attachments lessons 7-11

Question 1

what is the strange situation experiment

Answer 1

ainsworth and bell used controlled observation to test stranger anxiety and separation anxiety by recording infant movement. 7 episodes - parent sits while infant plays (parent secure base). stranger enters and talks to parent (stranger anxiety). parent leaves stranger offers comfort (separation anxiety). parent returns stranger leaves (reunion behaviour). parent leaves (separation anxiety). stranger enters (stranger anxiety). parent returns (reunion behaviour).

Question 2

strange situation findings

Answer 2

secure type b. insecure avoidant type a. insecure resistant type c
willingness to explore. high. high. low
stranger anxiety. high. low. high
separation anxiety. some easy to soothe. indifferent. distressed
behaviour at reunion enthusiastic. avoids contact. seeks and rejects
% infants in category 66%. 22%. 12%

Question 3

evaluation of strange situation

Answer 3

advantages: high reliability as 0.94 agreement in raters
disadvantage: fails to measure another type of attachment (insecure disorganised). meta analysis found 14% babies were type D!. controlled environment so lacks ecological validity

Question 4

what is the internal working model

Answer 4

attachment between infant and caregiver is template for future relationships
loving first relationship = function relationships
bad first relationship = struggle to form relationships

Question 5

influence of attachment on childhood relationships

Answer 5

sroufe found secure first attachment leads to social competence
myron wilson and smith found secure attached children not involved in bullying. insecure avoidant are victims of bullying. insecure resistant are bullies (due to weak internal working model)

Question 6

evaluation of early attachment on childhood relationships

Answer 6

advantages: minnesota study supports as its longitudinal so valid internal working model
disadvantages: methodology is flawed as they use questionnaire which leads to social desirability bias

Question 7

influence of attachments on adult relationships

Answer 7

hazan and shaver put love quiz in small newspaper. analysed 620 people in sample 1. 108 students in sample 2. findings:
securely attached. 56% both samples
insecure avoidant 23% sample 1 25% sample 2
insecure resistant 19% sample 1 20% sample 2

Question 8

behaviours influenced by the internal working model

Answer 8

childhood friendships: infants classified as securely attached in infancy were highest rated in social competence
poor parenting: harlows research demonstrated a link between poor attachment and later difficult parenting
romantic relationships: study by hazan and shaver. secure attachment = long lasting relationship
mental health: lack of attachment = lack of internal working model = can’t relate to others

Question 9

evaluation of influence of early attachment on later relationships (hazan and shaver study)

Answer 9

zimmerman found little difference in quality of attachment between infant and adolescent to parents
studies about IWM lack validity as they use questionnaires which lead to social desirability bias. also association doesn’t mean causality

Question 10

what are the two types of cultures

Answer 10

individualistic - uk
collectivist - non western

Question 11

culture variation studies

Answer 11

ainsworth uganda: natural observation. mothers more sensitive = securely attached children
simonella italy : strange situation on 76 babies 50% securely attached 36% insecure A
Jin korea : strange situation on 87 children. most secure and rest were insecure R
tronick zaire tribe: infants were breastfed by others yet only had mother primary fig
takahashi japan: 60 middle class infants high rates of insecure R
grossman grossman germany: german infants tend to be insecure rather than secure

Question 12

key study for cultural variation

Answer 12

van ijzendoorn krooenberg conducted meta analysis of 32 studies in 8 countries
in all countries securely attached most common
china had lowest securely attached but equal IR and IA
IA next most common apart from israel and japan
IR most common in collectivist cultures like israel and japan

Question 13

evaluation of cultural variation in attachment

Answer 13

— large samples which increase internal validity
— samples tend to be unrepresentative of cultures
— methods of assessment are bias: rothbaum argued research is too rooted to american culture
— sensitivity hypothesis: sensitive in america promotes independence but in japan it’s dependance
— continuity hypothesis: emotionally competent different as in USA you can show emotion but in japan it is unexpected
— secure base hypothesis: USA independence japan dependence

Question 14

bowlby theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 14

being separated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences. separation is child not being in presence of primary AF. deprivation is losing an element of her care. first 30 months are critical period and if you experience deprivation during it then psych damage is inevitable and lasting.

Question 15

two ways that maternal deprivation is harmful

Answer 15

intellectual development: infants deprived have very low IQ compared to counterparts
emotional development: they could become affectionless psychopath if deprived which means they can’t feel guilt and lack remorse

Question 16

bowlby 44 thieves study

Answer 16

44 criminal teens accused of stealing interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. family interviews to see if they had prolonged separation. control group of emotionally disturbed non criminals used to compare.
found 30% could be AP’s. of the 30% 86% had prolonged separation. of remaining thieves 17% experienced separation. in control group 5% had separation.

Question 17

evaluation of MDH

Answer 17

evidence poor as bowlby did it in WW2 so orphans were traumatised. bowlby did interviews himself which could show bias.
counter evidence from lewis who did thief study on higher scale but found separation had no big effect.
evidence rejects idea of irreversible as twin boys isolated until 7 recovered with 2 loving adults

Question 18

what is institutionalisation

Answer 18

institutionalisation is when children placed in institutions.
two consequences are children adopting rules that impair functioning and loss of identity

Question 19

romanian orphan study

Answer 19

rutter and songua-barke used 165 romanian children who were in institutions in three categories
54 adopted before 6 months
57 adopted between 6 months and 2 years
54 adopted between 2-4 years.
tested at regular age intervals: 4,6,11,15
compared to control groups of 52 british adoptees

Question 20

romanian orphan study findings

Answer 20

romanian orphans lagged behind british counterparts in physical social emotional and cognitive development. also showed malnutrition and mental retardation. by age 4 some roms caught up. IQ at 11 was 102 before 6 months. 86 between 6 & 2. 77 2-4yrs

Question 21

evaluation of rutter study

Answer 21

ethical issues as children didn’t give consent and natural experiment so extraneous variables were not controlled

Question 22

le mare and audet romanian orphan study

Answer 22

36 orphans adopted to canadian families found they were more physically smaller but difference disappeared at 11 which shows recovery is possible.

Question 23

what are the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 23

physical underdevelopment- some had deprivation dwarfism
mental retardation - children performed bad on intelligence tests but when given emotional care it improved
disinhibited attachment - do not discriminate between attachment figures and may treat unfamiliar ppl with inappropriate familiarity
poor parenting - harlow showed with monkeys that they become bad parents.

Question 24

evaluation of institutionalisation studies

Answer 24

strengths: real life application as it helped understanding and how to tackle it such as adoption should be as young as possible. studies were longitudinal so the effects are more apparent and can see whether it can be reversed.
weaknesses: ethical issues as no consent was taken from orphans and they may have suffered psychological harm. individual differences as some children aren’t as affected as others. rutter suggested some kids received better care as they were younger.