Attachment Studies Flashcards
Interactional Synchrony-Meltzoff and Moore-Method
They observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants. An adult displayed one of three facial expression or one of three distinctive gestures. The child’s response was recorded and analysed by experts
Interactional Synchrony-Meltzoff and Moore-Results
An association was found between the adults expression or gesture and the babies action
Interactional Synchrony-Isabella-Method
They observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed a degree of synchronicity
Interactional Synchrony-Isabella-Results
They found high levels of synchrony were associated with a better mother-infant attachment
Parent-Infant Attachment- Schaffer and Emerson-Results
The majority of babies became attached to their mother first, and then in a few weeks or months became attached to other family members. At 18 months, 75% of the infants studied became attached to their fathers
The role of the Father-Grossman-Method
He carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and its relationship into adolescent
The role of the Father-Grossman-Results
He found out that the role of the father’s play with the infants was related to the quality of attachment between the child and its parents
Fathers and Primary Care Givers-Field-Method
She filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers
Fathers and Primary Care Givers-Field-Results
She found out that primary caregiving fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants that secondary caregiving fathers
Stages of Attachment-Schaffer and Emerson-Method
60 babies from Glasgow and the majority where from skilled working class families. The babies and mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and then again when they were 18 months. The researcher asked questions to the mother about the kind of protest their child showed in 7 everyday situations
Stages of Attachment-Schaffer and Emerson-Results
Between 25 and 32 weeks, about 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually the mother. By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% had multiple attachments
Stages of Attachment-Schaffer and Emerson-Evaluation
+Good External Validity
+Longitudinal Design
-Limited Sample Characteristics
Animal Studies of Attachment-Lorenz-Method
He randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs. Half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in the natural environment. The other half hatched in an incubator, where the first thing they saw was Lorenz
Animal Studies of Attachment-Lorenz-Results
The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere, whereas the control group followed her. Where the two groups were mixed, the control group still followed their mother, while the experimental group followed Lorenz
Animal Studies of Attachment-Lorenz-Evaluation
- Cannot Generalise to Humans
- Some the results have been questioned
Animal Studies of Attachment-Harlow-Method
He reared 16 monkeys with two wire model “mothers”. In one condition, milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother whereas in the second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth covered mother
Animal Studies of Attachment-Harlow-Results
The baby monkeys cuddled the soft object rather than the wire one, and sought comfort in the soft one regardless on which one gave them milk. It showed that “comfort contact” was more important to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment
Animal Studies of Attachment-Harlow-Evaluation
+Theoretical Value
+Practical Value
-Ethical Issues
The Strange Situation-Ainsworth-Method
The strange situation was composed of 7 episodes, each of which lasted 3 minutes. It begins with a child and caregiver entering a unfamiliar playroom. Then the episodes begin.
1-The child is encouraged to explore
2-A stranger comes in and tries to interact with the child
3- The caregiver leaves the stranger and child together
4- Caregiver returns, Stranger leaves
5- The caregiver leaves the child alone
6- The stranger returns
7- Caregiver returns, and is reunited with child
The child were observed via a two way mirror.
The Strange Situation-Ainsworth-Results
Ainsworth found out that there were 3 distinct patterns in infant behaviour
- Secure Attachment
- Insecure-Avoidant Attachment
- Insecure-Resistant Attachment
The Strange Situation-Ainsworth-Evaluation
+Valid Research
+Good Reliability
-Test may be culture biased
Cultural Variations-Van Ijzendoorn-Method
32 studies using the Strange Situation were done in 8 different countries. The data was meta-analysed.
Cultural Variations-Van Ijzendoorn-Results
In all countries, secure attachment was the most common type, but the proportions varied. Insecure resistant attachment was the least common, by 30% of Israeli babies had that type. Insecure avoidant attachment were observed most commonly in Germany and least in Japan. The variations between results in the same country were 150% greater than those in different countries.
Cultural Variations-Simonella-Method
76 12 month old Italians were assessed used the strange situation
Cultural Variations-Simonella-Results
50% were securely attached, while 36% were insecure avoidant. Simonella said that is might be because of young mothers use of childcare
Cultural Variations-Jin-Method
The strange situation was used to assess Korean children
Cultural Variations-Jin-Results
The overall proportion of secure and insecure babies were in line with other countries. The majority were secure, but all bar one were insecure attached. This study has similar results in Japan as well, due to similar child rearing styles
Maternal Deprivation-Bowlby-Method
44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the thieves had a prolonged history of separation from their mothers. A control group of non criminals but emotionally disturbed young people was set up to see how often maternal deprivation occurred in the children who were not thieves
Maternal Deprivation-Bowlby-Results
14 of 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. Of this, 12 of 14 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives. Only 5 of the 30 non A.P thieves had experienced separations. 2 of 44 had experienced long separations in the control group
Counter evidence to Bowlby’s-Lewis-Method
Bowlby’s thieve study was recreated looking at a larger sample size of 500
Counter evidence to Bowlby’s-Lewis-Result
A history of early prolonged separation from the mother did not predict criminality or a difficulty in forming relationships
Critical period is a sensitive period- Koluchova-Case Study
She looked at 2 boys who were isolated from their mother from 18 months. Their mother locked them in a cupboard until they were 7 years old. After this, they were looked after by two loving adults, and appeared to recover fully
English and Romanian Adoptee Study-Rutter-Method
Rutter followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in the UK to test to what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in orphanages. Physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed at age of 4,6,11 and 15 years. A group of 52 British children adopted around the same time were the control group
English and Romanian Adoptee Study-Rutter-Results
When they first arrived in the UK, half the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development and the majority were seriously undernourished. At 11, the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption. The mean IQ of those children adopted before 6 months was 102, compared to 86 for those adopted between 6 months and 2 years, and 77 for those adopted after 2 years. These differences remained at age 16
The Bucharest Early Intervention Project-Zeanah-Method
Zeanah assessed attachment in 95 children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care. They were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an orphanage. Their attachment type was measured using the strange situation
The Bucharest Early Intervention Project-Zeanah-Results
74% of the control group were securely attached. Only 19% of the institution group were securely attached, with 65% had disorganised attachment. 44% of the institution group and 20% of the control group were disinhibitely attached
Relationships in later childhood-Myron-Wilson and Smith-Method
They assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 from London
Relationships in later childhood-Myron-Wilson and Smith-Results
Secure children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying. Insecure-avoidant children were most likely to be victims, while Insecure-resistant children were more likely to be bullies
Relationships with Adult partners-McCarthy-Method
40 adult women were studied who had been assessed when they were infants to establish their early attachment type
Relationships with Adult partners-McCarthy-Result
Adults classed as insecure-resistant as infants had particular problems maintaining friendships whist those classified as insecure-avoidant struggled with intimacy in relationships
Adult Relationships-Hazan and Shaver-Method
They analysed 620 replies to a “love quiz” printed in an American local newspaper. The quiz had three sections. The first assessed respondent’s current or most important relationship. The second part assessed general love experiences such as number of partners. The third section assessed attachment type by asking respondents to choose which statements best described their feelings
Adult Relationships-Hazan and Shaver-Result
56% of respondents were identified as securely attached with 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant. Those reporting secure attachments were the most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic experiences. The avoidant respondents tended to reveal jealously and fear of intimacy.
Mixed evidence on continuity of attachment type-Zimmerman-Method
He assessed infant attachment type and adolescent attachment to parents
Mixed evidence on continuity of attachment type-Zimmerman-Results
There was very little relationships between quality of infants and adolescent attachment