Attachments Flashcards
THE LEARNING THEORY OF ATTACHMENT
What does the learning theory of attachment assume?
Attachments are learnt, acquired, we learn to be attached to a primary caregiver
THE LEARNING THEORY OF ATTACHMENT
What conditioning did Dollard and Miller put forward?
Operant conditioning
THE LEARNING THEORY OF ATTACHMENT
What did Dollard and Miller, 1950, suggest?
When an infant is hungry it feels discomfort, the creates a drive to reduce the discomfort. When the discomfort is reduced they feel a reward.
THE LEARNING THEORY OF ATTACHMENT
Describe operant conditioning, direct rewards
Food produces a response of pleasure and reduces the uncomfortable drive state caused when an infant is hungry.
THE LEARNING THEORY OF ATTACHMENT
What type of love is the learning theory?
Cupboard love
THE LEARNING THEORY OF ATTACHMENT
Describe classical conditioning
Food to pleasure
Food plus mother to pleasure
Mother to pleasure, an attachment is formed
THE LEARNING THEORY OF ATTACHMENT
What was Schaffer and Emerson’s criticism?
The person who fed you may not be the primary attachment figure, fewer than half the infants in their study attached to the person who fed them
THE LEARNING THEORY OF ATTACHMENT
Give two A03 negatives
Harlow’s monkeys: creature comfort
Reductionist: overly simplistic explanation for complex human behaviours
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENTS: NATURE
What does this theory assume?
Attachments are instinctive, adaptive for survival
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENTS: NATURE
What was Bowlby’s evolutionary theory?
Emergence of homosapiens at least 250000 years ago, we form monotropic reciprocal attachments
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENTS: NATURE
Define MISS
Monotropy
Internal working model
Social releases
Sensitive period
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENTS: NATURE
Define monotropy
A child has an innate (i.e. inborn) need to attach to one main attachment figure. This is called monotropy. This concept of monotropy suggests that there is one relationship which is more important than all the rest.
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENTS: NATURE
Define monotropy
A child has an innate (i.e. inborn) need to attach to one main attachment figure. This is called monotropy. This concept of monotropy suggests that there is one relationship which is more important than all the rest.
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENT: NATURE
Define an internal working model
According to Bowlby, an internal working model is a mental representation of our relationship with our primary caregiver that becomes a template for future relationships and allows individuals to predict, control and manipulate their environment.
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENT: NATURE
Define an internal working model
According to Bowlby, an internal working model is a mental representation of our relationship with our primary caregiver that becomes a template for future relationships and allows individuals to predict, control and manipulate their environment.
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENT: NATURE
Define social releases
Babies are born with the tendency to display certain innate behaviors (called social releasers) which help ensure proximity and contact with the mother or attachment figure (e.g., crying, smiling, crawling, etc.) – these are species-specific behaviors.
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENT: NATURE
Define the sensitive period
Bowlby believed that if development of an attachment did not take place in the first 2.5 years of life it wouldn’t be possible thereafter
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENT: NATURE
What is the continuity hypothesis?
The continuity hypothesis suggests that infants who have a secure relationship with their caregiver will grow up being more emotionally and socially competent than infants with insecure attachments.
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENT: NATURE
Give two positives of this theory
RWA: adoption procedures
Harlow’s monkeys
THEORIES OF ATTACHMENT: NATURE
Give one negative of this theory
Non falsifiable: speculative and retrospective, memory can be flawed
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
Is it nature or nurture?
Nurture
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
What did Harlow believe?
Comfort and security rather than food were crucial for factors involved in attachment
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
What monkeys did Harlow use?
8 rhesos monkeys
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
What did Harlow do?
Separate the monkeys from their mother and isolate them in separate cages, each were provided with two surrogate mothers made of wire cylinders, one made of soft towelling ‘contact comfort’ and the other left bare
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
What did four off the monkeys receive?
Milk from a bottle attached to a wire mother and four from a cloth mother. The groups drank the same amount and gained weight at the same weight.
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
What did Harlow conclude?
Comfort and security were the basis for attachment rather than food
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
What happened to the monkeys later in life?
They became indifferent or abusive to other monkeys, which supported the continuity hypothesis
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
What did the monkeys have difficulty doing?
Mating, and neglected their children, caused privation
HARLOW AND HARLOW CONTACT COMFORT
Give two negatives of this theory
Extrapolation: humans more complicated than monkeys
Ethics
KONRAD LORENZ 1935
Define imprinting
A permanent bond
KONRAD LORENZ 1935
What did Lorenz do?
He divided a group of goose eggs into two, one group saw their mother first, the other Lorenz, he marked each group to know which where which
KONRAD LORENZ 1935
What did Lorenz goslings do?
Followed him around and became distressed without him
KONRAD LORENZ 1935
Give two negatives of this theory
Cannot generalize onto humans
Ethics: playing with nature
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Define an attachment
An attachment is a strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people, particularly infant and caregiver
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Non verbal communication: describe research into reciprocity
Research in the 1970s demonstrated infants coordinated actions w caregivers in a kind of conversation. Smiling is an example
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Reciprocity: What was Trevathen’s suggestion?
These actions were important for the development of social and language skills
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Reciprocity: Describe Tronick et al’s experiment
Tronick asked mothers to enjoy dialogue with their babies, then stop and maintain a static face. Babies would try tempt their mothers into interactions by smiling, and then become distressed when she didn’t join in.
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Give the two types of non verbal communication
Reciprocity and interactional synchrony
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
What is interactional synchrony?
When baby and caregiver mirrored facial and body movements. This includes imitation of emotion.
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Describe Meltzoff and Moore’s observations
They observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Describe Meltzoff and Moores experiment
An adult displayed one of three distinct behaviours or gestures, the child’s response was then filmed an associations were made with the actions of the infants
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
What was Isabella et al’s positive?
Securely attached mothers and infant pairs showed more instances of interactional synchrony in the first year of life. This suggests strong emotional attachments associated with high levels of synchrony.
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Describe one positive
Filmed observations: information is static, no recall failure, reliability
CAREGIVER - INFANT ATTACHMENTS
Give one negative
Ethics: baby distress
STAGES OF ATTACHMENT
Who and when conducted the Glasgow Baby Study?
Schaffer and Emerson: 1964
STAGES OF ATTACHMENT
Describe the Glasgow baby study
A longitudinal study, observed babies for 18 months. Looked at interactions between baby and caregivers.
STAGES OF ATTACHMENT
Describe children used in Glasgow baby study
60, aged 5 to 23 weeks, observed every four weeks until they are one, then again at 18 months