Attachment Flashcards
Affectionless Psychopathy
people who don’t show concern or affection for other people and show no or very little remorse or guilt - bowlby
Asocial Stage
Stage from 0-6 weeks where infant may respond to faces or voices but an attachment has not been formed
Attachment
Two-way enduring emotional tie to another person
Contact comfort
The physical and emotional comfort that an infant receives from being close to its mother
Continuity Hypothesis
The idea that early relationships with caregivers predict later relationships in adulthood
Critical period
A time period where an attachment has to form or it never will
Disinhibited attachment
Child shows equal affection to strangers as they do people they know well
Evolutionary explanation
Explanation for behaviour such as attachment that views it as increasing survival chances
Imprinting
Where offspring follow the first large-moving object they see
Indiscriminate attachment
Infants aged 2-7 months can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people but does not show stranger anxiety
Innate behaviour
A behaviour that is instinctive and does not need to be learned
Insecure avoidant attachment
where child shows low stranger and separation anxiety and little response to reunion
Insecure resistant attachment
child shows high stranger and separation anxiety and resists comfort at reunion
Institutionalisation
effects of growing up in an institution, such as a children’s home or orphanage
Interactional synchrony
Infant and caregiver reflect each other’s actions and emotions in a coordinated manner
Internal working model
Mental representation of our relationship with our primary caregiver that becomes a template for future relationships
Learning theory
Explanations that emphasise the role of learning in acquiring behaviours such as attachment
Maternal deprivation hypothesis
Separation from the mother figure in early childhood has serious consequences
Monotropy
A unique and close attachment to one person - the primary attachment figure
Multiple attachments
Formation of emotional bonds with more than one carer
Privation
Failure to form an attachment in early childhood
proximity seeking
The way that infants try to maintain physical contact or be close to their attachment figure
Reciprocity
Infant and caregiver match each other’s responses
Secure attachment
where child shows separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and joy on reunion
