Attachment (evaluation) Flashcards
Real or pseudo imitation?
Meltzoff and Moore believed that the imitation was intentional (were intentionally copying the other person) However Piaget suggested that the infants were sort if response training and he believed the true imitation developed towards the end of the first year. The infant was believed by Piaget at the time to repeat a behaviour that was rewarding (through operant conditioning). The caregiver may smile after the interaction which the infant deems pleasurable.
Problems with testing infant behaviour -
Infants mouths are constantly in motion so therefore the actions of sticking out the tongue and smiling are frequent even outside of the study. Makes it hard to distinguish between general behaviour and specific imitated behaviours. However, this problem was overcome and the infants reaction was filmed and observer was asked to judge the infants behaviour, it highlights difficulties of testing infant behaviour but offers improvements of internal validity.
Unreliable data in the Glasgow babies study -
Based on self report data and the mother reports on their infants some may have been less sensitive and less likely to report them therefore showing social desirability bias.
Biased sample of Glasgow babies -
- Working class population and therefore it cannot be generalised to other social groups
- Temporal validity from the 1960’s where parental care of a child has considerably changed as many women now go out to work and some fathers become the main caregiver and stay at home. E.G the number of fathers who stay at home and be a primary caregiver has quadrupled over the last 25 years.
Cultural research and is bias to a westernised culture - (use of the SS)
Based on American perspectives and therefore a willingness to explore may show signs of secure attachment. Whereas, in the culture of Japan dependence rather than independence would be sign of secure attachment, therefore Japanese impacts would appear insecurely attached, the idea of imposed etic is implied here. Lacks validity in other cultures.
Similarities of secure attachments may be due to just one global culture -
Bowlby suggested the reason for universal similarities in how attachments from is due the innate mechanism unmodified by culture, The meta-analysis conducted by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg of the 32 cultures suggest the similarities may be presented from the media which spreads ideas of parenting and caregiver information, so there is evidence for both it being a biological evidence from Bowlby but also the idea of our increasing global culture.
Research of Hazen and Schaver’s love quiz is correlational -
Therefore we cannot claim that the relationship between early attachment and later love styles cause each other, it is possible that attachment styles and later love styles are caused by something different. Such as a persons temperament. This may alter the way the caregiver responds to the infant which may be a determining factor in regulating future relationships. Therefore researchers cannot claim that the internal working model causes an effect later relationships.
The research into the influence on early attachment is similar to the way Bowlby perceives the chances of forming an attachment outside the Critical period (unlikely) researchers have developed the sensitive period -
H and S suggest that the influences of early attachments have fixed effects on later relationships, children who are at the age of 1 are doomed to experience unsatisfactory future relationships suggested by the internal working model, however this is not the case as researchers have found plenty of instances where insecurely attached infants to have happy adult relationships despite not being secure in their attachment.
Further support for the idea of caregiver infant interactions -
De Yong and A B R A V A N E L found in kids 5-12 weeks old that infants respond with specific social responses because when measuring infant behaviour of when interacting with inanimate objects they found they made little responses to these objects and therefore found there is a majority for a social response in infants to caregivers.
Guiton found in Leghorn
Guiton (1966) demonstrated that leghorn chicks exposed to rubber gloves, while being fed for the first few weeks became imprinted on the gloves, suggests that animals do not imprint on anything but something that is moving during the critical window of the period, Guiton’s findings offer clear support on research on conclusions and findings.
Guiton’s research found the effects of imprinting to not be irreversible -
Imprinting was always seen as irreversible. The object they encountered was stamped permanently on their nervous system, it is now seen as more forgiving. Guiton also found that he could reverse the idea of imprinting. He found the chicks initially began to mate with the gloves, he found later that when spending time with their own species, they engaged in normal sexual behaviour of other chickens. Suggesting that imprinting may not be very different from any kind of other learning theory, learning is seen as reversible.
Confounding variable -
A problem with Harlow’s study is that the two contrasting stimulus varied in more ways than being cloth-covered or not. The two heads were also very different, which acts as a confounding variable because it varied systematically with the IV. It is possible that one of the mother’s was was preferred due to having a more attractive head, therefore the study lacks internal validity.
Problems with generalising animal behaviour to human behaviour -
Humans have conscious behaviour and cannot be generalised to closed situations and rhesus monkeys.
Learning theory is believable due to the constant association between mother and infant in the first year -
Dollard and Miller found that babies get fed over 2000 times a year, suggesting that babies have multiple opportunities in the first year to associate getting food with the mother
Other factors other than food suggest why attachments form so LT lacks the consideration of other elements -
LT suggests that for the key element of attachment to form, food must be present, research from Harlow (1959) suggests that infant rhesus monkeys were most attached to the wire to contact mother whether they provided food or not. Even though this study involved animals, Schafer and Emerson support the research. Ideas imply that it is oversimplified and ignores the idea of other important factors like comfort.
