Attatchment Flashcards
What is attatchment?
A strong emotional bond between a caregiver and an infant, which is built up over time and is maintained through a strong desire for proximity
What is reciprocity?
Turn taking between the caregiver and infant, involves facial and verbal cues. For example, when an infant smiles, the caregiver smiles back. Reciprocity looks different for each set of caregivers and infants, as the caregiver learns to anticipate the infants behaviour and so can respond accordingly
Research support for reciprocity?
Murray and Trevarthen studied two month old infants.
Method: They interacted with their mother via video monitor in real time, and were then showed a video of their mother with a blank face, not responding to them.
Results: the infants became acutely distressed, crying etc, and continued to try to attract their mothers attention before turning away from their mothers
Conclusion: Infants will actively try to elicit a response from their caregiver, which demonstrates the importance of reciprocity for attachment
What is interactional synchrony?
Behaviours and emotions being carried out simultaneously, has been found in infants as young as three days old which suggests it is innate
Research support for international synchrony?
Meltzoff and Moore studied two week old babies.
Method: Their caregiver would do one of three facial expressions, e.g opening their mouth, or one of three gestures e.g opening their hand
Results: the infants showed ability to replicate their caregivers behaviour simultaneously
Conclusion: ability to mirror caregiver is innate
Strength of research into infant caregiver interactions- fine detail captured
Caregiver infant interaction research can be filmed without causing demand characteristics, as babies do not know or care that they are being filmed. Filming happens often from multiple angles, and can be analysed later, this means that small details which may have been missed by the observer can be noticed later
Limitation of research into infant caregiver interactions - internal validity
Infants open their mouths regularly in order to signal a desire to be fed, behaviours such as sticking tongue out, stretching or opening and closing hands also occur fairly frequently naturally. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between interactional synchrony/ reciprocity and a behaviour which would be happening anyway
Strength of research into caregiver infant interaction- practical application
Research into caregiver- infant interaction has lead to parent-child interaction therapy, which involved teaching skills such as interactional synchrony to more vulnerable groups such as low income mothers. This strengthens the attachment between the mother and baby, which has long term benefits as it should benefit the child’s relationships in the future
Limitation of research into caregiver-infant interactions- it is ethnocentric
Interactional synchrony is not found in all cultures, which counters the argument that it is innate. For example, Vine found that Kenyan mothers do not respond to babies vocal signals such as babbling, and they rarely look at or speak to their infant, even while breastfeeding. However, they still appear to have a high proportion of strong attatchments
What is the Asocial stage of attatchment
0-3 months, at the beginning of this stage, infants show the same reaction to all objects, regardless of whether they are animate or inanimate. Towards the end of the stage, infants begin to favour social stimuli such as smiling and prefer being around people
What is the indiscriminate stage of attatchment
Between 3 and 6 months, infants can begin to discriminate between known and unknown people, as they smile more at known people. However, they can be easily comforted by anyone, and have not yet begun to display stranger anxiety
What is the discriminate attachment phase?
Infants begin to form a specific attatchment to their primary caregiver, this can be seen through separation anxiety and joy on reunion. They also begin to display stranger anxiety
What is the multiple attatchment stage?
10 months onwards. After the primary attachment is formed, the infant can begin to form similar attachments to other figures, such as the father, grandparents or siblings
Aim of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
Aimed to identify the distinct stages at which different types of attatchment form
Procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
Schaffer and Emerson’s conducted a longditudinal study of 60 working class mothers in Glasgow. The mothers were interviewed, and stranger anxiety was also measured. This happened every month for the first year of the infants life, and then again at 18 months
Findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
The primary attatchment is usually formed by 6-8 months of age, for 65% of children this was the mother, and for 3% this was the father
By 18 months old, 31% of infants had formed multiple attatchments
Attachment is not always to the person who spends the most time with the infant, it is to the person who responds most quickly and sensitively to the child’s needs and offers the most interaction
Limitation of research into stages of attachment- social desirability bias
Schaffer and Emerson asked for self-report data from the mothers about attachment, however the mothers are likely to be affected by social desirability bias as they are likely to lie in order to make it appear as though their baby has a stronger attachment to them than they do. This could affect the findings of the discriminate stage of attatchment
Limitation of research into stages of attachment- population validity
One limitation is that only 60 mothers from working class backgrounds were used. This is not generalisable to upper class families, as they may have nannies so multiple attachments may be formed earlier. Additionally, the study was done in the Glasgow, which has an individualist culture, so many not be generalisable to collectivist cultures. The study also lacks temporal validity as it was done in the 1960s
Strength of research into stages of attachment- internal validity
The study was done in in the natural environment of the mother and infant- observation was done by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers later. This meant all participants behaved naturally, and there was no demand characteristics from the mother. This meant there was high mundane realism, which meant there was high internal validity
Limitation of research into stages of attachment- Playmate vs attachment
Bowlby pointed out that it is natural for an infant to be distressed when a playmate leaves the room, which does not automatically mean they are an attachment. This contradicts Schaffer’s stages of attachment as they do not distinguish between playmate and attachment, suggesting that the model by be under developed
Describe the role of the father in attachment
Schaffer and Emerson found that the father is rarely the primary attachment (3%), however an attachment is usually formed with him by 18 months (75%)
Grossman found through a longitudinal study that lack of attachment with a father as an infant affects people less than no attachment with a mother in their late teens
Bowlby found that the father usually engages with the infant when they are in a happy emotional state through physical and novel play. The mother cares for the child when they are upset. It is possible that there is biological factors affecting this, as oestrogen (present in females) causes a strong desire/ ability to be caring
Limitation of research into the role of the father-social sensitivity
It is possible that the research could be interpreted as a way to give the father an excuse for having less of a role in bringing up his child, which puts al the burden on the mothers. This could affect mothers going back to work, which has economic impacts.
Additionally, stressing the importance of having two parents of the opposite gender could create social stigma for same-sex adoption (legal implications) or single parent households
Evaluation of research into the role of the father- conflicting research
Lamb found that fathers who become the primary caregiver become more sensitive to their infants needs. Parke found that fathers are just as sensitive to their newborn babies signals, and also just as good at understanding them. This contradicts the idea that mothers are biologically more able.
Limitation of research into the role of the father- conflicting research against different roles of the father and mother
McCallum and Golombok found that children brought up in single parents households and children of same sex couples do not develop differently to children with two parents of the opposite gender- the only thing that matters is the quality of the relationship. This contradicts the idea that fathers are important for play while mothers are important for care
Limitation of research into the role of the father- observer bias
It is likely the researchers went into their research with preconceived ideas about how the father and mother should behave. This means they may have missed behaviours which do not match their ideals
What was the procedure in Lorenz’s study
Sample was a group of gosling eggs
Control group: left with the mother to develop as normal, first figure they saw was their biological mother
Experimental group: left in an incubator, first figure they saw was Lorenz
Marked each goose and reunited, the mother and Lorenz were both present
What is imprinting?
A process by which a newborn animal establishes a behaviour pattern of recognition and attraction towards other animals of its own kind, as well as specific individuals of its species, such as its parents, or a substitute for these
Findings of Lorenz’s study- short term effects?
The goslings who had been with the mother followed her closely, whereas those who had been with Lorenz followed him- the experimental group appeared to have formed rapid attachment to Lorenz
Findings of Lorenz’s study- long term effects
Process of imprinting is irreversible. It lasted throughout their lives and affected mating preferences (sexual imprinting)
Lorenz also identified a critical period
Strength of research by Lorenz- supporting evidence
Guidon found that when newborn chicks are exposed to a rubber glove, they will imprint on that. This also supports the critical period, as it shows that animals are predisposed to imprint on a moving object if they are exposed to it within a certain time frame
Limitation of Lorenz’s study- contradictory research
In Guiton’s study (newborn chicks in printing on rubber gloves) when they chicks grew up after they had spent time with their own species, they engaged in normal mating behaviour, this contradicts the idea that imprinting is irreversible beyond the critical window
What did Harlow aim to do?
Prove that attachment was based of comfort/ love, not a desire for food
What was the procedure for Harlow’s study?
Harlow used a laboratory study, and split baby monkeys into two groups
Condition 1: the cloth mother provided milk and the wire mother didn’t (4 monkeys)
Condition 2: the wire mother provided milk and the cloth mother didn’t (4 monkeys)
Harlow measured the amounts of time all the monkeys spent with each mother (165 days), and how the monkeys responded when frightened (by a mechanical teddy)
What were the short term findings of Harlow’s study?
All monkeys spent most time with the cloth covered mother, those who were fed by the wire mother only spent around one hour a day with her, exclusively while feeding. All monkeys found comfort in the cloth mother when scared, and kept one foot on her when playing with new objects
Long term effects of Harlow’s study + critical period?
The monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable than others of their species, they were prone to neglecting and even attacking or killing their own children
Harlow also found a critical period, an attachment has to be formed within 90 days of an infant monkeys life, otherwise damage is irreversible as it is now impossible for them to form an attachment
Conclusion of Harlow’s study?
Harlow found that feeding has little to do in the building of an attachment (opposes learning theory) instead attachment to a caregiver is based off the comfort they bring
Strengths of Harlow’s study- practical applications
Harlow’s research is supported by Schaffer and Emerson’s research, as they found that the strongest attachments are formed with those who are most respondent to an infant’s needs
Additionally, the long term effects have helped social workers to understand the risks of maternal deprivation for infants. The critical period shows the importance of helping a child in care to form an attachment as early as possible
Evaluation of animal studies as an explanation for attachment- generalisation
It is clear that factors such as cultural differences, development of technology, parents returning to work, the idea that humans have information on how to raise a child most effectively while animals rely on survival instinctsetc mean that the bond between a human infant and child is different to animals, therefore ideas presented by Lorenz and Harlow may be over simplified. This means it has low generalisability to humans
Limitation of animal studiesin attachment- ethical issues
In both Lorenz and Harlow’s studies, the young animals were distressed deliberately, some may argue this is animal abuse and is unfair, while some may argue it is necessary to understand human attachment. In Harlow’s study, the monkeys were neglectful to their own children, which could have started off a negative spiral potentially lasting generations
Explain Bowlby’s monotropic theory- innate and adaptive
Bolwby states that the ability to form an attachment is innate and is a survival instinct, however the form this will take will change as the infant grows. It is natural for the infant to desire to stay close to the primary caregiver as they will feed and protect them
Bowlby’s monotropic theory - critical period
An infants critical period lasts up to two years, however they are maximally sensitive up to the age of six months, if an attachment is not formed in this time, the child will struggle to form attachments in later life
Findings of Bowlby’s monotropic theory- social releasers
The main social releasers are crying and smiling, and are essential for forming an reciprocal bond and attachment with the caregiver. Bowlby found that the infant becomes most attached to those who respond most sensitively to the infants social releasers
Bowlby’s monotropic theory -monotropy
Infants have an innate nature to become attached to one specific person- the primary caregiver. The more time the infant spends with the primary caregiver the better, the time apart is known as the law of accumulated separation, if this becomes too high it will cause problems for the infant in later life
Bowlby’s monotropic theory- internal working model
Bowlby stated that the quality of attachment formed in early life determines the attachments formed later on in life, as it gives the infant an idea of what a relationship “should look like”This includes the infants success as a parent and future relationships. Those who have strong attachments as infants will continue to be well socially and emotionally adapted, whereas those who don’t will struggle in friendships, relationships and as parents
Evaluation of Bowlby’s monotropic theory - supporting evidence (innate)
Lorenz’s study shows that imprinting is a natural survival instinct - newborn goslings have an innate instinct to stick with their perceived parents. However, this may not be accurate as imprinting (following behaviour) may not be able to br applied to human emotion as it is more complex
Limitations of bowlby’s monotropic theory- social sensitivity
The idea of monotropy is socially sensitive as it creates stigma around mothers returning to work-this means that women are more likely to stay home instead of placing their children in childcare. This has economic impacts as it means there is higher unemployment rates which means less taxes are payed
Limitation of Bowlby’s monotropic theory- temporal validity
Bowlby believed that the father’s importance in the home was primarily economic, which is now seen as outdated and sexist by most of society. Cohn found that fathers being stay at home parents has quadrupled over the past 25 years, this shows that the mother is not always the primary caregiver
Evaluation of Bolwby’s monotropic theory- supporting for the internal working model
Hazard and Shavers studied the effects of different infants attachments styles on adult love. Those who were securely attached tended to be in happy, loving and supportive relationships. Those who were insecurely attached had a much higher tendency to have messy relationships, be divorced, or hold the belief that true love was rare. Simpson also found that participants who were more securely attached as infants were rated as having higher social competence as adults
What is learning theory?
Occasionally referred to as the cupboard love theory as it states that attachment is built to a caregiver as they are the provider of food (through classical and operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
Based of the Pavlov’s dogs experiment, and describes attachment as learning through association
Before conditioning:
Food (unconditioned stimulus) causes pleasure (unconditioned response)
During conditioning:
Caregiver (neutral stimulus) + food (unconditioned stimulus causes pleasure (unconditioned response)
After conditioning:
Caregiver (conditioned stimulus) causes pleasure (conditioned response)
What is operant conditioning?
Operant conditioning is learning through reward
Theorists are Dollard and Miller
When a baby is born, it has a natural drive to reduce the feeling of hunger as it is unpleasant, this is known as the primary drive
When the baby cries food is provided which satisfies the primary drive and produces a reward (feeling of pleasure). Food is a primary reinforcer as it directly reduces the discomfort, this means behaviour such as crying or opening mouth is likely to be repeated.
To the caregiver, the sound of the baby crying is unpleasant. When they feed the baby, the crying stops, this is known as negative reinforcement.
The baby also has a drive to form an attachment, this is known as a secondary drive. The person who provides the attachment is known as a secondary reinforcer.
Evaluation of learning theory- research support against- Harlow
Harlow studied monkeys and found that when baby monkeys were given the option between a wire mother which provided food but no comfort, or a cloth mother which provided comfort but no food, the monkeys spent the overwhelming majority of their time with the cloth mother. This shows that baby monkeys attach based of feelings of comfort, and only spend the amount of time feeding that they need to survive
Evaluation of learning theory- supporting evidence against, Schaffer
The model does not take into account the quality of relationships formed. For example, it has been found that strong, secure attachments are formed when there is reciprocity and interaction all synchrony found. Additionally Schaffer found that the strongest attachments were formed with the person who responded most sensitively to the infants needs
Evaluation of learning theory- Lorenz
Lorenz found that newborn goslings imprint (a form of attachment) on the first moving object that they see. This contradicts learning theory as the goslings were hours old and unable to have learned anything, which suggests that attachment is innate
Strength of learning theory- real life
We can see lots of examples in real life where we do learn things by association, which makes it plausible infants may have this ability as well. Learning theory is based on a scientific theory, and there is lots of psychological evidence to support it
What is a secure attachment + characteristics
The most desirable form of attachment- the mother and infant have a strong bond and will use the caregiver as a secure base
The infant will experience mild separation anxiety, mild stranger anxiety and joy on reunion
Secure infants are those who have a caregiver who is responsive to their needs
What is an insecure resistant
An insecure resistant has high anxiety but strong attachment
They will experience strong stranger anxiety, strong separation anxiety and after being left by the mother they will continue to be distressed - they will seek the caregiver and then avoid them (seeking and resisting)
This attachment type results from the mother being inconsistent in her sensitivity to the babies needs
What is an insecure avoidant?
Low separation anxiety, low stranger anxiety, unresponsive to the reunion- the infant is likely to treat the mother and stranger the same
This results from the mother being unresponsive to the infants needs
The infant would experience low anxiety but weak attachment
What was the aim of Ainsworth’s strange situations research?
Ainsworth aimed to see the differences between how securely and insecurely attached children responded in a moderately stressful situation
What was the procedure of Ainsworth’s strange situations research?
Ainsworth conducted a laboratory experiment in which the mother and infant would enter a playroom (unfamiliar to the child). The mother and infant would engage in play for several minutes, before the mother was signalled to leave. A stranger would then enter the room. The stranger would then leave the room and the mother would re enter. The child’s behaviour would be filmed from several angels and the researchers would be watching through a one way mirror for signs of exploration, whether or not the mother is used as a secure base, separation anxiety and joy on reunion.
The sample consisted of American infants aged between 12 and 18 months
What were the findings/ conclusion of Ainsworth’s strange situations study?
Securely attached = around 70%
Insecure avoidant= around 20%
Insecure resistant= around 10%
Conclusion: infants respond significantly differently in different situations depending on their attachment type. This is most likely affected by how responsive the caregiver is to the infants needs
Strength of Ainsworth’s research- predictive validity
Attachment types have been found to be effective at predicting the success of social relationships as an adult. Those who are securely attached are more likely to be more socially competent in friendships, and have happy and loving relationships. Insecure- resistant children tend to be the least socially adept, as they have been found to have highest rates of bullying in later childhood (Myron-Wilson and Smith) and adult mental health problems (Ward). This supports the long term consequences proposed by Ainsworth
Strength of Strange Situations - reliability
Due to the interactions being filmed, they could be watched again by multiple different people, this means the study had high inter-rather reliability. Most of these people (94%, Bick) found agreement when categorising the infants. This was likely due to standardised procedures being used and the categories being easy to observe. This means we can be certain that attachment type is objective not subjective
Limitation of strange situations/meta analysis- ethnocentrism
Strange situations was created in the USA, and has been accused of using imposed etic. Japanese babies are more likely to be classed as insecure resistants, however this is not the reality as Japanese babies rarely leave their mother’s side, therefore it is natural in this culture to be distressed upon separation. German parents value independence, therefore their babies are more likely to be classed as insecure avoidants
Limitation of strange situations- other types of attachment
Main and Solomon found that Ainsworth overlooked a fourth type of attachment, Type D linsecure-disorganised attachment, lack of consistent patterns of social behaviour. Van Ijzendoorn supported this in his meta analysis
What was the aim of VanIjzendoorn’s research?
To study cultural differences between the proportion of insecure- resistants insecure- avoidant and securely attached children. He wanted to establish whether attachment was universal or culture bound.
What was the procedure of the cultural variations in attachment research?
A meta analysis of 32 different studies, from eight different cultures was carried out. There was a total of 1,900 children in total from both individualist and collectivist cultures. All studies consisted of at least 35 mother and Brant pairs with the infant below two years of age
Findings of cultural differences in attachment research?
Overall secure 67% insecure - avoidant 21% and insecure resistant 12%
Secure attachment was the most on on, however it varied from 75% in the UK to 50% in China
Insecure-resistant was more common in collectivist cultures
Insecure -avoidant was more common in individualist cultures
Variation within the same country was 1.5X greater than within countries
Evaluation of cultural variations within attachment- population validity
In total, almost 2000 babies were used, this means that the sample size was huge. However, 18/32 of the studies were carried out in America, while only five were carried out in total in collectivist cultures, this means that the research still suffers from ethnocentrism. It is also worth noting that areas of the world such as Africa, South America and Oceania were not included in the study, so it is still questionable whether we can generalise to the entire world
Limitation of cultural differences in attachment- subcultures
The research ignored that there are thousands of subcultures within a country, for example different areas different religious groups ect. For example, a study done in Tokyo (Urban) found similar results to Western cities, whereas a study done in the rural areas of Japan found an over representation of insecure-resistants (typical of collectivist cultures). Since V found a greater variation within one country than between countries, it is possible the data actually measures how much of the research was conducted in rural vs urban areas, this means that it has low internal validity
Limitation of cultural differences within attachment- temperament hypothesis
The research ignores the temperament of the child, for example a shy child could be classed as insecure- resistant as they may have extreme stranger anxiety. The temperament hypothesis states it is the innate personality of the child which affects how friendly they are. This means that the strange situations may be affected by factors other than attachments, which means that it lacks internal validity
What did Bowlby propose in his theory of maternal deprivation?
Emotional care is as important as physical care, if the infant is unable to form a warm intimate continuous relationship with its mother, it will have problems forming relationships in the future
Bowlby identified a critical period- the first two and a half years of a child’s life. If a strong attachment is not formed within this time, significant psychological harm is inevitable and irreversible. The sensitive period is up to five years of the child’s life, if the attachment is disrupted within this time, significant damage will be caused however this can be reversed
Bowlby believed that maternal deprivation affected infants both intellectually and emotionally. They are more likely to be characterised as having abnormally low IQ, as well as being more likely to experience affection less psychopathy. This means they will lack affection, empathy or guilt about their actions, are unlikely to have normal relationships and have higher rates of criminality
What was the aim of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
Investigate the link between affectionles psychopathy and maternal deprivation
What was the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
Conducted a natural study of emotionally disturbed patients at the Child Guidance Clinic in London
Experimental group: 44 thieves
Control group: 44 children who had never stolen, but were classified as being emotionally disturbed
The thieves were interviewed for signs of affection less psychopathy, while their families were interviewed to see whether they had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers as infants
What were the findings of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
Separated from mother Not separated from mother
Affection less thieves 12 2
Other thieves. 5 25
Control group. 2. 42
Conclusion of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation study?
It can be concluded that prolonged maternal deprivation can cause affection less psychopathy
Strength of research into maternal deprivation- practical applications
Before Bowlby, parents were discouraged from visiting children in the hospital, as hospitals believed they only needed to take care of the psychical needs of the child. This meant if an infant was severely ill and needed a long hospital stay, they would experience maternal deprivation. For example, a two year old girl, Lara, was filmed during her eight day stay in the hospital and appeared frequently distressed. The research has led to reform in the way children are treated within a hospital
Evaluation of the 44 thieves study- conflicting research
Lewis replicated Bowlby’s 44 thieves study with a much larger sample of 500 young people and found no correlation between maternal deprivation and affection less psychopathy.
Evaluation of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study- investigator bias
Bowlby measured whether or not the participants were affectionless psychopaths himself. He may have entered the study with pre-conceived ideas about which participants “should” be affectionless psychopaths, which could lead to misdiagnosis. This questions the internal validity of Bowlby’s findings
Evaluation of maternal deprivation- individual differences are ignored
Barret has found that not all children respond to a disturbance in their attachment in the same way, for example securely attached children appeared to be significantly less distressed than insecurely attached children. Bowlby studied children who had been hospitalised due to TB and found a similar conclusion
Evaluation of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study- deprivation vs privation
Ritter criticised Bowlby’s research as it ignored the effects of privation (the attachment never being formed in the first place). Rutted claimed that privation is more likely to cause affectionless psychopathy
What is institutionalisation?
The effects of living for significant periods of time outside a family home, in a place such as a hospital or orphanage
What was the aim of Rutter’s study?
To investigate the extent to which warm and loving emotional care can undo the effects of institutionalisation
What was the procedure of Rutter’s study?
Romanian orphans adopted in the UK were followed at the ages of 4,6,11 and 15, which made it a longitudinal study
There were interviews with parents and teachers about the children’s progress
The independent variable was the age at which the children were adopted at, the three groups were under 6 months, 6 months to 2 years, and after two years
They were also compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted in the UK
Findings of Rutter’s study emotional effects
Children adopted after six months had tendency to show signs of disinhibited attachment, which was characterised as clinginess and attention seeking towards any adult who is available to them, they also have tendency to go off with strangers. Rutter’s explained that this was an adaptation to having multiple caregivers in the critical period
What was the conclusion of Rutter’s study?
Institutionalisation can be reversible if the children are provided with warm and loving emotional care. He also found that adoption should happen before six months, which has good practical application for social work
What was the procedure of La Mare and Audet’s study
Followed Romanian orphans throughout the life (11 months, 4 and a half years, ten and a half years) and measured their height and weight. This was compared to two control groups, Canadian non-adopted children, and Romanian children who had been adopted but who hadn’t been institutionalised.
Findings of La Mare and Audet’s study
At age 11 months and four and a half years, the Romanian institutionalised orphans were physically smaller than the control groups. However by the age of ten and a half years, the difference had disappeared, the same was true for physical health
Conclusion of La Mare and Audet’s study?
The physical effects of institutionalisation are reversible, if warm and loving emotional care is provided
Evaluation of Romanian orphan studies- real-life application
Social workers can use this research in order to limit the damage to children’s development. For example, they can ensure that each child has a key worker, and try to make sure each child gets adopted before six months where possible to avoid disinhibited attachment.
Evaluation of Romanian orphan studies- longitudinal study
It may have been previously believed (e.g Bolwby, Lorenz, Harlow) that any damage done within the critical period is irreversible, however longitudinal studies have helped us to follow the infants through their entire childhood and so have found that the effects can disappear, which strengthens the argument that recovery is possible even after extreme privation. However, longditudinal studies often suffer from subject attrition, which is where some subjects (particularly the less well adapted participants) drop out of the study, which effects the internal validity of the research
Evaluation of Romanian orphan studies- the Romanian orphans are not typical
The Romanian orphans had extremely poor standards of care, especially caregiver-infant relationships, for example the infants were rarely picked up. There was also extremely low intellectual stimulation.This means it is hard to genralise to care homes in the UK, where attachment would have been disrupted, however to a much lesser extent. This means Romanian infant studies are low in population validity
Evaluation of Rutter’s study- natural experiment
One limitation of Rutter’s study is that the conditions were randomly assigned, and the adoption process was not interfered with. This means that the children adopted earlier may have naturally had a more sociable personality, which may have lead to them being better adapted later on in life, this is an extraneous variable
What was the procedure of the research into how attachment affects childhood relationships- Myron-Wilson and Smith
Used a sample of 196 children aged 7-11 from South East London
The children took part in a separation anxiety and parenting styles questionnaire, and were divided into secure, insecure resistant and insecure avoidant
Used a social roles scale to ask each child to rate each of their peers as either a bully, a victim of bullying or not involved in bullying
What were the results of Myron Wilson and Smiths study?
Securely attached children were very unlikely to be involved in bullying
Insecure- resistant children were most likely to be the perpetrators of bullying
Insecure- avoidant children were most likely to be the victims of bullying
What was the conclusion of Myron-Wilson and Smiths research?
Supports the continuity hypothesis, our attachments to caregivers as infants can predict our future outcomes
What was the procedure into how childhood attachment affects adult romantic relationships (Hazan and Shaver)
Analysed the responses of 620 participants (205 were men, 415 were women) about a love quiz in the North American newspaper. The questionnaire asked about attitudes to love, and the researchers divided them into securely attached, insecure- resistant and insecure- avoidant
He also asked them questions about childhood relationships with parents, to determine whether there was a correlation between childhood and adulthood relationships
What were the findings of Hazan and Shavers study?
The securely attached (56%) tended to have happy, warm and loving relationships, they were friendly and trusting
The insecure avoidant (25%) tended to doubt that love existed, or would last for significant periods of time
The insecure resistants (19%) fell in love easily, however had trust issues and were prone to belief that their partners would abandon them
Evaluation of Hazan and Shavers study- contradictory research
Zimmerman said that childhood attachment does not predict adulthood attachment, as our perception of life and relationships is often altered by significant life events such as parental divorce, life threatening illness or death of a parent. Waters found that 44% of infants who had experienced significant, negative life events changed attachment classification
Evaluation of Hazan and Shaver’s study- correlation
This is correlational research, therefore we cannot prove cause and effect. The link found could be random, or there could be a third variable linking them both, for example the temperament hypothesis. This means that infants are born either sociable or antisocial, which causes the attachments that are formed both in early childhood or later life
Evaluation of Hazan and Shavers study- deterministic
The idea that our relationship outcomes are confirmed before the age of two suggests we have no free will. This means that children who are insecurely attached may feel they are “doomed” so may not try to have healthy relationships. This means that they become self fulfilling prophecies .
Also, it removes responsibility from adults who were insecurely attached as infants
