Attachment

Question 1

Reciprocity

Answer 1

A description of how two people interact
Mother – infant interaction is reciprocal in that both infant and mother respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other

Question 2

Interactional synchrony

Answer 2

Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a coordinated way

Question 3

What is an attachment

Answer 3

A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security

Question 4

Name researchers that looked into caregiver – infant interactions
Interactions synchrony

Answer 4

Meltzoff and Moore

Question 5

Meltzoff and Moore study procedure

Answer 5

Caregiver – infant interactions
Aim: to see if infants imitate the facial expressions and hand gestures of an adult
Covert, controlled
Selected 4 different stimuli and observed the behaviour of infants in response
To record observations an observer watched videotapes of the infants behaviour
Video was then judged by independent observers who had no knowledge of what infant had just seen
Each observer asked to note down all instances of tongue protrusions and head movements

Question 6

Meltzoff and Moore study findings

Answer 6

Infant copies what the adult did e.g. stuck out tongue when adults stuck out tongue
Each observer scored tapes twice so intraobserver and interobserver reliability could be calculated
All scores were greater than 92
Infants imitated the facial expressions and hand gestures of an adult matter

Question 7

Name two caregiver – infant interactions

Answer 7

Reciprocity

Interactional synchrony

Question 8

Who studied reciprocity

Answer 8

Feldman and Eidelman

Question 9

Evaluate research into caregiver – infant interactions

Answer 9

Some researchers suggest the behaviour seen in caregiver – infant interactions are just imitations and the infant is not consciously and deliberately attempting to communicate in a social way
However the still face research studies suggest these interactions are deliberate. The fact that the infants work so hard to attract the caregivers attention and become so distressed when they don’t react to them clearly supports the idea that the infant is actively involved in the communications
Babies mouths are in fairly constant motion and therefore tend to display behaviours like opening their mouth or sticking out the tongue quite regularly. In M and M research, researchers could’ve been seeing accidental rather than intentional behaviours
Researchers can only really make educated guesses as to what the communications actually mean from the babies perspective. They cannot know for certain that they have any special meanings for them because the baby cannot tell them

Question 10

Why is research into caregiver – infant interactions socially sensitive

Answer 10

Because it suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child rearing practices
For example mothers who return to work shortly after a child is born, restricts the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony, which Isabella et al showed to be important in the developing of infant – caregiver attachment
Consequently, this can be distressing to mothers who returned to work soon after their child was born who read the research

Question 11

Tronick et al

Answer 11

Still face experiment
The study emphasises the importance of early parent – infant interaction in attachment and the negative effects of non-responsiveness on the part of the mother – i.e. a lack of reciprocity

Question 12

Isabella et al

Answer 12

Shows positive correlations between levels of synchrony and the quality of caregiver – infant attachment in their study of 30 mothers and infants

Question 13

Secure attachment

Answer 13

These children explore more happily but regularly go back to their caregiver (Proximity seeking and secure base behaviour)
They usually show moderate separation distress and moderate stranger anxiety
Securely attached children require and accept comfort from the caregiver in the reunion stage

Question 14

Insecure avoidant attachment

Answer 14

These children explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour
They show little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves and they make little effort to make contact when the caregiver returns
They also show little stranger anxiety
They do not require comfort at the reunion stage

Question 15

Insecure resistant attachment

Answer 15

These children seek greater proximity than others and so explore less
They show huge stranger and separation distress but they resist comfort when reunited with their carer

Question 16

Schaffer and Emerson study method

Answer 16

This study involves 60 babies – 31 male, 29 female
All from Glasgow and the majority were from skilled working-class families
The babies and the mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months
The researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest the baby showed in seven every day separations e.g. adult leaving the room
This was designed to measure the infants attachment. The research also assessed stranger anxiety

Question 17

Schaffer and Emerson study findings

Answer 17

Between 25 and 32 weeks of age about 50% of the babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually the mother (this is called specific attachment)
Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (i.e. reciprocity) this was not necessarily the person with whom infant spent most time
By the age of 40 weeks 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments

Question 18

Stages of attachment identified by Schaffer

Answer 18

Asocial stage
Indiscriminate attachment
Specific attachment
Multiple attachments

Question 19

Asocial stage of attachment

Answer 19

Stage one
First few weeks
The baby is recognising and forming bonds with its carers
However, the babies behaviour towards nonhuman objects and humans is quite similar
Babies show some preference for familiar adults in that those individuals find it easier to calm them
Babies are also happier when in the presence of other humans

Question 20

Indiscriminate stage of attachment

Answer 20

Stage two
From 2 to 7 months babies displaying more observable social behaviour
They show a preference for people rather than inanimate objects, and recognise and prefer familiar adults
At this stage babies usually accept cuddles and comfort from any adult, and they do not usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
Their attachment behaviour is therefore said to be indiscriminate because it is not different towards any one person

Question 21

Specific stage of attachment

Answer 21

Stage three
From around seven months the majority of babies start to display anxiety towards strangers and to become anxious when separated from one particular adult
At this point the baby is said to have formed a specific attachment
This adult is termed the primary attachment figure
This person is not necessarily the person the baby spends most time with but the one who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby signals with the most skill

Question 22

Multiple stage of attachment

Answer 22

Stage 4
Shortly after babies start to show attachment behaviour towards one adult they usually extend this attachment behaviour to multiple attachments with other adults with whom they regularly spend time
These relationships are called secondary attachments

Question 23

Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson study

Answer 23

Good external Validity- carried out in families’ own homes. Most observations done by parents during ordinary activities 
Longitudinal design- Same children were followed up and observed regularly. High internal validity
Limited sample characteristics- families all from same district and social class in the same city over 50 years ago. Child rearing practices vary from one culture to another and one historical period to another. Not generalisable

Question 24

Problem with studying asocial stage of attachment

Answer 24

Difficult to study
Babies are pretty much immobile and have poor co ordination
Difficult to make judgements based on observations of behaviour

Question 25

Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments

Answer 25

Multiple attachment stage is difficult to assess through observations
This was criticised by Bowlby who emphasised that children can have attachment figures and playmates
They can become distressed when a playmate leaves the room, but this doesn’t mean they are attached to them

Question 26

Measuring multiple attachment

Answer 26

Not clear when the stage occurs
In cultures where multiple caregivers are the norm, it’s believed babies form multiple attachments from the outset (Van Ijzendoorn et al)

Question 27

Ainsworth’s study

Answer 27

The strange situation

Question 28

SS procedure

Answer 28

Controlled observation designed to measure the security of attachment a child displays towards a caregiver
Takes place in room with quite controlled conditions with a two way mirror through which psychologists can observe infants behaviour
Behaviours used to judge attachment included:
– proximity seeking
– exploration and secure base behaviour
– stranger anxiety
– separation anxiety
– response to reunion
The procedure has seven episodes, each of which lasts three minutes

Question 29

Seven episodes in the strange situation

Answer 29

The child is encouraged to explore – tests exploration and secure base
Stranger comes in and tries to interact with the child – test stranger anxiety
The caregiver leaves the child and stranger alone – test separation and stranger anxiety
The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves – tests reunion behaviour and exploration/secure base
The caregiver leaves the child alone – test separation anxiety
The stranger returns – tests stranger anxiety
The caregiver returns and is re-united with the child – tests reunion behaviour

Question 30

The strange situation findings

Answer 30

Ainsworth et al found that there were distinct patterns in the way the infants behaved. She identified three main types of attachment:
– secure attachment
– insecure – avoidant attachment
– insecure – resistant attachment

Question 31

Strange situation evaluation

Answer 31

High validity
Good reliability
The test maybe culture bound
There is at least one more attachment type

Question 32

Support for validity evaluation the strange situation

Answer 32

Attachment types as defined by strange situation is strongly predictive of later development
Babies assessed as secure typically go on to have better outcomes in many areas, ranging from success at school to romantic relationships and friendships in adulthood
This is evidence for the validity of the concept because it can explain subsequent outcomes

Question 33

Good reliability evaluation the strange situation

Answer 33

SS shows very good interrater reliability. In other words different observers watching the same children in the strange situation generally agree on what attachment type to classify them with
This may be because the strange situation takes place under controlled conditions and because the behavioural categories are easy to observe
This means we can be confident that the attachment types of an infant identified in the strange situation does not just depend on who is observing them

Question 34

The test maybe culture bound evaluation strange situation

Answer 34

There is some doubt about whether the strange situation is a culture bound test i.e. it does not have the same meaning in countries outside Western Europe and USA
This is for two reasons, first, cultural differences in childhood experiences are likely to mean that children respond differently to the strange situation
Second, caregivers from different cultures behave differently in the strange situation
For example, the test doesn’t work in Japan because Japanese mothers are so rarely separated from their babies that as we would expect, there are very high levels of separation anxiety. Also in the reunion stage Japanese mothers rushed to their baby and scooped them up, meaning the child’s response was hard to observe

Question 35

What does the strange situation measure evaluation SS

Answer 35

Measures a child’s response to the anxiety produced by being in an unfamiliar environment. That is not in doubt
However, what is more controversial is whether the main influence on this anxiety is attachment as Ainsworth assumed
Others have suggested that temperament, the genetically influenced personality of the child, is the more important influence on the behaviour in the SS than attachment
It means that temperament may be a confounding variable

Question 36

There is at least one more attachment type evaluation SS

Answer 36

Ainsworth conceived of three attachment types
However someone else pointed out that a minority of children displayed atypical attachments that do not fall within types A, B or C behaviour
This atypical attachment is commonly known as disorganised attachment
Disorganised children display an odd mix of resistance and avoidant behaviours

Question 37

What is the fourth attachment type

Answer 37

Disorganised attachment

Question 38

How have cross cultural variations in in attachment been researched?

Answer 38

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study

Question 39

Van Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg study procedure

Answer 39

they located 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation Had been used to investigate the proportions of infants with different attachment types
These 32 studies were conducted in 8 countries
15 in USA.
Overall the studies yielded 1990 children
Data from these studies wer meta analysed

Question 40

Van Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg study findings

Answer 40

In all countries, secure attachment was the most common classification
Insecure resistant was overall the least common, highest in Israel
Insecure avoidant most common in Germany, least in japan
Variations between results of studies within the same country were 150% greater than those between countries

Question 41

Van Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg study evaluation

Answer 41

Large samples- increases internal validity by reducing impact of anomalous results
Samples tend to be unrepresentative of culture- comparisons were actually made between countries not cultures
Method of assessment is biased- based on American values. Imposed etic.

Question 42

Lorenz’s research on imprinting procedure

Answer 42

Experiment
He randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs
Half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment
Other half were hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz

Question 43

Lorenz’s research on imprinting findings

Answer 43

The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the control group followed their mother
When the two groups were mixed up, control group continued to follow mother, experimental group followed Lorenz

Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place
Depending on the species this can be as brief as a few hours after hatching or birth
If imprinting doesn’t occur within that time Lorenz found that chicks do not attach themselves to a mother figure

Question 44

Lorenz’s research on sexual imprinting

Answer 44

He observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans

Question 45

Lorenz’s research evaluation

Answer 45

Generalisability to humans- can’t generalise finding on birds to humans
Some of his observations have been questioned- another researcher found that chicken imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults, but that with experiences they eventually learned to prefer mating with other chickens
Meaning impact of imprinting on mating behaviour isn’t permanent

Question 46

Harlow’s research on the importance of contact comfort procedure

Answer 46

He tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother
He reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model mothers
In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother whereas in a second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth mother

Question 47

Harlow’s research on the importance of contact comfort findings

Answer 47

It was found that the baby monkey’s cuddled with the soft object in preference to the wire one and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which dispensed milk
This showed that contact comfort was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour

Question 48

Harlow’s research on maternally deprived monkeys as adults

Answer 48

He followed the monkeys that had been deprived of a real mother into adulthood to see if this early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect
Monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable than normal monkeys and bred less often, being unskilled at mating
As mothers, some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children, even killing them in some cases

Question 49

Harlow’s research on the critical period for normal development

Answer 49

He concluded that there was a critical period for thud behaviour
A mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form
After this time attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible

Question 50

Harlow’s research evaluation

Answer 50

Theoretical value- many findings of great value
Practical value- findings helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse and so intervene to prevent it
Ethical issues- monkeys suffered greatly.
Can’t definitely be generalised to humans- monkeys are similar to humans but not the same

Question 51

classical conditioning

Answer 51

involves learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way as we already respond to the other
unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus and conditioned response

Question 52

operant conditioning

Answer 52

involves learning to repeat behaviour, or not, depending its consequences. if a behaviour produces a pleasant consequence, that behaviour is likely to be repeated
the behaviour has been reinforced

Question 53

classical conditioning example - attachment

Answer 53

food serves as an US
being fed gives us pleasure, we don’t have to learn that, it is an UR
a caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus
when the same person provides the food over time they become associated with food
when the baby sees this person there is an immediate expectation of food
the neutral stimulus has become a CS
once conditioning has taken place the sight of the caregiver produces a CR of pleasure

Question 54

operant conditioning example - attachment

Answer 54

operant conditioning can explain why babies cry for comfort
crying leads to a response from the caregivere.g. feeding
as long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced
the baby then directs crying for comfort towards the caregiver who responds with comforting social suppressor behaviour

Question 55

learning theory

Answer 55

a set of theories from the behaviourist approach to psychology, that emphasise the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour
explanation for learning of behaviour include classical and operant conditioning

Question 56

monotropic

Answer 56

term sometimes used to describe bowlby’s theory. indicates that one specific attachment is different from all others and of central importance to the childs development

Question 57

internal working models

Answer 57

the mental representations we all carry with us of our attachment to our primary caregiver
they are important in affecting our future relationships because they carry our perception of what relationships are like

Question 58

bowlby’s monotropic theory

Answer 58

explains that attachment was an innate system that gave a survival advantage
imprinting and attachment evolved because they ensure that young animals stay close to their caregivers and this protects them from hazards

Question 59

bowlby’s monotropic theory- monotropy

Answer 59

theory is described as montoropic because he placed great emphasis on a child’s attachment one particular caregiver, and he believed that the child’s attachment this one caregiver is different and more important than others
Bowlby believed that the more time the baby spent with this mother figure – or primary attachment figure as we usually call them now – the better
He put forward two principles to clarify this:
The law of continuity
The law of accumulated separation

Question 60

Bowlby’s monotropic theory – social releases

Answer 60

Bobby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate cute behaviours like smiling, cooing and gripping that encourage attention from adults
He called these social releasers because the purpose is to activate the adult attachment system i.e. make an adult feel love towards the baby
Bowlby recognised that attachment was a reciprocal process. Both mother and baby have an innate predisposition to become attached and social releases trigger a response in the caregivers

Question 61

Bowlby’s monotropic theory – the critical period

Answer 61

The interplay between infants and adults attachment systems gradually builds the relationship between infant and caregiver, beginning in the early weeks of life. Bowlby proposed that there is a critical period around two years when the infant attachment system is active. In fact Bowlby viewed this as more of a sensitive period. A child is maximally sensitive at the age of two but, if an attachment is not formed in this time, the child will find it much harder to form one later

Question 62

Bowlbys monotropic theory – internal working model

Answer 62

Bowlby proposed that a child forms a mental representation of the relationship with the primary caregiver. This is called an internal working model because it serves as a model for what relationships are like. It therefore has a powerful effect on the nature of the child’s future relationships.
Most importantly the internal working model affects the Childs later ability to be a parent them selves. People tend to base their parenting behaviour on their own experiences of being parented. This explains why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves

Question 63

Evaluation of Bowlby’s monotropic theory

Answer 63

Mixed evidence for monotropy-Some babies form multiple attachments without a primary attachment. Seus et al, other attachments may contribute as much as a primary one
Support for social releasers- Brazleton et al, when social releasers ignore babies were upset
Support for internal working models- Bailey et al, quality of attachments is passed on through generations in families
Monotropy is a socially sensitive idea
Temperament may be as important as attachment

Question 64

Maternal deprivation

Answer 64

The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and the mother or mother substitute
Bowlby proposed that continuous care from a mother is essential for normal psychological development, and that prolonged separation from this adult causes serious damage to emotional and intellectual development

Question 65

Bowlby‘s theory of maternal deprivation- separation versus deprivation

Answer 65

There is an important distinction to be made between separation and deprivation. Separation simply means the child not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure. This only becomes an issue for development if the child is deprived i.e. they lose an element of the care. brief separations, particularly when the child is with a substitute caregiver, and not significant for development but extended separations can lead to deprivation, which by definition causes harm

Question 66

Bobby‘s theory of maternal deprivation – the critical period

Answer 66

Bowlby saw the first 30 months of life as a critical period for psychological development. If the child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable substitute care and so deprived of her emotional care for an extended period during this critical period then psychological damage was inevitable

Question 67

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation – effects on intellectual development

Answer 67

Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would suffer mental retardation, characterised by abnormally low IQ. This has been demonstrated in studies of adoption
E.g. Goldfarb found lower IQ in children that had remained in institutions as opposed to those who were fostered and thus had a higher standard of emotional care

Question 68

Bowlby‘s theory of maternal deprivation – effects on emotional development

Answer 68

Bowlby identified affection less psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others. This prevents the person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality
Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and so lack remorse for their actions

Question 69

Bowlby’s 44 thieves study procedure

Answer 69

The sample in this study consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy: characterised by a lack of affection, lack of guilt about their actions and lack of empathy for their victims
Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had prolonged early separations from their mothers
A control group of non criminal but emotionally disturbed young people was set up to see how often separation/deprivation occurred in the children who were not thieves

Question 70

Bowlby’s 44 thieves study findings

Answer 70

Bowlby found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths
Of this 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives
In contrast only 5 of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separations
Of the control group only 2 out of the 44 had experienced long separations
It was concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused effectionless psychopathy

Question 71

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation evaluation

Answer 71

Evidence may be poor- orphans have experienced other traumas. Bowlby may have been a biased observer
Counter-evidence- Lewis: sample of 500, no link between early separation and later criminality
A sensitive period- Bowlby exaggerated the importance of the critical period
Animal studies show effects of maternal deprivation on social development
Failure to distinguish deprivation from privation

Question 72

Institutionalisation

Answer 72

A term for the effects of living in an institutional setting. E.g. hospital or orphanage. In such places there is often very little emotional care provided
In attachment research we are interested in the effects of institutional care on children’s attachments and subsequent development

Question 73

Effects of institutionalisation

Answer 73

Disinhibited attachment

Delayed intellectual development

Question 74

Disinhibited attachment - institutionalisation

Answer 74

Children don’t discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures
Overfriendly towards strangers, may be attention seeking and clingy. Unusual as most children show stranger anxiety in their second year
Adapted to show this behaviour because of multiple caregivers in an institution- no consistent figure to learn so seek attachment from anyone

Question 75

Delayed intellectual development - institutionalisation

Answer 75

Cognitive development (IQ) is also affected by emotional deprivation 
But can be reversed if adopted before 6 months as going into specific attachment at 7-9 months, so children who are adopted before 6 months can still make primary attachment + therefore reverse negative effects

Question 76

Name the two Romanian orphan studies

Answer 76

Rutter et al

Zeanah et al The Bucharest Early Intervention project

Question 77

Zeanah et al The Bucharest Early Intervention project procedure

Answer 77

Assessed the attachment type in 95 Romanian children aged between 12-31 months who had spent an average of 90% of their life in an institution and compared them to a control group who spent their life in a normal family
The attachment type was measured using the Strange Situation

Question 78

Zeanah et al The Bucharest Early Intervention project findings

Answer 78

74% of the control group was found to be securely attached but only 19% of the institutionalised group. 65% of this group were classified as showing disorganised attachment
The description of disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutionalised children as opposed to less that 20% of the controls

Question 79

Zeanah et al The Bucharest Early Intervention project conclusion

Answer 79

When in the strange situation with the carter, children from institutions are less likely to show secure attachment, suggesting that being institutionalised has effected them emotionally

Question 80

Rutter et al study of Romanian orphans procedure

Answer 80

Natural experiment with naturally occurring IV being age of adoption
Over 100 Romanian orphans previously in institutions adopted by uk families, some were adopted before the age of 6 months and some adopted later
Random sample
Control group of 52 uk children adopted before 6 months
Adoptees tested at regular points (age 4, 6, 11 and 15 years) to measure their physical, cognitive and social development
Info also gained through interviews with parents and teachers
Romanian adoptees development was compared with gb control group

Question 81

Rutter et al study of Romanian orphans findings

Answer 81

Romanian orphans who had been adopted later than 6 months are most likely to show disinhibited attachments
As age of adoption increased IQ decreased
Orphans were more likely to have low IQ and show disinhibited attachment if they were adopted after 6 months

Question 82

Romanian orphans studies evaluation

Answer 82

Real life application- both institutional care and adoption practice have been improved using lessons from Romanian orphans
Fewer extraneous variables- Romanian orphans had fewer negative influences before institutionalisation than e.g. war orphans
Romanian orphanages not typical- conditions were so bad that results may not generalise to better institutions
Ethical issues, especially Bucharest early interventions project
Practical applications to adoption and institutional care practice