Attachment - Booklet 3 Flashcards
Ainsworth's Strange Situation: types of attachment, Cultural variations in attachment including Van Izjendoorn, Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation, Romanian orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation, Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships
aim for ainsworth’s strange situation
-observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a child’s attachment to a caregiver
procedure for ainsworth’s strange situation
-100 middle-class american infants
-controlled, non participant observation
-controlled laboratory setting with two-way mirror for psychologists to observe 6 different attachment behaviours
-8 episodes lasting 3 mins each
list the attachment behaviours for ainsworth’s strange situation
*proximity
*secure base behaviour
*exploration
*stranger anxiety
*separation anxiety
*response to reunion
list the episodes for ainsworth’s strange situation
- mother and child enter play room
- child encouraged to explore
(exploration+secure base) - stranger enters and attempts to interact
(stranger anxiety) - mother leaves while stranger is present
(separation+stranger anxiety) - mother enters and stranger leaves
(reunion behaviour, exploration, secure base) - mother leaves
(separation anxiety) - stranger returns
(stranger anxiety) - mother returns and interacts with child
(reunion behaviour)
findings for ainsworth’s strange situation
-infants behaviour falls into 1 of 3 categories:
secure - 70%
insecure avoidant - 15%
insecure resistant - 15%
describe secure attachment
-explore happily but seek proximity back to caregiver (secure base)
-moderate separation + stranger anxiety
-require + accept comfort in reunion stage
describe insecure avoidant attachment
-explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour
-little separation + stranger anxiety
-no comfort at reunion
describe insecure resistant attachment
-seek greater proximity and explore less as see mother as secure base
-huge separation + stranger anxiety
-reisist comfort in reunion stage
conclusion of ainsworth’s strange situation
-sensitivity and responsiveness of mother is what leads to attachment type (maternal/caregiver sensitivity hypothesis)
sensitivity is the ability to:
1. notice childs signals
2. correctly interpret signals
3. respond to signals promptly and appropriately
-more sensitive = more secure attachment
AO3 points for ainsworth’s strange situation
-high reliability due to controlled observation
-small, limited sample
-lacks ecological validity
-ethical issues
AO3 - the use of a controlled observation in the strange situation allows high reliability
-researchers had a high degree of control over the environment and extraneous variables
-so the study was easy to replicate
-inter-rater reliability was good as bick et al looked at inter-rater reliability in trained strange situation observers and there was 94% agreement
-matters because we can be confident the attachment type of an infant does not just depend on who is observing as the behavioural categories are easy to observe
define inter-rater reliability
-the consistency in findings between two or more researchers
AO3 - the strange situation had a small, limited sample
-white, middle class american child-mother pairs
-unrepresentative of other cultures
-culture bound test as the strange situation does not have the same meaning in countries outside the USA
-cultural differences in childhood can lead to different responses - eg in japan separation is rare so separation anxiety is high
-matters as the procedure may not be effective to research attachments in other cultures
-also the results on attachment types may not be valid in other cultures as cannot generalise
AO3 - the strange situation lacks ecological validity
-laboratory experiment
-so a controlled, artificial environment
-cannot be sure the behaviour of the child is reflective of their natural behaviour
-matters because the observational research lacks mundane realism so lacks ecological validity so cannot be applied to real life attachment
AO3 - counter - the strange situation lacks ecological validity
-an artificial environment was necessary to sustain control and prevent the influence of extraneous variables during the observation
AO3 - ethical issues with the strange situation
-unfamiliar environment
-procedure causes distress for child
-lack of protection from harm as psychological harm may continued after the research as the baby may have kept crying
-matters as it reduces the value of the research
AO3 - counter - ethical issues with the strange situation
-attachment behaviours investigated were common everyday situations so the babies were not under more distress than normal
-unfamiliar environment and procedure necessary to ensure natural responses
define an individualist culture
-value the individual over the ‘collective group’
-encourages the child’s individual qualities
-1/2 primary caregivers
eg western cultures: germany, uk, usa
define a collectivist culture
-value the collective group over individuals
-child has multiple caregivers
eg: japan, china
aim for van ijzendoorn’s research
-investigate cross cultural variations in attachment types
procedure for van ijzendoorn’s research
-large scale meta-analysis
-analysed 32 separate strange situation studies from 8 countries
-analysed 2000 babies in total
name the countries investigated in van ijzendoorn’s research
-west germany
-israel
-japan
-china
-usa
-great britain
findings for van ijzendoorn’s research
-secure attachment is most common type in both cultures
-insecure avoidant second most common in individualist cultures
-whereas insecure resistant second most common in collectivist cultures
conclusion for van ijzendoorn’s research
-incidental finding that there is variation within the same countries
eg some studies in america showed large variation in % of secure attachments
-secure attachment is most common in all countries supporting attachments are innate
-attachment type is influenced by cultural child-rearing processes
