Attachment exam questions the lot of them Flashcards
Describe how Lorenz studied attachment in animals.
Possible content:
* randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs
* half-hatched in an incubator and the first ‘thing’ they saw was Lorenz
* half-hatched with their mother
* once hatched the two groups were mixed up and Lorenz observed who/what they followed
* he varied the time between birth and seeing a moving object so he could measure the critical period for imprinting
* also credit reference to the case study of sexual imprinting in a peacock.
Describe what research with Romanian orphans has shown about the effects of institutionalisation.
impaired language and social skills;
disinhibited attachment for those adopted after 6 months;
most common in the late adopted group; attention seeking, clinginess;
disinhibited attachment persisted in many of the adoptees at age 6 and in over 50% at age 11; physical, cognitive and social developmental delay.
Differential rates of recovery depending on age of adoption. At age 11, mean IQ 102 for those adopted before 6 months; 86 for those adopted between 6 months and 2 years; 77 for those adopted after 2 years
State two effects of institutionalisation.
* mental retardation / low IQ
* delayed language development
* quasi-autism
* disinhibited attachment
* disorganised attachment
* delayed physical development, e.g. restricted growth
* impaired adult relationships
Outline problems with the concept of an internal working model.
Unconscious - can’t get direct evidence from self-report methods, which require conscious awareness. At best these research methods give us indirect evidence of internal working models. This is a weakness of most research involving the IWM.
The quiz assessed 3 different aspects of relationships
respondents current and most important relationship, general love experiences, and attachment type.
Using an example of an attachment research study, explain what is meant by ‘institutionalisation’.
Institutionalisation – living arrangements outside the family/family home
* Results in child adopting rules and norms of the institution that can impair functioning
* Leading to loss of personal identity, deindividuation etc.
* Types of institutions relevant to attachment: eg children’s homes, hostels, hospitals etc.
Explain the economic implications of research into the role of the father in attachment.
increasingly fathers remain at home and therefore contribute less to the economy consequently more mothers may return to work and contribute to the economy
* changing laws on paternity leave − government-funded so affects the economy; impact upon employers
* gender pay gap may be reduced if parental roles are regarded as more equal
* early attachment research, e.g. Bowlby suggests fathers should provide an economic rather than an emotional function.
Briefly outline the findings of one animal study of attachment and explain one criticism of the study.
* Harlow – attachment to cloth mother rather than wire mother or findings of any later variations
ethical issues of separation from mother and emotional harm
Discuss findings of research into cultural variations in attachment.
AO1 – Possible content:
Knowledge of the findings of research into cultural variations in attachment:
*Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) – credit knowledge of individual percentages and more general pattern of findings; more variation within countries than between countries
*Simonelli et al (2014) – lower rates of secure attachment and higher rates of insecure-avoidant in Italian study attributed to long working hours
*Kyoung (2005) – details of comparison between US and Korean children
*Sagi et al (1991) – high rates of insecure-resistant attachments in Israeli children.
Accept other relevant variations, including material on cultural variations in adult attachment.
AO3 – Possible evaluation/discussion points:
*meta-analyses include very large samples increasing validity of findings
*discussion of more variation within countries than between countries
*samples in studies may not represent the culture as a whole
*strange situation may be biased towards American/British culture
*more general methodological/ethical criticisms of the strange situation must be linked to the findings of research into cultural variations for credit.
Discuss the Strange Situation as a way of assessing type of attachment.
Observation in a controlled environment.
*Series of 3-minute episodes – mother and baby; stranger enters; mother leaves; mother returns etc.
*Recording of child’s response in the different stages eg proximity-seeking, accepting comfort from stranger, response to being re-united.
*Analysis of observations leads to measuring infant’s type of attachment as either securely attached, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant.
Possible discussion points:
*Strange Situation research can be replicated (high level of control, standardised procedure) and has been carried out successfully in many different cultures.
*Cultural relativity - the same method may not be appropriate for all cultures because of differences in child-rearing practices (eg van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg found percentages are different in other cultures eg more insecure-avoidant in Germany).
*Validity of some measures can be questioned – eg proximity-seeking may be a measure of insecurity rather than security.
*Variables measured did not take consideration of factors such as temperament and wider family influences.
*Focus on the mother as primary attachment figure.
*Credit use of evidence as part of discussion.
*Accept ethical discussion with justification/explanation
Evaluate the procedure known as the ‘Strange Situation’.
controlled observation lacks ecological validity
* standardised procedure allows for replication
* sole focus on the mother-child relationship
* evidence, eg Bick et al, suggests inter-rater reliability is high
* culture-bound test/imposed etic
* original study used only three attachment types
* procedure may measure something other than attachment type, eg temperament
* discussion of the ethics of the study.
Discuss research into the influence of early attachment on adult relationships.
Bowlby’s theory of the internal working model
primary attachment relationship as a template for later relationships; affects later (adult) relationships and own success as a parent
* Hazan and Shaver’s research on types of adult relationships and the links with Ainsworth’s secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant types
* adult attachment interview (Main et al) continuity between early attachment type and adult classification/behaviours
* research into relationships with own children when they become a parent, eg Bailey et al (2007), Harlow (1966).
In van Ijzendoorn’s cross-cultural investigations of attachment, which one of the following countries was found to have the highest percentage of anxious-resistant children?
Japan
