Visited every month for year + at 18 months
  • Sep anx: asked mothers bout child’s behaviour during seperations
  • Stra anx: asking anx response to unfamiliar adults
  • 50% bb showed sep anx towards specific adult btw 25 - 32 weeks
  • Attachment tended towards caregiver most interactive + sensitive
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Evaluate Schaffer’s stages of attachment

A

(+) High ext val - observations carried out by parents, behaviour unaffected

(+) Longitudinal - good internal validity bc no confounding variables btw individuals

(-) Timing of multiple attachments is conflicting - Argues bb form specific before multiple but multi attachment appear first in collectivist cultures

(-) Problem studying asocial year - bb have poor coordination + immobile so difficult to observe

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Outline a study into imprinting

A
  • Lorenz
  • Randomly divided goose eggs, half hatched w/ mother + other in incubator, mixed gosling to see who they’d follow
  • Incubator followed Lorenz + control followed mother
  • Identified critical period where imprinting needs to take place, if unsuccessful, chicks don’t attach to mother figure
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Sexul imprinting

A

Birds acquire template of desirable characteristics required in mate

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Outline a study into the importance of contact comfort

A
  • Harlow
  • 16 rhesus monkey: 1) milk dispensed from wire mother 2)milk dispensed from cloth covered mother
  • Baby monkeys cuddled cloth in preference to wire + sought comfort regardless of which dispensed milk - contact comfort more important than food
  • Followed to adulthood: aggressive, less sociable + neglected/killed offspring
20
Q

Evaluate Lorenz’ study into imprinting

A

(+) Supporting evidence - Guiton found chicks imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate w/ them as adults

(-) Limitation to generalising - Mammalian attachment system diff from birds eg. show more emotional attachment

(-) Conclusions have been questioned - Guiton: w/ experience they learned to mate w/ own kind

21
Q

Evaluate Harlow’s study into the importance of contact comfort

A

(+) Practical applications - helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse + prevent it + importance in zoo

(-) Unable to generalise to humans

(-) Unethical - monkey similar to humans to generalise findings so suffering is human-like

22
Q

Outline the role of operant conditioning as an explanation of attachment

A
  • Crying leads to respone, as caregiver responds, crying is reinforced bc it produces pleasurable consequence
  • Caregiver recieves -ve reinforcement bc crying stops
  • Interplay of +ve + -ve reinforcement strengthens attachment
23
Q

Evaluate the learning theory as an explanation for attachment

A

(+) Some elements of conditioning could be involved - still credible that association btw 1º+ comfort builds attachment

(-) Counter evidence from human research - Schaffer showed bb developed 1º to mother even if other carers fed them

(-)Counter evidence from animal studies - Harlow showed monkeys found comfort in cloth despite which mother fed them

(-) Oversimplifies attachment - ignores reciprocity + interactional synchrony

24
Q

Outline Bowlby’s theory as an explanation of attachment

A
  • Attachment is innate - survival advantage
  • Monotropic - one special attachment
  • Bb born w/ social releasers - elicits caring behaviour from adult
  • Critical period - 2 years, if not, harder to form attachment
  • Forms internal working model of relationships - serves as a template for what relationships are like
25
Q

Evaluate Bowlby’s theory as an explanation of attachment

A

(+) Support for IWM - Bailey studies 99 mothers, those w/ poor attachment to parents were poorly attached to baby

(+) Evidence for social releasers - Brazleton instructed 1º caregiver to ignore bb, lay motionless

(-) Mixed evidence for monotropy - Schaffer + Emerson found most bb attached to 1 person but some multi at same time

(-) Socially sensitive - feminist argue that mothers are blamed for children + are pushed to certain lifestyle choices

26
Q

Outline Ainsworth’s strange situation procedure

A
  • Controlled observation in lab w/ 2 way mirror
  • Categories: proximity seeking, exploration + secure base, stranger + seperation anxiety + response to reunion
  • Child encouraged to explore
  • Stranger enters
  • Caregiver leaves
  • Caregiver returns, stranger leaves
  • Caregiver leaves
  • Stranger returns
  • Caregiver returns
27
Q

Outline Ainsworth’s strange situation findings + conclusions

A
  • Secure attachment: 60-75% (happy to explore but seeks proximity, moderate anxiety + requires + accepts comfort)
  • Insecure-avoidant: 20-25% (explores freely + doesnt’s seek proximity, little anxiety + doesn’t require comfort)
  • Insecure-resistant: 3% (explores less + seeks proximity, anxiety + resists comfort at reunion)
28
Q

Evaluate Ainsworth’s strange situation

A

(+) High inter-rater reliability - 94% agreement

(-) Culture bound - Japanese mother’s rarely leave bb so high seperation anxiety

(-) Confounding variable - main influence in anxiety is qual of attachment but temperment is important

(-) Other attachment types - Main + Solomon: atypical attachments which is disorganised attachment, mix btw avoidant + resistant

29
Q

Outline Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg’s meta analysis into cultural variations of attachment

A
  • 32 studies from 8 countries + btw cultures
  • Secure was most common in every country
  • Avoidant next in individualist countries
  • But collectivist (Israel + Japan) had resistant next
  • Variation w/in countries was 1.5x greater than btw eg. America securely was 46% + 90%
30
Q

Outline Simonelli et al’s study into cultural variation in attachment

A
  • 76 12 month old bb using strange situation + matched to previous study
  • Mother’s varied in terms of education level + profession
  • 50% secure, 36% avoidant - lower secure found than previous
  • Due to inc working hrs
31
Q

Evaluate cultural variations in attachment

A

(+) Large sample - I + K 2000 bbs - inc internal val

(-) SS in culture bound - designed by American based on British theory - imposed etic

(-) Findings based on countries not culture - Tokyo: found similar results to Western but in rural, more resistant

(-) Confounding variables - influence on anxiety due to qual of attachment but temperament is important

32
Q

What is the difference btw seperation and deprivation?

A
  • Sep: child not being physically in presence of 1º attachment figure
  • Dep: losing emotional care as result of seperation, can be avoided if alt emotional care is offered
33
Q

What is the critical period, in which the child is seperated from their mother, for maternal deprivation to occur?

A

30 months

34
Q

What are the effects of maternal deprivation?

A
  • Mental retardation
  • Abnormally low IQ
  • Affectionless psychopathy - inability to experience guilt, empathy + affection, prevents development of normal relationships + associated w/ criminality
35
Q

Outine the study into maternal deprivation

A
  • Bowlby 44 thieves
  • 44 delinquent teens accused of stealing, fam interviewed
  • Thieves interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
  • 14/44 described as AP, 12/14 experienced prolonged seperation from mother first 2 yrs
36
Q

Evaluate maternal deprivation

A

(+) Research support - Bifulco et al found women exp sep more likely exp depression/anx disorder than control

(-) Methodologically flawed - researcher bias

(-) Counter-evidence - Lewis replicated study using 500, history of prolong sep didn’t predict criminality

(-) Sensitive period - czech twins isolated from 18 months, looked after by loving adults + fully recovered

37
Q

Define institutionalisation

A

Term for effects of living in institutional setting. ‘Institution’ refers to place like hospital or orphanage where children live for long periods of time. Often v little emotional care provided.

38
Q

Outline the effects of institutionalisation

A
  • Disinhibited attachment - equally friendly to familiar people + strangers - adaptation to multi caregivers
  • Mental retardation - not affected if adopted before 6 months
  • Poor parenting in future
  • Physical underdevelopment
39
Q

Outline Rutter’s English + Romanian adoptee study

A
  • 165 Romanian orphans who spent early lives in institution, 11 adopted before 2 + 54 by 4
  • Physical, cognitive + social development examined by interviewing parents + teachers at age 4, 6, 11 + 15. Progress compared w/ 52 British children adopted before 6 months
  • By 4 romanian children caught up w/ british but those adopted after 6 months showed clinginess, attention seeking + disinhibited attachment
40
Q

Outline Zeanah et al’s Bucharest early intervention project

A
  • Used SS to assess 95 children aged 12-31 months who spent most of their lives in institutional care
  • Compared w/ control group of 50 children
  • Only 19% IG were securely attached
  • 65% disorganised attachment
41
Q

Evaluate the effects of institutionalisation

A

(+) Practical application - institutions avoid large no. caregivers for each child, 1/2 play central role

(+) Fewer confounding variables - oprhan studies involved children who experienced loss + trauma, hard to isolate effects of institutionalisation. RS abandoned at birth

(-) Low generalisability - conditions poor standard of care

(-) Methodological flaw - Rutter didnt randomly assign so children adopted may be more sociable

42
Q

Define the internal working model

A

Mental representation we carry w/ us of our attachment to our 1º caregiver. Important in affecting future relationships bc carry our perception of what relationships are like

43
Q

Outline the effects of attachment types on relationships in later childhood

A
  • Securely attached form best qual friendships, unlikely to be involved in bullying
  • IA: victims of bullying
  • IR: bullies
44
Q

Outline the effects of attachment types on relationships as a parent

A

Base parenting style on internal working model so attachment type passed through fam

45
Q

Outline a study showing the effects of attachment types on relationships in adulthood w/ romantic partners

A
  • Hazan + Shaver
  • Analysed 620 replies to love quiz in American local newspaper
  • Quiz assessed: respondents’ current + most important relationship, general love exp + attachment type
  • 56% securely, 25% IA, 19% IR
  • Attachment type reflected in romantic relationship: secure had good + long lasting, avoidant jealous + fear intimacy
46
Q

Evaluate the influence of early attachment on later relationships

A

(-) Influence of attachment type is probablistic - exaggerated, not doomed to have bad relationship just higher risk, too pessimistic

(-) Association doesn’t mean causation - temperment acts as a 3rd variable

(-) Low validity - studies use interviews + questionnaire to asses, depend on pp honesty + realistic view

(-) Counter evidence - Zimmerman assessed infant attachment + adolescent attachment to parents, little relationship btw qual

Psychology Paper 1 (4 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions