Attachment research

Question 1

What phenomenon did Lorenz observe?

Answer 1

Imprinting

Question 2

What was the procedure of Lorenz’s experiment?

Answer 2

He randomly divided up a cluster of eggs - half hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment an the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.

Question 3

What did Lorenz find?

Answer 3

• The incubator group followed him everywhere, whereas the control group who hatched with their mother followed her.
• When the 2 groups were mixed the control group continued to follow their mother and the experimental group continued to follow Lorenz.

Question 4

What is imprinting?

Answer 4

Newly hatched goslings attach to the first moving object they see.

Question 5

What is the critical period?

Answer 5

Imprinting must occur within the first few hours after birth otherwise the gosling will not attach.

Question 6

What did Lorenz find out about sexual imprinting?

Answer 6

He observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans.

Question 7

What case study did Lorenz conduct that supports sexual imprinting?

Answer 7

A peacock had been reared in a reptile house, with the first moving object it saw was a tortoise. As a result of this, as an adult the bird only displayed courtship behaviour towards tortoises; concluding that the bird must have undergone sexual imprinting.

Question 8

State 2 criticisms of Lorenz’s research.

Answer 8

• Lacks generalisability - mammalian attachment system is different to that of birds, e.g. mammalian mothers tend to show more emotional attachment to young than birds do.
• Contradictory evidence - Guiton et al. found that chickens who had imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults, but with experience eventually learned to prefer to mate with other chickens. - questioning whether sexual imprinting is permanent.

Question 9

What was the procedure of Harlow’s monkeys?

Answer 9

He reared 16 monkeys with 2 wire model ‘mothers’: one was wire that dispensed milk and the other was cloth.

Question 10

What were the findings of Harlow’s monkeys?

Answer 10

It was found that the baby monkeys cuddled the soft object in preference to the wire one and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which one dispensed milk.

Question 11

What happened to the maternally deprived monkeys as adults?

Answer 11

They were more aggressive, less sociable and bred less often than typical monkeys due to being unskilled at mating.
As mothers, some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children, killing them in some cases.

Question 12

What did Harlow find about the critical period?

Answer 12

A mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days of birth - after this time attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible.

Question 13

State 2 positives of Harlow’s research.

Answer 13

• Theoretical value: Harlow demonstrated that human attachment does not form as a result of being fed by a mother figure, but as a result of comfort contact. Also showed the importance of the quality of early relationships on later social development including the ability to hold down adult relationships and rear children.
• Practical value: helped social works recognise the risk factors in childhood neglect and abuse so intervene to prevent it.

Question 14

State a negative of Harlow’s research.

Answer 14

Ethical issues - monkeys are considered similar enough to humans to be able to generalise that their suffering was fairly human-like.

Question 15

Who conducted the strange situation?

Answer 15

Ainsworth - 1969

Question 16

What was the strange situation designed to test?

Answer 16

Attachment security

Question 17

Explain the procedure of the strange situation.

Answer 17

• Controlled observation.
  7 episodes:
• child encouraged to explore
• a stranger comes in a tries to interact with the child
• the caregiver leaves the infant and stranger alone together
• caregiver returns and the stranger leaves
• caregiver leaves the child alone
• stranger returns
• caregiver returns and is united with the child

Question 18

What behaviours were used to judge attachment?

Answer 18

Proximity seeking
Exploration and secure-base behaviour
Stranger anxiety
Separation anxiety
Response to reunion

Question 19

What 3 main types of attachment did Ainsworth identify?

Answer 19

Secure
Insecure - resistant
Insecure - avoidant

Question 20

Explain secure attachment.

Answer 20

• Happily explore but regularly go back to their caregiver (proximity seeking and secure-base behaviour).
• Moderate stranger and separation anxiety.
• Accept comfort from the caregiver at the reunion stage.

Question 21

How many British toddlers are classified as securely attached?

Answer 21

60-75%

Question 22

Explain insecure-avoidant attachment.

Answer 22

• Explore freely and do not seek proximity or display secure-base behaviour.
• Low stranger and separation anxiety.
• Do not require comfort at the reunion stage as they show little reaction to it.

Question 23

How many British toddlers are classified as insecure-avoidant attached?

Answer 23

20-25%

Question 24

Explain insecure-resistant attachment.

Answer 24

• Explore less and seek greater proximity than others.
• Show high levels of stranger and separation anxiety.
• Resist comfort when reunited with their carer.

Question 25

How many British toddlers are classified as insecure-resistant attached?

Answer 25

3%

Question 26

State 2 positives of the strange situation.

Answer 26

• Support for validity - attachment type as defined by the strange situation is strongly predictive of later development. Babies assessed as secure typically go on to have better outcomes in many areas, e.g. school to romantic relationships. Whereas those who were classified as insecure-resistant were associated with worse outcomes, e.g. bullying (Kokkinos) or mental health problems (Ward).
• Good reliability - inter-rater reliability as multiple observers watched the children as well as being done in controlled conditions with behavioural categories.

Question 27

State 2 criticisms of the strange situation.

Answer 27

• Culture bound - cultural differences in childhood experiences are likely to mean that children will respond differently to the strange situation
  Takahashi noted that the test does not really work in Japan because Japanese mothers are rarely separated from their babies so high separation anxiety would be normal.
• What does the strange situation measure? - Kagan suggested that it was the childs temperament, the genetically influenced personality of the child, that influenced the behaviour in the strange situation rather than the attachment type - temperament may be a confounding variable.

Question 28

Who conducted a meta-analysis to see the cultural variations of the strange situation?

Answer 28

Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg.

Question 29

How many studies did Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg use in their meta-analysis?

Answer 29

32 studies - conducted in 8 countries resulting in a sample size of 1,990 children.

Question 30

What were Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s findings?

Answer 30

• In all countries secure attachment was the most commonly classified.
• Variations between results within the same country were actually 150% greater than those between countries. E.G. in the USA one study found only 46% securely attached whereas another one found a sample as high as 90%.

Question 31

What were the findings of the italian version of the strange situation?

Answer 31

• Simonella - assessed 76 1 year old babies.
• 50% secure
• 36% avoidant
• 24% resistant

Question 32

State a positive of the research into cultural variation.

Answer 32

Large sample size - increases internal validity by reducing the impact of anomalous results caused by bad methodology.

Question 33

State 4 criticisms of the research into cultural variation.

Answer 33

• Samples unrepresentative of culture
• Method of assessment is biased
• Alternative explanation for culture similarity
• The strange situation lacks validity

Question 34

Explain the criticism of ‘unrepresentative samples’ in terms of the research into cultural variation.

Answer 34

Ijzendoorn’s meta-analysis was a comparison between countries rather than cultures. One sample might be over representative of people living in poor conditions which would effect child-rearing practices and hence the pattern of attachment. Therefore comparisons between countries (e.g. Korea and Italy) may have little meaning; the particular culture characteristics of the sample need to be specified.

Question 35

Explain the criticism of ‘biased assessment method’ in terms of the research into cultural variation.

Answer 35

The strange situation was designed by an american psychologists based on an english theory. Trying to apply a theory designed for one culture onto another is imposed etic.
Lack of separation anxiety is associated with insecure-avoidant attachment but in Germany this behaviour might be seen as independence, so not a sign of insecurity within that cultural context.

Question 36

Explain the criticism of ‘alternative explanation for culture similarity’ in terms of the research into cultural variation.

Answer 36

Bowlby suggests that cultural similarities are due to attachment being innate and universal thus produces the same kind of behaviours all over the world.
Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg also suggest that small cross-cultural differences may be due to mass media.

Question 37

Explain the criticism of ‘the strange situation lacks validity’ in terms of the research into cultural variation.

Answer 37

May not be measuring attachment at all - Kagan suggested it was measuring temperament than the relationship with the primary caregiver and that the strange situation is not measuring attachment it is simply measuring anxiety.