Attatchments (Paper 1)

Question 1

Attachment

Answer 1

Attachment is an emotional bond between two people. It is a two-way process that endures over time.

Question 2

Developmental Psychology

Answer 2

Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with the progressive behavioural changes that occur in individuals across their lifespan.

Question 3

What are the two main aspects of Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Answer 3

Reciprocity and Interactional synchrony

Question 4

What is Reciprocity

Answer 4

Reciprocity is also referred to as turn-taking. It is a two-way, mutual process, where each party responds to the other’s signals to sustain interaction. The behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other. Studies have demonstrated that infants coordinate their actions with their caregiver’s actions in a kind of conversation. The regularity of an infant’s signals allows a caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately. This sensitivity to infant behaviour lays the foundation for later attachment between the caregiver and the infant.

Question 5

What is Interactional Synchrony

Answer 5

Interactional synchrony is when adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication. The caregiver and the infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other. Research has found that infants as young as two or three weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures that they saw adults do. An adult model displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements. A dummy was placed in the baby’s mouth during the display to prevent any response. Following the display the dummy was removed and the infant’s expression was filmed. They found that there was an association between the infant’s behaviour and the adult model.

Question 6

Strengths for Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Answer 6

Murray and Trevarthen (1985) got mothers to interact with their babies over a video monitor. In the next part of the study the babies were played a tape of their mother so she was not responding to them. The babies tried to attract their mother’s attention but when this failed they gave up responding. This shows that babies want their mothers to reciprocate.

Abravanal and DeYong (1991) observed infant behaviour when interacting with a puppet that looked like a human mouth opening and closing. Infant’s made little response to this, which shows they are not just imitating what they see; interactional synchrony is a specific social response.

Question 7

Weaknesses for Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Answer 7

Babies cannot use language to communicate so psychologists are relying on their inferences. They cannot be sure that infants are actually trying to communicate with their caregiver.

The expressions tested (tongue sticking out, yawning, and smiling) are ones that infants frequently make so they may not have been deliberately imitating what they saw.

Question 8

Difficulties Investigating Caregiver–Infant Interaction

Answer 8

1. Studies have found that babies’ attachment behaviours are much stronger in laboratory settings than they are in their home environment. Therefore, studies should take place in a natural setting (e.g. the child’s home) to increase validity.
2. Most studies into caregiver-infant interactions are observational so there may be bias in the observer’s interpretation of what they see (observer bias). This can be countered by using more than one observer (inter-rater reliability).
3. There are practical issues when investigating caregiver-infant interactions. Infants are often asleep or feeding when psychologists want to observe them. Researchers need to use fewer but shorter observation periods because of babies limited waking periods.
4. Extra care needs to be taken is relation to ethics when investigating caregiver-infant interactions so as not to affect the child or parent in any way e.g. protection from harm, confidentiality etc.

Question 9

What are the four Stages of Attachment

Answer 9

Pre-attachment (0-3 months)
Indiscriminate attachment (4-7 months)
Discriminate attachment (7 months onwards)
Multiple Attachments (7 months onwards)

Question 10

Who studied Stages of Attachment

Answer 10

Shaffer and Emerson (1964) investigated the development of attachment in infants using a longitudinal study where they followed 60 infants and their mothers for two years. They decided that there were four stages in the development of attachment in infants.

Question 11

What is Pre-attachment

Answer 11

From six weeks of age infants become attracted to other humans, preferring them to objects and events. This preference is demonstrated by their smiling at people’s faces.

Question 12

Indiscriminate attachment

Answer 12

Infants begin to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people, smiling more at people they know. They will still allow strangers to handle them.

Question 13

Discriminate attachment

Answer 13

Infants develop a specific attachment to their primary attachment figure (usually the mother) staying close to that person. They show separation protest (the distress an infant shows when their primary attachment figure leaves them) and display stranger anxiety (the distress an infant shows when approached by someone they do not know).

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) noticed that the infant’s primary attachment figure was not always the person who spends the most time with the child. They concluded that it is the quality of the relationship, not quantity that matters the most in the formation of an attachment.

Question 14

Multiple Attachments

Answer 14

Very soon after developing their first attachment infants develop strong emotional ties with other major caregivers, such as the father and grandparents, and non-caregivers, such as siblings These are called secondary attachments. The fear of strangers weakens but their attachment to their primary attachment figure remains the strongest.

Question 15

Strengths for Stages of Attachment

Answer 15

You thought there was an answer but it was me, Dio!
(No strengths)

Question 16

Weaknesses for Stages of Attachment

Answer 16

The data collected by Shaffer and Emerson (1964) may be unreliable because it was based on mothers’ reports of their infants. Some mothers might have been less sensitive to their infant’s protests and therefore been less likely to report them.

The sample was biased because it only included infants from a working-class population and thus the findings might not apply to other social groups.

The sample was also biased because it only included infants from individualist cultures, infants from collectivist cultures could form attachments in a different way.

The study does not have temporal validity, it was conducted in the 1960s and parental care of children has changed considerably since then. More women go out to work and more men stay at home.

Stage theories such as this one are inflexible and do not take account of individual differences, some infants might form multiple attachment first, rather than starting with a single attachment.

Question 17

What where the findings of Schaffer and Emerson surrounding Multiple Attachments

Answer 17

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that for the majority of babies their mother is their primary attachment figure. At around 7 months of age babies form secondary attachments to other family members, including their father. 75% of infants studied had formed an attachment with their father by the age of 18 months.

Question 18

Role of the Father

Answer 18

Fathers are less likely to be their child’s primary attachment figure. This might be because they spend less time with their infants. It is also possible that most men are not as psychologically equipped to form an intense attachment because they lack the emotional sensitivity that women have. This could be due to biological factors. The female hormone oxytocin underlies caring behaviour so women are more orientated to interpersonal goals than men. Alternatively, it could be due to societal norms. In some cultures there is also the stereotype that it is feminine to be sensitive to the needs of others.

Question 19

What do some researchers believe about the Role of the Father

Answer 19

Some researchers believe that the father fulfils a qualitatively different role from that of the mother. Fathers provide play and stimulation to complement the role of the mother, which is to provide emotional support. The father’s role is considered just as crucial to the child’s wellbeing.

Question 20

Strengths for Role of the Father

Answer 20

You thought there was an answer but it was me, Dio!
(No strengths)

Question 21

Weaknesses for Role of the Father

Answer 21

There is inconsistency in the research as to the importance of the role of the father. Research investigating the effects of growing up in a single female or same-sex parent family show there is no effect on development, and therefore suggests the role of the father is not important. However research also questions whether the father plays a distinct role. Studies show that the father in a single parent family is more likely to adopt the traditional maternal role and can be their child’s primary attachment figure.

It seems the father is less important to later development than the mother in terms of nurture. Grossman (2002) found that the early attachment to the mother was a better predictor of what the teenage relationship was like than the early attachment with the father. However, if the father had engaged in active play with the child when they were young, the adolescent relationship with BOTH parents was strengthened.

Field (1978) conducted research which compared the behaviours of primary caregiver mothers with primary and secondary caregiver fathers. Face-to-face interactions were analysed from video footage with infants at four months of age. Overall, it was observed that fathers engaged more in game playing and held infants less. However, primary caretaker fathers engaged in significantly more smiling, imitative grimaces and imitative vocalisations than secondary caregiver fathers. The behaviour of primary caregiver fathers was comparable with that of mothers’ behaviour. This demonstrates that there is flexibility in the role of the father and how men can respond to the different needs of their children.

Question 22

What was the Strange Situation

Answer 22

This was the methodology used by Ainsworth et al. (1970) to investigate differences in attachments between infants and their caregivers. It was a controlled observation which took place in a room that had been furnished with some toys.

Question 23

What was the procedure of the Strange Situation

Answer 23

The investigators observed the infants in a series of three-minute episodes;
- mother and baby,
- stranger enters,
- mother leaves,
- mother returns

Question 24

What was recorded in the Strange Situation

Answer 24

They recorded an infant’s proximity seeking, stranger anxiety, separation protest and reunion joy.

Question 25

What were the three attachment types found

Answer 25

Insecure-Avoidant, Secure Attachment and Insecure-Resistant
(Type A, Type B and Type C respectively)

Question 26

What was the percentage breakdown of the attachment types

Answer 26

Insecure-Avoidant / Type A - 20%
Secure Attachment / Type B - 70%
Insecure-Resistant / Type C - 10%

Question 27

Type A – Insecure-Avoidant

Answer 27

Babies with this attachment style will largely ignore their caregiver and play independently while they explore the room. They show no signs of distress when the caregiver is absent (no separation protest) and continue to ignore them when they return (no reunion joy). The baby is distressed when left completely alone but is comforted by the stranger as easily as their caregiver (no stranger anxiety). The caregiver and the stranger are treated in much the same way

Question 28

Type B – Secure Attachment

Answer 28

Securely attached babies play happily while the caregiver is present and use them as a safe base while they explore the room and play with the toys. The baby is clearly distressed when the caregiver leaves (separation protest), even if they are not left completely alone, and seeks immediate contact with their caregiver when they return (reunion joy). Their caregiver easily comforts them. The baby is wary of the stranger (stranger anxiety) but accepts some comfort
from them when the caregiver is absent.

Question 29

Type C – Insecure-Resistant

Answer 29

Babies who have an insecure-resistant attachment to their caregivers are fussy and cry more than other babies. They will not explore the room or play with the toys very much, instead they are clingy. The baby is distressed when the caregiver leaves (extreme separation protest), however they resist comfort from the caregiver on reunion (no reunion joy). They strongly resist the stranger’s attempts to make contact (extreme stranger anxiety).

Question 30

Strengths of the Strange Situation

Answer 30

The Strange Situation has been replicated many times over the years. It is easy to replicate this study because it had a high level of control and standardised procedures. It has been carried out successfully in many different cultures.

Question 31

Weaknesses of the Strange Situation

Answer 31

This methodology was developed in the United States and so may be culturally biased. Attachment behaviour that is seen as healthy in the United States may not be seen as such in all cultures. In Germany at this time very few mothers worked (less than 1 in 5) but children were encouraged to be independent and self-reliant. German parents view some of the behaviour exhibited by securely attached infants, such as crying when their mothers leave the room, as being spoilt and so do not reward this behaviour. This is why these children may have shown less anxiety when separated from their mothers and been classed as avoidant.

The validity of some measures has been questioned, for instance, it could be argued that proximity seeking could be a measure of insecurity rather than security.

The strange situation is gender biased as it has only ever been carried out using mothers as the caregiver. Children might be insecurely attached to their mothers but securely attached to their fathers. They strange situation is therefore not measuring a child’s overall attachment style but their attachment to one individual. Main and Weston (1981) found that children behave differently depending on which parent they are with.

The Strange Situation being artificial is that it may not reflect the infant’s real world behaviour (lacks ecological validity). Studies have found that babies’ attachment behaviours are much stronger in laboratory settings than they are in their home environment.

Question 32

Who studied Cross Cultural Variations in Attachment

Answer 32

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies into attachment to see if attachment occurs in the same way across all cultures.

All of the studies they included had used the strange situation to measure attachment. These studies looked at the relationships between mothers and their babies, all of whom were under 24 months of age. The studies were conducted in eight countries, some individualistic cultures (USA, UK, and Germany) and some collectivist cultures (Japan, China, and Israel).

Question 33

What were the findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Answer 33

The main findings were;
- Secure attachment was the most common attachment style in all of the eight countries studied.
- The second most common attachment style was insecure-avoidant, except in Israel and Japan where avoidant was rare but resistant was common.
- The lowest percentage of secure attachments was in China.
- The highest percentage of secure attachments was in Great Britain.
- The highest percentage of insecure-avoidant attachments was in West Germany.
- Overall variations within cultures were 1.5 times greater than the variation between cultures.

Question 34

What do the findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg suggest

Answer 34

The similarities between cultures suggest that caregiver and infant interactions have universal characteristics and so may be partly instinctive. However, the variations between cultures show that the cultural differences in child rearing practices also play an important role in attachment styles. The variations within cultures indicate that sub-cultural differences, such as social class, play an important role in an infant’s attachment style. These factors are possibly more important than culture.

Question 35

Strengths of Cross Cultural Variations in Attachment

Answer 35

This study is a meta-analysis, which includes a very large sample. This increases the validity of the findings.

Question 36

Learning Theory of Attachment

Answer 36

According to learning theory all behaviour is learned rather than being innate or inherited from parents.

People learn behaviour through two types of conditioning;
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning

Question 37

Weaknesses of Cross Cultural Variations in Attachment

Answer 37

The strange situation methodology was developed in the United States and it may not be valid in other cultures. For instance, Ainsworth assumed that a willingness to explore means a child is securely attached but this may not be the case in other cultures. This means the methodology is culturally biased.

The infants from Israel in this study lived on a Kibbutz (closed community) and did not come into contact with strangers. This could be the reason why these children showed severe distress when confronted with strangers and so were classed as insecure-resistant.

This study was not actually comparing cultures but countries. For instance, they compared the USA with Japan. Both of these countries have many different sub-cultures and that have different child rearing practices. One study of attachment in Tokyo found similar attachment style distributions to the USA, whereas studies in more rural areas of Japan found many more
insecure-resistant infants.

All of the studies used in this meta-analysis looked at infants’ attachments to their mothers. Children might be insecurely attached to their mothers but securely attached to their fathers. The strange situation is therefore not measuring a child’s attachment style but their attachment to one individual. Main and Weston (1981) found that children behave differently depending on which parent they are with.

Question 38

Classical Conditioning

Answer 38

An infant is born with certain reflex responses, the stimulus of food is an unconditioned stimulus and it produces the reflex of pleasure, which is an unconditioned response. The person providing food is a neutral stimulus but over time they become associated with the pleasure gained from food. The person becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces pleasure as a conditioned response. According to classical conditioning this is how the attachment bond develops and is the reason children feel pleasure in their caregiver’s presence.

Question 39

Operant Conditioning

Answer 39

Operant conditioning strengthens attachment. The baby receives positive reinforcement (when behaviour produces a pleasant consequence) for crying when they are hungry as the caregiver feeds them. The caregiver receives negative reinforcement (when behaviour removes something unpleasant) for feeding their baby when they cry as feeding the baby makes the crying stop.

Question 40

Strengths of the Learning Theory of Attachment

Answer 40

Learning theory is plausible and scientific as it is founded in established theory. It likely that association between the provision of needs and the person providing those needs can lead to strong attachments.

Question 41

Weaknesses of the Learning Theory of Attachment

Answer 41

Harlow (1959) separated infant Rhesus monkeys from their mothers and put them in cages. Milk was provided either by a wire mesh ‘surrogate mother’ or one made of comfortable soft cloth. The monkeys clung to the soft cloth ‘mother’, especially when scared by an aversive stimulus, even if it did not provide milk. This suggests that comfort is more important than food in determining whom a baby will attach to.

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) also found that food is not necessary for attachment to form. They discovered that babies are often attached to people who play with them, rather than people who feed them. In 39% of cases even though the mother was the one who fed the baby the baby was more attached to someone else.

This theory explains how attachments form but not why they form. According to Bowlby’s theory of attachment infants form an attachment to their caregiver to ensure they are protected.

Learning theory is environmentally reductionist as it explains a complex human behaviour in an overly simplistic way. The infant and caregiver relationship is a very varied, sophisticated and complicated behaviour, and there are many different types of infant and caregiver attachment. Therefore it is very unlikely that attachment is merely the result of the caregiver providing the infant with food. Learning theory is environmentally deterministic because it states that early learning determines later attachment behaviours.

Question 42

Why do attachments form according to Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

Answer 42

The fundamental principle of Bowlby’s theory is that attachment between infants and their caregivers is an instinct that has evolved because it increases the chances of both the babies’ survival and the parents’ passing on their genes. It is therefore adaptive. Infants who are attached to their caregiver will stay close to them and so are well protected and will survive. Parents who are attached to their children will ensure they are well cared for and so survive, meaning that they will have successfully passed on their genes.

Question 43

How do attachments form according to Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

Answer 43

Infant’s have an innate (biological programmed) drive to become attached to an adult. Innate behaviours usually have a critical period in which they must occur or they never will. The critical period for attachment is before a child is two years of age. Infant’s who do not have an opportunity to form an attachment during this time will have difficulty forming attachments later on.

Bowlby proposed that attachment is determined by the caregiver’s sensitivity. Infants who are the most strongly attached tend to have a caregiver who is responsive, co-operative and more accessible then less closely attached infants.

Social releasers are important during this time to ensure that attachments develop between caregivers and their infants. Social releasers include smiling and crying, they are behaviours that elicit care giving. Babies display them to encourage their caregivers to look after them.

Bowlby argued that infants will have one special emotional bond; he referred to this as monotropy. This bond is often with the biological mother but not always. Infants also form secondary attachments that also provide an important emotional safety net and are vital for healthy psychological and social development.

Question 44

The Consequences of Attachment according to Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

Answer 44

Bowlby argued that infants will have one special emotional bond; he referred to this as monotropy. This bond is usually, but not always, with the biological mother. The importance of the monotropic bond is that the infant uses this relationship to form a mental view of all relationships called an internal working model.

If the monotropic bond is secure it results in a positive internal working model and means that current (such as those with other children), future (such as those with the individual’s own children) and romantic adult relationships will be positive and secure.

An insecure monotropic bond is associated with fear of intimacy and lack of commitment in adult relationships. If an infant does not have an opportunity to form a monotropic bond than they are not provided with an adequate internal working model for later relationships. According to Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory, disruption to the monotropic bond before the critical period leads to later emotional problems (e.g. lack of intimacy/commitment).

The continuity hypothesis proposes that individuals who are securely attached in infancy continue to be socially and emotionally competent. This is because a secure childhood leads to a positive internal working model.

Question 45

Strengths of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

Answer 45

You thought there was an answer but it was me, Dio!
(No strengths)

Question 46

Weaknesses of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

Answer 46

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) suggest that multiple attachments are more common in babies than monotropy. They found that by 18 months only 13% of the infants had only one person they were attached to.

Feminists like Erica Burman have pointed out that the idea of monotropy is socially sensitive. It places a terrible burden of responsibility on mothers, setting them up to take the blame for anything that goes wrong in their child’s life. It also puts pressure on mothers to stay at home and give up their careers. Bowlby also underestimated the role of the father – he saw father’s role as primarily economic. This is an outdated sexist view, many families view both parents as equally responsible for childcare, and in many families the father is the primary caregiver.

Tizard and Hodges (1989) found that children who had never formed any attachments by the age of four, and were then adopted, could still form attachments to their new adopted parents. This goes against the idea of a critical period before two years of age during which an attachment must form or it never will.

Kegan (1984) disagreed with Bowlby about the quality of an infant’s attachment being determined by the caregiver’s sensitivity. He explained infant’s attachments to their caregivers in terms of their innate temperament. According to his theory some infants are better suited to forming attachments then others due to their innate characteristics. Rovine (1987) found that infants who had been judged to have signs of behavioural instability between one and three days old were later more likely to have an insecure attachment.

It is impossible to test Bowlby’s argument that attachment has persisted in the same form throughout our evolutionary history, making it unscientific.

Question 47

Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Answer 47

Bowlby (1953) proposed that children who suffer from prolonged emotional deprivation, caused by the absence of their primary attachment figure (usually – but not always – the mother) will have long-term intellectual (lower IQ), social (delinquency) and emotional (affectionless psychopathy) difficulties and even mental health issues (such as depression). According to the continuity hypothesis these effects are irreversible and will continue into adulthood due to a lack of an internal working model, which could even lead to an inability to be a good parent.

The negative impact of maternal deprivation could occur if the separation occurs before the child is two and a half years old (critical period). Although there is a risk up to five years old (sensitive period) and there is no substitute mother-figure available to take over the emotional care of the child.

Question 48

Procedure of Bowlby (1944)

Answer 48

Bowlby analysed the case histories of a number of his patients in the Child Guidance Clinic in London where he worked. All the children attending this clinic were emotionally maladjusted. He studied 88 of these children, half of whom had been caught stealing (44 thieves), the other half were a control group. Bowlby suggested that 14 of the thieves were affectionless psychopaths; they lacked affection, shame and responsibility for their actions. Bowlby found that those individuals who had been diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths had experienced frequent early separations form their mothers (repeated stays in foster care, time in hospital etc.). 12 of the affectionless psychopaths had experienced frequent separations from their mothers compared with only 5 out of 30 of the thieves who were not classed as affectionless psychopaths. Almost none of the control group had experienced early separations from their mothers.

Question 49

Strengths of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Answer 49

Before Bowlby’s (1953) theory hospitals would not allow parents to visit their children during stays in hospital (or would only allow infrequent visits – e.g. once a week). This often had a profound and damaging effect on the child. Nowadays parents are actively encouraged to stay in hospital with their children.

Spitz (1945) examined children raised in a poor quality orphanage in South America. Members of staff were overworked, under trained and rarely gave the children any attention or affection. The children displayed anaclitic depression (loss of appetite, sleeplessness and sadness).

Skodak and Skeeles (1949) found that children placed in institutions that only looked after them physically scored poorly on intelligence tests. However, when the same children were transferred to a different institution which gave the children emotional care the IQ scores improved by almost 30 points.

Question 50

Weaknesses of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Answer 50

The effects of maternal deprivation have been shown to be reversible. Children who had never formed attachments and were adopted after the age of four were still able to form attachments to their new parents (Tizard et al. 1989).

Bowlby did not really distinguish between deprivation (when the attachment figure is lost) and privation (when the child has never formed an attachment). It could be the latter that causes the extreme negative effects observed in some studies.

Question 51

Institutional Care

Answer 51

Institutional care is when a child’s living arrangements are outside of the family. Some children are raised in institutions, such as children’s homes, hostels, hospitals etc. Children raised in institutions can adopt the rules and norms of the institution, which could impair functioning and lead to a loss of personal identity (deindividuation).

Question 52

Procedure of Studies of Romanian Orphans - Rutter et al. (2010)

Answer 52

This study involved 165 Romanian children who spent their early lives in Romanian orphanages, before being adopted, and thus suffered from the effects of institutionalisation. The adoptees were tested at regular intervals (ages 4, 6, 11 and 15) to assess their physical, cognitive and social development. Their progress was compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted in the UK before the age of six months.

Question 53

Findings of Rutter et al. (2010)

Answer 53

At the time of adoption the Romanian orphans lagged behind their British counterparts on all measures of physical, cognitive and social development. By the age of four the Romanian children adopted before the age of six months had caught up with their British counterparts. However, a significant number of individuals adopted after the age of six months still had significant deficits at age four.

Question 54

Conclusions of Rutter et al. (2010)

Answer 54

This study suggests that the long-term consequences of institutionalisation may be less severe than was once thought if children are adopted before six months and receive sensitive parenting. However, if children are not adopted by six months then the consequences of institutionalisation are likely to be severe.

Question 55

What are the 6 Effects of Institutionalisation

Answer 55

Delayed Intellectual Development
Disinhibited Attachment
Emotional Development
Lack of Internal Working Model
Quasi-Autism
Delayed Physical Development

Question 56

Delayed Intellectual Development

Answer 56

Children raised in institutions can have a low IQ and concentration problems. This means they may struggle at school because they cannot learn new behaviours and concepts as quickly. They can also have delayed language development.

Question 57

Disinhibited Attachment

Answer 57

Children raised in institutions may not know what appropriate behaviour towards strangers is. They can be overly affectionate and attention-seeking.

Question 58

Emotional Development

Answer 58

Children raised in institutions can have difficulty managing their anger (e.g. they have more temper tantrums than other children).

Question 59

Lack of Internal Working Model

Answer 59

Children raised in institutions may have difficulty interacting with peers and forming close relationships. As adults they will have impaired adult relationships and can struggle to parent their own children.

Question 60

Quasi-Autism

Answer 60

Children raised in institutions may develop quasi-autism because they struggle to understand the meaning of social contexts and can have obsessional behaviours. They can have lower frequency of pretend play and reduced empathy.

Question 61

Delayed Physical Development

Answer 61

Children in institutional care are usually physically small. Research has shown that a lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of what has been called deprivation dwarfism.

Question 62

Strengths of the Effects of institutionalisation

Answer 62

Studies that have investigated the effects of institutionalisation have enhanced our understanding of the potential negative consequences of institutional care and has led to the establishment of key workers in institutions to provide emotional care for children.

Studies that have investigated the effects of institutionalisation have also led to changes in the adoption process. In the past mothers were encouraged to nurse their children for as long as possible before giving them up for adoption. Today most babies are adopted within their first week of life (certainly before six months).

Question 63

Weaknesses of the Effects of institutionalisation

Answer 63

There are problems when generalising findings of studies of Romanian orphans as standards of care were particularly poor in Romanian orphanages. The Romanian orphans were faced with much more than emotional deprivation. The physical conditions were appalling, and there was a lack of cognitive stimulation. It is likely that long-term damage from institutional care only occurs when there are multiple risk factors.

It is possible that the negative effects of institutional care can be reduced by sensitive parenting. Le Mare and Audet (2006) conducted a longitudinal study of 36 Romanian orphans adopted to families in Canada. The adopted orphans were physically smaller than a matched control group at age four but this difference had disappeared by ten. The same was true for psychological health.

Adoption and control groups were not randomly allocated to conditions in studies of Romanian orphans. This means that participant variables between the children could influence the findings in unanticipated ways. The adopted children might have been adopted because of personal characteristics such as resilience or being more sociable. These characteristics might explain why they were less affected by institutional care, which lowers the validity of the research

Question 64

Procedure of Harlow (1959)

Answer 64

Harlow created two wire ‘mothers’. One wire mother was wrapped in a soft cloth. Eight infant rhesus monkeys were separated from their mother at birth and were studied for a period of 165 days. They were placed in a cage with the two wire mothers. Four of the monkeys received milk from the cloth mother, the other four received milk from the exposed wire mother. During the 165 days, the time that the monkeys spent with each of the two mothers was measured. Observations were made of the monkey’s responses to being frightened by a mechanical teddy bear and how they coped with exploring a new room full of unfamiliar toys.

Question 65

Findings of Harlow (1959)

Answer 65

All eight monkeys spent most of their time on the soft cloth mother, regardless of whether this mother was the one with the feeding bottle or not. Those monkeys who were fed by the exposed wire mother only stayed on it long enough to get milk and then returned to the soft cloth mother. When frightened by a mechanical teddy bear all monkeys clung to the soft cloth
mother, and when playing with new objects the monkeys kept one foot on the soft cloth mother. When placed in a new environment they were not confident enough to explore the room unless the soft cloth mother was with them.

Question 66

Long-term effects of Harlow (1959)

Answer 66

Harlow (1959) continued to study the eight monkeys as they grew up. The monkeys developed abnormally, they froze or fled when approached by other monkeys. They did not show normal mating behaviour and did not cradle their own babies. If the monkeys spent time with other monkeys then they could recover but only if this happened before they were three months old. Having more than three months with only a wire mother was something they could not recover from.

Question 67

Strengths of Harlow (1959)

Answer 67

This study has implications for theories for attachment. Harlow’s suggestion that comfort/sensitive responsiveness is more important than food contradicts learning theory.

This study highlights the implications of early neglect and the long-term consequences of poor attachment in childhood for future relationships. This fits with Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory. However, in humans this may be more of a sensitive period as studies have demonstrated how children have been able to recover from early deprivation (e.g. Romanian orphan studies).

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) also found that food is not necessary for attachment to form. They discovered that babies are often attached to people who play with them, rather than people who feed them. In 39% of cases even though the mother was the one who fed the baby the baby was more attached to someone else.

Question 68

Weaknesses of Harlow (1959)

Answer 68

This study could be considered to be unethical. The monkeys were removed from their mothers, which would have been very traumatic, and they were then deliberately scared to see how they would react. This led to long-term emotional harm, when these monkeys were older and encountered other monkeys they either froze or fled. They also had difficulty caring for their own young (did not cradle them) as they had not been cared for themselves.

Question 69

Procedure of Lorenz (1939)

Answer 69

Konrad Lorenz was an ethologist (they study animal behaviour in their natural environment). He wanted to investigate imprinting (the instinct in several species of animals to attach to the first moving thing they see after they are born). Lorenz (1935) took a clutch of Gosling (Goose) eggs and divided them into two groups. One group was left to hatch with their natural mother
present, while the other eggs were placed in an incubator. When the eggs in the incubator hatched the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz. Lorenz marked the two groups to distinguish between them and placed them all together again.

Question 70

Findings of Lorenz (1939)

Answer 70

The Goslings quickly divided themselves up, one group following their natural mother and the other (the ones from the incubator) following Lorenz. The Goslings that had been in the incubator showed no recognition of their natural mother. Lorenz found that that this process of imprinting is restricted to a very definite period of a young animal’s life, called a critical period. If a young animal is not exposed to a moving object during this early critical period then the animal will not imprint. Animals imprint on consistently moving objects during their first two days. Imprinting is similar to attachment in that it binds an animal to a caregiver in a special relationship. Lorenz (1935) had to teach the goslings how to swim and they would always return to him when he called.

Question 71

Long-term effects of Lorenz (1939)

Answer 71

Lorenz (1935) noted several features of imprinting, for example the process is irreversible and long lasting. One of the Geese that imprinted on him, called Martina, used to sleep on his bed every night. Lorenz (1935) also discovered that this early imprinting had an effect on later mate preferences, called sexual imprinting. Animals (especially birds) will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon which they were imprinted.

Question 72

Strengths of Lorenz (1939)

Answer 72

Imprinting is similar to the idea of a critical period in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory. In both cases there is a ‘window of opportunity’ in which attachments must be formed otherwise there will be negative long-term consequences.

Other studies support the idea that animals are born with an instinct to attach to the first moving object they see. Gutton (1966) demonstrated that chickens exposed to yellow rubber gloves during feeding in their first few weeks of life imprinted on the gloves.

Question 73

Weaknesses of Lorenz (1939)

Answer 73

Imprinting is more reversible than Lorenz thought. Gutton (1966) found that he could reverse the imprinting in chickens that had initially tried to mate with the yellow rubber gloves. After spending time with their own species they were able to engage in normal sexual behaviour with other chickens.

It is problematic to extrapolate the findings from animal studies to attachment in human infants. What applies to a non-human species does not necessarily apply to human infants. Humans are physiologically very different from monkeys/geese as well as having several other influences that monkeys/geese do not have, such as culture, society, peers, upbringing etc. The attachment bond between human infants and their attachment figures is far more complex than it is in monkeys/geese. For instance, there are several different types of attachment styles that human infants can have (e.g. secure, avoidant, resistant). There is an argument that, of the two, Harlow’s study may be more relevant to human experience as it uses a mammalian species.

Question 74

Who studied The Influence of Early Attachment on Childhood Relationships

Answer 74

Sroufe et al. (2005)

Question 75

Sroufe et al. (2005)

Answer 75

This study was called the Minnesota Parent-Child Project. It began in 1975 and the mother-child pairs continue to be studied today.

Question 76

Procedure of Sroufe et al. (2005)

Answer 76

Since 1975 the mothers’ and the childrens’ behaviour has been assessed using questionnaires and observations. For example, the mothers and children were videotaped (intra-observer reliability) while playing for a period of 10-15 minutes at home. The mothers were aware that they were being videotaped (possible social desirability bias). Two observers analysed the recordings (inter-observer reliability).

Question 77

Findings of Sroufe et al. (2005)

Answer 77

As children, those who were classed as securely attached as infants were;
- Rated the highest for social competence
- Were less socially isolated,
- Were more popular with their peers,
- Were more empathetic.

An infant’s early attachment creates their internal working model of what relationships are, how partners in a relationship behave towards each other and what they should expect of a relationship. Those who are securely attached will have a positive internal working model for relationships and so are better at forming and maintaining relationships with others.

Question 78

Long- term effects of Sroufe et al. (2005)

Answer 78

If infants do not have an early attachment during the critical period this would result in a lack of an internal working model for attachment. This could lead to attachment disorder where children have no preferred attachment figure, and an inability to interact and relate to others. This becomes evident from the age of five and is usually caused by severe neglect or frequent change of caregivers.

Question 79

Strengths of Sroufe et al. (2005)

Answer 79

This study is reliable. Simpson et al. (2007) found similar results; they assessed infant attachment styles at one year of age. Several studies have found that children who were securely attached as infants were rated as having higher social competence as children and were closer to their friends aged 16.

Question 80

Weaknesses of Sroufe et al. (2005)

Answer 80

This study claims that early experiences have a fixed effect on later childhood relationships and therefore children who are insecurely attached as infants are doomed to experience emotionally unsatisfactory relationships as children. It is therefore deterministic (does not take account of people’s free will to make conscious decisions about their behaviour).

There are lots of studies which contradict the claim that early attachment affects later childhood relationships. Tizard and Hodges (1989) found that children raised in care who had never formed any attachments by the age of four, and were then adopted, could still form attachments to their new adopted parents.

Question 81

Who studied The Influence of Early Attachment on Childhood Relationships

Answer 81

Hazan and Shaver (1987) and Bowlby

Question 82

Procedure of Hazan and Shaver (1987)

Answer 82

Hazan and Shaver placed a ‘Love Quiz’ in the Rocky Mountain News (an American small-town newspaper). The quiz asked questions about their relationship with their parents (to identify infant attachment style), attitudes towards love (to assess their internal working model), and their current relationship experiences (to determine their adult attachment style). They analysed 620 responses, 205 from men and 415 from women, from a fair cross-section of the population.

Question 83

Findings of Hazan and Shaver (1987)

Answer 83

When analysing adult attachment style they found that the prevalence of adult attachment styles was similar to infant attachment styles. 56% were classified secure, 25% insecure-avoidant and 19% insecure-resistant. This suggests that most people’s infant attachment styles are the same as their adult attachment style.

They also found a relationship between an individual’s internal working model and their adult attachment style – adults with a positive internal working model tended to be securely attached adults.

Question 84

Conclusions of Hazan and Shaver (1987)

Answer 84

They found a positive correlation between adult attachment style and love experiences. Securely attached adults described their love experiences as happy, friendly and trusting. They emphasised being able to accept and support their partner despite faults. These relationships were most enduring – ten years on average compared six years for avoidant and five years for resistant

Question 85

Strengths of Hazan and Shaver (1987)

Answer 85

You thought there was an answer but it was me, Dio!
(No strengths)

Question 86

Weaknesses of Hazan and Shaver (1987)

Answer 86

This study is unreliable, several other studies have failed to find the strong correlation between infant attachment style and adult attachment style. Fraley (2002) conducted a review of 27 samples where infants were assessed in infancy and later reassessed (ranging from one month to 20 years later). He found correlations ranging from .5 to as low as .1

This study is correlational rather than experimental and therefore we cannot determine cause and effect. It is impossible to say that infant attachment styles determine adult attachment styles. It could be that there is a third variable that affects both, such as a person’s innate temperament.

This study relies on participants’ memories about their early lives in order to assess their infant attachment style. Such recollections are likely to be flawed because our memories of the past are not always accurate, making the study not valid