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Attatchment Flashcards

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1
Q

What is attachment?

A

A close two way emotional bond between two individuals in which each sees the other as essential for their own emotional security

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2
Q

Proximity

A

Staying physically close to the attachment figure

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3
Q

Separation anxiety

A

Being upset when an attachment figure leaves

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4
Q

Secure base behaviour

A

Leaving the attachment figure but regularly returning to them when playing

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5
Q

Interactional synchrony

A

Two people are “synchronised” when they carry out the same action simultaneously

Infant and mother’s actions and emotions mirror the other

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6
Q

Metzolf and Moore (1977)

A
  • observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old
  • an adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures and the child’s response was filmed
  • an association was found between the expression/ gesture and the action of the child
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7
Q

High interactional synchrony = ?

A

Higher quality attachment

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8
Q

Reciprocity

A

When each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them

Involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions

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9
Q

Limitations of caregiver- infant interactions

A
  • hard to know what is happening when observing infants - difficult to see what’s taking place from infants perspective
  • observations don’t tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity- robust phenomena but may not be particularly useful in telling us their purpose
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10
Q

Strengths of caregiver- infant interactions

A
  • Uses well controlled procedures- filmed from multiple angles- very fine details are recorded- babies behaviour doesn’t change as they aren’t aware of being filmed (generally main problem for observations)
  • Has value to society- practical applications to benefit society- can help parent child therapy as it improves interactional synchrony- leads to valuable methods for improving and developing mother infant attachments
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11
Q

What did Schaffer and Emerson find out about the role of the father?

A
  • the majority of babies became attached to their mother first (happens around 7 months)
  • in only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment
  • in 27% of cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother
  • within a few weeks or months they then formed secondary attachments to other family members, Including the father
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12
Q

Percentage of infant forming secondary attachment with father

A

75%
Formed at around 18 months
Indicated by the fact the infants protested when their father walked away (a sign of attachment)

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13
Q

Grossman study- attachment with mother most related to teeen attachments

A
  • Grossman carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachments into their teens
  • Finding: quality of attachment with the father was less important in the attachment type of the teenagers than quality of attachment with the mother
  • therefore fathers may be less important in long term emotional development
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14
Q

Fathers play is more important

A

The quality of fathers play with infants was related to children’s attachments
- this suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment, one that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing

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15
Q

Fathers can be primary care givers

A

Some evidence suggests that when fathers do take the role of being the main care giver they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers
- study: field filmed 4 month old babies and found that primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary care giver fathers

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16
Q

Level of response is most important (role of the father)

A
  • smiling, imitating and holding infants are behaviours that appear to be important in building an attachment with an infant
  • so it seems the father can be the more nurturing attachment figure
  • the key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent
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17
Q

Strengths of the role of the father

A
  • research has important economic implications- mothers feel pressured to stay at home because of research that says mothers are vital for healthy emotional development- this research may be of comfort to mothers who feel they have to make hard choices about not returning to work
  • role of fathers as secondary attachments can be explained through biological processes and stereotyping- this confirms that such difference between mothers and fathers in the role of rearing children can be down to an individuals nature but also their experiences of nurture
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18
Q

Limitation of the role of the father (distinct roles)

A
  • evidence undermines the idea of fathers having distinct roles- Grossman found that fathers as SAF had an important and distinct role in their children’s development, involving play and stimulation- other studies found that children growing up in single or same sex parent families don’t develop differently from those in two parent families- suggests that the role of the father as a SAF is not important
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19
Q

Limitation of the role of the father (researchers are interested in different research questions)

A
  • some psychologists want to understand the role of fathers as SAF. But others are mire concerned with fathers as a PAF- the former have tended to see fathers as behaving differently from mothers and having a distinct role. The latter have found. That fathers can take on a ‘maternal’ role- This is a limitation because it means psychologists cannot easily answer the simple question: what is the role of the father?
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20
Q

Stages of attachment (Schaffer)

A

1) Asocial stage (first few weeks)
2) Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months)
3) Specific attachment ( from around 7 months)
4) Multiple attachments (by one year)

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21
Q

Asocial stage

A
  • baby’s behaviour towards inanimate objects and humans is quite similar
  • some preference for familiar adults (more easily calmed by them)
  • babies are also happier in the presence of other humans
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22
Q

Indiscriminate attachment

A
  • babies now display more observable social behaviour, with a preference for people rather than inanimate objects
  • they recognise and prefer familiar adults
  • babies do not show stranger or separation anxiety
  • attachment is indiscriminate because it’s the same towards all
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23
Q

Specific attachment

A
  • stranger and separation anxiety when separated from one particular adult
  • baby is said to have formed a specific attachment with the PAF
  • the person who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby’s signals with the most skill (the biological mother in 65% of cases)
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24
Q

Multiple attachments

A
  • secondary attachments with other adults form shortly after
  • study: in Schaffer and Emerson’s study, 29% of babies had secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachment. By the age of one year the majority of infants had multiple secondary attachments
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25
Q

Procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s study (stages of attachment)

A
  • 60 babies from Glasgow, most from working class families. Babies And their mothers were visited at home every month for a year and at 18 months.
  • Separation anxiety measured by asking mothers children’s behaviour during everyday separations (e.g. adult leaving the room)
  • Stranger anxiety was measured by asking questions about their children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults
26
Q

Findings and conclusions for Schaffer and Emerson study

A
  • 50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult between 25 and 32 weeks of age. This specific primary attachment was usually with the mother.
  • attachment tended to be the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions e.g. reciprocity. This was not necessarily the person that the infant spent most time with.
  • In 65% of cases first specific attachment was to the mother. It was only the father in 3% of cases
27
Q

Strength for Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment

Has external validity

A
  • Most of the observations were made by parents through ordinary activities And reported to researchers- So the behaviour of the babies was on likely to be affected by the presence of observers- It is highly likely that the participants behave naturally were being observed
28
Q

Strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s study

Carried out longitudinally

A
  • This means that the same children were followed up and observed regularly- The quicker alternative would have been to observe different to each stage this is called cross-sectional design - But longitudinal designs have better internal validity because they do not have the confounding variable Of individual differences between participants
29
Q

Limitation for Schaffer and Emerson’s study

lacks generalisability

A 
-The babies all came from working-class families in Glasgow, in which the mother stayed at home with the 
children- This sample isn’t a fair representation as the results only reflect working class families which means this study lacks generalisability. We aren’t able to generalise the results to middle class or high class families and different cultures . Middle class families may have a higher rate of attachment as they don’t have to worry about the funds as much as working class families
30
Q

Limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s study (self report)

A
  • One of the measures used was to interview the mothers about their children’s responses to situations in
    order to measure the attachment- The mothers gave a self report which would be bad as they may lie to make them and their baby look good which is social desirability biased.
    Separation and stranger anxiety is going to be subjective and interpreted differently to every mother
31
Q

Lorenz’s study on imprinting procedure

A
  • Lorenz randomly divided 12 goose eggs have hatched with the mother goes in their natural environment and the other half was hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz
  • He then mixed all goslings together to see whom they would follow
  • Lorenz also observed birds at there later courtship behaviour
32
Q

Lorenz’s findings and conclusions on imprinting

A
  • Incubator group followed Lorenz, control group followed the mother
  • Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place e.g. few hours after hatching. If imprinting did not occur within that time checks did not attach themselves to the mother figure.
  • Sexual imprinting also occurs whereby the birds acquire a template of the desirable characteristics required in a mate. Birds who imprinted on humans would then display courtship behaviours towards humans later on
33
Q

Harlow’s study on importance of contact comfort procedure

He sought to demonstrate that mother love was not based upon feeding

A
  • Harlow reared 16 rhesus monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’:
  • In one condition, milk was dispensed by the plain wire ‘mother’. In a second condition, it was dispensed by the cloth covered ‘mothers’
  • As a further measure of attachment like behaviour the reactions of the monkeys to more frightening situations were observed. For example Harlow placed the monkeys in the novel situations with novel objects. He also added a noise making teddy bear to the environment.
  • Harlow and his colleagues also continued to study the monkeys who had been deprived of the real mother into adulthood
34
Q

Findings and conclusions on Harlow’s study of the importance of contact comfort

A

All 8 monkeys spent the majority of their time with the cloth mother, regardless of where the feeding bottle was. When frightened all monkeys clung to the cloth mother. As they got older, all the monkeys developed abnormally. Then froze when approached by other monkeys, there were more aggressive, did not show mating behaviours and did not cradle their own babies. There were even some cases of the monkeys killing their own children.

35
Q

Limitation of Harlow’s study (animal studies of attachment)

Ethical issues

A

The monkeys suffered greatly as a result of Harlow’s procedures. This species is considered similar enough to humans to be able to generalise findings, which also means that their suffering was presumably quite human like. Harlow referred to the wire mothers as ‘iron maidens’ after a medieval torture device.
The counter argument is that harlows research was sufficiently important to justify the effects.

36
Q

Limitation of Animal studies of attachment

generalising findings

A
  • generalising findings from birds to humans- the mammalian attachment system is quite different from that in birds- E.g. mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to their young- This means that it is not appropriate to generalise lorenz’s ideas to humans
  • from monkeys to humans- monkeys are not humans- e.g human babies develop speech like communication, this may influence the formation of attachments- psychologists disagree on this extent to which studies of non human primates can be generalised to humans.
37
Q

Strength of animal studies of attachment

Support for the concept of imprinting

A
  • Guiton found the chicks imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults- This suggests that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object
    present in the critical window of development- This suggests there is an innate mechanism causing a young animal to imprint on a moving object during in the critical period of development
38
Q

Strength of animal studies of attachment

Harlow’s research has important practical applications

A
  • It has helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and so intervene to prevent it- We also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programs in the wild- The usefulness of Harlow’s research increases its value
39
Q

Learning theory of attachment: Importance of food

A

This is known as the cupboard love explanation because it emphasises the importance of food in attachment formation. Children learn to love whoever feeds them.

40
Q

Role of classical conditioning In learning theory of attachment

A

Classical conditioning involves learning to associate two stimuli
In attachment:
UCS (food) leads to UCR (feeling of pleasure)

The mother starts as NS. This person providing food over time becomes associated with “food”. So the NS becomes a CS
One conditioning has taken place the sight of the caregiver produces CR of pleasure.

41
Q

Role of operant conditioning in the learning theory of attachment

A

Operant conditioning explains why babies cry for comfort. Crying leads to a response from the caregiver e.g. feeding. As long as the caregiver provides the correct response crying is reinforced because it produces a pleasurable consequence.

42
Q

Operant conditioning: negative reinforcement

A

At the same time as the baby is reinforced for crying the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops (Negative reinforcement is escaping from something unpleasant which is reinforcing)

43
Q

Drive reduction: learning theory of attachment

A

Hunger is a primary drive in a biological motivator. We are motivated to eat to reduce the hunger drive.
Attachment is a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive

44
Q

Strength for learning theory attachment

Supporting evidence

A
  • There is supporting evidence to Pavlov and Skinner- Watson and Rayner tested if classical conditioning actually works- They classically conditioned a baby to be scared- Their findings showed that classical conditioning actually works which means that there is an increase in validity for the learning theory of attachment through condition
45
Q

Limitation of learning theory

Animal studies provide evidence against food as the basis of attachment

A
  • Lorenz’s Imprinted geese imprinted maintained attachments regardless of who fed them. Harlow’s monkeys attached to a soft surrogate in preference to a wire one with milk
  • In both these animal studies attachment did not develop as a result of feeding
  • The same must be true for humans that food does not create the attachment bond. After all learning theory is believed that nonhuman animals and humans are equivalent
46
Q

Limitation of learning theory

Human research shows that feeding is not an important factor

A
  • Schaffer and Emerson Showed that for many babies a primary attachment was not to the person who fed them
  • This shows that feeding is not the key element to attachment and so there is no unconditional stimulus of primary driver involved
  • This evidence to suggest that other factors are more important than food in the formation of attachment
47
Q

Strength of learning theory

Practical applications

A

If attachments are formed through observation and imitation, then it is important that new parents are positive role models. If they have difficulty being consistent and sensitive, then
parenting classes should be provided. This suggests that this research could lead to support for parents which would help improve the quality of people’s lives. This supports parents with real life situations

48
Q

Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment

5 key features

A 
Monotropy
Internal working model
Continuity hypothesis 
Social releasers 
Critical period
49
Q

Monotropy

A

One particular attachment is different from all other and of central importance to the child’s development

50
Q

Internal working model

A

Infants develop a model about what future emotional relationships will be like based on their attachment with a care giver

51
Q

Continuity hypothesis

A

Link between early attachment and later social and emotional competence

52
Q

Social releasers

A

Infants are born innate “cute” behaviours like smiling,gripping and cooing. Their purpose is to activate the adult attachment system. Babies and adults have an innate predisposition to attach and social releasers trigger that response

53
Q

Critical period

A

Critical period of around 2 years when the infant attachment system is active. If an attachment is not formed in this time, a child will find it much harder to form an attachment later

54
Q

Research evidence for monotropy
Schaffer and Emerson
Suess et al

A

Schaffer and Emerson: most babies did attach to one person first, significant minority appeared able to form multiple attachments at the same time

Suess et al: studies of attachment to mother and father tend to show that attachment to mother is more important in predicting later behaviour

55
Q

Research evidence for social releasers

Brazelton et al

A

Brazelton et al

  • observed mothers and babies during interactions, reporting the existence of interactional synchrony
  • babies showed distress when adults ignored their social releasers
56
Q

Research evidence for internal working model

Bailey et al

A

Bailey et al

  • tested the idea of IWM predicting patterns of attachment all nd passed from one generation to the next
  • mothers who reported poor attachments to their own mothers were much more likely to have poor attachments with their babies
57
Q

Limitation to Bowlbys theory

Czech twins

A

Czech twins were discovered at 7 years old. They had been locked up and isolated from the outside world and abused by their stepmother since birth. After loving care from two sisters, by the age of 14 the twins showed normal social and intellectual functioning and were able to form meaningful attachments

  • goes against critical period
  • goes against IWM
  • goes against monotropy
58
Q

Limitation of bowlbys theory

Overemphasised the role of attachment

A

An alternative Explanation is that the child’s temperament (the child’s genetically influenced personality) is important of social behaviour. Temperament researchers suggest that some babies are more anxious and some more sociable than others as a result of their genetic make up. Temperamental differences rather than quality of attachment can explain later social behaviour

59
Q

Aim of Ainsworth’s strange situation

A

To measure security of attachment a child displays towards a caregiver

60
Q

What is secure attachment?

A
  • is moderately upset when mum goes
  • a little wary of the stranger
  • explores happily while keeping an eye on mum
  • is readily/ easily comforted by mum when she returns
61
Q

Insecure/avoidant attachment

A
  • not bothered when mum comes back
  • explores freely without bothering where mum is
  • not bothered by appearance of a stranger
  • is not at all upset when mum goes
62
Q

Insecure/resistant attachment

A
  • does not explore very much; keeps very near mum
  • is extremely upset when mum goes
  • does not like the stranger at all
  • is cross with mhm on return and not easily comforted

Psychology (7 decks)

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