Attachments L9 - 11 Flashcards

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1
Q

What does culture refer to?

A

Norms and values that exist within any group of people

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2
Q

What does subculture refer to?

A

Group within a country that may have special different characteristics

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3
Q

What is one key difference between cultures, what is this and what countries often display this?

A
  • Individualistic (Western countries) = Value independence + importance of individual
  • Collectivist (non-Western countries) = Value interdependence + importance of grp
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4
Q

What are the key cultural variation studies, where were they done and in what years?

A
  • Ainsworth (1967) in Uganda
  • Simonella (2014) in Italy
  • Jin et al (2012) in South Korea
  • Tronick et al (1992) in Africa
  • Takahashi (1990) in Japan
  • Grossman and Grossman (1991) in Germany
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5
Q

Ainsworth (1967) in Uganda:

A
  • 1954 –> 2 yr naturalistic observation of mother-infant interactions
  • 26 mothers + infants
  • Living in 6 villages around Kampala
  • More sensitive mothers tended to have securely attached infants
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6
Q

Simonella (2014) in Italy:

A
  • Sample of 76
  • 1 yr olds
  • Strange Situation
  • 50% securely attached, 36% insecure-avoidant
  • Increase in women in work + using professional childcare
  • Caused lower rate of securely attached infants
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7
Q

Jin et al (2012) in South Korea:

A
  • 87 children
  • Strange Situation
  • Proportion of secure infants to insecure similar to most countries
  • Insecurely attached children mainly insecure resistant
  • Only 1 child was insecure avoidant
  • Similar to Japan (due to similar child-rearing)
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8
Q

Tronick et al (1992) in Africa:

A
  • African tribe Efe in Zaire where babies are looked after + breastfed by other women
  • Slept w/ mother at night
  • At 6 months –> Babies still showed one primary attachment (monotropy)
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9
Q

Takahashi (1990) in Japan:

A
  • Strange Situation
  • 60 middle class Japanese infants + mothers
  • Similar rates of attachment to Ainsworth
  • No insecure-avoidant, 32% insecure-resistant
  • Distressed when left alone –> study had to be stopped for 90% of infants
  • Due to child-rearing practices –> rarely experienced separation from mothers
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10
Q

Grossman and Grossman (1991) in Germany:

A
  • Insecurely attached rather than securely attached
  • Due to child-rearing practices –> Parents and children maintained interpersonal distance
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11
Q

Procedure of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg (1988):

A
  • Meta-analysis of 32 studies of attachment behaviour
  • Over 2000 Strange Situations
  • 8 diff countries –> China, Netherlands, UK, Japan, Israel, Sweden, USA, West Germany
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12
Q

Findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg (1988):

A
  • Secure attachment was most common
  • China had lowest amount of secure attachments (50%) + equal insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant
  • Insecure-avoidant next common in all countries but Japan and Israel –> particularly high in West Germany
  • Insecure-resistant most common in collectivist cultures eg. Israel + Japan
  • Variance between results within same country was greater (150%) than between countries –> one study found only 46% securely attached comapared to 90% in another sample
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13
Q

Conclusion of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg (1988):

A
  • Regardless of culture, most babies will from secure attachment
  • Supports argument that secure attachment is best for social and emotional development + attachments are innate
  • Cultural practices can have a sig impact on whether an infant is insecure-avoidant/resistant
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14
Q

Strengths and weaknesses of research into cultural variations:

A

+ Large samples
- Sample tend to be unrepresentative
- Biased methodology

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15
Q

Give examples of the studies that had a large sample and why this is a strength:

A
  • Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg (2000 infants), Simonella et al (76), Jin et al (87)
  • Increased internal validity as impact of anomalous results are reduced
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16
Q

In what way are samples unrepresentative of culture?

A
  • Comparisons were between countries and not cultures
  • Many subcultures w/in a country
  • Japan –> Children reared in urban setting more likely to show same attachments as Western countries than a rural sample
  • Variance between results within same country was greater (150%) than between countries –> one study found only 46% securely attached compared to 90% in another sample
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17
Q

What ideas does cross-cultural psychology include and what are these?

A
  • Emic = Uniqueness of each culture
  • Etic = Cultural universality
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18
Q

Give two examples of an imposed etic:

A

Using Strange Situation in a non-Western culture:
- Designed by American researcher on British theory
- Questioned whether Anglo-American theories can be applied to other cultures

Connotations of separation anxiety and lack of pleasure
- Referred to as insecure avoidant in Strange Situation
- In Germany, these behaviours are seen as independence than avoidance
- Not a sign of insecurity

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19
Q

Who argued that attachment research is not relevant to other cultures, why and what major differences did they consider?

A
  • Rothbaum et al (2000)
  • Rooted in American culture
    3 major differences:
    1) Sensitivity hypothesis –> Individualist: sensitivity promotes independence, Collectivist: sensitivity promotes dependence
    2) Continuity hypothesis –> Individualist: Emotionally competent = Discussing + showing emotions, Collectivist: Not expected to share + share emotions
    3) Secure-base hypothesis –> Individualist: promotes independence, Collectivist: promotes dependence
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20
Q

What did Bowlby say about mother-love in infancy and childhood and when?

A
  • 1953
  • “mother-love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health”
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21
Q

What is the maternal deprivation hypothesis, when was it formed and by who?

A
  • Bowlby (1951)
  • Suggested a young child should experience warm, intimate and continuous relationship w/ his mother/mother substitute otherwise they may suffer long term damage
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22
Q

What is the difference between separation and deprivation?

A
  • Child not being in presence of primary attachment fig
  • Only becomes deprivation if element of their care is lost
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23
Q

What period did Bowlby see as critical for psychological development and what would happen if not?

A
  • 30 months
  • Inevitable and lasting
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24
Q

What are the two ways in which maternal deprivation is harmful?

A

1) Intellectual development
2) Emotional development

25
Q

Which study showed the impact of maternal deprivation on intellectual development?

A
  • Goldfarb (1947)
  • Children who had been in institutions from a very young age had much lower IQs than their fostered counterparts
26
Q

What could maternally deprived children become and what is this?

A
  • Affectionless psychopaths
  • Inability to experience guilt or strong emotion
27
Q

What study was conducted to support the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?

A
  • Juvenile Thieves study (1944)
28
Q

Procedure of Juvenile Thieves study:

A
  • Thieves interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy
  • Families interviewed to establish whether teenager had prolonged early separations from mother
  • Control grp of non-criminal but emotionally disturbed teenagers to compare if they had also suffered maternal deprivation
29
Q

Findings of Juvenile Thieves study:

A
  • 14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths
  • 12/44 thieves (86%) had experienced prolonged separations from mother during critical period
  • Out of remaining thieves (30) only 5 (17%) had experienced separations
  • Control grp: 2/44 (5%) experienced long separations from mother
30
Q

Conclusion of Juvenile Thieves study:

A

Maternal deprivation causes affectionless psychopathy

31
Q

Strengths and weaknesses of Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis:

A

+ Animal studies show effects of maternal deprivation
- Counter evidence
- Effects of maternal deprivation are reversible
- Failure to distinguish between deprivation and privation
- Poor evidence

32
Q

How is evidence for MDH poor?

A
  • Used children orphaned during WW2, children growing up in poor quality orphanages, Juvenile Thieves
  • Affected by other factors that may have caused the psychological damage like trauma of war
  • Children in poor quality orphanages deprived all care not just maternal
  • Juvenile Thieves had major design flaws –> Bowlby himself carried out interviews, showing bias
33
Q

What evidence is there against MDH research?

A
  • Lewis (1954) partially replicated study on larger scale
  • 500 young people
    -Early prolonged separation from mother did not predict criminality/difficulty forming close relationships
34
Q

What study shows the effects of maternal deprivation to be reversible?

A
  • Kulochova (1976) reported twin boys who were isolated from 18 months to 7 yrs
  • Stepmother locked them in cupboard
  • Recovered fully after being looked after by 2 loving adults
35
Q

What animal studies show effect of maternal deprivation?

A

Levy et al (2003) showed separating baby rats from mother for as little as a day had permanent effect on social development but no other aspects of development

36
Q

How does MDH fail to distinguish between deprivation and privation?

A
  • Michael Rutter (1981) claimed Bowlby was confusing deprivation and privation
  • Deprivation = Loss of attachment fig after attachment has developed
  • Privation = failure to form attachment in first place
  • Claimed long term damage associated with maternal deprivation is likely to be result of privation
37
Q

What is institutionalisation?

A
  • Place where people live for a period of time as they are unable to be looked after by parents
  • Could be waiting adoption/fostering
38
Q

What are two negative effects of institutionalisation?

A

1) Child adopts rules + norms of institution that could impair functioning
2) Leads to deindividuation (loss of personal identity)

39
Q

What country and what events in this country gave psychologists the opportunity to study institutionalisation?

A
  • 1966 –> Romanian gov, under a dictatorship, tried to boost pop by encouraging parents to have large families + banning abortion
  • Many babies could not be cared for by families ‘
  • 1989 –> Regime collapsed, so world became aware of 100,000 orphans in 60 state-run orphanages
40
Q

What were the conditions of the institutions in Romania?

A
  • Spent days alone in crib
  • Very little stimulation
41
Q

What study explored the effects of instutitionalisation and what was it called?

A
  • Rutter and Songua-Barke (2010)
  • ERA (English and Romanian orphans
42
Q

Procedure of ERA study:

A
  • 165 children who spent early lives in institutions
  • Adopted by British families
  • Age grps: 54 adopted before 6 months, 57 between 6 months and 2 yrs, 54 between 2 and 4 yrs
  • Tested at regular intervals (4, 6, 11 and 15 yrs) to assess physical, cognitive and social development
  • Interviews w/ parents + teachers
  • Control grp of 52 British children adopted before 6 months
43
Q

Findings of ERA study:

A
  • Lagged behind British counterparts on all measures of development eg. severely malnourished + mentally retarded
  • By 4 yrs, some had caught up, esp children adopted before 6 months
  • After 6 months, children were more likely to suffer social, emotional and cognitive deficits eg. mean IQ for grp 1 is 102, grp 2 is 86, grp 3 is 77
  • IQs stayed same when children were 16
  • Children adopted between 2 and 4 yrs more likely to suffer mental health issues
  • Any child adopted after 6 months showed signs of ‘disinhibited attachment’
44
Q

What is disinhibited attachment?

A
  • Attention-seeking
  • Clingy
  • No stranger anxiety/ Equally affectionate w/ everyone
45
Q

How does Rutter explain disinhibited attachment and when?

A
  • Rutter (2006)
  • Adaptation to living w/ multiple carers during critical period
  • In Romania, a child may have 50 carers
46
Q

Conclusion of ERA study:

A
  • Institutionalised children can recover from the effects of institutionalisation esp when adopted before 6 months
  • Earlier a child is adopted, the better
  • Appalling conditions can lead to long term consequences
47
Q

Limitations of ERA study:

A
  • Conditions of orphanages before entering UK is unknown
  • Consent is an issue as they are too young
  • Difficult to generalise findings as only some children received detailed clinical investigations
  • Many EV affecting findings like quality of care as this is a natural experiment
48
Q

What are the other studies done on Romanian orphans?

A
  • Le Mare and Audet (2006)
  • Zeanah et al (2005), also known as Bucharest Early Intervention Project
49
Q

Le Mare and Audet (2006) study:

A
  • Longitudinal study
  • 36 orphans adopted to families in Canada
  • Studied orphans’ physical growth and health
  • Adopted orphans were physically smaller than control grp aged 4 and a half yrs
  • This difference had disappeared by age 11 (same for physical health
  • Recovery is possible
50
Q

Bucharest Early Intervention Project:

A
  • 95 Romanian children who had spent around 90% of lives in orphanage
  • Control grp of 50 children who had never been in an institution
  • Aged between 12 and 31 months
  • Assessed using Strange Situation
  • 74% of control was securely attached, compared to 19% of orphans
  • 65% of orphan grp classified as Type D (disorganised attachment)
  • Disinhibited attachment applies to 44% of grp compared to less than 20% of control
51
Q

Effects of instutionalisation:

A
  • Physical underdevelopment
  • Mental retardation
  • Disinhibited attachment
  • Poor parenting
52
Q

What study has shown physical underdevelopment to be an effect of institutionalisation?

A
  • Gardner (1972)
  • Deprivation dwarfism is caused by lack of emotional care , rather than poor nourishment
53
Q

What study has shown mental retardation to be an effect of institutionalisation?

A
  • Skodak and Skeels (1949)
  • Children scored poorly on intelligence tests
  • When sent to a diff institution, where emotional care was better, scores improved by up to 30 points
  • Shows cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation
54
Q

What studies have shown poor parenting to be an effect of institutionalisation?

A
  • Harlow (1965) showed monkeys raised in isolation to be poor parents
  • Quinton et al (1984) compared 50 women raised in institutions to those who had not
  • In 20s, the institutionalised were struggling to be good parents as many of their children also spent time in care
55
Q

Strengths and weaknesses of research into institutionalisation:

A

+ Real life application
+ Value of longitudinal studies
+ ERA has fewer EV than other studies
- Ethical issues
- Individual differences

56
Q

How does research into institutionalisation have real life application?

A
  • Improvements in way children are cared for in institutions (Langton, 2006) eg. only 1 or 2 people working w/ each individual (key worker)
  • Chance to develop normal rather than disinhibited attachment
  • Shows that adoption must occur as soon as possible and w/in critical period
57
Q

How does Rutter’s research have fewer EV than other orphan studies?

A
  • Other studies involve children who had experienced loss/trauma before institutionalisation
  • Difficult to observe effects as there are many confounding variables interfering
  • Rutter’s research was not like this
58
Q

What ethical issues are present in research into institutionalisation?

A
  • Consent of the adoptees + parents
  • Psychological harm to parents + children –> longitudinal study may have created pressure that affected findings
  • Issue of social sensitivity –> Can have unforeseen consequences if research is used to make generalisations about adoptions
59
Q

What individual differences are there in the research into institutionalisation?

A
  • Some children are not as affected by institutionalisation as much as others
  • Some may have received better care due to being more cute than other babies (social releasers)