Attachment descriptions Flashcards
Attachment definition
A close 2 way emotional bond in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
Reciprocity
From 1 month, babies respond to parents behaviour and illicit a response
Interactional synchrony
Melzoff and moore
Found babies could imitate facial and manual gestures of an adult
Development of attachment
Researchers, description + results (%)
Schaffer and Emerson
-Longitudinal observational study on 60 infants
-Studied at monthly intervals for 18 months
-Mother reported infants response to 7 everyday situations
-Up to 3 months indiscriminate attachment
-4 months preference of certain people
-7 months special preference for 1 attachment figure
-9 months multiple attachments
-Mother was main attachment figure for 65% of children
Stages of attachment
-Asocial 0-6 weeks
-Indiscriminate 6wks to 6 months - prefer human company, don’t prefer specific individuals
-Specific 7-9 months - show separation + stranger anxiety
-Multiple 9 months onwards
4 factors affecting a secure attachment
-degree of sensitivity
-type of attachment to their own parents
-marital intimacy
-supportive co-parenting
Role of the father
3 research
Hardy- fathers are less able to detect low levels of distress in infants
Geiger- father’s play was more exciting, while mothers are more nurturing and affectionate
Lamb- fathers who became main care providers quickly developed and were more sensitive to a child’s needs
Imprinting
aim, procedure, results
Lorenz
-investigate the mechanisms of imprinting
-divided gosling eggs into 2 groups
-one group left with natural mother, other in incubator
-incubator eggs saw Lorenz as first moving object so followed him around
-found Lorenz’s goslings shoed no recognition of natural mother
-critical period between 13-16 hrs
Effects of privation
pps, procedure, results
Harlow
-separated 16 monkeys from mother at birth
-put in cages with 2 surrogate mothers
-1 was wire and gave them food
-other was cloth without food
-monkeys spent more time on cloth mother
-shows contact comfort is more important in attachments than food
privated monkey behaviour
-timid
- didn’t know how to behave around other monkeys, were aggressive
-difficulty mating
-females were inadequate mothers, some killed offspring
Learning theory of attachment
Dollard and Miller
-Classical conditioning- learning through association
Food=UCS gives UCR=pleasure
Caregiver=NS when NS is paired with UCS it causes baby to associate caregiver with feeling of pleasure (CR)
-Operant conditioning- learning through reinforcement
Behaviour resulting in positive rewards is positively reinforced
Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment
-attachment is an innate, reciprocal process
-evolutionary function, well attached=protected
-babies born with social releasers eg.smiling to make parents love the baby
-form one main attachment which provides an internal working model for all attachments
-need to attach before the age of 3 (critical period)
-law of continuity- more predictable the care, stronger the attachment
-law of accumulated separation- effects of separation add up
Strange situation
pps, procedure, %s
Mary Ainsworth
-100 middle class American infants + mothers
-controlled observation
-8 situations each lasting 3 mins
-observers recorded infants willingness to explore, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, reunion behaviour
-66% securely attached
-22% insecure avoidant
-12% insecure resistant
Cross cultural variations in attachment
Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg
-meta analysis of 32 studies in 8 countries using strange situation
-studied over 2000 babies
-most secure in GB with 75%
-most avoidant in Germany 35%
-most resistant in Israel 29%
Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
-strong attachment to mother was essential for development of babies
-loss of existing attachment can cause long lasting problems eg. affectionless psychopathy
-if separated from primary caregiver for long durations in first 2.5 yrs of life (critical period) damage was inevitable
-children deprived of maternal care will have abnormally low IQs
-lack emotional development, so can cause affectionless psyhchopathy
Effects of institution
research
Rutter - English and Romanian adoptee study
-followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain
-compared to 52 British children adopted by the age of 6mths
-tested regularly for physical, social + cognitive development
-Romanian orphans lagged behind control group in all aspects of development
-but by the age of 4 orphans had caught up with the control group
-so long term consequences are less severe than first thought if children can form attachments early
Disinhibited attachment
Child doesn’t prefer their parents over other people, they seek comfort and attention from anyone
Privation
occurs when children have never formed an attachment
Deprivation
occurs when children are separated from their primary attachment
Ex-institutional children
research
Hodges + Tizard
-longitudinal, natural study
-65 children from an institution who had experienced early privation
-24 adopted, 15 returned to natural homes (restored)
-found adopted children formed closer attachments
-both groups were more likely to seek for adult attention/ approval
Effects of institutionalisation
-physical underdevelopment- usually smaller
-intellectual under-functioning
-disinhibited attachment- attention seeking, clingy towards all adults
-poor parenting
Childhood relationships research
Stroufe et al.
-longitudinal study
-followed children from 12 months to adolescence
-children who were securely attached were more popular, had more initative, had higher self esteem etc.
Love quiz
aim, procedure
Hazan + Shaver
-investigated correlation between early attachment type and future romantic relationships
-quiz consisted of 2 components- measure of attachment type + love experience questionnaire
-printed in local newspaper
-attachment types classified according to Mary Ainsworth type of attachment
-found high correlation between infant attachment types and adult romantic love styles
