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A-Level Psychology Year 1 > Attachment- Infant & caregiver, animal studies, explanations of At., SS, Type of At., Cultural variations- TB > Flashcards

Attachment- Infant & caregiver, animal studies, explanations of At., SS, Type of At., Cultural variations- TB Flashcards

1
Q

What is attachment?

A

A close bond between two people that serves the function of protection of the infant

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2
Q

What are 5 needs for attachment formation that could hinder it too?

A

1) (Consistency of) Care
2) Sensitivity
3) Good health
4) Sight
5) Hearing

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3
Q

What are 5 attachment behaviors?

A

1) Separation protest
2) Proximity seeking
3) Stranger anxiety
4) Safe/secure base effect
5) Pleasure at reunion

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4
Q

What are 4 features of reciprocity?

A

1) Coordination
2) Eliciting responses (non-verbal)
3) Important for later communication - carer learns about infant’s needs
4) Foundation for later attachments

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5
Q

What are 2 features of interactional synchrony?

A

1) Imitation
2) Innate (not learned)

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6
Q

What is reciprocity?

A

When an action or actions elicit coordinated responses and non-verbal conversation between infants and caregivers which is a foundation for later attachment between them.

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7
Q

What is interactional synchrony?

A

Where infants imitate actions of another: proven by Meltzoff & Moore’s imitation experiment 1977

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8
Q

What is proximity seeking?

A

The desire to be physically close to the carer

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9
Q

What is separation protest?

A

Distress at separation from carer

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10
Q

What is pleasure at reunion?

A

Quickly settled upon being reunited with carer

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11
Q

What is safe/secure base effect?

A

Willingness to explore environment when carer is near. infant will check regularly that carer is near to know whether it’s safe or not

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12
Q

What is stranger anxiety?

A

Distress at stranger interaction (in safer environments infants may approach a stranger)

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13
Q

What is Schaffer and Emerson’s first stage in their theory of the development of attachment?

A

From birth-2 months
“Indiscriminate (asocial) attachments”
A similar response to all objects and a greater preference to people at end of stage as well as interactional synchrony and reciprocity playing a role in developing attachments

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14
Q

What is Schaffer and Emerson’s second stage of the development of attachment?

A

From 2-4 months
“Beginnings of attachment/ indiscriminate”
Seek attention from a number of people- no stranger anxiety

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15
Q

What is Schaffer and Emerson’s third stage of the development of attachment?

A

4-7 months
“Discriminate Attachment” or “Specific attachment”
Typically develop strong attachment to one person showing separation protest and stranger anxiety

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16
Q

What is Schaffer and Emerson’s 4th stage of attachment?

A

7-9 months
“Multiple attachments”
Strong emotional ties with other carers develop

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17
Q

Why might Schaffer and Emerson’s study have a BIASED SAMPLE?

A

1) Temporal validity/bias (1960’s)
2) Only working class families- one social group
3) Cultural bias (individualistic and collectivist culture)

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18
Q

What is monotropy?

A

Bowlby’s theory that infants develop one special emotional relationship/ attachment

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19
Q

Who challenged monotropy and how?

A

Rutter, he believed infants develop multiple equal attachments that combine to form overall attachment type

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20
Q

What is another social problem with Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

A

Doesn’t allow for individual differences

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21
Q

Why might Schaffer and Emerson’s study be UNRELIABLE?

A

1) Social desirability bias
2) Subjective opinions to babies actions (internal validity)

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22
Q

What were Schaffer and Emerson’s findings about father-infant relationships?

A

Father’s were less likely to be the primary attachment figure due to them being around the infant less

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23
Q

Who counter argued Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

A

Lamb- Reported that there was little relationship between father accessibility and infant-father attachment- quality more importsnt

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24
Q

What two factors might affect father-infant attachment?

A

1) Biology (lack of oestrogen)
2) Cultural expectations (feminine to stay at home and care)

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25
What did Frank and Frodi individually find?
Frank found that fathers could be primary attachment, but biological and social factors discourage it, and Frodi found that there was no physiological difference between men and women's reactions to a crying infant video
26
Why could men being less sensitive be positive?
It fosters problem solving as it makes the infants have greater communication and higher cognitive demands
27
What did Grossman and Varissimo find?
1) Quality of mother- infant attachment affects infants adolescence 2) Quality of father- infant attachment affects childhood friendships
28
What is a benefit of a strong father- infant attachment?
Better social skills
29
Why is it hard to establish significance of father- infant attachments?
Can't be put into correlational data as other factors (social or economic) have an effect on problematic behaviors too
30
What are the 2 key studies in animal studies of attachment?
1) Harlow's Monkeys (1959) 2) Lorenz's geese (1935)
31
What were 2 conditions made by Harlow?
1) Cloth monkey mother 2) Wire monkey mother
32
What was Harlow studying?
Safe base effect and proximity seeking
33
What were Harlow's findings?
The monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth mother despite it not having the feeding bottle, and only went to the wired mother for food & clung to the cloth mother when frightened
34
What was Harlow's aim?
To investigate the basis of attachment
35
What are the 2 explanations of attachment?
1) Learning theory (behaviourist) 2) Bowlby's monotropic theory (evolutionary)
36
What does learning theory suggest?
That attachment is learned, not innate & that food is the basis of attachment
37
What is classical conditioning?
Attachment by association, where the carer is associated to food (food is good so carer is good)- involuntary behaviour
38
What do the abbreviations stand for in classical conditioning and what are they in attachment?
UCR= Unconditioned response- Happiness UCS= Unconditioned stimulus- Food NS= Neutral stimulus- Carer CS= Conditioned stimulus- Carer after pairing CR= Conditioned response- Happiness
39
What are the steps to classical conditioning?
UCS=UCR NS=no response Paired UCS & NS=UCR CS=CR
40
What is operant conditioning?
Attachment by reinforcement, where food is the primary reinforcer & the provider of food s the secondary reinforcer
41
What is positive reinforcement?
Adding something positive (food)
42
What is negative reinforcement?
Removing something negative (removing hunger)
43
What are 3 criticisms of learning theory?
1) Based on animal studies 2) Attachment isn't just based on food 3) Simplistic
44
What is a strength of learning theory?
1) Explanatory power- infants do learn by association & reinforcement
45
What is punishment?
An undesirable consequence following a behaviour- making it less likely to occur
46
What does Bowlby's monotropy theory suggest?
That attachment is innate & evolutionary- about survival
47
What are 4 things Bowlby's monotropy theory involves/suggests?
1) Has a critical period (3-6 months) 2) Social releases used to encourage it 3) Template for future relationships- Internal working model & continuity hypothesis 4) One significant attachment
48
What 2 studies support Bowlby's theory?
1) Hazan & Shaver (1987)- Continuity hypothesis 2) Sproufe (2006)- Minnesota parent-child study
49
What are 5 criticisms of Bowlby's theory?
1) Sensitive period, not critical 2) If it's adaptive, why doesn't it start until 3-6 months 3) Multiple attachments vs monotropic model- multiple form IWM 4) Schaffer & Emerson- multiple attachments were the norm (1/3 fathers too) 5) Kagan's temperament hypothesis
50
What is the multiple attachment model?
All attachments are equal & merge to one attachment style
51
What is Kagan's temperament hypothesis?
An infant's innate emotional personality explains attachment behaviour
52
What was Hazan & Shaver's experiment and when was it?
The love quiz (1987)
53
What was Hazan & Shaver's aim?
To test the internal working model
54
What were Hazan & Shaver's findings?
People's attachment types in their early life were reflective to their current relationship style
55
What was Ainsworth's Strange situation's aim?
To investigate and classify attachment type
56
What was the procedure for Ainsworth's Strange situation?
Involved 8 episodes, roughly 3 minutes each, with each stage measuring particular behaviours, the data was recorded using a video recorder using a one-way mirror
57
What were the 8 episodes of the SS and what did they measure?
1) Parent & infant play 2) Parent sits while infant plays- secure base 3) Stranger enters & talks to parent- stranger anxiety 4) Parent leaves, infant plays & stranger offers comfort- separation anxiety 5) Parent returns, greets infant & offers comfort, stranger leaves- reunion behaviour 6) Parent leaves infant alone- separation anxiety 7) Stranger enters & offers comfort- stranger anxiety 8) Parent returns, greets infant & offers comfort- reunion behaviour
58
What behaviours are measured in the SS?
Separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, reunion behaviour & exploratory behaviour
59
What were Ainsworth's findings?
1) 66% of US infants showed Secure attachment (Type B) 2) 22% of US infants show insecure- avoidant attachment (Type A) 3) 12% of US infants show insecure- resistant attachment (Type C)
60
What were Ainsworth's conclusions?
Most USA infants seemed to be securely attached
61
What are 4 points about secure attachment (Type B)?
1) Infants with harmonious & cooperative interactions with the caregiver 2) Mild separation protests and stranger anxiety 3) Show safe base effect 4) Infant is quickly comforted & resettled on reunion with carer
62
What are 4 points about insecure- avoidant attachment (Type A)
1) Avoid interaction & intimacy with others 2) Show little response to separation & don't seek proximity from carer 3) Explore with or without caregiver being present 4) High levels of anxiousness
63
What are 3 points about insecure- resistant attachment (Type C)?
1) Immediate & intense distress with separated from caregiver 2) Seeks intimacy & social interaction 3) Infants display conflicting desires for and against contact on reunion
64
What are 3 criticisms of Ainsworth's findings?
1) Fourth type of attachment (insecure- disorganised attachment, Type D) 2) Low internal validity- Can be argued it measures the quality of one particular relationship as infants behave differently with different parents so attachments may differ 3) Cross-cultural validity- Only US people so other cultures aren't taken into account
65
What are 2 strengths of Ainsworth's findings?
1) Reliability of observations- nearly perfect agreement when rating explanatory power 2) Real world application- Cooper et al. Circle of Security Project
66
What was Cooper et al.'s Circle of Security Project?
Taught caregivers to understand signals & distress if infant- Found that the number of disordered attachments decreased from 60 to 15% & secure attachments increasing from 32- 40% Supports notion that research on attachment types can improve children's lives
67
What is meta-analysis?
When a researcher examines the findings of a number of studies and creates a statistic to represent the overall effect
68
What is an individualistic culture?
A community that prioritises the individual over the community
69
What is a collectivist culture?
The needs & goals of the group as a whole come first over the needs & desires of each individual
70
What are cultural variations?
Different groups of people differ in relation to their social practices
71
What does intra-cultural mean?
Differences of the findings within the same culture
72
What does inter-cultural mean?
Differences of the findings between different cultures
73
What is imposed etic?
A form of cultural bias when a researcher assumes a measuring tool can be measured in other cultures
74
What did Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988) do?
Conducted a meta-analysis of the findings of 32 countries which explored attachment behaviour- including 2000 studies that used the strange situation in over 8 countries
75
What was the aim of Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg's research?
To understand whether inter-cultural & intra-cultural variations existed
76
What are 3 things Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg found on inter-cultural variation?
1) Small differences 2) Secure attachment was most common in all countries 3) Insecure-avoidant was second most common everywhere except for Japan & Israel
77
What are 3 findings by Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg on intra-cultural variation?
1) Variation within cultures was 1.5 times greater than variation between cultures 2) Secure attachment was most common in all countries 3) Insecure-avoidant was 2nd most common in all countries apart from Japan & Israel
78
What did Grossman & Grossman (1991) find to do with cultural differences?
Higher levels of insecure-avoidant attachment in German infants- due to different childcare practices & German culture
79
What did Takahashi (1990) do?
Conducted strange situation with 60 Japanese infants- showed secure attachments but also high IRA, and 90% showed extreme stress so the study had to end
80
What did Harlow conclude?
Attachment is based on care & comfort, not food
81
What are 3 criticisms of Harlow's study?
1) The mothers differed in more than just the material of them 2) Human's differ in important ways compared to animals (sentient) 3) The study created lasting emotional & psychological harm on the monkeys (relationships, violence)
82
What did Lorenz say about imprinting?
It has a 48 hour critical period, and is key for survival
83
What was Lorenz's aim?
To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where the youngsters follow & form an attachment to the 1st large, moving object they meet
84
What was Lorenz's procedure?
Split eggs into 2 groups, 1 with mother & 1 with him, 2nd group met Lorenz first and followed him and attached to him
85
What did Lorenz find?
1) Lorenz's goslings showed no attachment to real mother 2) Critical period of 48hrs 3) Some animals won't imprint on humans
86
What were 2 long lasting effects of Lorenz's study?
1) Irreversible process 2) Effected mating partners
87
What is imprinting?
An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother, during the first 48 hours of development
88
What is a critical period?
A restriction to a very definite period where certain characteristics can develop
89
What are 3 criticisms of research into cultural variations in attachment?
1) The sample may not represent the country, but the cultures within that country 2) Researcher bias- indigenous researcher needed 3) SS as a measuring tool- imposed etic- different cultures prefer different relationships e.g. Japan very dependent (insecure resistant)
90
What did Lorenz conclude?
Imprinting is a form of attachment, exhibited mainly by nidifugous birds, whereby close contact is kept with the first large moving object
91
What is the key study for the effects of instituionalisation?
Rutter & Sonuga-Barke- Romanian orphans study
92
What was Rutter & Sonuga-Barke's procedure?
Studied 165 Romanian orphans who spent their early life in institutions, 111 were adopted aged <2, the rest adopted before age 4 Tested them regularly for physical, cog. & emotional development (age 4, 6, 11 &15)
93
What did Rutter & Sonuga-Barke find?
At time of adoption, they were behind british children, but age 4, some caught up & follow ups suggest sig. deficits are corrected
94
What is concluded from Rutter & Sonuga-Barke's research?
Long term consequences of institutionalisation are less severe than previously thought- IF child can form attachments, BUT if not, consequences are severe
95
What are the 4 effects of institutionalisation?
1) Poor parenting 2) Physical underdevelopment 3) Disinhibited attachment 4) Intellectual under-functioning
96
What are 2 strengths of research into institutionalisation?
1) Real world application- improved care of kids & children adopted asap 2) Longitudinal study- long-term effects known
97
What are 3 limitations of research into institutionalisation?
1) Individual differences- Different experiences of institutionalisation e.g. some form attachments with workers 2) More issues than just deprivation 3) Ill effects reduced over time

A-Level Psychology Year 1 (13 decks)

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