attachments lessons 7-11 Flashcards
what is the strange situation experiment
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).
strange situation findings
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%
evaluation of strange situation
advantages: The Strange Situation has standardised procedures which allows for replication. The Strange Situation has been replicated many times over the years.
disadvantage: fails to measure another type of attachment (insecure disorganised). The Strange Situation is a controlled observation. As it is artificial it may not reflect the infant’s real world behaviour so lacks ecological validity
what is the internal working model
attachment between infant and caregiver is template for future relationships
loving first relationship = function relationships
bad first relationship = struggle to form relationships
influence of attachment on childhood relationships
Psychologists assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in 200 children aged 7 - 11 from London.
Psychologists have found securely attached children are not involved in bullying.
Insecure avoidant children tend to be victims of bullying.
Insecure resistant children tend to be bullies (due to weak internal working model)
This may be because insecure attached children did not have a strong internal working model due to the type of attachment they had with the primary caregiver.
evaluation of early attachment on childhood relationships
advantages: many studies supporting it are longitudinal so are valid and more applicable
disadvantages: methodology is flawed as they use questionnaire which leads to social desirability bias so the children may have answered to make themselves look in a positive light
influence of attachments on adult relationships experiment
hazan and shaver put a love quiz in small newspaper and analysed 620 people. The quiz asked questions about their relationship with their parents (to identify infant attachment style), attitudes towards love (to assess their internal working model), and their current relationship experiences (to determine their adult attachment style).
securely attached. 56%
insecure avoidant 25%
insecure resistant 19%
They found most people’s infant attachment style is similar to adult attachment style
behaviours influenced by the internal working model
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
evaluation of influence of early attachment on later relationships
ADV: research support from study that showed that attachment type is passed on through generations, they found women securely attached to their own mothers also had securely attached children.
DIS: studies about IWM lack validity as they use questionnaires and interviews. This means that parents may show social desirability bias by making out that they do have a secure relationship with their children. These methodological issues then affect the validity of the research because information given by the participants may not be entirely accurate.
what are the two types of cultures
individualistic - uk
collectivist - non western
culture variation studies
ainsworth uganda: natural observation. mothers more sensitive = securely attached children
simonella italy : strange situation on 76 babies most securely attached then 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 as primary fig
japan: strange situation on 60 middle class infants and found highest rates of insecure R
germany: german infants tend to be insecure rather than secure, particularly IA
key study for cultural variation
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
evaluation of cultural variation in attachment
ADV: large samples are used to test this which increases internal validity
DIS: samples tend to be unrepresentative of cultures as these cultural variation studies study countries not culture which can vary within countries.
Methods of assessment are bias as research is too rooted in american culture such as the strange situation which is investigated by american ainsworth yet is based on british bowlbys ideas which then can’t be generalised to non western based cultures.
bowlby theory of maternal deprivation
being separated from a mother in early childhood has serious consequences. separation is child not being in presence of primary attachment figure. 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.
two ways that maternal deprivation is harmful
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
bowlby 44 thieves study
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.
evaluation of Maternal deprivation hypothesis
ADV - Research support from animal study which showed that separating baby rats from their mothers for even a day affected their social development.
DIS - Evidence may be poor as bowlby did it in WW2 so orphans were traumatised.
Bowlby did interviews himself which could show researcher bias.
Counter evidence from lewis who did thief study on higher scale but found separation had no big effect.
what is institutionalisation
institutionalisation is when children placed in institutions.
two consequences are children adopting rules that impair functioning and loss of identity
romanian orphan study procedure
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
romanian orphan study findings
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 months & 2 yrs. 77 2-4yrs
evaluation of rutter study
DIS: ethical issues as children didn’t give consent and it was a natural experiment so extraneous variables were not controlled
le mare and audet romanian orphan study
36 orphans adopted to canadian families found they were more physically smaller but difference disappeared at 11 which shows recovery is possible.
what are the effects of institutionalisation
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.
evaluation of institutionalisation studies
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.
