Attachment Flashcards
Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
What does the theory propose?
Bowlby proposed that prolonged emotional deprivation would have long term consequences in terms of emotional development.
2 features of maternal deprivation
Maternal care and critical period
What is the critical period? And the significance (consequences)?
If attachment is disrupted/not formed with a mother figure that provides adequate care within 30 months of birth it is too late. Irreversible: Negative intellectual and emotional consequences due to the deprivation are permanent.
what is the Value of maternal care? And the significance?
The value of maternal care suggested by Bowlby’s says it is not enough to make sure the child is well-fed and kept warm and safe. You need to have a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with a mother to ensure stable mental health.
44 thieves procedure
- 44 criminal teenagers interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
- families interviewed too
- control group of non criminal but emotionally disturbed teenagers interviewed
44 thieves findings
- 14 of 44 thieves identified as affectionless psychopathy
- 12 of 14 identified had prolonged separation
44 thieves conclusion
Deprivation causes Affectionless Psychopathy
44 thieves conclusion
Deprivation causes Affectionless Psychopathy
Infans is a Latin word, what does it mean?
‘Without speech’
What is attachment?
An EMOTIONAL bond between two people. It is a TWO WAY process that endures over time. Leads to certain behaviours such as clinging and serves the function of protecting an infant.
What is reciprocity?
Responding to an action of another with a similar action.
Jaffe et al. (1970) did research into reciprocity, what did he find?
Demonstrated infants coordinated their actions with caregivers in a kind of conversation. This was thought of when birth babies were found to move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult, leaning forwards to speak. This is an example of reciprocity.
What is interactional synchrony?
2 people interacting, tend to mirror what the other person is doing in terms of facial/body movements. 2 people move in SAME PATTERN.
2 people that did research into interactional synchrony.
Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
What did Meltzoff and Moore find?
Infants as young as 2 or 3 weeks old imitated specific facial/hand gestures.
What was Meltzoff and Moore’s test.
Dummy placed in infants mouth while the adult conducted facial expressions. Dummy taken out of infants mouth and the infant copied the response of the adult.
In 1983 M+M found the behavioural response must be innate. How?
Infants three days old were displaying the same behaviour - rules out imitation behaviours are learned.
Who challenged M+M’s theory?
Jean Piaget (1962)
What did Jean Piaget believe?
True imitation only developed towards the end of the first year. Anything before this was a ‘response training’, infant repeats behaviour as it is rewarding - caregiver smiles.
Supporting evidence for M+M.
Murray + Trevarthen (1985) showed mother on a video monitor and the mother did not react when the infant imitated the mother. As a result the infant was in acute distress, showing infant is actively eliciting a response rather than displaying response that has been rewarded. Supports that this behaviour must be innate.
A strength of caregiver-infant interactions.
-Value of the research, helps explain how children begin to understand what others think and feel, and thus are able to conduct relationships.
2 weaknesses of caregiver-infant interactions.
- Difficulty with interpreting infants’ mouths as they are in fairly constant motion and the tested expressions occur frequently (yawning)
- Failure to replicate, Koepe (1983) could not replicate the study.
The 4 stages to development of attachment.
S1: Indiscriminate attachments
S2: Beginnings of attachment
S3: Discriminate attachment
S4: Multiple attachments
What is stage 1 indiscriminate attachment TIME PERIOD?
Birth - 2 months
What is stage 2 beginnings of attachment TIME PERIOD?
Around 4 months
What is stage 3 discriminate attachment TIME PERIOD?
7 months
What is stage 4 multiple attachments TIME PERIOD?
Soon after discriminate attachments.
What is indiscriminate attachment about?
Infants produce similar responses to all objects living or not. During this period reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing the infant’s relationships with others.
What are the beginnings of attachment about?
Infants becomes more social, they prefer human company to inanimate objects and can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people. However, can be comforted by anyone not yet developed stranger anxiety.
What is discriminate attachment about?
Distinct protest when one particulr person puts them down, also show joy at reunion with person they are most comfortable with.
Developed separation anxiety.
Developed primary attachment figure.
Developed a stranger anxiety.
What is multiple attachments about?
Infant develops more than one attachment. Schaffer + Emerson found within first month of becoming attached 29% of infants had multiple attachments. After 6 months of this percentage rose to 78.
What is separation anxiety?
Distress shown by infant when separated from his/her caregiver. Not necessarily child’a biological mother.
What is stranger anxiety?
Distress shown by infant when approached or picked up by someone who is unfamiliar.
Who and when was research made into stages of attachment?
Schaffer + Emerson (1960)
A strength of stages of attachment.
-High external validity, was in the home of the infants during everyday activities.
Schaffer and Emerson and their work in Glasgow, what did they do?
Give figures and how long they carried out this research.
Conducted a study on development of attachments. 60 infants, mainly working class homes in Glasgow. Start of investigation infants ranged from 5-23 weeks. Studied for one year with the mother being visited every 4 weeks.. Measured on their stranger anxiety + specific attachment.
Role of father in S+E research found what?
Fathers were less likely to be the primary attachment figure than mothers as they spend less time with infant.
What did Lamb (1997) suggest that countered S+E’s theory behind father roles?
Little relationship between amount of time spent with child and infant father attachment, it could however be to do with the fact men do not produce the hormone oestrogen which underlies caring behaviour.
Which 2 men did separate animal studies and what years were these studies conducted?
Lorenz (1935)
Harlow (1959)
What was the procedure to Lorenz’s study?
Took a clutch of goslings and divided them into two groups. 1 group left with natural mother and the other group of eggs were placed in an incubator. When the incubator eggs hatched the first thing they saw was Lorenz and they started following him around. To test imprinting Lorenz marked the groups.
What did Lorenz find? no percentages.
The goslings quickly divided themselves one group following the mother and the other following Lorenz. Lorenz’s goslings also showed no recognition for their actual mother.
What did Lorenz say the long-lasting effects were? (2)
Process was irreversible and long lasting. One of the geese slept with him every night.
Effected mating preferences in later life, normally want to mate with thing they imprinted on.