Attatchment Flashcards
What is reciprocity
Mothers respond to infant alertness
From 3 months close attention between mother and infant
What is interactional synchrony
Interactions become coordinated Isabella et al: quality of attachment related to synchrony
Evaluate caregiver infant interactions
Hard to know what’s happening- observe simple gesture and expression and assume infants intentions
Controlled observations- capture fine detail of interactions
Purpose of synchrony and reciprocity- Feldman: just observations, purpose not entirely understood
What is the role of the father in attachment
Grossman et al: attachment to father less important but fathers may have different role- play and stimulation
What is the most common parent infant attachment
Mother infant- other attachment figures like the father may also be important
Talk about fathers as primary caregivers
Field: fathers as primary carers adopt attachment behaviour more typical of mothers
Evaluate attachment figures
Inconsistent findings- different research questions overall picture unclear
Children without fathers aren’t different- suggests the father role is not important
Fathers not primary attachments- may be due to traditional gender roles or biological differences
Socially sensitive research - working mothers
What were the aims of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment
To investigate the age of attachment formation and who attachments are formed with
Method of Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachments?
Mothers of 60 Glasgow babies reported monthly on separation anxiety
What are the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment?
Most babies showed attachment to a primary caregiver by 32 weeks and developed multiple attachments soon after this
Evaluate Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
Good external validity- observations were in participants natural environments
Longitudinal design- same participants were observed at each age, eliminating individual differences as a confound
Limited sample characteristics- all families were from same area and over 50 years ago so may lack generalisability
What do babies have with their caregiver
Frequent and important interactions with their caregiver
What are the four stages of attachment and explain them
Asocial stage- little observable social behaviour
Indiscriminate attachment- more observable attachment behaviour, accept cuddles from any adult
Specific attachments- strange anxiety and separation anxiety in regard to one particular adult
Multiple attachments- attachment behaviour directed towards more than one adult (secondary attachments)
Give an evaluation point for the asocial stage
Social behaviour is hard to observe in the first few weeks but this doesn’t mean the baby is ‘asocial’
Evaluation points of the Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment
Conflicting evidence- van izendoorn et al: research in different contexts has found multiple attachments may appear first
Measuring multiple attachments- just because a child protests when an adult leaves does not necessarily mean attachment
Schaffer and Emerson used limited measures of attachment
What are the procedure of Lorenz research
Gosling saw Lorenz when they hatched
The finding of Lorenz research
Newly hatched chicks stretch to the first moving object they see (imprinting)
What is sexual imprinting
Adult birds try to mate with whatever species of object they imprint on
Evaluate Lorenz research
Generalisability- birds and mammals have different attachment systems so Lorenz’s results may not be relevant to humans
Some observations questioned- Guiton et al: birds imprinting on rubber gloves did later prefer their own species
What are the procedures of Harlow monkeys research
Baby monkeys given cloth or wire ‘mother’ with feeding bottle attatched
Name the findings of harrows monkey research
Monkeys clung to cloth surrogate rather than wire one, regardless of which dispensed milk
What happened to maternally deprived monkeys in Harlow’s research
Grew up socially dysfunctional
What’s the critical period in Harlow’s research
After 90 days attachment wouldn’t form
Evaluate Harlow’s monkey research
Theoretical value- demonstrated that attachment depends more on contact comfort than feeding
Practical value- Howe- informs understanding of risks factor for child abuse
Ethical issues- suffering of the monkeys would be human like
Can Harlow’s findings be applied to humans?
Explain classical conditioning in the learning theory
Caregiver (neutral stimulus) associated with food (unconditioned stimulus)
Caregiver becomes conditioned stimulus
Explain operant conditioning in the learning theory
Crying behaviour reinforced positively for infant and negatively for caregiver
Explain attachment as a secondary drive in the learning theory
Attachment becomes a secondary drive through association with hunger
Evaluate the learning theory
Animal studies- Lorenz and Harlow showed that feeding is not the key to attachment
Human research- Schaffer and Emerson: most primary attachment figures were the mother even when others did most feeding
Ignores other factors- cannot account for the importance of sensitivity and interactional synchrony
Some elements of conditions could still be involved, newer learning theory explanation
What is monotropy in Harlow’s research
One particular attachment is different in quality and importance than others
What are the social releasers and the critical period in Harlow research
Innate cute behaviours in the first two years
What’s the internal working model in Harlow’s research
Mental representations of the primary attachment relationship are templates for future relationships
Evaluate bowlbys theory of explanations of attachment
Mixed evidence for monotropy- some babies form multiple attachments without a primary attachment
Suess et al: other attachments may contribute as much as primary one
Support for social releasers- brazeleton et al: when social releasers ignored babies were upset
Support for internal working model- Bailey et al: quality of attachment is passed on through generations in families
Monotropy is a socially sensitive idea
Temperament may be as important as attachment
What was Ainsworths procedure in the strange situation
7-stage controlled observation
Assessed proximity seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger and separation response to reunion
What were the findings from the strange situation
Infants showed consistent patterns of attachment behaviour
What are the different types of attachment in the strange situation
Secure: enthusiastic greeting, generally content.
Avoidant: avoids reunion, generally reduced responses
Resistant: resists reunion, generally more distressed
Evaluate Ainsworths strange situation
Support for validity- attachment type predicts later social and personal behaviour e.g bullying
Good reliability- different observers agree 90% of the time on children’s attachment types
Culture bound- attachment behaviour may have different meanings in different cultures so the ss may be measuring different things
What is the key study in cultural variations of attachment
Van Ijzendoorn
Compared rates of attachment type in 8 counties
Found more variation within than between countries
What other studies are to do with cultural variation
Sinonella et al: Italian attachment rates have changed , may be due to changing practices
Jin et al: Korean attachment rates similar to Japan, could be due to similar child rearing styles
What are some conclusions from cultural variation studies
It appears that attachment is innate and universal and secure attachment is the norm
However cultural practices affect rates of attachment types
Evaluate cultural variations in attachment
Large samples- reduce the impact of anomalous results so improves internal validity
Samples unrepresentative of culture- countries do not equate to cultures nor to culturally specific methods of child rearing so can’t make generalisations
Method of assessment is biased- research using the SS imposed a USA test on other cultures
Lacks validity
Discuss the separation versus deprivation theory
Physical separation only leads to deprivation when the child loses emotional care
Discuss the critical period in maternal deprivation
The first 30 months are critical and deprivation in that time causes damage
Discuss effects on development in maternal deprivation
Goldfarb: deprivation causes low IQ
Bowlby: emotional development e.g affectionless psychopathy
Discuss the 44 thieves study
Many more affectionless psychopaths had a prolonged separation
Evaluate bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
Evidence may be poor- orphans may have experienced other traumas
Bowlby may have been a biased observer
Counter evidence- Lewis: sample of 500, no link between early separation and later criminality
A sensitive period- Bowlby exaggerated the importance of critical period
Animal studies show effects of maternal deprivation on social development
Failure to distinguish deprivation from privation
Discuss stutters ERA study of Romanian orphanages
165 orphans adopted in Britain
Some of those adopted later show low IQ and disinhibited attachment
Discuss Bucharest early intervention project
Random allocation to institutional care or fostering
Secure attachment in 19% of institutional group versus 74% of controls
What are the effects of institutionalisation
Disinhibited attachment and intellectual retardation if institutionalisation is prolonged
Evaluate the effects of institutionalisation
Real life application- both institutional care and adoption practice have been improved using lessons from Romanian orphans
Fewer extraneous variables- Romanian orphans had fewer negative influences before institutionalisation then e.g war orphans
Romanian orphanages not typical- conditions were so bad that results may not generalise to better institutions
Ethical issues- Bucharest
Practical applications to adoption and institutional care practice
Discuss the internal working model in terms of influence on later relationships
Bowlbys idea that the primary attachment relationship provides a template for later relationships
Explain some research about relationships later in childhood
Kerns: securely attached children have better friendships
Myron- Wilson and smith: securely attached children less likely to be involved in bullying
Discuss some research found about relationships with romantic partners
McCarthy: securely attached adults have better relationships with friends and partners
Hazan and Shaver: secure responders had better and longer-lasting relationships, avoidant responders had fear of intimacy
Discuss some parental relationships
Bailey et al: mothers attachment type matched that of their mothers and their babies
Evaluate influence of early attachments on later relationships
Evidence is mixed- Zimmerman et al: found little relationship between quality of attachment and later attachment
Low validity- most studies assess infant attachment by retrospective self report which lacks validity
Association does not man causality- a third factor like temperament might affect both infant attachment and later relationships
The influence of attachment is probabilistic
Self report is conscious but working models are not
