Attachment key studies Flashcards

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1
Q

Lorenz (?)

A

1935

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2
Q

Aim of Lorenz

A

to see the effects of imprinting and if animals bond with the first thing they see

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3
Q

Findings of Lorenz

A

goslings divided themselves into the group that hatched infront of mother and lorenz and showed no recongition of mother
imprinting can only happen if it happens within critical period (few hours)

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4
Q

Procedure of Lorenz

A

took greylag geese eggs and divided into two groups
one group (control) left with mother and hatched normally and other placed in an incubator.
when incubator eggs hatched first thing they saw was lorenz and they started following him around
lorenz marked the two groups to distinguish them and placed them together when lorenz and mother was present.

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5
Q

Long lasting effects

A
  • imprinting is irreversible and long lasting
  • one of the geese that imprinted on him used to sleep in his bed every night
  • had an effect on later mate prefrences, sexual imprinting, where they will choose to mate with what they imprinted on
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6
Q

AO3 - research support

A

Guiton (1966) demonstrated that chicks exposed to yellow rubber gloves imprinted on them.
supports idea that young animals not born with predisposition to imprint on a specific type of object but any moving thing present in critical period
also found tried to mate with rubber glove, showing early imprinting linked to later mate prefrences

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7
Q

AO3 - critiscms of imprinting

A

idea that imprinting is irreversible and permantley stamped on nervous system is no longer accepted
e.g Guiton found that he could reverse imprinting in chickens that initially tried to mate with rubber gloves
he found that later spending time with their own species, able to engage in normal sexual behaviour
suggests imprinting may not be as perm as previously suggested

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8
Q

Harlow (?)

A

1959

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9
Q

Aim of Harlow

A

study effects of maternal deprivation and what was most important in mother-infant bond

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10
Q

Procedure Harlow

A

created two wire surrogate mothers - one wrapped in cloth and one plain with food
8 infant rhesus monkeys seperated from mothers and studied for 165 days
measured how long monkeys spent on each mother and which mother they went to in response of fear to a mechanical bear

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11
Q

Harlow’s findings

A

all spent most time on cloth mother - some 23hrs a day
when frightened clung to cloth mother and when playing with new object kept one foot on cloth (reassurance)

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12
Q

Conclusion of Harlow

A

suggests infants do not develop an attachment to the person that feeds them but the person offering contact comfort

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13
Q

Long lasting effects

A

continued to study monkeys as they grew up
found critical period of 90 days
developed abnormal social behaviour
maternally deprived = more aggressive, less sociable and bred less
neglected their children or attacked them

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14
Q

AO3 - generalisation to humans

A

humans decisions are governed by conscious thought however still has important applications
supported by schaffer and Emerson who suggest babies form attachments from those who feed them
shows importance of contact comfort and the impact early attachments have on adult life

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15
Q

AO3 - ethics

A

the study created lasting emotional harm as the monkeys found it difficult to form relationships with their peers
OTOH, can be justified through the significant effect it has had on our understanding of the processes of attachment and how the research has offered better care for infants
it could be argued the benefits outweigh the costs

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16
Q

AO3 - real world applications for social workers

A

helped social workers understand risk factors for child abuse and neglect and can then intervene to prevent it
also important in the care of captive monkeys - now understand the importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos

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17
Q

Ainsworth strange situation (?)

A

1978

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18
Q

Aim of Ainsworth

A

measure the security of attachment a child displays to a caregiver

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19
Q

Procedure of Ainsworth

A

controlled observation, room with a two-way mirror with psychologists observing behaviour

judged: proximity seeking, exploration and secure-base behaviour, stranger and seperation anxiety and response to reunion

  1. child encouraged to explore
  2. stranger comes in and tries to interact
  3. caregiver leaves
  4. caregiver returns and stranger leaves
  5. caregiver leaves child alone
  6. stranger returns
  7. caregiver returns and reunited
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20
Q

Findings of ainsworth

A

identified three attachment types
- secure = moderate anxiety, happily explore but go back to caregiver, accept comfort in reunion stage
- insecure avoidant = explore freely do not seek proximity, indifferent reaction sep to anxiety or reunion and little stranger anxiety
- insecure resistant = high proximity, stranger and sep anxiety, resist comfort when reunited

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21
Q

AO3 - good reliability

A

good inter-rater reliability (94%)
may be due to its controlled environement or because behavioural categories are easy to observe
can be confident that the attachment type given does not depend on who is observing them

22
Q

AO3 - culture bound

A

imposes western standards for attachment in non-western cultures.
eurocentric and judged off american values/individualistic culture
caregivers from different cultures behave differently e.g japanese mothers rarely seperated from babies which is why there are high levels of seperation anxiety

23
Q

AO3 - low internal validity

A

questions over wether is is measuring the quality of one particular relationship
Main and weston found children behaved differently depending on which parent they were with
suggests classification of an attachment type may not be valid as may be measuring relationship

24
Q

Cultural variations in attachment - Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (?)

A

1988

25
Q

aim

A

to look at the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure- resistant attachments across a range of countries

26
Q

procedure

A

meta-analysis of the findings from 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation had been used
1,990 children

27
Q

Findings

A

All countries secure attachment was the most common
Insecure-resistant was overal least common (most was 30% in Israel)
Insecure-avoidant was most common in germany

28
Q

AO3 - large sample

A

meta-analysis of nearly 2000 babies and their attachment
increases internal validity and reduces impact of anomalous results

29
Q

AO3 - strange situation is Eurocentric

A

cross-cultural research using the strange situation judges and catogerises infant behaviour using middle-class american catogeries
when interpreting non-american behaviour it is being judged against american standard

30
Q

AO3 - not globally representative

A

15/32 studies were american
data from less-western oreinted cultures are required to establish a more global perspective

31
Q

Takahashi (1990)

A

carried out strange situation with 60 middle class japense infants and mothers using same procedure and behavioural catogeries

infants showed no insecure avoidant but high insecure resistant and high levels of stress when left alone - so high that for 90% study was stopped

32
Q

procedure

A

44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing
all interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy = lack of affection or guilt about actions or victims
families also interviewed to establish if had prolonged early seperations from mothers
control group of non-criminal to compare to

33
Q

44 theives study - Bowlby (?)

A

(1944)

34
Q

Findings

A

14 out of 44 described as affectionless psychopaths
of the 14, 12 had experienced prolonged seperation in first two years
of the control group only 2 of 44 had experienced long seperations but no described as AP

35
Q

conclusion

A

concluded that prolonger seperation caused AP

36
Q

Romanian orphans - Rutter (?)

A

2010

37
Q

aim

A

test what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions

38
Q

procedure

A

followed a group of 165 romanian orphans adopted in Britain

physical, cognitive and emotional development was assessed at 4,6,11 and 15 years
group of 52 british adopted as control group

39
Q

Findings

A

when first arrived to UK showed signs of intellectual development and severly undernourished.
By age of 4 some had caught up with british counterparts - true for almost all adopted before 6 months
those who were adopted after 6 months showed disinhibted attachments and stuggled to form attachments with peers

40
Q

conclusion

A

long-term effects may be less severe if adopted before 6 months and has the opportunity to form attachments however severe if this is not possible (continuing failure of attachment) or too late consequences more severe

41
Q

AO3 - real life application

A

research can be applied to improving the lives of children placed in care
highlights importance of early adoption - previously mothers who were giving babies up for adoption were encouraged to nurse for a signifcant time first, by the time baby was adopted the sensitive period for attachment may have passed making secure attachments with new mother more difficult
led to most babies being adopted within first few weeks

42
Q

AO3 - value of longitudinal study

A

followed the lives of the children over many years
without a longitudinal study could mistakenly conclude major and permentant effects to institutional care, whereas it has been shown it can be reveresed with sufficent time and care

43
Q

AO3 - romanian orphans were not typical

A

there were inevitably cofounding variables
the romanian orphans were faced with more than emotional deprivation
physical standards were awful, impacting their health
lack of cognitive stimulation also affect development
the study may therefore lack generalisability

44
Q

Hazan and Schaffer (?)

A

1987

45
Q

aim

A

test the internal working model/influence of early attachment on adult relationships

46
Q

procedure

A

placed a love quiz on a newspaper
asked questions about current attachment experiences and attachment history to identify current and childhood attachment types
also asked questions about attitudes towards love, an assesment of internal working model
analysed 620 responses, 205 men and 415 women (cross-section of population)

47
Q

findings

A

those who reported secure attachments (56%) most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic experiences - positive correlation

avoidant responses tended to be jealous and fear intimacy

securely attached tended to have a positive internal working model (attitude towards love)

48
Q

AO3 - research is correational

A

can not claim relationship between early attachment and later love styles is cause and effect - possible caused by something else e.g innate tepremant
means that researchers can not claim that the internal working model determines later relationships

49
Q

AO3 - only relies on retrospective classification

A

H+S ask adults about early lives to asses infant attachment but their recollections are likely to be flawed.
H longitutinal studies support their findings (Simpson et al 2007) found participants who were securely attached infants were more emotionally attached to their romantic partners in early adulthood

50
Q

AO3 - overly deterministic

A

research suggests that very early experiences have a fixed effect on later adult relationships - children who are insecurley attached will forever have bad relatioships
this is not the case as researchers have found many happy relationships despite not being securley attached as an infant