Attatchment

Question 1

Define reciprocity

Answer 1

Caregiver-infant interaction is exchanged equally. Both parties respond to each others cues

Question 2

When was Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 2

1964

Question 3

What did Schaffer and Emerson develop

Answer 3

Schaffer’s stages of attachment

Question 4

What are the four stages of attachment

Answer 4

Asocial, indiscriminate attachment, specific attachment and multiple attachments

Question 5

What was the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s research

Answer 5

60 babies from Glasgow (31 boys and 29 girls) took part. Researchers visited babies and mothers every month for the first year and then again at 18 months. Researchers asked the mothers questions about everyday separations and they assessed Stranger anxiety.

Question 6

What are the strengths and limitations of Schaffer and Emerson’s study

Answer 6

Strengths- high validity due to high mundane realism,

Limitations- lack of external validity because all 60 babies had same class and background, there may be observer bias because the observers were the mothers.

Question 7

Describe a baby’s behavior in the Asocial stage

Answer 7

-easy to sooth
-likes everyone
-happens between 0-8 weeks

Question 8

Describe a baby in the indiscriminate stage

Answer 8

-smiles more
-recognises and prefers familiar people
-accept comfort from any adult
-no signs of separation anxiety or stranger anxiety

Question 9

Describe a baby in the specific stage

Answer 9

-show signs of attachment to one person (typically the mother)
-separation and Stranger anxiety apparent
- 7 to 12 months

Question 10

Describe a baby in the multiple attachments stage

Answer 10

-From one year onwards
-29% of babies form a secondary attachment a month after forming their first
-allows another person to comfortably look after them

Question 11

When was Lorenz’s study

Answer 11

1952

Question 12

What did Lorenz study

Answer 12

The importance of imprinting in geese and sexual imprinting

Question 13

Describe Lorenz’ experiment

Answer 13

He got geese eggs and split them into two groups: one group would inprint on their biological mother, the other would imprint on Lorenz.

Question 14

What were the findings of Lorenz experiment

Answer 14

Lorenz found that the baby geese did inprint on him and the other group with their mother. He also found that other animals that were raised around a different species to their own (peacock in the giant tortoise pen) found a sexual preference towards that species as well. Lorenz believed this was because of natural selection to get fed as a baby and to reproduce.

Question 15

What are the limitations of Lorenz’s study

Answer 15

-damage to the animal
-cant be generalised to humans
-Gunton et.al found contradictory evidence that imprinting is not permanent e.g. chickens and rubber gloves

Question 16

When was Harlow’s experiment

Answer 16

1958

Question 17

What was Harlow studying

Answer 17

If attatchment was for comfort or food in baby monkeys

Question 18

Describe Harlow’s experiment

Answer 18

He got baby monkeys and put them in a cage with two mother substitutes, one was made from wire and the other from cloth. However the wire mother was the only one that produced food.

Question 19

What were Harlow’s findings

Answer 19

He found that the monkeys spent the majority of their time with the cloth mother and hardly went to the wire mother except for food. This suggests that attatchment is for comfort and security, not for food

Question 20

What are the limitations of Harlow’s study

Answer 20

-permanent damage to the monkeys (social skills and mating issues)

Question 21

What are the strengths to Harlow’s research

Answer 21

-allowed social workers and psychologists to understand the importance of bonding in child development.

Question 22

What is the learning theory

Answer 22

The learning theory is the idea that an infant attaches to an attatchment figure for food/survival

Question 23

What is classical conditioning

Answer 23

Classical conditioning is when someone learns to associate two stimuli together to create an overall response.

Question 24

Give an example of an infant using classical conditioning

Answer 24

Food is an unconditioned stimulus which gives the unconditioned response of pleasure.
Caregiver is a neutral stimulus which brings the food. The infant learns that the caregiver gives them food and so the caregiver becomes a conditioned stimulus and seeing them gives the baby the conditioned response of pleasure.

Question 25

What is operant conditioning

Answer 25

Where a person learns from consequences and reinforcement of their behavior.

Question 26

What are the strengths of Pavlovs dogs

Answer 26

They give research evidence for classical conditioning.

Question 27

What are the limitations of Pavlovs dogs

Answer 27

They can’t be generalised to humans because the experiments are on dogs

Question 28

What are the strengths of the Skinner Box

Answer 28

Provides research evidence for operant conditioning

Question 29

What are the limitations of a Skinner Box

Answer 29

Ethical issues with the rat

Cannot be generalised to humans as the experiment

Question 30

What does ASCMI stand for in Bowlbys theory

Answer 30

Adaptive, Social releasers,Critical period,Montropy and Internal working model.

Question 31

Explain the Adaptive part of Bowlbys theory

Answer 31

The idea that an infant attaches for survival: protection and food.

Question 32

Explain the Social releasers peart of Bowlbys theory

Answer 32

Bowlby theorised that babies have social releasers to provoke adult interaction with them to make the adult attach to the baby. Social releasers are both physical (big eyes, chubby face, round body etc.) and verbal (crying, cooing and babbling), these qualities make them innately cute.

Question 33

Explain the critical period of Bowlbys theory

Answer 33

Bowlby theorised that an infant has a ‘sensitive period’ where they should attach to a parental figure (mainly a mother or mother like figure) in order to emotionally develop properly. This critical period lasts from birth to 2.5 years old.

Question 34

Explain the monotropy part of Bowlbys theory

Answer 34

Bowlby had this idea that an infant will attach to many people but will have one singular very important attatchment, usually with a mother or mother like figure, that continuously spends large amounts time with the infant

Question 35

Explain the internal working model in Bowlbys theory

Answer 35

Bowlby proposed the idea that an person will use the attachments they make as an infant as a blueprint for future relationships. E.g. a child that experiences attachments with lots of emotional support and care and reliability will most likely go on to have caring and long lasting relationships.

Question 36

What are the strengths of Bowlbys monotropic theory

Answer 36

-research evidence for social releasers from T. Berry Brazelton et.al (1975) by getting adults to ignore their baby’s social releasers.
-Research support for the internal working model from Bailey et.al (2007)

Question 37

What are the limitations of Bowlbys monotropic theory

Answer 37

-bowlbys concept on monotropy can be challenged by Schaffer and Emerson (1964) because the first attatchment is not necessarily stronger than other attatchments the infant makes

Question 38

What was the procedure of Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 38

1. Baby is encouraged to explore
2. Stranger comes in talks to the caregiver and approaches the baby
3. The caregiver leaves the baby and stranger together
4. Caregiver returns and the stranger leaves
5. The caregiver leaves the baby alone
6. The stranger returns
7. Caregiver returns

Question 39

What does the strange situation assess

Answer 39

It assessed the quality of attatchment between a baby and a caregiver through observing key attatchment behaviors

Question 40

What are the strengths of the Strange Situation

Answer 40

It’s outcome predicts a number of aspects in a baby’s development

It has good reliability because of controlled conditions and the behaviors are easy to observe.

Question 41

What are the limitations of the Strange Situation

Answer 41

• it may be culture bound due to being developed in Britain and the USA.
• Strange Situation can be argued as not assessing levels of attatchment but levels of stranger and separation anxiety which are not the same.

Question 42

What are the three attatchment types described by the Strange Situation

Answer 42

Secure, insecure resistant and insecure avoidant

Question 43

What behavior do securely attached babies tend to show

Answer 43

-explore happily but check back with caregiver
-moderate levels of separation and stranger anxiety
-accept and require comfort from caregiver upon reunion
-60-75% of UK babies are this type

Question 44

What does having a securely attached baby say about the caregiver

Answer 44

• respond well and appropriately to their babies needs
  -babies have plenty of comfort and emotional support as well as mental stimulation
  -reliable and nurturing

Question 45

What behavior does an insecure- resistant baby tend to show?

Answer 45

-need greater proximity to parent and don’t tend to explore
-high levels of stranger and seperation anxiety
-confusing behavior on reunion
-pushes away from parent but also craves comfort

Question 46

What behavior does an insecure-avoidant baby tend to show

Answer 46

-Completely avoids caregiver
-does not seek proximity
-mild to no stranger or seperation anxiety
-very explorative

Question 47

What was van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s research

Answer 47

A meta-analysis of all the research conducted from the Strange Situation internationally. 32 studies were meta analysed including 1,990 children.

Question 48

What was van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s results

Answer 48

All countries had a secure attacthment type as their majority however other countries had more insecurely attached babies than others. For example Germany had the most insecure-avoidant

Question 49

What was Bowlby’s study of maternal deprivation

Answer 49

44 criminal teenagers were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. The families were also interviwed to establisj whether the “thieves” had a prolonged seperation from their mothers. The samples were compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed teenagers

Question 50

What were the findings of Bowlbys maternal deprivation study

Answer 50

14 out of the 4t thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths and 12 of them had a prolonged separation from their mother within the first two years of their life. Out of the remaining 30, only 5 more had prolonged separations. In the control group, only 2 had prolonged separations.

Question 51

What are the strengths of bowlbys maternal deprivation study

Answer 51

Research support from Frederic Lévy et.al (2003) which showed rats maternal deprivation

Question 52

What are the limitations of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 52

Poor quality of evidence

Interviewer bias because Bowlby conducted the interviews himself

Bowlby may have overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation (loss of caregiver)- its privation not deprivation

Bowlbys idea of a critical period is overexaggeratrd because attatchments after the critical period can prevent emotional damage

Question 53

What did Rutter et.al (2011) study with Romanian orphans

Answer 53

They followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans who were adopted into families in the UK as part of the ERA study (English and Romanian Adoptee study). They were investigating to see if good care can make up for poor early experiences. Their emotional, cognitive and physical development was assessed at 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25 years old. A group of UK children were adopted at the same time as a control.

Question 54

What were the findings of Rutter et.al

Answer 54

When the children first arrived they had delayed intellecutal development and were severely undernourished. The mean IQ of those adopted before or at 6 months old was 102 by age 11, adopted between 6 months and two years had an average IQ of 86 by 11 while those who were adopted after two years had an average IQ of 76. Also those adopted after 6 months old, had a disinhibited attatchment type where they were clingy and attention seeking towards all adults; strangers, teachers, parents,etc.

Question 55

What was Zeanah et.al’s (2005) research

Answer 55

He assessed 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months who lived in institutional care on the Strange Situation in comparison to 50 uninstitutionalised children. Carers were asked about unusual behaviors such as clingy or attention seeking behavior directed inappropriately and indiscriminately.

Question 56

What was Zeanah et.al’s (2005) results

Answer 56

74% of the control group were securely attached. However only 19% of the Romanian children were securely attached and 44% had a disinherited attatchement.

Question 57

Define Institutionalistation

Answer 57

A term for the effects of living in an institution such as hospital or an orphanage for continuous amounts of time.

Question 58

What are the strengths of Romanian orphans studies

Answer 58

Practical application on the effects of institutionalisation and psychologist understanding

Lack of confounding variables since all the Romanian children came from the same institution and suffered the same. They were all given up for the same reason so they are less likely to be confounded by previous negative experiences.

Question 59

What are the limitations of the Romanian orphans study

Answer 59

Introducing different confounding variables such as the children were from extremely poor institutions so not necessarily all institutions are like that.

Lack of adult data- not assessed after mid 20s, knowledge on romantic and adult relationships are unknown. Late adopted children may catch up intellectually or emotionally.

Question 60

What did Wilson and Smith test in 1998

Answer 60

They assessed if there was a connection between attatchment and bullying in later childhood. 196 children ages 7-11 from London were assessed.

Question 61

What were the findings of Wilson and Smith (1998)

Answer 61

Securely attached children had great friendships, insecure- resistant attached children were more likely to be bullies and insecure avoidant children were more likely to be bullied.

Question 62

What was Hazan and Shaver’s (1987) study

Answer 62

They analysed 620 replies to a questionnaire on love (“love quiz”) printed in a newspaper. They assessed current or most recent relationship, general love experiences, choosing statements based on feelings

Question 63

What were the results of Hazan and Shaver (1987)

Answer 63

56% of respondets were securely attached and were most likely to have long lasting romantic relationships. 25% were insecure- avoidant and tended to feel jealousy and have intimacy issues.19% were insecure- resistant

Question 64

What are the strengths of investigations into attatchments and later relationships

Answer 64

Supporting evidence with disorganised attacthment children (Fearon and Roisman 2017)

Question 65

What are the limitations of research into attatchment and later realtionships

Answer 65

Not all evidence will support a connection between early attatchment and later relationships (Becker-Stoll et.al 2008)

Assessed retrospectively which means either they only assess them when younger and don’t follow up as an adult (can’t prove link between early attatchment and later life) OR they ask them as adults or adolescents only (social desirability)

Confounding variables such as parenting style and genetically influenced personalities.