Attachment and Social Relationship

Question 1

What is the social convoy perspective on relationships?

Answer 1

A model where factors in life such as spouse, friends, work and parents circle around the individual at different distances. Relationships with these things have different emphases at different times of life.

Question 2

What is the attachment theory perspective on relationships?

Answer 2

It emphasises the key role our first social relationship (most likely with caregiver) plays in development.

Question 3

What is attachment?

Answer 3

A strong and affectional tie binding a person with their intimate companion (Bowlby)

Question 4

How do we know if an infant is attached to their caregiver?

Answer 4

• Wanting to seek comfort in them
• Seeking individual to give them confidence
• Is smiling and has a positive response towards individual
• Desires to maintain proximity with individual
• Is a preferred individual
• Derives a sense of security from the individual

Question 5

What are the attachment phases?

Answer 5

Undiscriminating social responsiveness: from birth to 2 months, they’re responsive but not attached to any particular individual
Discriminating social responsiveness: from 2-6 months, they are more responsive to attached individual
Active proximity seeking/true attachment: 6 months - 3 years, feeling distressed when caregiver leaves, stranger anxiety
Goal-corrected partnership: 3 years and up, child and parent negotiates autonomy and limits within relationship

Question 6

Explain the stranger situation

Answer 6

• Parent, baby and experimenter present
• Parent and baby alone
• Stranger joins parent and baby
• Parent leaves baby and stranger alone
• Parent returns and stranger leaves
• Parent leaves, with infant completely alone
• Stranger returns
• Parent returns and stranger leaves

Question 7

How does an infant with secure attachment respond in the stranger situation?

Answer 7

They would be distressed when the parent leaves and seeks reunion when they return. They then calm down quickly after being comforted

Question 8

How does an avoidant attachment infant respond in the stranger situation?

Answer 8

They don’t seem distressed during the separation and ignore their parent upon return. They make few demands of caregiver

Question 9

How does a resistant attachment infant respond in the stranger situation?

Answer 9

They are distressed when the parent leaves, seek reunion when they return, but then resist it

Question 10

How does disorganised/disoriented attachment infant respond in the stranger situation?

Answer 10

They are inconsistent in their response, but have features from both avoidant and resistant attachment styles

Question 11

What are features of forming attachment with an infant?

Answer 11

• They are not automatic
• There is a sensitive period of 3 years
• Caregiver-infant attachment is reciprocal
• Being responsive (over-stimulation/under-stimulation is not good)

Question 12

How does the caregiver respond in a secure attachment with infant?

Answer 12

They are generally responsive and sensitive to the cues of the infant

Question 13

How does the caregiver respond in an avoidant attachment with infant?

Answer 13

They are often unresponsive.

Question 14

How does the caregiver respond in a resistant attachment with infant?

Answer 14

They over-stimulate or under-stimulate, or are unpredictable and inconsistent in their responses

Question 15

How does the caregiver respond in a disorganised attachment with infant?

Answer 15

They tend to be feared or fearful, particularly associated with emotional problems. E.g. they are either negative and hostile or passive and helpless

Question 16

What affects the attachment quality between a child and their caregiver?

Answer 16

• Everyday life stressors: affects responsiveness and sensitivity
• Cultural variations: some encourage independence and discourage clinginess (more likely to be avoidant); some emphasise oneness and physical touch (more likely to be resistant)

Question 17

Implications of social deprivation on early attachment

Answer 17

E.g. Romanian orphan
- Either emotionally withdrawn or too friendly or both when grown
- If 6 months or under: 40% able to form secure attachment
- More than 6 months: 30% able to form secure attachment, but 50% disinhibited in attachment

Question 18

Why does early attachment matter?

Answer 18

• Allows the infants to construct internal working models about how relationships work (and how acceptable they are)
• Influences the quality of later relationships

Question 19

Empirical evidence of internal working models of attachments in infants

Answer 19

• 13 month old infants
• Habituation event: shown a video two circles going up a series of steps, and then being separated. Shown until bored
• Test: either shown a responsive caregiver (where they turn around to help) or unresponsive caregiver (they keep going)
• Results: Infants with secure attachment found it unexpected for unresponsive caregiver condition, and infants with insecure attachment found it unexpected for responsive caregiver

Question 20

What does attachment look like in late childhood?

Answer 20

A securely attached child will become cognitive and socially competent, with expectations of positive reactions from their caregiver.
An insecurely attached child will be withdrawn, dependent and fearful. They are less competent to deal with situations.

Question 21

How does early attachment affect adult romantic relationships?

Answer 21

Dependent on view of others and view of self (positive or negative): if both positive, then secure; if negative of others and positive of self, then dismissing (avoidant); if positive of others and negative of self, then preoccupied (resistant); if both negative, then fearful.

Question 22

What is the basis of Family Systems theory?

Answer 22

It is that elements within the system are all interdependent and can only be fully understood in that context

Question 23

What are the basic principles of FST?

Answer 23

• Interactions are feedback loops
• Not linear, instead bidirectional
• They have homeostatic features that maintain certain patterns
• Systems evolve and change over time
• Systems consist of subsystems
• Individuals within the system can have memberships to multiple subsystems
• Subsystems are separated by boundaries
• There are ripple effects in changes to one relationship dynamic

Question 24

Benefits to FST

Answer 24

It is a conceptually rich understanding of how families work and what they are. These systems are integral in understanding family function. Helps us to understand how individuals are shaped by their contexts and shape their contexts

Question 25

Critiques of FST

Answer 25

It is a complex system, making it hard to isolate individual impact and to measure and statistically examine them. It was argued to be more of a metaphor (theoretical and abstract).

Question 26

How can we measure FST?

Answer 26

Analysing how relationships between adults (as a couple) could impact the relationship between the adult and the child

Question 27

How does co-parenting fit into FST approach?

Answer 27

It recognises that parenting is not an individual endeavour, has to be a unit working together for the benefit and sake of the child

Question 28

What is conflict-co-parenting spillover?

Answer 28

It occurs when an adult’s hostility during a couple’s argument persists in subsequent hostility during play activity with the child

Question 29

Empirical evidence about conflict-co-parenting spillover.

Answer 29

Procedure:
- 7 minute couple conflict discussion
- Subsequent 10 minute semi-structured family activity, working together to build a tower
- Coders rated hostility expressed during co-parenting
Results:
- Fathers: if involved in conflict hostility, they will have more spillover, regardless of attachment anxiety
- Mothers: if having high attachment anxiety, they will show more spillover when involved in conflict hostility prior to the play activity
- Partner effects: father more likely to be hostile when coparenting if mother is hostile during conflict. Secure women able to reduce partners’ conflict spillover (not true for fathers)

Question 30

Why are fathers’ conflict hostility vulnerable to spillover?

Answer 30

• Societal and cultural expectation of fathering is less central to men’s identities in general
• Less policing in men’s family roles
• More blurry boundaries between the couple and parenting domains for men

Question 31

Why are secure mothers able to downregulate their own and the father’s conflict hostility during the play activity?

Answer 31

• Societal expectations of motherhood tied to being a woman
• Clear sense of responsibility over the household
• Greater identity-related differentiation between the couple and parenting domains
• Greater responsibility for parenting and success