Attatchment Flashcards
1
Q
What is attachment
A
an emotional tie or bond between two people, usually a primary caregiver and a child.
The relationship is reciprocal (shared), which means that it is a two-way relationship
2
Q
Why care givers and Inca to are subjects of research
A
they provide an insight into the type and nature of attachment.
3
Q
Reciprocity
A
when an infant responds to the actions of another person in a form or turn-taking. With reciprocity, the actions of one person (i.e. the primary caregiver) elicits a response from the other (i.e. the infant
4
Q
Brezelton et al 1975
A
describe this interaction (reciprocity)as a ‘dance’ because when a couple dance together they each respond to one another’s movements and rhy
5
Q
reciprocity as a caregiver– infant interaction
A
Where the interaction between both individuals flows back and forth
6
Q
Feldman 2007
A
reciprocity increases in frequency as the infant and caregiver pay increasing attention to each other’s verbal and facial communications
7
Q
What happens when caregiver pays attention to infants behaviour
A
Lay the strong foundations for attachment to develop later between the caregiver and infant.
8
Q
Interactional synchronicity
A
When infants mirror the actions or emotions of another person
9
Q
Example of interactional synchronicity
A
Facial expressions
Copying adults behaviour
10
Q
Interactional synchronicity with care giver and infant
A
child will move their body or carry out the same act as their caregiver simultaneously and the two are said to be synchronized (in ‘sync’)
11
Q
How babies brains develop
A
Neurons number increases connections increases as time goes by from few weeks geststation and to 2 years
12
Q
Who studied synchronicity in 1983
A
Meltzoff and Moore
13
Q
What did meltzoff and Moore propose
A
some primitive capacity for matching the acts of others (Meltzoff & Moore, 1977, 1983a). Such an ability would be an important building block for subsequent social and cognitive development.
They claim that intentional interaction is innate.
14
Q
Aim of meltzoff and moore
A
To examine Interactional synchronicity in infants they wanted to find out if these interactions were innate
15
Q
Methods of meltzoff and moore
A
Using a controlled observation, an adult model displayed one of three facial expressions, or a hand gesture. To start with, the child had a dummy placed in his/her mouth to prevent a facial response. Following the display from the adult model, the dummy was removed and the child’s expressions were filmed.
16
Q
Results of meltzoff and moore
A
There was a clear association between the infants’ behaviour and that of the adult model.
Later research by Meltzoff and Moore (1983) found the same findings in three day old infants
17
Q
Conclusions of meltzoff and moore
A
These findings suggest that Interactional synchrony is innate and reduces the strength of any claim that imitative behaviour is learned
18
Q
Evaluate points of meltzoff psychology research
A
Methodological problems with Meltzoff’s research.
2. Recent research found that only secure attachment engage in
interactional synchrony
3. Lack of reliability
19
Q
Methodological problems of meltzoff and Moore peel
A
P: There are methodological problems with studying interactional synchrony using observational methods.
E: There is the possibility of observer bias where the .
E: To addres should be used to examine the inter- of the observations. Recent research by Koepke et al. (1983) failed to replicate the findings of Meltzoff and Moore.
L: This lack of research support suggests that the results of Meltzoff and Moore are unreliable and more research is required to validate their findings
20
Q
Kaitz et al
A
found that there are certain behaviours that are innate. For example, they found that tongue protrusion may be a prepackaged motor programme that simply is released by the adult’s behaviour. This means that it has an intentional
21
Q
Criticism of meltzoff and Moore
A
only securely attached infants engage in interactional synchrony.
22
Q
Peel for meltzoff criticism
A
E: Isabella et al. (1989) found that the more securely attached the infant, the greater the level of interactional sync hrony.
E:
interactional and that Meltzoff and Moore’s original findings may have overlooked individual differences which could be a mediating factor.
L: Therefore, this is a limitation because it
This suggests that not all children engage in
synchrony
may be that
attachment type
is what
causes interaction
rather than being
innate as Meltzoff and Moore claimed.
23
Q
Isabella et al
A
Isabella et al. (1989) found that the more securely attached the infant, the greater the level of interactional sync hrony.
E:
interactional and that Meltzoff and Moore’s original findings may have overlooked individual differences which could be a mediating factor.
24
Q
Who researches stages of attachment
A
Schaefer and Emerson
25
Aim of eshaeffer and Emerson
account of how attachment
behaviours change as a baby gets older. They proposed that there
four identifiable stages
26
Four stages of attachment
Asocial
Indiscriminate attatchments
Discriminate attatchment
Multiple attatchment
27
Asocial age
Birth to two months
28
Indiscriminate attatchments age
Two to six months
29
Discriminate specific attatchment
Seven to twelve minthd
30
Multiple attatchments age
Ome year onwards
31
Description of asocial
An infant shows similar responses to objects and peopel
32
Indiscriminate attatchments descriptions
An infant now shows a preference for human company over non- human company
33
Specific attatchment description
An infant shows a preference for one caregiver
Stranger anxiety
34
Multiple attatchments descrimjntstion
Attatchment behaviours are now displayed towards several different people
35
Results of Schaefer and Emerson
5 months-50% showed sep anxiety
10 months. 80% discriminate attatchment 30% started to form multiple attatchments
36
Strength of Schaefer and emmerson
One strength of Shaffer and Emerson’s research is that it has high external validity (ecological validity)
E: Shaffer and Emerson conducted the observations in each child’s own home which means that the children and parents were more likely to act naturally.
E: This suggests that the behaviours observed such as separation anxiety and forming an attachment in the first year of age happened in a real-life environment.
L: Therefore, the results are likely to apply to other children from a similar demographic in their own homes which increases the ecological validity of the findings.
37
Schaefer and emmerson lacks population validity
38
Traditional role of father
Limited
as fathers would go to work to provide resources whilst the mothers stayed home and took care of the children, in recent times the role of the father has significantly changed.
39
biological evidence of the role of the father
hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour in women and the lack of oestrogen in men is why they are unable to form a close attachment.
men are simply not equipped to form an attatchment
40
Fields 1978
filmed 4-month-old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers. This behaviour appears to be important in building an attachment with the infant. It seems that fathers can be the more . The key to the attachment is responsiveness not gender
41
Grossman proposed
Fathers do not take the role of a care giver but more of a playmate
42
Grossman 2002
Longitudinal study
parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the attachment to the quality of the children’s attachment into their teens.
Quality of infant attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to children’s attachment in adolescents suggesting that father attachment was less important. However, the quality of the fathers’ play with infants have a different role in attachment one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with nurturing.
43
Evaluation points of the role of the father
There is research evidence that provides support for the role of the father as a ‘playmate’ rather than primary caregiver.
Research evidence suggests that fathers are not as equipped as mothers to provide a sensitive and nurturing attatchment
Research suggests that fathers can form secure attachments with their children if they are in an intimate marriage
A weakness of research into attachment figures is that there are inconsistent findings as to the role of the father in attachment
44
Schaeffer and Emerson 1964
found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mothers’ first primary attachment (around 7 months) and within a few weeks or months formed secondary attachments to other family members including the father. In 75% of the infants studied an attachment was formed with the father by the age of 18 months. This was determined by the fact that the infants protested when their fathers walked away a sign of attachment
45
Hrdy 1999
found that fathers were less able to detect low levels of infant distress, in comparison to mothers.
E: These results appear to support the biological explanation that the lack of oestrogen in men means that fathers are not equipped innately to form close attachments with their children.
L This suggests that the role of the father is, to some extent, biologically determined and that a father’s role is restricted because of their makeup. This provides further evidence that fathers are not able to provide a sensitive and nurturing type of attachment, as they are unable to detect stress in their children.
46
Belsky et al 2009
found that males who reported higher levels of marital intimacy also displayed a secure father–infant attachment, whereas males with lower levels of marital intimacy displayed insecure father–infant attachments.
L: This suggests that males can form secure attachments with their children but the strength of the attachment depends on the father and mother relationships
47
Inrerator reliabikity
48
Why we use animal studies
For practical reasons because animals breed faster than humans and researchers are interested in seeing results across more than one generation of animals. This is an advantage because they can see how animals attach to their babies and then they can understand how humans may attach.
For ethical issues because researchers can carry out research on animals that it is not allowed in humans due to the ethical implications.
49
When did animal studies of attatchment start
1950 John dollars and neal miller created the learning theory of attatchment that claims that attachment is learned behaviour and humans attach to primary care giver because they are fed
50
Main researchers of attachment animal studies
Lorenz 1952
Harlow 1958
51
Konrad Lorenz
Father of ethology
Claimed that the learning process depends upon a combo of two factors
1)innate knowledge
2)learning from indicualnexperiences
52
Imprinting
A rapid learning process that takes place early in the life of a social animal (such as a goose) and establishes a behaviour pattern (such as recognition of and attraction to its own kind or a substitute)
53
aim of lorenz
Investigate mechanisms of imprinting
Animals form attachment to the first large moving object they see
Suggests attachment is innate and programmed genetically
54
Egg in Lorenz went into the conditions
1)with the mother and hatched with mother
2)am incubator where they hatched with Lorenz
55
Condition 1 of Lorenz
Goslings were hatched with their mother
Once hatched Lorenz mixed up to see who they followed
56
Condition 2 lorenz
Goslings were hatched with Lorenz in an incubator
57
What Lorenz saw
1. Thosewhohatchedwithmothersawtheirmotherfirstandfollowedtheirmother.
2. ThosewhohatchedwithLorenzsawhimfirstandfollowedhim.
3. He varied the time between birth and seeing a moving object so he could measure the critical period for imprinting
58
Lorenz conclusion and findings
organisms have a biological propensity to form attachments to one single subject.
To follow the first moving object that they saw between 13 and 16 hours after hatching
Suppose the view that having a biological basis for an attachment is adaptive
Increased mobility human babies are brown immobile and therefore there is less call for them to form an attachment straight away
59
Sexual imprinting
relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences.
The goslings that imprinted on humans often display courtship behaviour towards humans.
In a case study, Lorenz described a peacock that had been reared in the reptile house of a zoo where the first moving objects the peacock saw after hatching were giant tortoises. As an adult this bird would only direct courtship behaviour towards tortoises.
He concluded that the peacock had undergone sexual imprinting.
Lorenz found the same behaviour with goslings that imprinting on yellow plastic gloves
60
ImpliCatuon of animal studies
Goslings imprinted irreversibly- critical period underpinned by biological changes
Longeifity of goslings -early attatchment experiences do predict furutre bonds
61
Lorenz limitation
research that
contradicts some of the claims that Lorenz did about future bonds.
Guilin et al
62
Guiton et al
found that chickens would imprint on yellow washing up gloves if that was the largest moving object they first saw after birth and that, in turn, they would then try to mate with that object in adulthood.
However, Guiton et al disagreed with Lorenz’s predictions that this relationship persists and is irreversible since, with experience, the chickens could eventually learn to prefer mating with other chickens instead suggesting that the effects of imprinting may not be as permanent as initially thought
63
conclusion of Harlow
baby monkeys appear to have an innate drive to seek contact and comfort form their parents suggesting that attachment is formed through an emotional need for security rather than food
this contact with the mother is associated to a higher willingness to explore their surroudnibgds and lower level of stress
64
privation
when an emotional bond is not formed at all during the critical period
65
deprivation
when an emotional bond is formed but broken for a long period of times during the critical period
66
critical period and Harlow
Harlow conducted that a mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form
67
ethical issues of Harlow
-unethicsl
-monkesys were in great distress when seperrsted from mother
-sfter monkeys placed with others and showed great distress in social situations
-couldnt communicate with other monkeys
-when they had c hilfren they neglected them
-breach of bps guideline as monkeys not protected from harm
68
limitation of Harlow
does not tell us about human attatchment as monkeys and humans are psychologically different
therefore lacks generalisability
69
classical conditioning steps
UCS - food-produces a UCR -pleasure-(before conditioning)
NS-primary caregiver- is associated with the UCS-food- (during conditioning)
NS- primary caregiver - produces a CR-pleasure- (after conditioning)
70
classical conditioning and attachment
-after conditioning
-Through repeated association between caregiver and food, the caregiver becomes a CS which will produce a CR (pleasure) from the baby and this leads to attachment as caregiver and baby spend more time together which produces this emotional bond.
71
operant conditoning -positive punishment
involves presenting an aversive stimulus after a behaviour has occurred.
72
negative punishment
involves taking away a desirable stimulus after a behaviour has occurred.
73
operant conditioning and attachment
When an infant is hungry it is in an uncomfortable state and the baby cries. When the caregiver provides food, a feeling of pleasure is produced in the infant which is rewarding and this is called positive reinforcement. Therefore, crying will be repeated because it has been rewarded. (baby is hungry and cries, caregiver feeds baby (pleasant stimulus) so crying behaviour is more likely to be repeated to get attention (increases behaviour) (positive reinforcement). Attachment occurs as the mother and baby spend more time together leading to this emotional bond.
The caregiver also feels rewarded in this process as the baby stops crying. This is done through negative reinforcement as the mother feeds the baby to avoid the stress produced by seeing her baby crying. This negatively increases the crying behaviour in the baby as the baby learns that by crying, he/she will get more attention. This allows an emotional bond to grow between mother and child which is called attachment.
74
how operant conditioning leads tp attachment
Dollard & Miller (1950) used the term secondary drive hypothesis to describe the processes of learning an attachment through operant and classical conditioning.
Secondary drive hypothesis explains how primary drives which are essential for survival, such as eating when hungry, become associated with secondary drives such as emotional closeness.
They extended the theory to explain that attachment is a two-way process that the caregiver must also learn, and this occurs through negative reinforcement when the caregiver feels pleasure because the infant is no longer distressed.
75
limitation of attachment being learnt through association to food
Schaffer & Emerson (1964) studied the attachments formed by 60 infants from birth. They found that a significant number of infants formed attachments with a person other than the one doing the feeding, nappy changing, etc. and that the primary attachment was often with the father and not the mother who was feeding the baby. They found that it was the quality of interaction with the infant that was most important.
E: This shows that stronger attachments were formed with the person who was most sensitive and responsive to the infant's needs rather than those who feed the baby.
L: This reduces the credibility of the cupboard love theory of attachment.
76
strength of slt and aattachment
because the operant and classical conditioning principles form Skinner and Pavlov were studied in highly controlled environments which showed how behaviour is learnt through conditioning.
E: It seems highly likely that simple association between the provision of needs essential for survival and the person providing those needs can lead to strong attachments.
L: Therefore, this increases the validity of the theory.
77
limitation 2 of slt
The learning theory is also undermined by Harlow.
E: He found that baby rhesus monkeys spent more time with a soft cloth surrogated mother which provided no food, in comparison to a wire monkey that provided food.
E: This shows that baby monkeys do not form attachments based on presence of food alone and prefer contact comfort.
L: These findings go against the cupboard love theory and suggest alternative processes may have been ignored.
78
alternative theory to slt and attachment
-bowlby
believed that infants have an innate readiness during the critical period to form an attachment to their caregiver to protect them from harm whilst they are young and vulnerable.
E: This evolutionary perspective not only explains how attachment forms, but also why it enhances survival.
L: It has been accepted that Bowlby’s theory provides a more comprehensive explanation of attachment as it does not reduce a complex emotional bond as attachment to simple stimulus –response association.
79
Limitation of critical,period
-bowlbys critical period was challenged by rutter
-Romanian orphans that the children kept in horrendous conditions
-Their ability to form attachments had been limited as a result
-adopted into stable homes, attachments did begin to form, even though some of these children were a lot older than the 2.5 years
-Rutter admitted that it took time and was more difficult the older the child was, however, attachments were still made with children as old as 7 or 8
-This contradicts Bowlby’s claim that attachment cannot be formed after the critical period
80
Strength internal working model
Hazan and Shaver (1987) created the love questionnaire and found
anxious
lovers were jealous and preoccupied with a partner, avoidant adults
tended to shy
away from intimacy for fear of being hurt,
and secure attachments
were the most
while avoidant
likely to have a good long lasting romantic relationship. They also
found that secure
adults reported their parents to be respectful and more accepting
While avoidant adults remember their parents as critical and distant
81
Strength wmm
82
Deprivation
when a child’s attachment to its mother or other caregiver is significantly broken due to no or poor-quality care being given to the child.
83
Separation
when the caregiver is temporarily absent from the child for a short time. Separation is unlike deprivation because the caregiver’s absence occurs long enough for the attachment to be severely damaged or broken completely if it happens regularly
84
Privation
the complete absence of the primary caregiver. This means that the child could not make an attachment with a primary caregiver. Genie is one case of privation as her development was greatly affected.
85
Effects of privation
negative effects on a child’s emotional, social and cognitive developmen
86
What rutter claims
Deprivation and separation are the loss of primary attachment figure adter attachment has developed
However, privation is the failure to form any attachment in the first place.
He claims that Bowlby muddled the two concepts together in his maternal deprivation hypothesis.
87
Continuity principle
Bowlby believed that attachment follows two principles
The law of continuity states that more constant and predictable the primary caregiver is the better the attachment
88
The law of accumulated separation
states that the effect of every separation from the mother add up and the safest dose is the zero dose
89
Role of iwm in deprivation
a cognitive framework comprising mental representations for understanding the world, self and others, and is based on the relationship with a primary caregiver. It becomes a prototype for all future social relationships and allows individuals to predict, control and manipulate interactions with others.
90
What happen when the child is deprived from their primary caregiver
the child will have problems to form relationships in the future as the IWM is the template formed by your relationships with your primary caregiver during the critical period and will be used to understand what a relationship should be with other people in the future.
91
Role of critical period in deprivation
2.5 years
No attachment
then it may well not happen at all. Bowlby later proposed a sensitive period of up to 5 years.
the child would be damaged for life, socially, intellectually and phy
92
short term effect of separation
1)protest
2)despair
3)detachment
93
Protest
Child cries profusely and seeks for the mother figure
Refuses comfort from others or clings desperately for an adult
94
Despair
The child no longer anticipates the return of the mother and becomes hopeless
The child becomes withdrawn apathetic and refuses comfort
Thumb sucking
95
Detachment
the child regains an interest in the environment and accepts comfort. When the mother returns the child will reject the mother
96
Maternal deprivation hypothesis
thought that social ,emotional and intellectual development would be adversely affected if the mother-child bond was broken early in life
problems in adulthood are permanent and irreversible
Broken attachments lead to delinquency and lack of guilt and regard for the consequences of their actions -affection less psychopathy
97
Consequences of maternal deprivation
An inability to form attachments in the future (see the Internal Working Model)
•Affectionless psychopathy (inability to feel remorse) •Delinquency (behavioural problems in adolescence) •Problems with Cognitive Development
98
STRENGTHS – RESEARCH SUPPORTING THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTACHMEN
Bowlby’s study of Forty-four Juvenile Thieves
Aims: To determine whether there is a correlation between maternal deprivation in infancy and adolescent delinquency.
Procedure: Bowlby studied a group of 44 juvenile thieves who attended a child guidance clinic, and subsequently compared them with a control group of 44 adolescents "who though emotionally disturbed, did not steal"
Findings: Fourteen of the thieves were classified as "affectionless", compared with none in the control group. Seventeen of the thieves had been separated from their mother for more than six months before they were aged five, compared with only two who had experienced such separation in the control group.
Conclusion: Bowlby concluded that there is a correlation between maternal deprivation in infancy and subsequent criminal behaviour in adolescence
99
What Bowlby found
17/ 44 THIEVES HAD FROM THEIR MOTHERS
17/4c thieves had experiences ear.y prolonged separation from their mothers BEFORE 5 YEARS ANd 14 OF THE THIEVES WERE AFFECTIONLESS.
100
Researcher bias bowlby
Bowlby designed and conducted the self-reports himself and as a result, his presence and interpretation might have influenced the outcome of the research.
The supporting evidence that Bowlby provided was in the form of clinical interviews of those who had and had not been separated from their primary caregiver. This was retrospective data.
This meant that Bowlby asked the participants to look back and recall separations. These memories may not be accurate.
In addition, he concluded that affectionless psychopathy was caused by maternal deprivation. This is correlational data and only shows a relationship between these two variables. It cannot show a cause-and-effect relationship between separation from the mother and the development of affectionless psychopathy
101
Many of the 44 thieves in Bowlby’s study had been moved around a lot during childhood, and had probably never formed an attachment.
This suggested that they were suffering from privation, rather than deprivation, which Rutter (1972) suggested was far more deleterious to the children.
Rutter claims that Bowlby confused deprivation with privation in his study
Therefore, it is difficult to conclude that the consequences of deprivation are irreversible and that deprivation has severe intellectual, emotional and physical negative impact on children
102
Lots of research support for Bowlby
He read up on studies of children deprived of attachments as they were raised in institutions by such psychologists as:
Spitz
And Goldfarb Robertson
When children live in a hospital, prison or orphanage they are referred to as institutionalised
103
Spitz 1945
institutionalised children
followed the social development of babies who, were removed from their mothers early in life.
Some children were placed with foster families while others were raised in institutions.
The nursing home babies had no family-like environment. The setting was very institutional. Care was provided by nurses who worked eight hour shifts
The babies raised in the nursing home environment suffered seriously. . Twenty-one were still living in institutions after 40 years.
More than a
third died
Most were
physically, mentally, and socially affected
104
Methods of researching privation
1)case studies of natural cases of privation
2)studies of children brought up in institutions from an early age such as orphanages
3)animal researches
4)longitudinal studies
5)natural experiments
105
What is meant by institutionalisation
the effects of living in an institutional setting.
Institution refers to a place like a hospital or an orphanage where people live for long, continuous periods of time.
In these place there is often very little emotional care provided.
106
The Czech twins
Koluchova (1972) reported the case of two identical twinboysinCzechoslovakiawhosemother died, causing them to go into care as babies.
Their father remarried when they were 18 months old, and they returned home.
From that age they were cruelly treated by their stepmother until they were found and removed by the authorities in 1967 at about seven years of age.
They had grown up in a small, unheated closet and had often been harshly beaten.
After their rescue they spent time in a children’s home and in a school for the ‘mentally retarded’ before being fostered in 196
107
What effect did privation have on the Czech twins
At first they were terrified of many selects of their new environment and communicated largely by gestures they had very little spontaneous speech
They made steady progress both socially and intellectually
A follow up report in 1976 found that at fourteen the twins showed no psychopathological symptoms or unusual behaviour
Later Koluchova reported that by twenty they had completed quite a demanding apprenticeship (in the maintenance of office machinery), were of above average intelligence
still had very good relationships with their foster mother, her relatives and their
adoptive sisters and had developed healthy heterosexual relationships with both
recently experiencing their first romantic relationships
108
Genie
Curtiss (1977) reported the case study of Genie.
Her father assumed Genie was mentally retarded and insisted that she spent all of her childhood locked in a room at her home in Los Angeles under conditions of extreme restraint.
Genie was kept harnessed on an infant’s potty during the day and at night she was confined in a homemade sleeping bag, fashioned like a straight-jacket, and lay in an infant’s crib covered with wire mesh.
She received minimal care from her mother, was fed only infant food and was punished by her father if she made any sound
109
What effect did privation have
She was found at the age of 13 but appeared 6 or 7 years old.
Genie could not stand upright and had no social skills.
She did not understand language and could not speak. Genie was given a considerable amount of education and assistance in the years after she was found.
She developed a fairly large vocabulary but generally spoke in short, ungrammatical sentences, and did not understand grammatically complex sentences.
Her and she
seemed - she didn’t reject them but treated them as inanimate objects.
110
Conclusion of genie
Although Genie failed to recover, the fact that the twins did eventually develop normally
privation is possible
that recovery from
when good emotional care is provided at
a sufficiently
young age
111
Romanian orphans -Rutter
Aim – to investigate the effects or privation on children who were privated of care.
Sample- 165 children who had spent their early years in a Romanian orphanage. 111 were adopted before 2 years of age and the others were adopted by 4. They were compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted from British orphanages.
Method – longitudinal study, of naturally occurring phenomenon. Rutter et al (2007) followed a group of Romanian children who had been adopted by British families, some before the age of 6 months and some older than 6 months. He also included a control group of British children who had been adopted. Children
were divided into groups adopted either before 6 months, 24 or 48 months. The children were assessed at the ages of 4, 6 and 11 years
- children adopted younger than 6 months developed normally in line with British adopted children, but those adopted older than 6 months showed disinhibited attachments (forming an attachment with any adult rather than maintaining a strong bond with one primary caregiver) and had problems forming peer relationships. This suggests that the effects of privation can be overcome if an attachment is formed within the first 6 months, but after 6 months the negative effects tend to be more permanent. In terms of cognitive ability children adapted delay, at
before 6 months had no cognitive
24 months they were 15 IQ points behind
and if adopted
after 48 months the children were suffering from "mental retardation" and were 25 IQ points behind.
Conclusion -privation can be reversed of children are adopted earlier and after care is good
112
Mary ainsworth
for providing the most famous body of research offering explanations of individual differences in attachment.
She devised an assessment technique called the Strange Situation Classification (SSC) in order to investigate how attachments might vary between children
113
Strange situation
controlled observation, covert observation which measures the security of attachment a child displays towards their caregiver. Observations of the behaviours were recorded
The observation took place in a room with a two-way mirror through which psychologists could observe the infant’s behaviour.
114
Strange situation sample
12 and 18 months
Sample contained 100 middle class American families
115
Behavioural categories
Secure base
Stranger anxiety
Separation anxiety
Reunion behaviour
116
Secure base
Good attachment enables a child to feel confident to explore, using the care giver as a secure base, i.e. a point of contact that willmakethemfeelsafe.Childwillplaywithtoys happilyorthebabywillclingontothe mother and will not play.
117
Stranger anxiety
One of the signs of becoming closely attached is a display of anxiety when a stranger approaches. Baby will look at the stranger or will get closer to their mum. Will ignore the stranger and will carry on playing
118
Separation anxiety
Another sign of becoming attached is to protest at separation from the caregiver. Child will cry if the mother is not present, the child will ignore the fact the mother is gone and keeps playing with the toys
119
Reunion behaviour
Infants response to the caregiver after separation for a short period of time. Child is happy to see their mother, they will ignore the mother, will reject the mother.
120
Exploratory behaviours
moving around the room, playing with toys,
looking around the room.
121
Separation anxiety behaviours
following mother to the door, banging on the door, orienting to the door, looking at the door, going to mother’s empty chair, looking at mother’s empty chair.
122
Reunion behaviour
crying, smiling. Pushing their mothers away, walking away
123
Securely attached
Baby would explore the unfamiliar room
Moderate separation anxiety when mother leaves infants play is severely disrupted
Moderate anxiety as baby is wary of stranger so moves close to mother
Infant happy to see mother and easily comforted
124
Insecure avoidant 22%
Baby explores unfamiliar environment doesn’t use mother as safe base
Low separation anxiety not concerned by mum leaving
Low stranger anxiety baby is unconcerned by stranger
Little reaction when mother returns
125
Insecure resistant 12%
Baby does not explore the room and chooses to stay close to mother
High stranger anxiety as baby becomes distressed when stranger close
Baby is not easily comforted by mother
High separation anxiety and becomes violent when mother leaves
126
Indivualisric
Emphasises personal achievement regardless of the expense of group goals resulting in a strong sense of competition and independence
127
Collectivist
Emphasise family and work group goals above individual needs or desires
128
Van ljenzendoorn and kroonenberg 1988
Wanted to see how attachment types differed between country’s
Meta analysis study
Examined 32 studies and consulted nearly 2000 strange situation classifications on total
Summarised from 8 countries eg. Uk,us,Sweden,Japan,china,Holland,Germany and Israel
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Findings of Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)
• Average findings were consistent with Ainsworth’s original research - Secure 65% - Avoidant 22% - Resistant 12%
• -intercultural variations were nearly 15 times greater than the cross saltire variations . Van Ijzendoorn speculated that this was linked to differences in
socio-economic factors and levels of stress that varied between samples used within each country.
• 6/8 countries produced findings that were proportionally consistent with Ainsworth & Bell (70)
Japan amd Israel revealed a higher incidence of resistant than avoidant children
Chinese findings revealed the lowest rate of secure attachment 50% with the remaining children falling into other categories equally.
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Conclusion of Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)
The most common attachment is secure attachment which supports Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate.
• Culture affects the type of attachment
• the modest cross-cultural differences reflect the effects of mass media, which portrays similar notions of parenting.
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internal working model
-proposed by bowlby
-template of expectations about how to relate to others formed by early experiences with the primary caregiver snd the type of attachment formed
-through this important early relationship with their primary caregiver which bowl by termed a monotropy
-an infant learns what a relationship is how its formed and patterns of behaviour about how individuals relate to one another in partner ships
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relationships in childhood.
-kerns found that securely attached infants are more inclined to have good quality peer relationships during childhood whilst infants with insecure attachment types are likely to have difficulties with making or maintaining friendships
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sroufe et al
conducted the Minnesota child parent study and found that infants who were rated high in social competence during childhood were more empathic , populsr snd felt less isolated
-easily understood by considering the role of the iwm
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relationships in adulthood - Hazan and shaver
love quiz
three sections
american newspaper
620 volunteers
205 males
415 females
1)access individuals most important relos
2)general experiences in love
3)asked about their feelings in relation to some statements
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findings of Hazan and shaver
56% respondents classfied as securely attached
25% insecure avoidant
19% insecure resistent
-speciifc attachment type behaviours reflected in adult romantic relationships
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evaluation of Iwm
-only correlational
