Attachment Researchers

Question 1

Harlow and Lorenz (explanations of attachment)

Answer 1

Refuting evidence:
- monkeys sought contact comfort+ formed lasting attachments with towel mother instead of food providing mother
- geese imprinted - this attached to first moving object they saw

Question 2

Schaffer and Emerson eval (explanations of attachment)

Answer 2

Attachments strongest with caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infants social releases and not the person who fed them most

Question 3

Bowlby eval (explanations of attachment)

Answer 3

Bowlby’s theory addresses both how and why attachment forms
- how: based on parental sensitivity to social releasers
- why: beneficial for infants protection and survival and for adults to ensure their genes are passed onto future generations

Question 4

Sroufe et al (Bowlby’s theory)

Answer 4

Minnesota Parent child study:
Followed ppts from infancy to late adolescence- found continuity between quality of early attachment and later emotional/ social development

Question 5

Tizard and Hodges (Bowlby’s theory)

Answer 5

Found that whilst attachment generally happens in starting years of life, studies of orphaned children who have been adopted at ages of 3 and 4 - still capable of forming new attachments with new adoptive parents - contradictory to CP

Question 6

Schaffer and Emerson (Bowlby theory) + (maternal deprivation)

Answer 6

Multiple attachments for babies is the norm- refutes idea of Monotropy: around the age of 10 months old, 30% of babies had multiple attachments hemmed and 1/3 were with the father instead of biological mother like Bowlby proposed

Question 7

Lorenz goslings (animal studies of attachment)

Answer 7

• took a clutch of goose eggs and divided them into two groups
• control group left w natural mother and first saw bio mother
• exp group - eggs placed in incubator and when hatched the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz
• exp group followed him everywhere + showed no recognition of bio mother whereas control group followed mother goose.
• cp up to two days
• sexual imprinting
• imprinting occurs due to evolutionary need to form attachments in order to increase chance of survival

Question 8

Harlow’s monkeys (animal studies of attachment)

Answer 8

• placed monkeys in isolation till 8 months old- missed cp of up to 90 days- put into cages with two surrogate mothers - one of wire and dispensed milk- other wooden block covered in soft towel and provided comfort to monkeys
• monkeys spent more time w towel mother to feel comfort
• when frightened went to towel mother
• followed up on them found that they developed abnormally socially and mating beh due to missing cp and not forming healthy attachment

Question 9

Guiton (animal studies of attachment)

Answer 9

Found that leghorn chicks that were fed using yellow rubber gloves in their first few weeks of life became imprinted to gloves/ male chicks tried to mate with them

Question 10

Hoffman (animal studies in attachment) and also Guiton

Answer 10

Argued that imprinting was a “plastic” mechanism - can be reversed and is flexible. Guiton reverse imprinting in chickens who tried to mate with glove after they spent time with their own species- able to engage in normal sexual beh

Question 11

Isabella et al (caregiver and infant interactions)

Answer 11

Found that high levels of synchrony meant there was a better quality attachment between mother and infant

Question 12

Murray and Trevarthen (caregiver and infant interactions)

Answer 12

Asked mothers to interact with 2 month old infants through live video chat in real time. Then infant saw prerecorded video of mother interacting- mother could not respond to infants facial and bodily expressions - a cute distress - reciprocity and interactional synchrony important

Question 13

Gratier (caregiver and infant interactions)

Answer 13

Studied the timing of spontaneous vocal interactions of 30 mothers and their 2-5 month old infants from India, France and US. Found all coordinate spontaneous vocalisations - universal beh - viral part of attachment process

Question 14

Fieldman (caregiver and infant interactions)

Answer 14

Points out that synchrony simply describes beh between parent and child which occurs at the same time- cannot understand purpose of these behaviours or how it affects quality of future attachments

Question 15

Grossman (role of fathers)

Answer 15

Carried out a longitudinal study looking at influence of parental behaviour on attachment
- quality of fathers play w/ infants and not security of attachment - better adolescent attachments with father - suggests rather than a nurturing role - more centred around play and stimulation

Question 16

Field (role of fathers)

Answer 16

Observed 4 month old infants in face-face interactions with/ their primary caregiver fathers or mothers or secondary caregiver fathers
- primary caregiver fathers like mothers spent longer smiling, imitating and holding infant than secondary caregiver fathers - role can be centred around nurturing like mothers

Question 17

MacCallum and Golombok (role of fathers)

Answer 17

have found that children growing in a single (mother only) or same sex parent family (led by two females) may not develop differently from those in two- parent heterosexual families.
Weakness bc it suggests that the father only plays a ‘minimal role’ in the development of a child - and thus is only a secondary attachment.

Question 18

Schaffer and Emerson (stages of attachment)

Answer 18

Studied 60 babies from Glasgo from skilled working class families
The babies and their mothers were visited every month for a year and once more at 18 months after the study began.
The mothers were asked questions abt the child’s response in everyday separation anxiety related situations.

25-32 weeks of age: 50% of the babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards an adult, usually the mother. Attachment was formed with person who was most sensitive to infant signals, not the person who spent the most time with them.
By 40 weeks: Although most babies had specific attachment to the adult, nearly 30% displayed multiple attachments.

Question 19

Van Ijzendoorn et al (stages of attachment)

Answer 19

Cross-cultural research has shown that when multiple caregivers are the norm, babies form multiple attachments from the outset (Van Ijzendoorn et al 1993). Collectivist cultures often have an emphasis on children being rased in groups, where different families share childrearing responsibilities - rather than just the mother (e.g Kibbutz communities in Israel).

Question 20

Mary Ainsworth (strange situation)

Answer 20

A controlled observation designed by Mary Ainsworth that aims to measure the security of attachment that a child displays towards the caregiver.

Took place on 100 middle class American mothers and their children
Takes place in a controlled space, through a one-way mirror, through which psychologists observed over 8 episodes
Each episode lasted 3 minutes
The episodes involve measuring the infant’s reaction to a stranger approaching/ leaving and their carer approaching/leaving

Question 21

Takahashi (strange situation) (cultural variations in attachment)

Answer 21

noted that the test does not work in Japan because Japanese mothers are rarely separated from their children. In this country a mother leaving her child with a stranger is not a realistic day to day scenario.
Infact, infants were so distressed by being left alone, that for 90% of the infants, the study had to be stopped.

Question 22

Main and Soloman (strange situation) + (cultural variations in attachment)

Answer 22

analysed over 200 strange situation tapes and proposed a type D attachment: insecure-disorganised. This was characterised by a lack of consistent social behaviour and attachment. When dealing with stress and separation, they showed very strong attachment which was suddenly followed by avoidance or looking scared of the caregiver.

Question 23

Main and Weston (strange situation) (cultural variations in attachment)

Answer 23

That children behaved differently based on which parent they were with.

Question 24

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenburg (cultural variations in attachment)

Answer 24

Aim: to measure proportions of type a/b/c attachments across a range of cultures and if variations exist within same countries too.
Conducted a meta analysis of 32 studies where SS had been used. - these 32 studies were conducted in 8 countries and have results for 1990 children.
- secure attachment: highest in all but Britain 75% and China 50%
- insecure avoidant: highest in Germany due to focus on independent upbringing and lowest in Japan and Israel
- insecure resistant: highest in Israel and Japan, lowest in Britain
- 1.5x greater variation within culture than between countries

Question 25

Takahashi (cultural variations in attachment)

Answer 25

Conducted SS observation using 60 Japanese infants and their mothers
- similar rates of secure attachment to Ainsworth
- no evidence of insecure avoidant (type a)
- high rates of insecure resistant - 32% bc mothers in Japan rarely separate from their children

Question 26

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg weakness:

Answer 26

Biased towards American population- 18/32 were American ppts and only one conducted on Chinese infants (only 25 infant parent pairs even tho population of China is larger than US)

Question 27

Goldfarb (maternal deprivation)

Answer 27

Supported claim of mental retardation:
Studies children who remained in institutions instead of getting adopted and thus were maternally deprived- had a lower IQ due to lower standard of emotional care

Question 28

Bowlby 44 thieves study: (maternal deprivation)

Answer 28

Info provided by Child Guidance Clinic- Bowlby analysed case history of children diagnosed as maladjusted. 44 had been caught stealing and 14/44 did not show signs of shame or responsibility- affection less thieves
- 86% (12/14) had experienced early separation from their mothers (separation includes staying in hospitals or foster homes with little contact w families)
- 5/30 of remaining thieves had experienced separation from their mother

Question 29

Bifulco (maternal deprivation)

Answer 29

Conducted a study on women who had experienced separation from mothers either due to separation or maternal death. Found that 25% experienced depression/ anxiety disorder in later life compared to 15% who had no experience of separation.
The mental health problems were much greater in women whose loss occurred before the age of 6

Question 30

Lewis (maternal deprivation)

Answer 30

Partially replicated 44 thieves study on a larger scale with 500 ppl - maternal separation did not lead to difficulty in forming RS or criminality - effects of MD not same for everyone + may be other factors

Question 31

Koluchova twins (maternal deprivation) + (influence of early attachment)

Answer 31

Twin brothers isolated from ages of 18 months to 7 years as their step mother kept them locked in a cupboard - when they were given care of two loving adults, twins recovered fully and went on having loving families of their own- effects of MD are reversible

Question 32

Rutter (institutionalisation)

Answer 32

Showed that most of Romanian orphans showed signs of mental retardation when they arrived to Britain- categorised by abnormally low IW due to being cared for by multiple carers during sensitive period
- followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans to see the extent to which good emotional care can make up for poor early experiences in institutions
- 3 diff groups: (adopted before age of 6 months- mean IQ- 102) (adopted between 6 months and 2 years- 86) (adopted after age of 2 years- 77) and compared to children from British institutions adopted around similar time (control group).
- physical, cognitive, emotional development assessed in children at ages of 4,6,11,15
- half of adoptees when first arrived in the UK showed signs of mental retardation and malnourishment
- these differences in IQ remained till age of 16
- if adopted before age of 6 months - effects of mental retardation lowered

Question 33

Zeanah et al (institutionalisation)

Answer 33

Bucharest Early Intervention Project
- disinhibited attachment as a result of being cared for by multiple carers during sensitive period - children as affectionate with strangers as familiar ppl
- assessed attachment in institutionalised children using SS and then compared with infants were not institutionalised
- 44% of institution group had disinhibited attachment compared to 20% for control group

Question 34

Hazan and Shaver (effect of early attachment on ADULT rs)

Answer 34

• analysed replies to a love quiz posted in American newspaper
• quiz had 3 sections: 1. Current: most important relationship. 2. General love experiences (number of partners). 3. Early attachment type with parents
• adults securely attached in childhood had loving and long lasting romantic rs
• insecure avoidant - jealousy and fear of intimacy
• 56% adults secure, 25% insecure avoidant, 19% insecure resistant

Question 35

Kerns (influence of early attachment on CHILDHOOD rs)

Answer 35

Examined rs between attachment type and quality of peer rs in childhood - type of attachment formed is associated with quality of peer rs within childhood.
- securely attached infants form best childhood friendships whereas insecure attached tend to have friendship difficulties

Question 36

Smith et al (influence of early attachment on CHILDHOOD rs)

Answer 36

Bullying beh can be linked w attachment type.
- securely attached children unlikely to be involved in bullying
- insecure avoidant - victims
- insecure resistant - bullies

Question 37

Kagan (influence of early attachment)

Answer 37

• problems with future rs can be due to other factors like temperament (personality)
• those with inhibited temperament (timid/shy) can have social anxiety as adolescents- affect their ability to form future rs

Question 38

Clarke and Clarke (influence of early attachment)

Answer 38

Argued that problems with attachment in early life do not guarantee difficult future relationships - just increase the risk of them