Attachment - PAPER 1

Question 1

Bowlbys theory (1930) key words mnemonic

Answer 1

M - monotropy - attachment bond with 1 main caregiver (mother)
U - universally innate - same for all human babies - biological programming
S - social releasers - crying, smiling, smell, big eyes
I - internal working model - first attachment relationship is a template for future relationships
C - critical period (2.5 years)
S - survival ( what all the above are for)

Question 2

What is attachment?

Answer 2

I close emotional bond between an infant and their caregiver

Question 3

How can we recognise attachment

Answer 3

– Seeking proximity
– separation distress
– secure base behaviour – often observed in babies

Question 4

What are possible consequences of a failure to form security catchments early in life

Answer 4

PTSD, problems with self-esteem, problematic romantic relationships, depression, anxiety, codependence, poor school performance

Question 5

What are examples of caregiver infant interactions

Answer 5

– Babies recognise their mothers smell
– babies are comforted by skin to skin contact
– babies prefer to look at the smiling faces
– reciprocity and interactional synchrony are important for the development of attachment

Question 6

Reciprocity definition

Answer 6

– The process in which a behaviour is matched during an interaction
– e.g. smiling back when someone smiles at us
– Reciprocity develops at a very early age with eye contact between the baby and the caregiver

Question 7

Interactional synchrony definition

Answer 7

– Interactional synchrony refers to how a parents speech and infants behaviour become synchronised so that they are in direct response to one another
– it is believed that it serves a critical role in development

Question 8

Study to find out at which age attachments begin (Schaffer and Emerson)

Answer 8

– 60 babies from Glasgow from working-class homes, aged 5 to 23 weeks
– they were studied for the first 18 months of their lives
– longitudinal method because the same babies were studied for the first 18 months
– Researchers visited the babies every month for 12 months and a diary was kept by the mother to measure separation and stranger anxiety and crying/ whimpering the mothers were interviewed on this

RESULTS

– Babies are not born having an automatic bond with the mother
– The results created four stages of attachment (A social, indiscriminate attachment, specific attachments, multiple attachments) and it was found that feeding and amount of time spent by the person with the infant was not as important in the formation of attachment as the quality interaction with the mother.

EVALUATION

– Goes against the cupboard love theories of attachment that emphasise the need for food as the primary need for attachment
– high in ecological validity as babies were observed in their own homes
–families involved were from the same district and social class with in Glasgow so the sample was limited and could present a generalisability problem. Different cultures and classes have different child rearing practices so results cannot be applied to all.
- The accuracy of data collection by parents who are keeping daily diaries whilst being very busy could be questioned as a diary like this is likely to be inconsistent in terms of what and when things are noted down and demand curve characteristics and social desirability meant that mothers were less likely to report negative experiences creating reliability issues.
- A large sample size was used so could be argued as generalisable especially since the research was longitudinal too. Sample is quite representative of the target population and could provide an accurate insight into the attachment of carers in Glasgow from a working-class background



Question 9

What are the four stages of attachment as concluded by Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 9

• Stage 1: ASOCIAL: 0 to 8 weeks – happier in presence of humans than when alone, behaviour between human and nonhuman objects quite similar, smile at anyone
• Stage 2: INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT: 2 to 7 months - preference for familiar individuals, preference to people over objects, can discriminate between people and objects
• stage 3: SPECIFIC ATTACHMENTS: 7 to 12 months - show separation and stranger anxiety, primary attachment to one individual.
• stage 4: MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS: 1 year onwards - form secondary/multiple attachments with who they spend time with (e.g other family members) but the primary attachment figure remains the strongest

Question 10

Outline the role of the father in child rearing over time

Answer 10

Colonial period - father very present and responsible for how child turned out to be

19th Century - Industrialisation - men went to work whilst women stayed home

20th Century - Women start to work. Feminist movement sparked idea of a democratic partnership

Now - New ideas of manhood - father role important and should be gentle, loving and caring

Future - fatherhood struggles with the desire for material possessions - parents should work less to spend more time with children

Question 11

Attachment to father - is it needed?

Answer 11

• evidence shows it has a less critical role than attachment to the mother
• in attachment research, father is anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver (not necessarily biological father)

Question 12

Grossman et al study (quality of relationships between parents and children from infancy to teenage years)

Answer 12

– Longitudinal study looking at how the quality of relationships between parents and children change from infancy to Teenage years

FINDINGS

– early attachment to the mother was a better predictor of later relationship attachments type and success
– The fathers role is less important in comparison to that of the mothers
– However it was found that if the father had engaged in active play with the child when they were young that adolescent relationship with BOTH parents is strengthened

EVALUATION

– links with Bowlby‘s claim of the mothers role being the most important monotropy , and the concept of the internal working model.


Question 13

Reasons why the role of the father is important

Answer 13

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
– Children look to their fathers to lay down the rules and enforce them
– children look to their fathers to provide a feeling of security, both physical and emotional
–an involved father promotes in a growth and strength as children want to make their fathers proud
– a father is needed for emotional well-being and self-confidence
SET THE BAR FOR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS
– The way your father treats his child will influence what he or she looks for another people
- internal working model
FATHERS AND THEIR DAUGHTERS
– Young girls depend on their fathers for security and emotional support
– a father shows his daughter what a good relationship with a man is like and the daughter will look for the father in her relationships with men
FATHERS AND THEIR SONS
– Boys model themselves after their fathers character
– boys will seek approval from their fathers from a very young age, imitating his behaviour and so learning to navigate the world

Question 14

Geiger study (father vs mothers role) FINDINGS

Answer 14

– Fathers had a different roles from the mother
– the mum is associated with care and nurturing the child
– The dad is more about fun and playing with the child
– from this we get the idea that the role of the father is the ‘fun dad’
– The role of the father has less impact on the child’s attachment later in life

Question 15

Field study (fathers taking on role of main caregiver) study

Answer 15

PROCEDURE
– Field filmed four month old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers

FINDINGS
–  fathers engaged more in gameplaying and held their infants less
– however primary target giver fathers engaged in significantly more smiling, imitative movements and imitative vocalisations than secondary caregiver fathers and these were more comparable with mothers behaviours
– primary care take a fathers were seen to be more nurturing and caring and the traditional father role
– this demonstrates that there is flexibility in the role of the father and that men can respond to the different needs of their children

Question 16

Freeman et al (gender preference for father) study FINDINGS

Answer 16

– Male children were more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children
– he also found that children are more likely to be attached to their father during the late childhood to early adolescence
– infants and young adults are less likely to seek attachment to their fathers

Question 17

Evaluating the role of the father

Answer 17

– Different research seems to state different facts about the fatherhood – there is a lack of consistency in research
– findings are not representative of children without fathers, who are no different from those with fathers – they suggest a father‘s role in secondary however this claim poses huge ethical issues as this is socially sensitive research.
– If fathers are kept capable of a nurturing role as field suggested, why don’t Mormon become the parental caregiver – there may be a biological explanation as men like oestrogen or maybe they are less socialised to take the caring role. If fathers can take the role of the mothers world and this has implications for society: paternity/maternity leave, custody of children – men gaining more quality in this, role modelling parental skills in young men, more societal acceptance of the single father

Question 18

Konrad Lorenz study (imprinting in goslings)

Answer 18

PROCEDURE
– He randomly divided goose eggs into two batches
– batch one was a control group and was hatched naturally by the mother Goose
– batch two was the experimental group and was put in an incubator with Lawrence making sure that he was the first thing they saw after hatching. He imitated the mothers cracking sound as they hatched
– Lauren is marked all Gosling so he knew which which

RESULTS
– Naturally hatched goslings followed their mother Goose where is the incubator hatched goslings followed Lorenz and had no attachment to their biological mother
–he noted that this imprinting only occurred for 25 hours after hatching. The relationship persisted and was irreversible.
– Imprinting has consequences for short time is survival and in the longer term for me internal templates for later relationships. Imprinting occurs without any feeding taking place.

EVALUATION
– Another study showed yellow rubber gloves to feed the goslings during the critical period and the chicks imprinted onto this glove. The chicks were than later found trying to meet with the yellow rubber glove. This also proves the long-lasting effects of the irreversible change of imprinting affecting social and sexual behaviour– sexual imprinting.
– However another study should jested that imprinting is not a reversible because the study showed that after spending time with their own species, the goslings were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour
– The human attachment system is quite different to that of birds. E.g. in humans, attachment is a two-way process And young attach to mothers as well as mothers attaching to young. So Lorenz’ studies may not be generalisable to humans.

Question 19

Imprinting definition

Answer 19

Where the offspring follows and forms in attachment bond to the first large moving object to the sea after birth. This can only occur in a critical period of time.

Question 20

Harlow study (effects of privation with monkeys)

Answer 20

– Monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth
- one group was placed in a cage with access to a surrogate mother made of wire
– Another group was placed in a cage with access to a surrogate mother covered in soft towelling cloth
– With in each group path of the monkeys could get food from the surrogate mother

RESULTS
– Regardless of whether the monkey could get food from the cloth mother, the monkey preferred to spend time with the class mother
– the infants of the group with a wire mother would only go to the mother if hungry
– Harlow observed the difference in between monkeys with real/surrogate mothers in behaviour and found that the monkeys who had A surrogate mother: were much more timid, didn’t know how to behave with other monkeys, could be aggressive, had difficulty with meeting, females were in adequate mothers – some even killing their offspring
– hollow concluded that contact comfort was more important than food in the formation of attachment, but contact comfort is not sufficient for healthy development
– he concluded that early maternal deprivation leads to emotional damage but that this impact could be reversed if monkeys made an attachment which was made before the end of the critical period

EVAULATION
– Monkeys are more similar to humans than birds, but the human brain a behaviour is still more complex than that so the findings of the study may not be generalised to humans
– there are severe ethical issues raised by this research as it caused the monkey severe and long-term distress.
– Provides real world applications – pieces importance on attachment in early years
– supported by Bowlby
– criticises learning theory of attachment which Suggests that food is the most important factor for attachment

Question 21

Outline the learning theory for attachment

Answer 21

– Infants learn to become attached to their primary caregiver through the process of either classical conditioning or operant conditioning
– also known as cupboard love or drive reduction theory because the baby is drivers to be fed and it is trying to reduce this hunger. And it focuses on food for the explanation of attachment
– it is thought that infants were for me attachment to whoever feeds them – not necessarily the mother
– CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: Attachment is learnt when an association between food and the primary caregiver is made
(1. Caregiver is a neutral stimulus as they produce no conditioned response 2. Food is the unconditioned stimulus which produces pleasure which is an unconditioned response 3. Through repetitive feeding the child associates a caregiver who feeds them (the neutral stimulus) with food ( the unconditioned stimulus) 4. Caregiver becomes a condition stimulus associated with the pleasure from feeding)
– OPERANT CONDITIONING: Attachment is learnt when the primary caregiver reduces the discomfort of hunger with food
(1. A baby will cry when hungry because there is a drive to reduce hunger, 2. When the caregiver produces food the baby experiences pleasure – positive reinforcement, 3. The caregiver experiences a reward when the infant stops crying – negative reinforcement – so the caregiver repeat this behaviour

-Hunger is called the primary drive and the food is termed the primary reinforcer
- The caregiver who provided it is called the secondary reinforcer and attachment is called the secondary drive)

Question 22

Evaluate the learning theory for attachment

Answer 22

– It is reductionist because it only focuses on the role of food. Attachment is a complex behaviour and cannot be explained by just food alone. It is likely that other things influence attachment behaviour, such as survival and cognition.
– The learning theory is challenged by research that shows that food is not important in attachment. E.g. Harlows monkeys study investigated where the monkeys provide a food provider or a comfort provider and it found that monkeys preferred comfort even when they were scared, challenging the learning theory
– the learning theory is criticised for offering a nomothetic approach to attachment rather than an idiographic approach. Although this means that a general law about attachment has been formed, there is a need to acknowledge the individual experiences that we all have when it comes to form an attachment and relationships. For this reason, and idiographic approach may be better to understand attachment.

Question 23

Outline Bowlby’s evolutionary explanation of attachment

Answer 23

– Behaviours that help us survive become part of our biology and so we become preprogrammed with these behaviours. E.g. babies require contact, safety, and food from caregivers
– SOCIAL RELEASERS: Traits babies are born with that help them to form attachments and interact with adults e.g. cute, smell nice, cute noises
– MONOTROPIC ATTACHMENT: Babies form one main attachment that is more important than all others
– CRITICAL PERIOD: The monotropic attachment must form within 30 months and without any formation this child will suffer privation.
– INTERNAL WORKING MODEL:  The first attachment will form a template for all future relationships

Remember this using MUSICS

Question 24

Evaluate Bowlby’s learning theory for attachment

Answer 24

– There may be too much focus on only nature, rather than nurture. Bowlby‘s theory suggests that attachments are an innate mechanism to eat survival, therefore supporting a nature view.
However history puts forward the nation of an internal working model which suggests that early childhood relationships act as a template for future adult relationships. This suggests that the internal working model is an innate mechanism shaped by our early relationship experiences, an idea which falls on the nurture side of the debate.
– Bowlby’s theory is supported by lorenz’s goslings : critical period + innate drive
- Harlows monkeys also support Bowlby: internal working model + critical period


Question 25

The strange situation study

Answer 25

AIM
– To measure the security of attachment to a caregiver in relation to key attachment behaviours
PROCEDURE
– A naturalistic observation whereby there was 7 predetermined stages
– There were four criteria measured – separation/strange anxiety, reunion behaviour and willingness to explore the room
– 100 middle-class American infants and mothers were used
– three types of attachment where identified – secure, insecure avoidant, insecure resistant

FINDINGS
– 60 to 75% of babies had a secure attachment (babies explored happily but really regularly went back to the mother, moderate separation and strange anxiety, require and except comfort from the mother)
– 20 to 25% of babies had insecure avoidant attachment (babies explored freely but did not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour, little or no stranger and separation anxiety, little efforts to make contact and may even avoid comfort)
– 3% of babies had insecure resistant attachment (seek greater proximity to others and explore less because of this, high levels of separation in stranger anxiety, resist comfort when reunited with mother)

EVALUATION:
– Highly operationalise as observers had a clear view of how securely attached infant should behave due to the four specific criteria used. Therefore research has high interobserver reliability and is also applicable so it’s reliable nature can be checked.
– Low ecological validity because example was restricted to 100 middle-class American mothers and their infants, so unrepresentative of the wider population
- culturally biased procedure as the strain situation was designed by an American according to the observations of US children. The criteria used to classify instance are based on US values and it can be argued that this is ethnocentric, so observations of non-Americans will be judged according to American standards e.g. it is valued for children to have independence in Germany and this may be falsely categorised as an insecure avoidant attachment in US standards

Question 26

Collectivist versus individualistic cultures

Answer 26

– Collectivist cultures focus on the group e.g. Japan
– individualistic cultures focus on the self e.g. Germany

Question 27

Van ljzendoorn and Kroonenberg study (cultural variations of attachment)

Answer 27

PROCEDURE
– A meta analysis of 32 studies from eight different countries that had used the strange situation

FINDINGS
– The highest percentage of securely attached babies were found in Great Britain and Sweden, whereas China and west Germany had the lowest percentage
–the highest percentage of insecure avoidant attachment was in West Germany and Netherlands, however the lowest percentage of insecure avoidant was in Japan in Israel
– insecure resistant attachment was highest in Japan in Israel, but lowest in Great Britain and US

EVALUATION
– Results are consistent with Bobby‘s idea that secure attachment is normal
– the use of the strain situation as a procedure means that a comparison can be made across all cultures and the reliability is therefore high
– the study was not globally representative because countries such as Africa, South America and eastern European socialist countries were not used so the sample may have been to western orientated in culture
–different amounts of studies were reviewed in different countries e.g. 18 out of 32 of the studies were conducted in the USA. So that overall findings would have been distorted by these.
This means that the consistency between cultures might not be true and may not genuinely reflect how much attachment times vary between coaches
– the procedures were ethnocentric as it does not consider that there are different values in different countries 

Question 28

Describe Bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis (Not the same as bowlbys explanation of attachment)

Answer 28

CONTINUITY
– A continuously healthy relationship with a mother figure is necessary for a healthy development

CRITICAL PERIOD
– If a child does not form and maintain a continuous attachment between the critical period of 2 1/2 years, attachment will not occur

CONSEQUENCES
–Affectionless psychopathy– Occurs because of the lack of continuity in the critical period – appearing as a lack of remorse, guilt and empathy for others
– social development issues – occurs because of the lack of opportunity to form social skills and relationships – appears as a struggle to build friendships or relationships
– cognitive development issues – occurs because of a lack of continuous stimulation, and damage to the brain – may appear as low IQ, struggling with tasks
– behavioural issues – occurs because It is a coping strategy and a disregard for consequences – It appears as delinquency

EVALUATION
– Has led to good positive implications for a change in society e.g. hospital visiting changes
– Has led to government changes. For example, Sweden offers days of parental leave, clearly highlighting it is committing to support children’s early attachment experiences. However, material deprivation is more likely to cause the consequences proposed by Bobby, not maternal deprivation as stated by Rutter.
– Rutters study of the 44 thieves is problematic, however it still supports the maternal deprivation hypothesis as it proves that early maternal deprivation leads to behavioural issues
- Romanian orphan studies support

Question 29

Institutionalisation definition

Answer 29

Behaviour patterns of children have been raised outside of the family home in an institution such as an orphanage

Question 30

Chugani et al study (Romanian orphan research)

Answer 30

PROCEDURE
– Romanian orphanages are known to have poor conditions, abuse and neglect, malnutrition, lack of adult care
– PET scans of 10 children adopted from Romanian orphanages were taken and the results were compared with 17 normal adults and a group of seven children

FINDINGS
– Romanian orphans showed significantly decreased activity in the hippocampus – memory – and the amygdala – emotion regulation
– It was concluded that the dysfunction in these brain regions may have resulted from the stress of early deprivation and might be linked to the long-term cognitive and behavioural deficits

EVALUATION
– The results of the study would create positive implication for change as it highlights the impact of physical issues and psychological issues
–The studies only followed children’s development up to 15, making it difficult to determine and compare the long-term to short-term effects of institutionalisation and deprivation.
– the children were not alone so it is arguable that they even have social development issues

Question 31

Bowlbys 44 thieves study (association of maternal deprivation and likelihood of childhood delinquency

Answer 31

PROCEDURE
- 44 thieves
- 44 non thieves
(Opportunity sampling method)
- interviews and questionairre used to find out about early separation and experiences
- parents of the participants were also interviewed

FINDINGS
- Thief group: 17/44 experienced prolonged separation (MD) + 14/17 of these were affectionless psychopaths
- Non thief group: 2 experienced MD and none were affection-less psychopaths

CONCLUSION
- Supports MDT - clear link between MD and maladjustment

EVALUATION

• link: does not mean causation (could be poverty, place of residence or biological genes)
• researcher bias? Bowlby himself conducted the experiment
• Interview technique: can lead to demand characteristics and socially desirable responses
• generalisable? Only done on adolescents

Question 32

What are the 7 stages during the strange situation study

Answer 32

Question 33

Briefly evaluate research into caregiver-infant interaction

Answer 33

• babies cannot communicate so inferences must be drawn
• well-controlled – studies ‘capture’ micro-sequences of interaction
• practical issues – babies are often asleep or being fed
• research may be socially sensitive, eg implications for working mothers
• contribution to understanding the importance of care-giver infant interaction.

Question 34

Main points for the role of the father

Answer 34

• Schaffer and Emerson found the Glasgow babies had a secondary attachment to the father at 18 months 75% of the time.
• Grossman: Fathers are important for engaging in active play with the child. This strengthens the child’s relationship with both parents in teenage years
• Field: fathers can play the active caregiver