Attachment: Evaluation Flashcards
Caregiver-Infant Interactions Research AO3
+ research support: Murray and Trevarthen (1985) “Still Face Experiment”, 2 month olds interacted via video monitor with mother in real time, then monitor played tape of mother not responding to infant, acute distress, infants tried to attract interest, turned away
+ methodology: controlled observation, high levels of control, videotaped for inter-observer reliability
- difficulty in reliability: infants mouths in fairly constant motion, expressions tested occur frequently, difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitations, overcome by filming and asking observers to judge
- failed to replicate: Koepke et al (1983) didn’t find infants imitating adults, Piaget (1962) said infants in original copying due to conditioning, being rewarded, infants learnt to respond, no innate interactional synchrony
Stages of Attachment - Schaffer AO3
+ research design: scientific, clear behaviour categories, longitudinal method so same children had follow up observations, better internal validity than cross-sectional design which makes it harder to compare
- biased sample: working class, may apply to that social group not others, 1960s, parental care changed, more women work, children cared for outside home or fathers stay home,number of dads who choose to stay home has quadrupled over past 25 years
- inflexible: stage theory proposes fixed order for development, single attachments must come before multiple, some situations and cultures multiple may come first
Lorenz AO3
+ research support: Guiton et al (1966) demonstrated chickens exposed to yellow rubber gloves for feeding furing first few weeks became imprinted, Lorenz said animals not born with predisposition to imprint on specific object
+ real world applications: used by sheep farmers, new born orphaned lamb not normally accpeted by another ewe who lost lamb, if dead lamb of ewe skinned and pelt tied to orphaned lamb good chance of attachment, olfactory imprinting
- research shown reversible: Guiton et al (1966) disagreed with irreversible nature, did try to mate with gloves, when had chance to spend time with others of species developed taste for mating
- hard to apply to other species: research on birds doesn’t generalis to other mammals let alone humans, mammals tend to form closer emotional bonds, also have ability to form attachments long after critical period in birds
Harlow AO3
+ real world applications: practical value in treatment of other species in captivity and parental neglect of human infants, highlights need for good emotional care in early life, invaluable in helping rescue children from families where emotional care missing
+ research support: act as important pointer in understanding human behaviour, links to what Schaffer and Emerson found, infant most attached to person that feeds them
- not all variables controlled: two heads on wire monkeys different, confounding variable as varied systematically, possible that cloth covered had more attractive head
- ethical issues: suffered physically because of consequences and Harlow’s ‘rape rack’, suffered emotionally in short term and into adulthood, never fully recovered
Learning Theory AO3
- animal studies - lack external validity because simplified view of human attachment
- attachment isn’t based on food - harlow showed it was contact comfort, supported by Schaffer and Emerson
+ learning theory can explain some aspects of attachment - attention and responsiveness are rewards - alternative explanation - bowlby
Bowlbys Theory AO3
- attachment is adaptive - human infants form attachments when they start to be mobile
- a sensitive period rather than critical (Rutter et al)
+ multiple attachments - bowlbys views aren’t contradictory because secondary attachments contribute to one single internal working model
+ continuity hypothesis - securely attached infents later classed as more empathetic and more popular
Strange Situation AO3
- other types of attachment - disorganised (type D) (Main and Solomon)
+ high reliability - inter-observer reliability > .94
+ real world applications - Circle of Security Project - low internal validity - children behave differently depending on which parent (Main and Solomon) though attachment type may be related to primary attachment figure
Cultural Variations AO3
- results relate to countries yet within countries there are cultural differences eg rural v urban Japanese
- cross-cultural research - uses tools developed in one country in a different setting where it has a different meaning (imposed etic)
- culture bias - Rothbaum argues that attachment theory generally has a western bias
Bowlby’s MDH AO3
- emotional rather than physical separation is harmful
+ support for long term effects - women who experienced early separation more liekly to experience depression later in life - individual differences - some children more resilient eg securely attached children in TB hospital
- deprivation v privation - loss of care may not have as serious consequences as total lack of attachment
Romanian Orphan Studies AO3
- individual differences - some children appear to recover despite no apparent attachments within sensitive period
+ real life application - adoption should be as early as possible and then infants securely attached
+ logitudinal studies - show that some changes take a while to become apparent, current studies show some recovery possible - deprivation only one factor - most institutionalised children experience multiple ‘risks’ thus maternal deprivation shouldnt be over exaggerated
- effects may just be due to slower development - fact that children appear to recover suggests effects simply slow down development
Influence of Early Attachment AO3
- correlational research - internal working model may not cause later relationship experiences, temperament may be intervening variable
- retrospective classification - childhood attachment type based on memory of childhood which may be inaccurate, though support from longitudinal study (Simpson et al)
- overly determinist - past attachment experiences do not always determine the course of future relationships
- low correlations - a meta-analysis of studoes suggest correlations between early attachments and later relationships may be as low as .10 (Fraley)
Role of Father AO3
+ type of role: Paquette (2004) found fathers more likely to encourage toddlers to take risks and be brave during physical play, commonly structure talk around active play whereas mothers talk primarily emotional, designed to soothe and reassure
+ research support for equal roles: Field (1978) stated when fathers have role of main caregiver adopt mother behaviours, 4 months interactions filmed with pcg mothers, pcg fathers and scg fathers, pcg fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holidng infants than scg fathers
- studies investigate different aspects: inconsistent findings, some interested in faher as primary figure, some as secondary, some in role in play, some in nurturing
- refuting research: MacCallum and Golumbok (2004) suggested children growing up in single parent families or same sex parent families don’t develop any differently to those in 2-parent heterosexual families
