Attachment: Explanations Of Attachment (L6-9)

Question 1

What does the learning theory suggest?

Answer 1

• all behaviour is learned rather than being innate or inherited from parents

Question 2

People learn behaviour through what 2 types of conditioning?

Answer 2

• classical
• operant

Question 3

According to classical conditioning, how is the attachment bond developed?

Answer 3

• infant born with certain reflex responses
• stimulus of food is unconditioned stimulus which produces reflex of pleasure which is unconditioned response
• person giving food is neutral response but over time become associated with pleasure gained from food
• person becomes conditioned stimulus that produces pleasure as conditioned response
• this is the reason children feel pleasure in caregivers presence

Question 4

Effect of operant conditioning on attachments?

Answer 4

• strengthens attachments
• baby receives positive reinforcement (behaviour producing a pleasant consequence) for crying when hungry as they get fed
• caregiver will receive negative reinforcement (behaviour that removes something unpleasant) for feeding the baby as the baby will stop crying

Question 5

Learning Theory +ve Evaluation:

Answer 5

• plausible and scientific
• founded in established theory
• likely that association between the provision of needs and the person providing those needs can lead to strong attachments

Question 6

Learning Theory -ve Evaluation:

Answer 6

• Harlow (1959) separated infant Rhesus monkeys from mothers and put them in cages
• milk provided either by a wire mesh ‘surrogate mother’ or one made of comfortable soft cloth
• monkeys clung to the soft cloth ‘mother’, especially when scared by an aversive stimulus, even if it did not provide milk
• suggests that comfort is more important than food in determining whom a baby will attach to
  = Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that food is not necessary for attachment to form
  = discovered that babies are often attached to people who play with them, rather than people who feed them
  = in 39% of cases even though the mother was the one who fed the baby the baby was more attached to someone else
• theory explains how attachments form but not why they form while Bowlby’s theory of attachment infants form an attachment to their caregiver to ensure they are protected
  = environmentally reductionist as it explains a complex human behaviour in an overly simplistic way
  = infant and caregiver relationship is a very varied, sophisticated and complicated behaviour, and there are many different types of infant and caregiver attachment
  = so very unlikely that attachment is merely the result of the caregiver providing the infant with food
• also environmentally deterministic as it states that early learning determines later attachment behaviours

Question 7

Why do attachments form, BMT?

Answer 7

• attachment between infants and their caregivers is an instinct that has evolved because it increases the chances of both the babies’ survival and the parents’ passing on their genes
• is therefore adaptive
• infants who are attached to their caregiver will stay close to them and so are well protected and will survive
• parents who are attached to their children will ensure they are well cared for and so survive
• meaning that they will have successfully passed on their genes

Question 8

How attachments form + critical periods, BMT?

Answer 8

• have an innate (biological programmed) drive to become attached to an adult
• innate behaviours usually have a critical period in which they must occur or they never will
• the critical period for attachment is before a child is two years of age
• infant’s who do not have an opportunity to form an attachment during this time will have difficulty forming attachments later on

Question 9

What is attachment determined by, BMT?

Answer 9

• caregiver’s sensitivity
• infants who are the most strongly attached tend to have a caregiver who is responsive, co-operative and more accessible than less closely attached infants

Question 10

What are social releasers, BMT?

Answer 10

• behaviours that elicit care giving
• e.g. smiling and crying
• babies display them to encourage their caregivers to look after them
• important during time of forming attachments to ensure that attachments develop between caregivers and their infants

Question 11

What is monotropy, BMT?

Answer 11

• Bowlby argued that infants will have one special emotional bond, referred to as monotropy
• bond is often with the biological mother but not always
• importance of the monotropic bond is that the infant uses this relationship to form a mental view of all relationships called an internal working model
• infants also form secondary attachments that also provide an important emotional safety net and are vital for healthy psychological and social development

Question 12

If the monotropic bond is secure…

Answer 12

• results in a positive internal working model
  and means that current (such as those with other children), future (such as those with the individual’s own children) and romantic adult relationships will be positive and secure

Question 13

If the monotropic bond is insecure…

Answer 13

• insecure monotropic bond is associated with fear of intimacy and lack of commitment in adult relationships
• if an infant does not have an opportunity to form a monotropic bond then they are not provided with an adequate internal working model for later relationships
• according to Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory, disruption to the monotropic bond before the critical period leads to later emotional problems (e.g. lack of intimacy/commitment)

Question 14

What is the continuity hypothesis?

Answer 14

• proposes that individuals who are securely attached in infancy continue to be socially and emotionally competent
• this is because a secure childhood leads to a positive internal working model

Question 15

BMT -ve Evaluation:

Answer 15

• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) suggest that multiple attachments are more common in babies than monotropy
• found that by 18 months only 13% of the infants had only one person they were attached to
  = feminists like Erica Burman have pointed out that the idea of monotropy is socially sensitive
  = places a terrible burden of responsibility on mothers, setting them up to take the blame for anything that goes wrong in their child’s
  life
  = also puts pressure on mothers to stay at home and give up their careers
  = Bowlby also underestimated the role of the father – he saw father’s role as primarily economic
  = is an outdated sexist view, many families view both parents as equally responsible for childcare, and in many families the father is
  the primary caregiver
• Tizard and Hodges (1989) found that children who had never formed any attachments by the age of four, and were then adopted, could still form attachments to their new adopted parents
• goes against the idea of a critical period before two years of age during which an attachment must form or it never will
  = impossible to test Bowlby’s argument that attachment has persisted in the same form throughout our evolutionary history, making it unscientific
• Kegan (1984) disagreed with Bowlby about the quality of an infant’s attachment being determined by the caregiver’s sensitivity
• explained infant’s attachments to their caregivers in terms of their innate temperament
• his theory suggests some infants are better suited to forming attachments than others due to their innate characteristics
• Rovine (1987) found that infants who had been judged to have signs of behavioural instability between one and three days old were later more likely to have an insecure attachment

Question 16

What is Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation?

Answer 16

• proposed that children who suffer from prolonged emotional deprivation, caused by the absence of their primary attachment figure
  will have:
• long-term intellectual (lower IQ)
• social (delinquency)
• emotional (affectionless psychopathy) difficulties
• even mental health issues (such as depression)
• according to the continuity hypothesis these effects are irreversible and will continue into adulthood due to a lack of an internal working model
• could even lead to an inability to be a good parent

Question 17

When could the negative impact of maternal deprivation occur?

Answer 17

• could occur if the separation occurs before the child is two and a half years old (critical period)
• risk up to 5 years old (sensitive period) if absence occurs and there is no substitute
  mother-figure available to take over the emotional care of the child

Question 18

Bowlby’s Work towards Maternal Deprivation Theory?

Answer 18

• analysed the case histories of a number of his patients in the Child Guidance Clinic in London where he worked
• all children attending this clinic were emotionally maladjusted
• studied 88 of these children
• half of whom had been caught stealing (44 thieves)
• other half were a control group
• B suggested that 14 of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths; they lacked affection, shame and responsibility for their actions
• found that those individuals who had been diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths had experienced frequent early separations from their mothers (repeated stays in foster care, time in hospital etc.)
• 12 of the 14 affectionless psychopaths had experienced frequent separations from their mothers compared with only 5 out of 30 of the thieves who were not classed as affectionless psychopaths
• almost none of the control group had experienced early separations from their mothers

Question 19

B Maternal Deprivation +ve Evaluation:

Answer 19

• before Bowlby’s (1953) theory hospitals would not allow parents to visit their children during stays in hospital (or would only allow infrequent visits – e.g. once a week)
• often had a profound and damaging effect on the child
• nowadays parents are actively encouraged to stay in hospital with their children
  = Spitz (1945) examined children raised in a poor quality orphanage in South America
  = members of staff were overworked, under trained and rarely gave the children any attention or affection
  = children displayed anaclitic depression (loss of appetite, sleeplessness and sadness)
• Skodak and Skeeles (1949) found that children placed in institutions that only looked after them physically scored poorly on intelligence tests
• but when same children were transferred to a different institution which gave the children emotional care the IQ scores improved by almost 30 points

Question 20

B Maternal Deprivation -ve Evaluation:

Answer 20

• effects of maternal deprivation have been shown to be reversible
• children who had never formed attachments and were adopted after the age of four were still able to form attachments to their new parents (Tizard et al.)
  = B did not really distinguish between deprivation (when the attachment figure is lost) and privation (when the child has never formed an attachment)
  = could be the latter that causes the extreme negative effects observed in some studies

Question 21

What is institutional care + deindividuation?

Answer 21

• when a child’s living arrangements are outside of the family
• some children are raised in institutions, such as children’s homes, hostels, hospitals etc
• children raised in institutions can adopt the rules and norms of the institution
• could impair functioning and lead to a loss of personal identity, deindividuation

Question 22

Procedure for Romanian Orphans Study, Rutter et al.

Answer 22

• involved 165 Romanian children who spent their early lives in Romanian orphanages, before being adopted
• so suffered from the effects of institutionalisation
• adoptees were tested at regular intervals
  (ages 4, 6, 11 and 15) to assess their physical, cognitive and social development
• their progress was compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted in the UK before the age of six months

Question 23

Findings for Romanian Orphans Study, Rutter et al.

Answer 23

• at the time of adoption the Romanian orphans lagged behind their British counterparts on all measures of physical, cognitive and social development
• by the age of four the Romanian children adopted before the age of six months had caught up with their British counterparts
• but a significant number of individuals adopted after the age of six months still had significant deficits at age four

Question 24

Conclusions for Romanian Orphans Study, Rutter et al.

Answer 24

• study suggests that the long-term consequences of institutionalisation may be less severe than was once thought if children are adopted before six months and receive sensitive parenting
• but, if children are not adopted by six months then the consequences of institutionalisation are likely to be severe

Question 25

Effects of Institutionalisation (6):

Answer 25

1. delayed intellectual development
   - low IQ + conc problems
   - struggle at school, can’t learn new concepts as easy
   - possible delayed language development
2. disinhibited attachment
   - unaware of what appropriate behaviour to strangers is
   - can be overly affectionate + attention-seeking
3. emotional development
   - anger management difficulties
   - more temper tantrums than other children
4. lack of internal working model
   - difficulty interacting with peers + forming close relationships
   - as adults, will have impaired adult relationships
   - may struggle to parent their own children
5. quasi-autism
   - struggle to understand meaning of social contexts
   - can have obsessional behaviours
   - can have lower frequency of pretend play + reduced empathy
6. delayed physical development
   - usually physically smaller
   - lack of emotional care is cause of deprivation dwarfism rather than poor nourishment

Question 26

Effects of Institutionalisation +ve Evaluation:

Answer 26

• studies have enhanced our understanding of the potential negative consequences of institutional care
• has led to the establishment of key workers in
  institutions to provide emotional care for children
  = studies have led to changes in the adoption process
  = in the past mothers were encouraged to nurse their children for as long as possible before giving them up for adoption
  = today most babies are adopted within their first week of life

Question 27

Effects of Institutionalisation -ve Evaluation:

Answer 27

• problems when generalising findings of studies of Romanian orphans as standards of care were particularly poor in Romanian orphanages
• Romanian orphans were faced with much more than emotional deprivation
• physical conditions were appalling, and there was a lack of cognitive stimulation
• likely that long-term damage from institutional care only occurs when there are multiple risk factor
  = possible that the negative effects of institutional care can be reduced by sensitive parenting
  = Le Mare and Audet (2006) conducted a longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada
  = adopted orphans were physically smaller than a matched control group at age four but this difference had disappeared by ten
  = same was true for psychological health
• adoption and control groups were not randomly allocated to conditions in studies of Romanian orphans
• means that participant variables between the children could influence the findings in unanticipated ways
• adopted children might have been adopted because of personal characteristics such as
  resilience or being more sociable
• these characteristics might explain why they were less affected by institutional care, which lowers the validity of the research