Attachment AO3 points Flashcards
Caregiver-infant interactions in humans
Research lacks ecological validity - controlled setting (observation) - difficult to generalise findings to real life setting - child may be shy and interact less due to unfamiliar room – reducing external validity
Research has high control over extraneous variables - such as not having other people in the room as distractions – cause & effect can be established – increasing internal validity
Research prone to bias - As babies cannot speak, inferences must be made about their behaviour - e.g., infant may be smiling due to something in their environment and not because of their caregiver - reducing internal validity
In order to minimise this, there should be two observers present to agree on the findings.
Stages of Attachment/ Multiple Attachments
High ecological validity - observations carried out in families own homes during ordinary activities such as parents leaving the room - easier to generalise findings to real life examples as infants’ behaviour more likely to be representative of everyday interactions - increasing external validity
Social desirability bias - interviews used to gather information - mothers could have lied about their child’s behaviour to present their parenting in best possible light - e.g., may say child is distressed when they leave the room when they are not - lacks internal validity
Culture bias - sample from same city (glasgow) - difficult to generalise findings to other cultures - e.g., psychologists studying non-western cultures, where families often work together to look after children, have found that infants can form multiple attachments from the outset without forming a specific attachment first - limiting external validity
The role of the father
Field - Practical Applications - principles of research, that responsiveness to the child’s needs, not gender, is most important when forming attachments can be used to advise parents when returning to work - mothers may feel pressured to stay at home, fathers may feel pressured to return to work - research in an important part of applied psychology
Grossman - RTC by Macallum and Golombok - Grossman’s research found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had a distinct role in play and stimulation - however, Macallum and Goloboks study found that children growing up in single mother or lesbian parent families do not develop any differently to those growing up in two parent heterosexual families - Therefore, this would suggest that the father’s role may not be distinct - limiting Grossman’s research
Traditional Gender Roles & Female hormone - the fact that father’s tend not to become the primary attachment figure may be due to traditional gender roles - On the other hand, it could be that female hormones (oestrogen) create higher levels of nurturing - women biologically predisposed to be primary attachment figure - Therefore, there are several explanations to consider
Animal Studies of attachment – Lorenz
Practical Applications - principles of research that goslings had to imprint within 12-17 hours otherwise they would not imprint at all and goslings who imprint on humans later show sexual behaviour towards humans when they are adult birds - shows importance of this critical period on future relationships - psychologists can use this info to promote importance of early interactions and reduce issues later in life - important part of applied psych
Animal Bias - conducted on goslings - human attachment may be more complex - human emotions more sophisticated towards their offspring - e.g., attachment in humans is a two-way mutual process where mothers also show emotional attachment to their child - issues with extrapolating findings to humans
Researcher bias - recorded his own observations - may have chosen to only include findings that would support this theory of imprinting - lower internal validity - may not be accurately measuring effects of imprinting on attachment
Animal studies of attachment - Harlow
practical applications - emphasises the importance of comfort in forming an attachment - used by social workers and clinical psychologists in understanding that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development - intervene to prevent poor outcomes - important part of applied psych
animal bias - used baby rhesus monkeys to investigate attachment - human attachment behaviour may be more complex - human emotions more sophisticated to their offspring - issues with extrapolating the findings to attachment in humans
CA - monkeys are humans closest primate, so findings could be generalised
ethical issues - harm inflicted on monkeys - suffered due to procedures and had emotional/social issues later in life and sometimes died - limiting research
CA - Harlow argued the importance of the findings into the formation of attachment outweighed the distress caused to the monkeys - at the time, there was a dominant belief that attachment was due to physical (food) rather than emotional care - Harlow’s research has gone on to create important practical applications
Explanations of attachment: Learning Theory
environmental reductionism - reduced complex human behaviour to simple basic units of learning through stimulus, response and association between feeder and food - neglect holistic approach - e.g., in collectivist cultures where families often work together to look after children, children may form multiple attachments from the outset, not just with who feeds them - lack validity, cant understand behaviour in context
RTC by Harlow - who studied attachment behaviour in monkeys - found that monkesy spent more time with surrogate mother who provided comfort rather than the one who provided food - could be suggested that the same must be true for humans as learning theorists believed that non-humans and humans are equivalent
CA - however, Harlow conduced this on animals so may not be appropriate to generalise to humans, limiting extent to which research can criticise learning theory
RTC by Schaffer and Emerson - Found that babies tend to form attachments to their mother regardless if she was the one who fed them or not - attachment more due to responding to babies signals and interacting with them - Moreover, Research by Field into role of the father, has also shown that best quality attachments are with caregivers that are sensitive and responsive to infants needs - evidencing that feeding infant does not appear to be the most important factor in forming attachments
Explanations of attachment: Bowlby’s monotropic theory
Evidence to support the critical period comes from Lorenz – he found geese have a critical period to attach (imprint) of 12-17 hours otherwise it would not happen – cupports Bowbly’s concept of critical period, that infants must attach within first 2.5 years of life or would be difficult to form attachments later - strengthening Bowlby’s theory
Research to contradict – Schaffer and Emerson, found that infants can form multiple attachments, not just a specific attachment – Multiple attachments may help children to develop socially, emotionally and cognitively - contradicting Bowlby’s theory of monotropy, attachment to just one caregiver, in his monotropic theory of attachment.
RTS IWM by Hazan and Shaver - love quiz questionnaire - securely attached children has happy and long lasting relationships in later life whereas insecurely attached children found it hard to form relationships and many were divorced - supports IWM as a feature of BMT as first relationships acted as a template for future relationships.
CA - Social desirability
Ainsworth’s strange situation
Lack ecological validity - controlled environment (room with two way mirror) - difficult to generalise findings to real life attachment types - infant may not behave how they usually would in their natural environment - e.g., explore room less or interact with stranger less due to being uncomfortable in an unfamiliar environment - lowering external validity
High in reliability - controlled setting (room with two-way mirror), using standardised procedure - e.g., each variable assessed for 3 min intervals - observation can be repeated again to check for consistent results and has been carried out successfully in many different cultures
RTS - Van Ijezendoorn and Kroonenberg - replicated strange situation in USA - found consistent results to Ainsworths - 65% secure, 21% IA, 14% IR - Providing support of the strange situation as a way of assessing attachment types
TOOL criticised for imposed etic - based on american child rearing practices and ignores practices in other cultures - E.g., in Germany, it is common practice for independence to be encouraged in infants, these infants may show IA attachment types, but that would be desirable in this culture - Strange situation may not be appropriate to measure attachment types in other cultures
Cultural variations in attachment
High population validity - meta analysis of 32 strange situation studies, using a large sample of 2000 infants - easier to generalise findings to rest of target population - increasing internal validity
culture bias - over half (18/32) studies carried out in US and only 5 carried out in collectivist cultures - difficult to generalise findings across all cultures
TOOL criticised for imposed etic - based on american child rearing practices and ignores practices in other cultures - E.g., in Germany, it is common practice for independence to be encouraged in infants, these infants may show IA attachment types (lack of separation anxiety) , but that would be desirable in this culture - Strange situation may not be appropriate to measure attachment types in other cultures
Lacks ecological validity - controlled environment (room with two way mirror) - difficult to generalise findings to real life attachment types - infant may not behave how they usually would in their natural environment - e.g., explore room less or interact with stranger less due to being uncomfortable in an unfamiliar environment - lowering external validity
Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
RTS by Bowlby - 44 Juvenile thieves study - interviewed opportunity sample of 44 juvenile thieves to see if they had signs of affectionless psychopathy - interviewed parents to see if there were and long periods of separation during critical period - found that out of the 14 thieves who had prolonged separation, 12 of them had affectionless psychopathy - supporting bowlby’s theory - shows prolonged separations in early childhood can lead to negative consequences
Findings based on retrospective data - relies on memories of parents to recall periods of separation during critical period - could have lied about this info or forgotten it - reduces interval validity and weakens the support the research provides
Criticised for not distinguishing between ‘deprivation’ and ‘privation’ - Rutter claimed that the severe long term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is actually more likely to the result of privation (failing to form an attachment in the first place) rather than deprivation (loss of primary attachment after it is formed) - Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation may be too simplistic or unclear
Romanian Orphans: Effects of institutionalisation
Practical Applications - led to improvements in the conditions experienced by growing up outside their family home - e.g., children’s homes now avoid having a large number of caregivers for each child and instead have one or two key workers who play a central role in the child’s emotional care - + institutional care is not seen as undesirable so considerable effort it made to accommodate children with foster carers or adoptive parents - helps reduce negative effects of institutionalization e.g., dis-inhibited attachments - children more likely to form a bond with only one carer - important part of applied psych
Rutters research has higher control over extraneous variables (than other research into institutionalization) - in previous studies, orphans often experienced trauma, neglect or abuse before being institutionalized - difficult to tell if long term effects were due to neglect and abuse or institutional care - Rutter research - majority of orphans handed over by loving parents who could not afford to keep them - so possible to study effects of institutionalization - increasing internal validity
studying children from Romanian orphans could have introduced different confounding variables - quality of care in institutions was extremely poor - children received very little intellectual stimulation or comfort - harmful effects seen may have been due to poor institutional care rather than institutional care on its own - limiting research
Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships, including role of IWM
RTS by Harlow - separated monkeys from mothers at birth and raised them in cages - therefore had no early attachments. - Found that monkeys found it difficult to form relationships with other monkeys when they were older - e.g., difficulty mating and females were inadequate mothers - Supports influence of early attachment as shows that having negative early attachment can lead to negative relationships later with partners and own children
CA - animal bias
Criticised for being deterministic - states that behaviour is controlled and determined by early relationships - e.g., negative early attachments will lead to a person having negative attachments with their own children - neglects role of free will and choice - e.g individual may choose to have different type of relationship with their child to what they experienced from their parents - limiting research
research based on retrospective data - participants have to think back to early attachments - relies on individuals accurately recalling their early attachment, however memory has been found to be inaccurate - lowers internal validity
