attachment throughout the life course Flashcards
When was attachment theory developed and by whom?
1940s by John Bowlby
What was harry harlows experiment? with what animal?
monkeys, placed them in a cage that had two fake mothers, a soft one and a food one
shows importance of contact comfort
attachment figure
- someone who is a primary safe space/secure base for someone, often a parent for children and a partner for adults
attachment behavioural system
- motivational system selected over evolution to maintain proximity from children to their attachment figure
- designed by natural selection
- if person is nearby, they feel secure
- if person is far, they are anxious
attachment behaviours
- behaviours that attract the attention of attachment figure in order to prevent separation
When did a formal understanding of infant individual differences in attachment emerge?
- when Bowlby’s colleague Mary Ainsworth, studied infant-parent separations
what is the strange situation? what were the three outcomes?
- lab task
- brief separation and reuniting infants and caregivers
outcomes: - secure: distressed when parent leaves, seek comfort from them when they get back
- anxious-resistant: extreme distress, hard time being soothed, punish parent for leaving
- avoidant: not stressed, reunion-avoid parent
why was ainsworths work important?
- provided one of the first empirical demonstrations of how attachment behaviour is organized in unfamiliar contexts
- provided the first empirical taxonomy of individual differences in infant attachment patterns
- demonstrated that these individual differences were correlated with infant–parent interactions in the home during the first year of life
attachment patterns
Individual differences in how securely (vs. insecurely) people think, feel, and behave in attachment relationships.
- dependant on caregiver-child interactions
What did Hazan and Shaver add to attachment style research in mid 1980s?
- attachment in romantic relationships
- similarities between caregiver-child and partners
Similarities between caregiver-child and romantic relationships
(a) feel safe and secure when the other person is present;
(b) turn to the other person during times of sickness, distress, or fear;
(c) use the other person as a “secure base” from which to explore the world
(d) speak to one another in a unique language, often called “motherese” or “baby talk.”
t or f: secure partners usually match with secure partners
true, but un sure the cause could be:
(a) secure people are more likely to be attracted to other secure people
(b) secure people are likely to create security in their partners over time
(c) combo
t or f: relationship between early experiences and subsequent outcomes is deterministic
false, it is probable
if a person has not good experiences with caregivers at an early age, what can help to correct it?
relationships with siblings, other family members, teachers, and close friends
Wyatt, a 12-month-old baby, was upset when his mother left. When she returned, he crawled over to her and happily hugged her. He is displaying a(n) ______ attachment to his mother.
permissive.
anxious-resistant.
dismissive.
secure.
avoidant
secure
