attachment (social)

Question 1

what is attachment?

Answer 1

an affectional tie that one person (or animal) forms between themself and another person = binding them together

Question 2

what are some attachment seeking behaviours?

Answer 2

• contact seeking
• maintain proximity
• proximity promoting e.g., crying
• exploratory behaviour from secure base

Question 3

what is the behaviourist explanation of attachment?

Answer 3

attachments are formed through feeding / operant conditioning
UCS = food
NS = mother
R = happy baby

Question 4

what is the evolutionary theory of attachment?

Answer 4

that attachments biologically pre-determined to aid survival through genetics
determinate = care/ responsiveness

Question 5

who is Bowlby and what did they find?

Answer 5

• studied maternal deprivation = suggested that children separated from their mothers results in psychological damage e.g., inability to form future attachments, issues with cognitive development, delinquency
• later found could be any caregiver not just mother

Question 6

who is Harlow and what did they find?

Answer 6

• disproved behaviourist theory
• monkey experiment = cloth mother vs wire mother
• contact comfort overshadowed other variables including nursing
• cloth mother reduces anxiety - secure base
• no base = rocking / scratching = stress signals & no exploratory behaviour

Question 7

what is deprivation and how does it link to attachment?

Answer 7

deprivation = had an attachment but this was disrupted therefore damage can be undone (critical period = 7 years old)

Question 8

what is privation and how does it link to attachment?

Answer 8

privation = never had attachment = more detrimental as extremely unlikely to form attachments in future

Question 9

evaluate behaviourism

Answer 9

strengths:
- useful for parents who adopt - operant conditioning to aid child to attach - feeding / comfort
weaknesses:
- nurture = reductionism & environmental determinism
- Harlow disproves entire theory

Question 10

evaluate Harlow

Answer 10

strengths:
- high control over EVs = replicable/ scientific/ replicable
weaknesses:
- use of monkeys = not generalisable to humans
- ethical issues: PFH - moneys purposefully frightened

Question 11

evaluate evolutionary theory

Answer 11

• nature = reductionist
• deterministic - suggests that all humans (or animals) grow attached (genetics) = adaptive
• socially sensitive

Question 12

evaluate Bowlby

Answer 12

strengths:
- useful - social services
weaknesses:
- socially sensitive - mothers in particular - guilt for having a job BUT less SS as changed from just mother to any caregiver

Question 13

evaluate deprivation and privation

Answer 13

strength:
- useful = critical period of children under 7 (deprivation)
- free will
- naturalistic experiments
weakness:
- extremely unethical
- hard to establish causality due to lack of control (naturalistic)
- privation = deterministic

Question 14

what are the different types of attachment?

Answer 14

1- securely attached = distressed when parent leaves but easily comforted when returns (70%)
2- ambivalent = distressed when parent leaves but punishes parent when returns e.g., anger (15%)
3- avoidant = not distressed when parent leaves nor cares when returns (15%)
4- disorganised = no predictable pattern (>4%)