Attachment - Done Flashcards
1
Q
What is attachment?
A
A deep strong emotional bond between an infant and its primary caregiver
2
Q
What is reciprocity?
A
- Turn-taking during an interaction
- Infants send out alerts phases through facial or vocal expressions showing they are ready for interaction
- Interaction flows both ways
3
Q
What is interactional synchrony?
A
- Interactions and emotions between caregiver and infant ‘mirror’ each other
- Act as if they were one person
4
Q
What was the aim of Meltzoff and Moore 1977 experiment?
A
To investigate interactional synchrony
5
Q
What was the Procedure of Meltzoff and Moore 1977 experiment? (caregiver interactions)
A
- Researcher sat in front of a 12-21 day old infant producing facial expressions such as mouth opening, tongue protrusion etc
- Infants behaviour was videotaped and played to independent observers who recorded the behaviour they saw
6
Q
What was the findings of Meltzoff and Moore 1977 experiment? (caregiver interactions)
A
Infants imitated adults facial expression and hand movements
7
Q
What are the strength of caregiver-infant interactions?
A
- ## Supporting evidence (Tronicks research mother stops responding)
8
Q
What are the weaknesses of caregiver-infant interactions?
A
- Don’t occur in all cultures (Kenyan mothers)
- Difficulties with reliably testing infant behaviour (infant conscious of movement?)
9
Q
What was the aim of the Schaffer and Emerson experiment
A
To investigate the formation of early attachments
10
Q
What was the procedure of the Schaffer and Emerson experiment
A
- 60 infants from working class homes in Glasgow studied
- Babies and their mothers visited every month for the 1st year and then once at 18 months
- Observation conducted in homes and interviews with mothers
11
Q
What was the findings of the Schaffer and Emerson experiment
A
The researchers found evidence hat attachments develop in 4 stages
12
Q
What are the 4 stages of attachment according to Schaffer and Emerson?
A
- Asocial
- Indiscriminate
- Discriminate
- Multiple
13
Q
What occurs at the asocial stage of attachment?
A
- Form attachments with anyone
- Prefers humans over toys
14
Q
What occurs at the indiscriminate stage of attachment?
A
- Can tell people apart
- Stronger bonds with familiar people
- No fear of strangers
15
Q
What occurs at the discriminate stage of attachment?
A
- Separation anxiety
- Distress with stranger
- They have strong reunion behaviour with PCG
16
Q
What occurs at the multiple stage of attachment?
A
- Attachment with PCG grows
- Form attachments with other people
- Around 5 strong attachments
17
Q
What was the conclusion of Schaffer and Emerson experiment?
A
There are clear stages of attachment and the most important factor in forming attachments is those who plays and communicates with the infant not who feeds them.
18
Q
What is a strength of Schaffer and Emmersons stages of attachment?
A
- High ecological validity (in own homes)
19
Q
What is a weaknesses of Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment?
A
- Biased, unrepresentative sample (all middle class from Glasgow)
- Asocial stage difficult to test (not enough observable behaviour)
20
Q
What is Bowlby’s view in multiple attachments section?
A
- Infants have a special and unique bond to one PCG (monotropic theory)
- Attachments to other people are different in quality to that of the primary attachment figure - secondary attachments
- There is a hierarchy of attachment figures
21
Q
What is Rutters view in the multiple attachments section?
A
- All attachments are equivalent
- Infants can form multiple attachments that are the same in quality as the main attachment figures attachment
- Attachments are integrated to produce the infants attachment type
- Different attachments are formed for different reasons e.g play, food etc
22
Q
What is the strengh of multiple attachments?
A
- Supporting evidence
- Schaffer and Emerson found that 31% of infants at the age of 18 months had 5 or more attachments and only 13% were attached to one person
- Increases validity of multiple attachments
23
Q
What is the weaknesses of multiple attachments?
A
- Difficulty measuring multiple attachments
- Schaffer and Emerson used behaviours such as separation anxiety or smiling as indicators but infant show this with playmates
- May not be reliable in evidence for multiple attachments
24
Q
Why does Schaffer and Emmersons study support the idea of attachments with fathers?
A
75% of infants had formed an attachment with they father by 18 months
25
Why may a father be a secondary attachment figure in regards to biological factors?
Males have low levels of hormones such as oestrogen and oxytocin that biologically predispose us to be more nurturing and caring in attachment formation
26
Why may a father be a secondary attachment figure in regards to social factors?
Traditional gender roles in society mean that males adopt a secondary role. Child rearing is stereotypically a female role
27
What are the strengths of the discussion of role of the father?
- Evidence to support as secondary figure (Geiger: male interaction more exiting compared to mothers but mothers more affectionate and nurturing)
- Evidence showing the importance of the role (Sethna: Two year olds performed better on cognitive tasks if fathers engaged with child by 3 months)
- Evidence that contradicts gender difference in sensitive responsiveness (no differences physiplogically in response in Frodi et all experiment)
28
What are the weaknesses of the discussion of role of the father?
- Fathers not equipped to provide a sensitive and nurturing attachment (Hrdy: less able to detect low levels of infant distress compared to mothers)
29
What was the aim of Lorenz experiment
To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting
30
What is the procedure of Lorenz experiment?
- At point of hatching the goosling eggs split in half
- Half placed under a mother goose and half placed in incubator
- Lorenz was the first movement object for incubator eggs
- First phase of testing: Incubator eggs followed Lorenz and mother goose eggs followed mother
- Next phase involved testing if innate bond could be broken
- All goslings placed in a upside down box for a prolonged period of time before releasing and recording who they followed
31
What is the findings of Lorenz' experiment?
- In both phases of testing the goslings followed the figure they had been imprinted onto
32
What is the conclusion of Lorenz' experiment?
Animals behaviour is an innate drive in attachment
33
What are the strengths of Lorenz' research?
- Supporting evidence: Leghorn chicls exposed to yellow gloss for feeding developed a strong bond for the gloves and tried to mate with gloves (Guiton)
34
What are the weaknesses of Lorenz' research?
- Some observations have been questioned : Guitton reversed importing in chicks which contradicts Lorenz idea that has an effect on later sexual behaviour
- Issues with generalising to humans (different critical period)
- Animal bonds less easily disrupted than human attachment
35
What is the aim of Harlow's experiment?
To test the importance of comfort and security in attachment
36
What is the procedure of Harlows experiment?
Harlow studied attachment using 16 new born Rhesus monkeys
37
What happened in trial 1 in Harlows research?
- Separated new borns from mothers and raised them in cages where they had the choice of two substitute surrogates
- One was a wire monkey which provided food and the other was a cloth monkey which did not provide food
- The monkeys were exposed to a scary object
- Amount of time with each surrogate observed
38
What happened in trial 2 in Harlows research?
- Monkeys were separated and only given one surrogate mother
- Half were placed with the wire mother and half provided the cloth (cloth surrogate fed by other means)
39
What were the findings of Harlows research?
- In first trial infant monkeys spent most time with cloth surrogate ( up to 22 hrs a day). When frightened clung to cloth monkey and only when went to wire monkey when needed food
- In second trial Harlow observed several behavioural differences between those raised with surrogate and those raised with normal mothers : more timid, didn't know how to act, inadequate mothers, difficulty mating and easily bullied
40
What are the weaknesses of Harlows research?
- Ethical issues (separation causes long-lasting social and emotional damage)
- Extraneous variables (surrogate mothers different in looks)
41
What are learnt behaviours in learning theory of attachment?
- Wanting to be close to a caregiver (proximity seeking)
- Distress at seperation
42
How do we learn attachment according to learning theory
Classical conditioning
43
What is the formula for classical conditioning?
NS = NR
UCS = UCR
UCS + NS = UCR
CS = CR
44
What is the classical conditioning formula for learning attachment?
NS (mother) = NR
UCS (food) = UCR (pleasure)
UCS + NS= UCR
CS (mother) = CR (pleasure)
45
What is operant conditioning in attachment?
Attachments are learnt through consequences
46
What is the process of attachment according to operant conditioning?
- The discomfort of being hungry makes an infant cry
- The mothers response to crying is to feed the infant which the infant finds rewarding
- When the infant gets hungry it repeats the behaviour and the mother will feed them
47
What is a primary reinforcer (learning theory)?
Something that satisfies a basic need or drive. E.g. food
48
What is a secondary reinforcer (learning theory)?
Something that becomes associated with the primary reinforcer. E.g primary attachment figure
49
What are the weaknesses of learning theory of attachment?
- May be considered reductionist
- Research that challenges it (Harlow)
- Research shows sensitivity more important (Schaffer and Emerson)
50
What is the strength of learning theory of attachment?
Some parts can explain how attachments form through association and reinforcement
51
Why do infants form an attachment according to Bowlby's monotropy theory?
- Babies have an innate drive to form attachments
- The attachment is adaptive (increases survival)
- Helps infants develop a internal working model for future relationships
- Continuity hypothesis: link between early attachment and later relationships
52
When do infants form an attachment according to Bowlby's monotropy theory?
- There is a critical period for attachment
- 6 mth to 2.5 years
- Have difficulty forming attachments if they don't
53
who do infants form an attachment to according to Bowlby's monotropy theory?
- Monotropy
- Infants only have one special emotional bond and its with the primary attachment figure
- Other people are secondary attachment figures - not as important
54
How do infants form an attachment according to Bowlby's monotropy theory?
- Pre programmed to perform social releasers
- These cause a response from caregiver to ensure survival
- These are met by an instinctive parental response
55
What is a strength of Bowlby's monotropic theory?
- Some supporting evidence - Sroufe et al shows quality of infants attachments affected subsequent relationships
- Lorenz theory supports
56
What are the weakness of Bowlby's monotropic theory?
- Contradictory evidence against continuity hypothesis (Zimmerman et al)
- Evidence against critical period (Hodge and Tizard)
- Contradictory evidence about monotropy (Schaffer and Emerson)
57
Who conducted the strange situation experiment?
Mary Ainsworth
58
What was the aim of the strange situation experiment
To investigate the security of a child's attachment to it's caregiver
59
What was the procedure of the strange situation experiment?
- Controlled observation with a 2-way mirror
- 8 stages each lasting 3 minutes
- Infants were aged 9 to 18 months
60
What behaviour categories did Ainsworth assess during her experiment?
- Stranger anxiety
- Separation anxiety
- Reunion behaviour
- Exploration and secure base
61
What is type B attachment (strange situation)
Secure
62
What would an infants reaction be to their mother leaving (separation anxiety) if they had secure attachment?
Distress when the mother leaves
63
What would an infants reaction being with a stranger (stranger anxiety) if they had secure attachment?
- Avoidant of stranger when alone
- But friendly when the mother is present
64
What would an infants reaction be to their mother returning (Reunion behaviour) if they had secure attachment?
Positive and happy when the mother returns
65
Does a child who is securely attached use their mother as a safe base?
- Yes
- Use her as a safe base to explore there enviroment
66
What percentage of infants are securely attached?
70%
67
What is type C attachment?
Insecure Resistant
68
What would an infants reaction be to their mother leaving (separation anxiety) if they had insecure resistant attachment?
Intense distress when the mother leaves
69
What would an infants reaction being with a stranger (stranger anxiety) if they had insecure resistant attachment?
The infant avoids the stranger and shows fear of the stranger
70
What would an infants reaction be to their mother returning (Reunion behaviour) if they had insecure resistant attachment?
The infant approaches the mother but resists contact, may even push her away
71
What percentage of infants are insecure resistantly attached?
15%
72
What is type A attachment?
Insecure avoidant
73
What would an infants reaction be to their mother leaving (separation anxiety) if they had insecure avoidant attachment?
No sign of distress when the mother leaves
74
What would an infants reaction being with a stranger (stranger anxiety) if they had insecure avoidant attachment?
The infant is okay with the stranger and plays normally when the stranger is present
75
What would an infants reaction be to their mother returning (Reunion behaviour) if they had insecure avoidant attachment?
The infant shows little interest when the mother returns
76
What percentage of infants are insecure avoidant attached?
15%
77
How is a secure attachment established?
By high quality interaction and a sensitive caregiver.
78
How does a securely attached person act in adulthood?
- Highs self-esteem
- Loving
- Trusting
79
How is a insecure resistant attachment caused?
Formed by parents being inconsistent in meeting Childs needs
80
How does a insecure resistantly attached person act in adulthood?
- Needy
- Low self esteem
- Need to be with someone
81
How is insecure avoidant attachments formed?
By PCG being consistently emotionally unavailable
82
How does a insecurely avoidant person act in adulthood?
- fear of intimacy
- Doesn't like commitment
- Struggle to form meaningful relationships
83
What are the strengths of the strange situation?
- Reliable measure of attachment types (lab experiment)
84
What are the weaknesses of the strange situation?
- Low ecological validity
- Ethical issues
- original research incomplete (another attachment style found later by another psychologist)
85
What is the aim of the Van Ljzendoorn and Krooneberg study?
To see if there is inter-cultural variations in attachments
86
What is the procedure of the Van Ljzendoorn and Krooneberg study?
- Conducted a meta analysis of 32 separate studies in 8 different countries using strange situation method
- Over 2000 babies studied
87
According to the Van Ljzendoorn and Krooneberg study what was the most common attachment type in all countries?
Secure
88
According to the Van Ljzendoorn and Krooneberg study what country had the highest amount of insecure avoidant attachment?
Germany - 35%
89
According to the Van Ljzendoorn and Krooneberg study what country had the lowest amount of insecure avoidant attachment?
Japan - 5%
90
According to the Van Ljzendoorn and Krooneberg study what country had the highest amount of insecure resistant attachment?
Israel (29%) and Japan (27%)
91
What is the conclusion of the Van Ljzendoorn and Krooneberg study?
There was inter cultural variations in attachment and there is also intra cultural variations
92
How do Japanese parents act with their children?
- Children encouraged to be very dependant on their mothers and rarely alone
- Japanese infants showed extreme distress when separated from mother in strange situation
- More infants classified as insecure resistant compared to Americans
93
How do German parents act with their children?
- Children encouraged to be independent
- Little distress on separation
- More infants classed as insecure avoidant compared to American infants
94
What was the aim of the Takahashi study?
To see if there are inter cultural variations in attachment between Japanese and American infants
95
What was the procedure of the Takahashi study?
They compared attachment types in 60 middle class Japanese aged under 12 months with American infants using the strange situation
96
What was the findings of the Takahashi study?
- 68% of japanese infants securely attached and 32% were insecure resistant and no infants insecure avoidant.
- 14% of infants in America were insecure resistant
97
What was the conclusion of the Takahashi study?
The findings suggest that there are cross cultural variations in attachment
98
What are the weaknesses of cross cultural research into attachment?
- Ethnocentric (America based)
- Sampling bias for Van Ljzendoorn study (more western studies than eastern)
- Ethical issues with strange situation method
99
Why did Bowlby believe attachment was necessary for normal development?
Provides a healthy internal working model
100
What is maternal deprivation?
Frequent, temporary seperation from the mother disrupting the relationship
101
What are the effects of maternal deprivation?
- Low IQ
- Delinquency
- Affcetionless psychopathy
- Inability to form relationships
102
What topic does the 44 thieves study relate to?
Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation
103
What was the aim of the 44 thieves study?
To investigate the long term effects of maternal deprivation
104
What was the procedure of the 44 thieves study?
- Opportunity sample of 88 children selected
- 44 of these were juvenile thieves
- 44 were controls (hadn't committed a crime)
-Each child had IQ tested, interview their parent about their early life, initial interview with child and parent
105
What was the findings of the 44 thieves study?
- 14 of 44 juvenile thieves showed affection less psychopathy
- 12/14 of these had experience frequent periods of maternal separation
- Only 2 in control group had experienced maternal separation
106
What was the conclusion of the 44 thieves study?
Maternal deprivation in the Childs early life can cause permanent damage to emotional development
107
What are the strengths of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation?
- Supportive evidence (44 thieves study)
108
What are the weaknesses of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation
- Methodological problems (EVs)
- Didn't distinguish between deprivation and privation (rutter)
109
What is institutionalisation?
Concerns the effects (on attachment and development) of care provided by orphanages and residential children's home
110
What was Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation largely based on?
On research conducted on institutionalised children
111
What gave psychologists the opportunity to study the effects of institutionalisation?
In the 1990s media attention was directed to the horrific conditions endured by children in Romanian orphanages
112
What topic does Rutter's study refer to?
Institutionalisation
113
What was the aim of Rutter's study?
To assess the long-term effects of early institutionalisation
114
What was the procedure of Rutter's study?
- He followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain to see to what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions
- Physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at 4,6,11 and 15 years
- A group of 52 British children adopted around the same time acted as a control group
115
What was the findings of Rutter's study?
- At initial assessment most of the Romanian orphans were undernourished, underweight and showed signs of mental retardation. Control group didn't show this
- IQ differences: The younger the age of the Romanian children were adopted the higher their IQ score
- Of the orphans, those adopted before 6 months IQ was 102, 6 months to 2 years was 86, and after 2 years was 77
- Control group less likely to develop attachment disorders
- Romanian orphans adopted after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment
116
What is disinhibited attachment?
Attention seeking behaviour, clinginess, and inappropriate familiarity towards strangers
117
What was the conclusion of Rutter's study?
Institutionalisation has negative effects on PIE but can be overcome by early sensitive, nurturing care (adoption)
118
What does Chugani's study refer too?
Institutionalisation
119
What was the aim of Chugani's study?
To study the neurological effects of institutionalisation
120
What was the procedure of Chugani's study?
Administered PET scans to 10 adopted Romanian orphans and compared them to 17 'normal' adults 7 children
121
What was the findings of Chugani's study?
- Showed mild neurocognitive impairment, impulsivity, attention and social deficits
- The Romanian orphans showed decreased activity in the pre-frontal cortex (regulates emotion and personality), hippocampus (memory) and amygdala (emotions detecting threats)
122
What was the conclusion of Chugani's study?
The stress of early deprivation causes disfunction in certain brain areas and may be linked to long term cognitive and behavioural problems including low IQ, smaller brain, poor emotional and social development
123
What are the physical effects of institutionalisation?
- Dwarfism
- Malnourished and under-weight
124
What are the cognitive effects of institutionalisation?
- Decreased brain activity in amygdala, hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex
- Low IQ
125
What are the emotional effects of institutionalisation?
- Lack of emotional care
- Disinhibited attachment
126
What are the weaknesses of the effects of institutionalisation?
- Final effects may be unclear (Rutter stopped at age 15)
- The sample is unrepresentative of all institutional care (not care is as poor as Romanian orphanages)
- Issues with cause and effect (were not randomly allocated to a condition)
127
What are the strengths of the effects of institutionalisation?
- Real life applications
- The research shows the importance of early adoption and so babies are now adopted within the first few weeks of birth
128
What does the internal working model affect?
Our later relationships, including childhood friendships, romantic relationships and success as a parent
129
Who proposed the continuity hypothesis?
Bowlby
130
What is the continuity hypothesis?
The quality of an infants primary attachment would have an impact on the quality of later relationships
131
What topic does the study by Youngblade and Belsky relate too?
Influence off early attachment
132
What did the Youngblade and Belsky study find?
That 3-5 year olds who were securely attached were more curious, competent, self confident and got along better with other children and were more likely to form strong friendships
133
What topic does the Myron-Wilson and smith study relate too?
Influence of early attachment
134
What did the Myron-Wilson and smith study find?
- Bullying behaviour could be predicted by attachment type
- Securely attached children were unlikely to be involved in bullying
- Insecure avoidance most likely to be victims
- Insecure resistants most likely to be the bully
135
What topic does Hazan and Shaver study relate too?
Influence of early attachment?
136
What was the aim of the Hazan and Shaver study?
To see if early attachment types would influence adult romantic relationships
137
What was the procedure of Hazan and Shaver study?
- A love quiz was printed in a local newspaper
- The quiz asked questions about their attitude to love and relationships including current relationship status and experience, childhood attachment type
- They analysed 620 replies, 205 men and 415 women
138
What were the findings of the Hazan and Shaver study?
- The percentage of adults in the different attachment types roughly matched those of children in strange situation study
- They found a positive correlation between attachment type and relationship experience
139
What were the conclusion of the Hazan and Shaver study?
This suggests that early childhood attachment types do have an effect on romantic adult relationships increasing the validity of the theory
140
What is the parent style of secure attachment?
Available and responsive
141
What is the parent style of insecure avoidant attachment?
Unresponsive and inattentive
142
What is the parent style of insecure resistant attachment?
Anxious and fussy
143
What is the adult relationship experience of those with secure attachment?
Loving, trusting, secure and believes in true love
144
What is the adult relationship experience of those with insecure avoidant attachment?
Fear of intimacy, keeps people at a distance, scared of love and getting too close. Emotional highs and lows. Can be jealous
145
What is the adult relationship experience of those with insecure resistant attachment?
Lack of trust, needy, clingy, needs reassurance, emotional highs and lows. Obsessive and jealous
146
What are the strengths of the influence of early attachment?
- There is supporting research
147
What research supports the influence of early attachment on adult relationships?
- Kirkpatrick and Hazan
- Observed over a 4 year period avoidant individuals were most likely to be dating multiple people at the same time
148
What are the weaknesses of the influence of early attachment?
- Issues with methodology (it is a correlational study)
- The data gathered is retrospective (uses memories which is open to distortion or decay over time)
- Contradictory evidence
149
What is the contradictory evidence of the influence of early attachment?
- Zimmerman et al
- Assessed attachment style of children aged 12 to 18 months and then checked again at the age of 16 years using interviews
- They found that early attachment wasn't a good predictor of later relationships and found life events such as divorce had a greater impact
