Attatchment Flashcards
What is an attachment bond?
A strong lasting emotional bond formed between a baby and their main caregiver
What is reciprocity?
A reciprocal reaction is when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them
What kind of behaviours strengthen the caregiver infant attachment bonds?
Reciprocity and interactional synchrony
What type of role do infants traditionally have in developing attachment relationship?
A passive role
What is the relation between reciprocity and attachment
the more reciprocity caregiver and infants show in their actions the stronger the attachment bond
What type of role do infants recently have in developing attachment relationship?
An active role as they expect a response
Who conducted the study for the active infant role?
Murray and Trevarthens
What was Murray and Trevarthens study called?
Frozen Face
what was the frozen face study?
- mothers deliberately adopt a frozen face expression with their babies, the infants became upset and tried to get their mothers attention and interaction.
- this showed that infants played an active role in developing attachment relationships
Interaction synchrony is when…
they perform similar actions in time with one another
What is intersectional synchrony?
A parent, infant interact and their actions and emotions mirror each other in a co-ordinated, synchronised way
Who conducted the study for intersectional synchrony?
Isabella et al
What does interactional synchrony do?
Develops a flow of mutual connections
What was Isabella et al study?
- 30 mother, infant pairs were assed on the quality of interactional synchrony and the quality of mother attachment
What was the findings of the study for interactional synchrony?
- high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother infant interactions
What is my first evaluation point for Caregiver infant interactions?
Strength:
- important for the development of mother infant attachments
- cross cultural evidence to support - vine
What is my second evaluation point for Caregiver infant interactions?
Weaknesses:
A weakness of the studies is that they are correlational studies, making it hard to infer a cause and effect.
- is the behaviour of the infant intentional
What is my third evaluation point for Caregiver infant interactions?
Weaknesses:
- Due to ethics it is difficult to precisely identify the caregiving behaviour
- Questions the validity are they actually testing what they want to test
- counter argument,t that babies dont know they are being testes, and it is conducted in a lab controlled environment so the controlled conditions increase the validity
What are the stages of attachment identified by Schaffer and Emerson?
Stage 1: Asocial stage
Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment
Stage 3: Specific attachment
Stage 4: Multiple Attatchments
What is the first stage of attachment?
Asocial stage - early weeks
What is the asocial stage?
Babies show no preference for any adult, and is in the early weeks of life, they begin to show preference for social stimuli (with faces)
What is stage 2 of attachment?
Indiscriminate attatchment 2-7
What is indiscriminate attatchment?
- babies cant discriminate between different people, however they prefer familiar people, they dont form a strong attachment to one particular person
What is the third stage of attatchment?
Specific attachment - from 7 months
What is specific attachment?
- infants separation protest towards one person, they form an attachment and a preference to
- joy at reunion and most comforted by this person
- they show stranger anxiety
What is the fourth stage of attatchment?
Multiple attachments - from 12 months
What is the multiple attachment stage?
- Children are able to form attachments with several people
- They have at least one other attatchment
Who investigated how babies develop attachment to their mothers over time?
Schaffer and Emerson
What type of study did Schaffer and Emerson conduct?
A longitudinal, naturalistic, observational study
What was the method for Schaffer and Emersons study?
Observer 60 Glasgow infants, the mothers were visited at home and interviewed about the infants responses to seperation (separation anxiety) and unfamiliar adults (stranger anxiety).
What were the findings of Schaffer and Emersons study?
The mothers self reports of infant protests showed between 25 and 32 weeks of age, about half of the babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult usually the mother
By 40 weeks, 80% of babies had specific attachments and almost 30% displayed multiple/ simultaneous attachments
What was found at 18 months in Schaffer and Emersons study?
At 18 months only 13% of the infants were attached to just one person and 75% of infant had formed an attachment with the father
What were Schaffer and Emerson measuring?
The strength of attachments formed by babies with their caregiver, by observing the babies behaviour when they were separated from caregivers and put in the presence of strangers
What is my first evaluation point for staffer and Emersons attachment stages study?
A strength is that the results had high ecological validity because the study was a naturalistic observation.
- Good external validity, naturalistic observation have high ecological validity and generalise how babies and their caregivers behave in everyday life - mundane realism
What is my second evaluation point for Schaffer and Emersons study of attachment?
A weakness of the study is that the research may have been prone to observer bias.
- Observer bias - the tendency for researchers to see what they expect when conducting the observation,
they had an established hypothesis, greater sensitive responsiveness lead to stronger attachments, so they may have incorrectly rates sensitive mothers to have strong attachments to their babies - questions the validity of the study
What is my third evaluation point of Schaffer and Emersons attachment study?
A weakness of the study is that the results may be prone to social desirability bias due to the use of an interview.
- interview technique, they may give inaccurate answers they think are socially desirable (social desirability bias)
- caregivers may not have been honest, and said babies cried less than they did
What are the two explanation of attachment?
Learning theory and Bowlbys mono tropic theory of attachment
What is learning theory also known as according to Dollard and Miller?
Cupboard love they
What does the learning theory of attachment suggest?
children learn to love whoever feeds them
What is classical conditioning in the learning theory of attachment?
- Food is the unconditioned stimulus
- Being fed brings pleasure: an unconditioned response
- The caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus but by providing food over time, this person becomes associated with the food, so becomes a conditioned stimulus
- Once the conditioning has taken place, the sight of the caregiver produces a conditioned response of pleasure
How do babies learn to associate their caregivers with food?
Attachments are learnt through the process conditioning according to the learning theory
What does the learning theory of attachment suggest?
That attachments are learned through the experience of being fed by caregivers
The reason babies form attachments with their caregivers is because their caregiver feeds them
And the way attachments are learned is through the process of classical and operant conditioning
What is operant conditioning?
If an action has a pleasurable outcome, it will be repeated (positive reinforcement)
Babies cry and their cry receives positive reinforcement (food) so babies cry
What happens to attachments with operant conditioning?
Mutual reinforcement strengths attachment.
Caregivers become associated with the reward of pleasant feelings
Attachment occurs because the infant seeks the person who can supply the reward
What is a simple way to explain operant conditioning?
when we learn to associate our actions with outcomes.
What are 2 ways behaviour can be enforced
positive and negative reinforcement
What is negative reinforcement?
When we learn to repeat a behaviour to avoid an unrewarding outcome
What is positive reinforcement?
When we learn to repeat a behaviour to get a rewarding outcome
What does the learning theory of attachment say about attachments?
that attachments are learned by experience through classical and operant conditioning and are driven by the infant’s desire for food.
What is my first evaluation point for learning theory of attachment?
Strengths: Dollard and Millers observations indicate that the learning theory of attachment is believable
Researches Dollard and Miller, found that in the first year of their life babes get fed over 2000 times by their caregivers, which gives baby plenty of opportunity to form an association between caregivers and getting fed.
What is my second evaluation point for learning theory of attachment?
Weakness: A limitation of the learning theory is that it suggests that food is the key element on the formation of attachment. It is not supported by Harlows monkey study, this doesn’t support the learning theory of attachment
Harlows study found that babies prefer surrogate mothers who provide comfort over the mothers that provide food suggesting attachments are driven by comfort and not food. This undermines the learning theory as the basis of attachment formation
What is my third evaluation point for learning theory of attachment?
Weakness: It is not supported by findings from the metapelets in Israel.
The metapelets feed the babies, however the mother gives the comfort, and the infants still form a close relationship attachment bond with the mothers.
This is also rejected in favour of Bowlby theory which can explain why attachments form as an evolutionary mechanism that ensures survival
What study is an example of contact comfort?
Harlows monkey study
What is the methods of Harlows monkey study?
8 Baby monkeys were taken from their mothers and kept alone and raised in cages in isolation in a controlled laboratory
they were divided into two groups, in both groups, instead of real mothers they were given 2 surrogate mothers, one mother made of an uncomfortable wire material, and the other made of soft towel material
In One condition, milk was dispensed from the wire mother and in another condition, milk was dispensed from the cloth mother
What was Harlow testing for in the monkey study?
He tested the effects of separation on infant rhesus monkeys and whether they attach for comfort or for food
What was the findings from Harlows monkey study?
Baby monkeys cuddles the soft cloth mother in preference to the wire mother and sought comfort from the cloth mother when frightened regardless of which dispensed the milk
This showed that contact comfort was when frightener important for monkey attachment that food
How did Harlow find out what fake mother the babies preferred?
How much time the babies spent with each mother
What did Harlow hypothesise?
If the learning theory of attachment was correct and babies attachment are really driven by food, then monkeys would always prefer the mum providing the food
What theory did Harlow conclude from this study?
Infants do not develop attachment to the one who feds them, but the one who provides contact comfort
What is my first evaluation point for Harlows monkey study?
Strength: lab study so controlled conditions, cause and effect relationship can be established between the type of surrogate mother proving milk and the monkeys behaviour
Could control all Extraneous variables that could have influenced the baby monkeys development: living conditions, amount of milk produced
What is my second evaluation point for Harlows monkey study?
Weakness: The study was conducted on monkey and not human babies, therefore the results might lack generalisability and not tell us much about how humans form attachments
Whilst psychologist accept that rhesus monkeys are similar to humans, they are not human and psychologist disagree on the extent to which studies of non human primates are not representative
What is my first evaluation point for Harlows monkey study?
Weakness: It has been said that it is unethical, separated baby monkeys from mothers and raised them in social isolation, been distressing to both baby and mother
could not give conformed consent to the study and could have caused emotional stress to the monkeys and physiological harm in the distressing situation
What did Bowlby say about mother love?
‘Mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health’
What did Bowlby draw his theory on?
Psychoanalytic and evolutionary theory to suggest that innate, instinctive drives motivate infant behaviours to maintain proximity with the mother.
What theory did Bowlby come up with?
The mono tropic theory of attachment
Why did Bowlby create his own theory?
As he believed food was not the only reason attachment was created
What did Bowlby think attachment were?
He thought they were so incredibly important to a babies development, and also determine the babies survival
What did Bowlby think about attachment?
That attachment is biological preprogrammed into us from birth, babies are born with an instinctive need to form a strong attachment to their caregiver
What does Bowlbys mono tropic theory say about attachment?
Attachments are biologically preprogrammed into use from birth and serve to protect babies from danger
And caregivers are biologically preprogrammed instate to attach to their babies - deep desire to love and look after
What is monotropy?
Monotropy is the concept that infants have an innate capacity and drive to attach to one primary caregiver or attachment figure.
A SINGLE EXCLUSIVE BOND
What is monotropy according to Bowlby?
The attachment bond is unique, between infant and the main caregiver, they can’t form an attachment bond with anyone else.
The infant should receive constant and predictable care from this caregiver, ideally not experiencing any separation from them
Bowlby did accept that there would be other attachments fro a child but he believed that there should be a primary bond which was more important than any other
What is evidence for monotropy?
Lorez found that goslings followed the first single moving thing usually their mother, from an early age as they are imprinted on her. This is reflected in human attachment to one primary caregiver
What is evidence against monotony?
Schaffer and Emerson found that multiple attachments was the norm for babies
What is the critical period suggested by Bowlby?
Bowlby originally suggested a child should receive continuous care of this single most important attachment figure for about the first two and a half years of life. If the attachment is not formed by this time, a child will find it much harder to form an attachment relationship later on.
In simple terms the critical period of attachment is…
The time window during which babies can form an attachment to their main caregiver
What is evidence for the critical period?
Lorenz found that geese had a window of opportunity to imprint (a few hours). Bowlby used this information to develop the critical period for human attachment as 2 1/2 years
Harlow also found that monkeys development was impaired if they did not have maternal care in the critical period
What is evidence against the critical period?
Hodges & Tizard found children adopted as late as 7 years old established string affectionate relationships with adoptive parents. At 16, these relationships were found to be as strong as those children who were raised continuously in their own families
What is the internal working model?
A mental representation of the relationship with the primary caregiver; a child with a secure and loving attachment would have a mental representation of the caregiver as responsive and sensitive
a mental representation of our relationship with our primary caregiver that becomes a template for future relationships and allows individuals to predict, control and manipulate their environment.
An internal working model is…
A schema built from relationships with main attachment figure that guides the Childs expectation and future beliefs about relationships
What are schemas?
Frameworks that we build based on experience
What is the continuity hypotheses?
The idea that early relationships with caregivers predict later relationships in adulthood.
Why do babies cry?
Crying attracts the attention of their caregivers and helps the babies get what they want
What are social releasers?
Behaviour that attracts attention of caregivers, they don’t happen by coincide, the are biologically preprogrammed
What are some examples or social releasers?
Crying, smiling, following in order to get what they need
What did Bowlby think about social releasers in caregivers?
Social releasers are behaviours that babies perform to attract the attention of their caregivers
What is part of the innate predisposition for attachment to develop?
babies instinctively exhibit social releasers to elicit responses from adults
Who did the imprinting study?
Lorenz
What was Lorenz study?
He conducted a study on baby geese to see the effects of imprinting
What was Lorenz’s method?
Lorenz split the eggs into two groups. One group was left to hatch normally, in the presence of the mother goose, the way the geese are normally born.
The second group were hatched in an incubator, away from their mother. Lorenz made sure to be the first thing these baby geese saw when they hatched.
The group that were hatched normally were the control group.
The group that were hatched in the incubator were the experimental group.
What were the long lasting effects of Lorenz imprinting study?
He also found that early imprinting affects later meeting preferences, called sexual imprinting. Birds will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon which they were imprinted
What were the findings of Lorenz geese study?
The incubator group followed Loren everywhere whereas the control group followed their mother. When the two groups were mixed, the control group continued to follow their mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz
What could Lorenz conclude?
Baby geese form an attachment to the first thing they see when they’re born.
Baby geese form attachments immediately after birth, suggesting the attachment is biologically pre-programmed.
What did Lorez identify in his theory?
Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needed to take place which could be as brief as a few hours for some species
Lorenz also found that once a baby goose had imprinted onto someone, they couldn’t form attachments with anyone else.
This supports Bowlby’s idea of
Monotropy
Lorenz found that there was only a short time window during which geese would imprint onto an attachment figure, which supports Bowlby’s idea of the
critical period
What does imprinting occurring immediately from birth support?
Supports the idea that attachments are biologically preprogrammed
What does imprinting happening in a narrow time window support?
Supports the idea of the critical period
What is my first evaluation point for Lorenz geese study?
Guiton found that, although baby chickens imprint onto the first object they see, this imprinting can be reversed. For instance, if a chicken imprinted onto a spade, it could still form an attachment to its mother.
Guiton’s findings provide counter-evidence for the idea that attachments are monotropic
didn’t complete replicate Lorenz study, which is a weakness as it suggest the results were not completely replicated in later studies
What is my second evaluation point for Lorenz geese study?
The results may not generalise to humans because the study was conducted on baby geese who may have different mechanisms of attachment to human babies.
Baby geese are very different, baby geese are pretty fully functioning geese when humans are born we can’t walk or feed ourself, we are totally dependent on our parents.
What is my first evaluation point for Bowlbys mono tropic theory of attachment?
Strength: Observations of metapelets in Israel support the idea that attachments are formed to the main caregiver who provides emotional support and comfort, and that attachments are monotropic
What is my second evaluation point for Bowlbys mono tropic theory of attachment?
Weakness: The idea that attachments are monotropic are not supported by Schaffer and Emerson’s study of stages.
attachment doesn’t support Bowlby’s theory, because they found that in the multiple attachment stage, 87% of babies formed an attachment to two or more caregivers.
What is my third evaluation point for Bowlbys mono tropic theory of attachment?
A strength of Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment is the clear evidence it provides for the role of social releasers in triggering caregiver interactions.
Social releasers are innate baby behaviors, such as crying or smiling, that encourage caregivers to respond, promoting emotional bonding.
T. Berry Brazelton, who observed that when babies’ social releasers were ignored by their primary caregivers, the infants became increasingly distressed and some even lay motionless.
This supports the idea that these behaviors are crucial in the development of attachment, as they prompt the caregiver to provide comfort and security, reinforcing emotional bonds.
Bowlby mono tropic theory…
sees attachments as biologically pre-programmed through evolution.
The learning theory…
of attachment says attachments are learnt through conditioning.
What were some real life benefits from Bowlbys mono tropic theory?
It had some positive everyday applications such as longer visiting hours for hospitals and longer parental leave.
