Attachment Flashcards
Attachment
Close two way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
Animal studies
In psychology these are studies carried out on non human animal species rather than human, either for ethical or practical reasons, practical as animals breed faster and researchers interested in seeing results across more than one generation of animals
Learning theory
A set of theories from the behaviourist approach to psychology that emphasises the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour. Explanations for learning of behaviour include classical and operant conditioning
Monotropic
Term sometimes used to describe bowlby theory indicating that one particular attachment is different from all the other and central importance to child development
Critical period
Time with which attachment must form if it is to form at all
Internal working model
Our mental representation of the world, such as representation we have of out relationship to our primary attachment figure which affects are future relationships as it carries are perspective of relationships should be like
What did Lorenz research allow others to understand better
To understand infant caregiver attachment better
When did Lorenz first observe imprinting
When his neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling and it followed him around
What was Lorenz procedure with the goose
Set up a classic experiment where he randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs, half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in natural environment and half were hatched in a incubator with Lorenz
What was Lorenz findings
Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere but control group followed the mum everywhere, when the groups mixed together, experimental group still followed Lorenz everywhere, called imprinting where bird species that are mobile at birth follow the first moving thing they see and Lorenz identified a critical period when this must happen, depending on species it is only a few hours after hatching and if imprinting doesn’t happen chicks didn’t attach to a mother figure
What was the second thing Lorenz investigated
Relation between imprinting and adult mate preferences
What case study did Lorenz describe
A peacock that’s as born in a reptile house and it’s first moving object was a giant tortoise and as an adult the same peacock only showed courtship behaviour to giant tortoises, so Lorenz concluded that the peacock had undergone sexual imprinting
Why was Harlows research important
As he used monkeys which are similar to humans and would show similar attachment results
What did harlows research find about the importance of contact comfort
New borns in a cage alone often died, but they survived if they had something to cuddle like a cloth or blanket
What was Harlows procedure
Tested the idea that soft objects served some of the mothers function, he had 16 monkeys and observed their behaviour with a wired monkey dispensing milk and a cloth covered monkey which wasn’t dispensing milk (they acted as mothers) and tested moneys response when they were scared by adding a noisy mechanical teddy
What were Harlows findings
Baby monkey cuddled cloth monkey and sought comfort from it when it was scared regardless of which mother dispensed the milk, showing contact comfort is more important to baby monkeys than food in attachment behaviour
How long did Harlow follow the monkeys for
To adulthood
What did Harlow find about the long lasting effect of maternal deprivation
Monkey with plan wire was most dysfunctional but even ones with the cloth mother didn’t develop normal social behaviour, the monkeys were more aggressive, less social and bread less as they were unskilled at mating and when they were mothers they neglected and attacked and in some cases killed their children
What did Harlow conclude that the critical period for attachment to form normal development was
90days and after this attachment was impossible and damage of early deprivation was irreversible
What is a strength of Lorenz research
Existence if support of imprinting as Regolin and Vallotigara exposed chicks to simple shape combinations that moved (triangle w rectangle) then a range of different shape combo were added but they followed the first one most closely which supports Lorenz view that animals have innate mechanism to imprint on moving object in critical period
What is a limitation of Lorenz research
Birds are very different to humans and mammal attachment is more complex than birds for example it is a two way process, and Lorenz ideas can’t be generalised to humans but some kind of imprinting explains some human behaviour
What is a strength of Harlow research
Important to real world application as it can help social workers understand that lack of bonding may be a risk factor in child development and it can help prevent poor outcomes according to Howe, also it helps understand importance of attachment in monkeys at zoos and in wild breeding programmes, so Harlows research is theoretical and practical
What is a limitation of Harlow research
It cannot necessarily be generalised to humans, monkeys more similar to humans than birds but human brain is still more complex and it isn’t appropriate to generalise Harlows findings
Ethical issue with Harlows research
Baby monkey had long term and severe distress but Harlow research was practical
Who said caregiver infant interaction can be explained by learning theory
Dollard and Miller
What approach emphasises the importance that caregiver provides food
Cupboard love.
What is cupboard love
Children learn to love whoever feeds them
What is classical conditioning and an example
Learning to associate 2 stimuli together so we respond to both in the same way we respond to one, e.g. food is an unconditional stimulus as it gives us pleasure but we don’t learn it and so we give an unconditional response
What stimulus does a caregiver start as and then what happens in classical conditioning
Caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus as gets no response from the baby but over time the caregiver feeds the baby and then the baby associates the caregiver with food, so neutral stimulus becomes a conditional stimulus as sight of the caregiver provides a conditional response
What is the conditional response the baby would give to the sight of their caregiver
Love and so attachment forms to their caregiver
Which psychologist believed in classical conditioning
Pavlov
What is operant conditioning
Learning from consequences of behaviour, if behaviour gives pleasant response it will be repeated again
In operant conditioning what is behaviour said to be
Reinforced so if behaviour gives an unpleasant response/ punishment it won’t be repeated
What is an example of a behaviour which provides a pleasant response in operant conditioning
When baby cries for comfort, important behaviour in building attachment and crying gives a response from caregiver such as feeding
What happens in operant conditioning if the caregiver provides the right response
Behaviour is reinforced and baby will in future cry to seek comfort and the caregiver will respond with comforting ‘social suppressing’ behaviour
Why is reinforcement a two way process
When a babies cry is reinforced, caregiver gets negative reinforcement as crying stops because the caregiver escapes from something unpleasant so it is reinforced and this mural reinforcement strengthens attachment
As well as conditioning what else does learning theory draw the concept of
Drive reduction
What kind of drive is hunger and why
A primary drive as it is innate and a biological motivator as we are motivated to eat in order to reduce the hunger drive
What did Sears et al suggest in learning theory
As caregiver provides food, primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them so attachment is a secondary drive learned by association between caregiver and satisfaction of a primary drive
Who believed in operant conditioning
Skinner
What is a limitation of learning theory explanations for attachment
The lack of support from other animal studies
Which animal studies contradict the idea of learning theory and why
Lorenz geese imprinted on first moving object regardless of its association with food and Harlows monkeys preferred cloth mother than the mother providing food
What does the limitation of learning theory due to lack of support from other animal studies show
Shows factors other than association with food are important in attachment formation
What is another limitation of learning theory explanations
The lack of support from studies of human babies
Which psychologist conducted studies in human babies which contradict learning theory
Schaffer and Emerson found babies tend to form attachment to their mother regardless of who feeds them and Isabella et al found high levels of interactional synchrony predicted the quality of attachment not food
What does the lack of support from other studies on human babies show about learning theory
Suggests that food is not the main factor in attachment formation in humans
What is a strength of learning theory
Elements of conditioning could be involved in some aspects of attachment, although unlikely that association to food plays the central role in attachment, it may still have a role
What is an example of a babies behaviour which isn’t to do with food
Baby may associate feeling warm and comfortable with the presence of a particular adult and it may influence babies choice of primary caregiver
What may learning theory still be useful in
Understanding development of attachments
What is the counterpoint of the strength that learning theory could be involved in some aspects of attachment and who said that
Both classical and operant conditioning explanations see baby playing passive roles in attachment development, simply responding to associations with comfort and reward but Feldman and Eildelman showed babies take an active role in interactions to produce attachment so conditioning may not be an adequate explanation of any aspect of attachment
What did Hay and Vespo suggest about learning theory
Parents teach their children to love them by demonstrating attachment behaviours like hugging, parents also reinforce loving behaviour by showing approval to their babies show attachment behaviour such as cuddles to their parents
Why does social learning perspective have more advantages than learning theory
It is based around two way interactions so it fits better with research into reciprocity
What theory did Bowlby reject and what did he look at instead
Rejected learning theory and looked at Lorenz and Harlow work for an evolutionary explanation
What did Bowlby believe
Attachment was an innate system that gives survival advantages, so attachment evolved as a mechanism to keep young animals safe to ensure they stay close to their adult caregiver
What does Bowlby theory mainly described as
Monotropy as he emphasised child’s attachment to one particular caregiver and he believed child’s attachment to one particular caregiver is different and more important
What did Bowlby say about monotropy
He said the more time a child spends with their primary caregiver the better
What two principles did Bowlby use to clarify monotropy
Law of continuity-more constant and predictable child care, the better quality their attachment is & law of accumulated separation-effects of every separation from primary caregiver add up (safest dose it 0)
What did Bowlby say babies were born with and why
A set of cute innate behaviour like smiling and gripping to attract mothers attention know as social releases
What is the purpose of social releasers and what did this tell Bowlby about attachment
To activate adult social interaction to make adult attached to the baby and Bowlby reconsider attachment was reciprocal as both mum and baby are hard wired to form attachments
What gradually builds a relation between caregiver and infant and when does this begin
Interplay between adult and child attachment systems gradually builds a relation between them and can begin in early weeks of life, known as critical period around 6months when baby’s attachment system is active
What did Bowlby call the critical period and why
Sensitive period between 6month and 2years and if attachment isn’t formed in this period the baby will find it hard to make one in later life
What was the final thing Bowlby proposed about attachment
Child forms mental representation of their relationship with their primary attachment figure called internal working model as it sets model for what relations should be like
What will a child believe if their first relation was reliable and loving
They will expect future relationships to be like that and they will also bring these qualities to a relation
What will children treated poorly in their first relation expect of later ones
They will treat people poorly and expect the same in return
What does internal working model also process the effect of
Effects child’s ability to parent themselves as people base their parenting on their own experience which explains why children from functioning families tend to have similar families themselves
What is a limitation of Bowlby theory
Concept of monotropy lacks validity, Schaffer and Emerson found although most babies form one attachment first, some form multiple at the same time
Why is monotropy not valid
First attachment has a strong influence in later behaviour, but other attachments to family members provide all the same key qualities like support and safety
What does lack of validity of monotropy mean for Bowlby theory
He may be incorrect that there is a unique quality and importance to child’s primary attachment
What is a strength of Bowlby research
Supporting evidence of the role of social releasers as their is strong evidence showing babies cute behaviours are designed to elicit caregiver interactions
What study showed supporting evidence for social releasers and what does this indicate
Brazelton et al observed babies trigger interaction with adults using social releasers, babies who were shown to be normally responsive became more distressed and some curled up motionless when the caregiver didn’t respond to their releases, illustrating role of social releasers in emotional development and suggest they are important in attachment development
What is another strength of Bowlby theory
Support for internal working model as Bailey et al assessed attachment relations in 99mums and their babies, researchers measured mothers attachment to their primary attachment figure and found mothers with poor attachment to their parent, were more likely to have poor attachment to their baby
How does Bailey et al research support that of Bowlby
Supports idea that mothers ability to form attachments to their baby is due to internal working model and that it comes from their own early attachment experiences
What is a counter point to internal working model
Some psychologist believe genetic differences in anxiety and sociability effect social behaviour in babies and adults which could impact their parenting - Korienko. Means that Bowlby may have overstated importance if internal working model in social behaviour and parenting at the expense of other factors
What was the stranger situation
Developed by Mary Ainsworth with aim to observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a baby’s attachment to their caregiver
What observation is stranger situation
A controlled observation procedure designed to measure the security of attachment a baby shows towards their caregiver
Where did stranger situation take place
In a room with controlled conditions (lab) with a 2way mirror and cameras through which psychologist can observe the babies behaviour
What were the 5 behaviours being observed in stranger situation
Proximity seeking. Exploration and secure base behaviour. Stranger anxiety. Separation anxiety. Response to reunion.
What is proximity seeking
Baby with good quality attachment will stay fairly close to their caregiver
Exploration and secure base behaviour
Good attachment enables baby to feel confident to explore using caregiver as a secure base
What is Stranger anxiety
A sign of close attachment is anxiety when a stranger approaches
What is separation anxiety
Sign of close attachment is to protest when separated from attachment figure
What is response to reunion
Babies who are securely attached greet caregivers return with pleasure and seek comfort
What is the first 3min stage of stranger situation
Beginning; caregiver and baby enter an unfamiliar play room
What is stage one of the stranger situation
Baby encouraged to explore, looking at exploration and secure base
What is stage 2 of stranger situation
Stranger enters and talks to the mother and then approaches the baby, exploring stranger anxiety
What is stage 3 of stranger situation
Caregiver leaves baby and stranger, looking at separation and stranger anxiety
What is stage 4 of stranger situation
Caregiver returns and stranger leaves, looking at reunion behaviour and exploration and secure base
What is stage 5 of stranger situation
Caregiver leaves baby alone, looking at separation anxiety
What is stage 6 of stranger situation
Stranger returns, exploring stranger anxiety
What is stage 7 of stranger anxiety
Caregiver returns and is reunited with the baby, reunion behaviour is being observed
What were Aimsworths stranger situation findings
Distinct patterns found in ways babies behave and they identified 3 main types of attachment
What were the 3 attachment types Ainsworth et al found
Secure attachment(type B), insecure-resistant(type C), insecure-avoidant(type A)
What is secure attachment
These babies explore happily but often return to caregiver, they tend to show moderate stranger anxiety, securely attached babies require and accept comfort from caregiver in reunion, they have moderate stranger anxiety and 60-70% of Uk babies are classed as secure
What is insecure avoidant attachment
Babies explore freely and don’t seek secure base, they show little relation when caregiver leaves and stranger enters, makes little effort to contact caregiver when they return and may avoid contact, 20-25% of Uk babies classed as insecure-avoidant
What is insecure resistant attachment
Babies seek more proximity and explore less, high levels of stranger and separation anxiety but resist comfort when reunited with caregiver, 3% of British babies classed as insecure resistant
What is a strength of stranger situation
It predicts many aspects in babies later development, lots of research shows type B babies to have better outcomes than the others in later childhood and adulthood, suggest stranger situation measures something meaningful about a child’s development
What were some studies and outcome which were based on the 3 attachment types
McCormick et al says type B less likely to be involved in bullying and likely to achieve better in school, Ward et al said Type B have better mental health in adulthood and insecure resistant babies tend to have worse outcomes and ones who aren’t either A B OR C
What is a counter point to stranger situation predicting aspects of child’s development
Stranger situation clearly measures something associated with later development but some psychologist don’t believe this is attachment, Kagan suggest genetically influenced anxiety levels account for attachment variations in strange situations and later development which may mean stranger situation may not actually measure attachment
What is another strength of strange situation.
Good inter rater reliability as Bick et al tested inter-rater reliability and found agreement on attachment types 94% of the time, means we can be confident of the attachment types of strange situation as they don’t depend on subjective judgment
Why may there be high inter rater reliability of strange situation
As study was under controlled conditions and as behaviours like stranger and separation anxiety involved large movements they were easier to observe as anxious babies will cry and crawl away from stranger
What is a limitation of stranger situation
May not be valid measurement of attachment in different cultural contexts as it was developed in UK and USA so may only be valid for Western European cultures and US
Why may there be a cultural bound with the strange situation
Babies have different experiences in different experiences in different cultures and may affect their response to strange situation
What was Takashi study
Japanese study, babies displayed very high levels of separation anxiety and disproportionate number were insecure avoidant and takashi suggested this was due to mother baby separation being very rare in Japan
What did Takashi study show about strange situation
It is difficult to know what strange situation is measuring outside of Western Europe and USA
What did Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg conduct a study on
Looked at secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure resistant attachments across a range of countries to assess cultural variation, also looked at differences within the same country to get an idea of variation in a culture
What was Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg procedure
They found 32studies where strange situation had been used to investigate the proportion of babies with different attachment types, they were conducted in 8countries (15 in US) and overall used 1990children, data from the 32 studies was meta analysed
What is meta analysis
Results of the study are analysed and combined together, weighting each study for its sample size
What were Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg findings
There was wide variation between proportions of attachment types in different studies, in all countries secure attachment was most common but proportions varied as 75% in Britain but only 50% in China, in individualist cultures insecure-resistant were similar to Ainsworth as they were all under 14%, but in collectivists cultures from China, Japan, Israel it was above 25% and avoidant was lower, also variations in one countries were 150% greater than between different countries
What was the findings of two US studies which showed huge cultural difference
Study found only 46% securely attached compared to another which found 90% securely attached
What Italian study did Simonelli et al conduct
Italian study to see whether attachment matches other studies, he added 76babies age 12months using strange situation
What were Simonelli findings
50% secure and 36% insecure avoidant, lower secure and higher insecure avoidant found in many studies and researchers suggest this is because increasing number of mothers working longer hours and using child care when baby is very young
What do Simonelli findings suggest
Patterns of attachment types aren’t static but vary in line with cultural changes
What Korean study did Jin et al carry out
Conducted study comparing Korean baby attachment to other studies
Jin et al findings
Majority of babies being secure but more insecure we’re resistant and only one was avoidant and similar to Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg study, probably as Japan and Korea have similar child rearing styles so explains similar results
What conclusion can be made from the 3 cultural variation of attachment type studies
Secure attachment is the norm in a wide range of cultures, supporting Bowlby idea that attachment is innate and universal and this is the norm type, but research clearly shows cultural practices have an influence on attachment type.
What is a strength of the cultural variation studies
They were conducted by indigenous psychologists, had the same cultural background as the participants (Kroonenburg German and Takashi Japanese) which means potential cross cultural communication issues are avoided and there are no bias of cultural stereotypes
What is the counter point to all cultural variation studies were carried out by indigenous psychologists
No all were, for example Morelli and Tronick were outsiders in a study conducted in the USA so data from some studies may be affected by bias and communication difficulties
What is a limitation to Kroonenburg and Ijzendoorn study
Meta analysis may not have been accurate due to confounding variables within the study such as room size, age, urban/rural, poverty and social class may all effect the results, also if less toys in the room babies are less likely to explore so less visible proximity seeking, therefore looking at attachment behaviours from different studies may not tell us about cross cultural patterns as may have different variables effecting their results
What is another limitation of the cross cultural variation studies
Trying to impose a test designed for one culture to another know as imposed etic, cross cultural psychology includes idea of emic (cultural uniqueness) and etic (cross cultural university)
What is an example of imposed etic
Babies response to caregiver reunion, in UK and USA lack of response may indicate avoidance and insecurity but in Germany it indicates independence
What does imposed etic mean about strange situation variations between cultures
Strange situation behaviours may not mean the same thing in different cultural contexts and comparing them across cultures is meaningless
What has been said about cross cultural research showing similar attachment types in different countries
Bowlby theory explain this by saying attachment is innate and universal but Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg said it is due to global media representation of how parents and babies are meant to behave which overrides cultural differences in how children are brought up
What other theory did Bowlby propose and what did it involve
Theory of maternal deprivation, idea was that continuous presence of a caregiver/substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies, both emotionally and intellectually being separated from mother in early childhood has serious consequences
What does separation mean
Separation means child not being in presence of primary caregiver
When does separation become problematic
When child becomes deprived of emotional care, can happen if mother isn’t present or is depressed
Is brief separation an issue
With a substitute caregiver who provides emotional care is sufficient for normal development but extended separation can lead to deprivation which is harmful
What did Bowlby say the impact on intellectual development was if maternally deprived and Golfarb
Maternal deprivation during critical period means the children would have lower IQs, Goldfarb found lower IQ in institutional care than those in foster homes as there is less emotional care which backs Bowlby theory
What did Bowlby say the effect of emotional development may be if child is maternally deprived
Bowlby identified affection less psychopathy (no emotion or guilt to others) which prevents relationships and associates to criminality
What did Bowlby do in 1944
Studied 44 thieves and examined the link of maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy
What was Bowlby maternal deprivation procedure
Used 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing and they were interviewed and examined for signs of affectionless psychopathy, characterised by lack of affection and remorse for their crime, their families were also interviewed to see if they were maternally deprived, this was then compared to a control group of 44 non thieves but who were emotionally disturbed
What were Bowlby maternal deprivation findings
14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths and 12 of them experienced maternal deprivation but only 5 of remaining thieves experienced maternal deprivation, only 2/44 in control group experienced prolonged separation, so Bowlby concluded prolonged early separation/deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy
What is a limitation of Bowlby theory of maternal deprivation
It is based on poor quality evidence as Bowlby carried out both child’s and family interview so he may have been bias as he knew in advance who to expect psychopathy in, also Bowlby was influenced by Goldfarb study on wartime orphans which led to issues of confounding variables such as early trauma and institutional care as well as prolonged separation from primary caregiver which means Bowlby original source of evidence is flawed and wouldn’t be taken seriously nowadays
What is the counterpoint to Bowlby maternal deprivation having poor quality of evidence
New lines of research show long term effects of maternal deprivation, Lévy separated baby rats from their mother and had permenant effect on their social development but not other aspects of their development which means Bowlby originally based study in flawed evidence but since there has been supporting evidence
What is another limitation of Bowlby maternal deprivation study
The confusion between different types of early experience, Ritter drew important distinction between two early types of negative experience
What were the two types of early negative experience Ritter talked about
Deprivation which is loss of attachment after one has developed and privation which is failure to form an attachment in the first place
What did Rutter say about Bowlby maternal deprivation study
Long term damage is more likely due to privation instead of deprivation, so Goldfarb study may also have observed privation not deprivation
What did Rutter theory say about Bowlby maternal deprivation research
He may have over estimated seriousness of effects of deprivation in children’s development
What is the final limitation of Bowlby maternal deprivation study
The idea of a critical period as for Bowlby damage was inevitable if child didn’t form an attachment in the first 2.5years but there is evidence suggesting good aftercare can prevent any damage
What study contradicts Bowlby idea of critical period
Koluchova reported a case of Czech twins who experienced severe physical and emotional abuse form 18months to 7years, they were severely emotionally damaged but they received excellent aftercare and by teens were fully recovers
What does the case about the Czech twins mean for Bowlby maternal deprivation study
Lasting damage is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation which is why the critical period is better seen as a sensitive period
Why did research into maternal deprivation use orphans
To study emotional and intellectual effects of deprivation, it was a tragic opportunity to see the consequences of institutionalisation in 1990 Romania
Why were there so many Romanian orphans
Former president required women to have 5children and many couldn’t afford this so they ended up in an orphanage
What were the quality of Romanian orphanages
Large and poor quality
What happened after 1989 in Romanian
Revolution happens and many orphans adopted, some by British people
What was Ritter et al procedure in his Romanian orphan study
Ritter et al followed 165 Romanian orphans for many years as part of an English Romanian adoptee study, orphans were adopted by English parents and aim was to investigate the extent of which good aftercare can make up for poor early experiences in institutions
What did Ritter measure and at what ages
Physical, cognitive and emotional development measured at the age of 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25
What did Ritter use as his control group in Romanian orphan study
52 adopted kids from the UK at the same time were the control group
What were Rutter et al findings
When kids first arrived they showed signs of delayed intellectual development and under nourishment, age 11 they showed different rates of recovery depending on when they were adopted, IQ of children adopted before 6months was 102, 6month-2years was 86 and 2years+ was 77, differences remained at age 16 and ADHD common in orphans age 22-25
What did children adopted after 6months show in Rutter study and what did those adopted before 6month show
Adopted after 6months showed particular attachment known as disinhibited attachment, symptoms were attention seeking, clinginess, social behaviour was indiscriminately directed towards all adults, not just caregiver, but those adopted before 6month rarely displayed disinhibited attachment
What was Zeanan et al procedure into Romanian orphans
Zeanan et al conducted a Bucharest early intervention project, assessing attachment in 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months who spent most of their time in institutional care and compared them to a control group of 50 who never lived in an institution, attachment type measured using strange situation and careers were asked about unusual social behaviour which relates to disinhibited attachment
What were Zeanan et al findings in Romanian orphan study
74% of control group were securely attached compared to only 19% of institutionalised kids, disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of orphans but less than 20% of the control group
What is disinhibited attachment and what causes it
Typical effect of spending time in institution, children are squally friendly and affectionate to familiar people and strangers which is unusual as most babies at this age show stranger anxiety
How did Ritter explain disinhibited attachment
The orphans had multiple caregivers during their sensitive period of attachment formation and in poor quality institutions in Romania children may have had up to 50 carers but didn’t spend enough time with only one of them to form an attachment
What did Rutter say most infants showed signs of when arriving in the UK but then what happened
Signs of intellectual disability, but most adopted before 6month caught up with control group by age 4 which means similar to emotional development, damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovers if adoption happens before 6month (critical period)
What was a strength of a Romanian orphan studies
Their application to improve conditions for children growing up outside family homes
What did studying Romanian orphans mean for real world application
It improved psychologists understanding of the effects of early institutional care and how to prevent the worst of these effects according to Langton which led to improvements of conditions experienced by looked after children
What did Romanian orphan studies mean for orphans to come
Children growing up in orphanages now have less numbers of caregivers for each child but instead they have 1/2 main caregivers who play a central role in their emotional care and also institutional care is seen as an undesirable option so a considerable effort is made to accommodate such children in foster care to get them adopted
What did Ritter research mean for orphans in institutions
Children in institutions now have a better chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided
What is another strength of the Romanian orphan studies
Lack of confounding variables, children from Romanian orphan studies had been handed over by loving parents who couldn’t afford them which means they were less likely to be confounded by other early negative experiences so they have high internal validity
What is an example of orphans which were studied but confounding variables were involved
WW2 orphans as they had experienced early trauma and it is difficult to reverse the effect of neglect
What is another strength of the Romanian orphan studies
Lack of confounding variables, children from Romanian orphan studies had been handed over by loving parents who couldn’t afford them which means they were less likely to be confounded by other early negative experiences so they have high internal validity
What is an example of orphans which were studied but confounding variables were involved
WW2 orphans as they had experienced early trauma and it is difficult to reverse the effect of neglect
What is the counterpoint to lack of confounding variables in Romanian orphan studies
Studying children from Romanian orphanages may have introduced different confounding variables as the quality of care in these institutions were poor and children received little intellectual stimulation or comfort which means harmful effects seen in studies of Romanian orphans may represent the effects of poor institutional care rather than institutional care on the whole
What is a limitation of the Romanian orphan studies
There is a current lack of data on adult development, latest data from ERA study looked at the children in their early to mid 20’s which means there is no current data to answer some of the most interesting research questions about the long term effects of early institutional caregiver
What research questions are yet to be answered about Romanian studies due to lack of data on adult development
Lifetime prevalence of mental health problems and participants success in forming and maintaining adult romantic and parental relationships
Why is it hard to to gather adult development data from orphan studies and what does this mean
It will take a long time to gather this data due to the longitudinal design of the study like the same participants being followed for a long period of time which means it will be some time before we know more completely what the long term effects are for the Romanian orphans and it is possible that late adopted children may catch up but tests have not be carried out for us to know
Orphan studies
Concern children placed in care as their parents can’t look after them, an orphan is a child whose parents have either died or have permanently abandoned them
Institutionalisation
A term for the effects of living in an institutional setting. Institution refers to a place like a hospital or orphanage where people live for long, continuous periods of time. In such places there is little emotional care and in attachment research we are interested in the effects of institutional care on children’s attachment and subsequent development
What did Bowlby suggest about babies attachment to their primary caregiver
It leads to a mental representation of their relationships, internal working model acts as a template for the future childhood and adult relationships
Why is quality of babies first attachment crucial
The template will effect the nature of their future relationships
What will happen is a child’s first attachment is loving and reliable
They assume this is how relationships are meant to be so they will seek functional relationships and behave functionally with them
What are qualities in a relationship where the baby had a loveable upbringing
They are involved, uninvolved suggests insecure-avoidant or if they are controlling and argumentative they are insecure-resistant
What is likely to happen to a child with bad experiences first experiences in their future relationships
They will bring there first experience qualities to later relationships, they may struggle to form relationships (avoidant) and may behave inappropriately within a relation (resistant)
What is attachment type associated with
Quality of peer relationships in childhood
What did Kerns say about secure and insecure babies
Secure babies go on to form the best quality childhood friendships but insecure babies will find difficulty in making friendships
What can predict bullying
Attachment type
What did Myron-Wilson and smith assess and how
If bullying and attachment type correlate, Used a questionnaire with 196children age 7-11 in London
What were Myron-Wilson and smiths results
Secure were very unlikely to be involved in bullying, avoidant were likely to be victims and resistant were likely to be bullies
What two major adult experiences are affected by internal working model
Romantic relationships and parental relationships with their own child
What did McCarthy study
Studied 40adults women who were assessed as babies to establish their early attachment type
What were McCarthy findings
Secure babies had best adult friendships and romantic relationships, insecure-resistant had issues maintaining friendship and avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships
Why are attachment types often passed through generations in families
Parenting style based on internal working model
What was Bailey et al study using 99mothers
Considered attachment of 99mothers to their babies and then to their own mothers, mother-baby attachment was assessed using strange situation and mother-mother attachment assessed using adult attachment interview
What were Bailey et al attachment findings
Majority of women had the same attachment classification both to their baby and to their mother
What classic study did Hazan and Shaver procedure
Analysed 620 replies to a love quiz in a local American newspaper, the quiz had 3 sections: 1st assessed respondents currant or most important relationship, 2nd assessed general love experiences such as number of partners, 3rd assessed attachment type by asking respondents to chose which 3statements best describe their feelings
What was the love quiz aim
To look at association between attachment and adult relationships
What were Hazan and Shaver love quiz findings
56% of respondents were securely attached, 25% were insecure-avoidant, 19% were insecure-resistant
What were the conclusions from Hazan and shavers love quiz
Those with secure attachment were likely to have good, long lasting romantic experiences, avoidant respondents tend to revel jealously and fear of intimacy, findings suggest patterns of attachment behaviour are reflected in romantic relationships
What is a strength of research into attachment and later relationships
There is Supporting evidence
What did Fearon and Roisman do in terms of attachment and later relationships
Reviewed these studies and concluded that early attachment consistently predicts later attachment, emotional well being and attachment to own children
What does later development depend on
How strong the relationship is between early attachment type and later development depends on both attachment type and aspects of later development
What does insecure avoidant and disorganised attachment convey about later development
Insecure avoidant shows mild disadvantages in development and disorganised attachment is strongly associated with later mental health
What does secure attachment convey compared to disorganised attachment
If a baby is secure coveys advantages for their future development while while disorganised appears to seriously disadvantage a child
What is a disadvantage of research into attachment and later relationships
Not all evidence supports close link between early attachment and later development
What was Becker-stoll et al longitudinal study
They studied 43 individuals from 1year old, at age 16 attachment was assessed using adult attachment interviews and there was no evidence of continuity
What does not all supporting evidence mean for research into attachment and later relationships
Means it is not clear to what extent quality of early attachment really predicts later development, there may be other important factors
What is a limitation of attachment and later relationships
Most research into the influence of attachment is early attachment is assessed retrospectively
What are most research between link of early attachment and later development not
They aren’t longitudinal and don’t assess attachment in early life and the revisit same person in later life
What do researchers often do instead of longitudinal studies
Researchers often ask adolescent or adult participants questions of their relationships with their parents and identify attachment type from this
What are two validity issues does not doing a longitudinal study for early attachment
1-asking questions relies on honesty and accurate perception of participants, 2-means it is hard whether early attachment or adult attachment is being assessed
What does most studies into early attachment and later development not being longitudinal mean
Means the measures of early attachment used in most studies may be confounded with other factors making them meaningless
What is another limitation of early attachment and later development studies
The existence of cofounding variables
What do some studies like McCarthys assess that is a good thing
Attachment in infancy which means early attachment is valid but even these studies may have validity problems as association between attachment quality and later development may be effected by cofounding variables
What is an example of cofounding variable in early attachment and later development studies
Parenting style may influence both attachment quality and later development, alternately genetically influenced personality may be an influence on both factors
What does confounding variables mean about early attachment and later development
Means that we can never be entirely sure that it is early attachment and not some other factor that is influencing later development
