Biology of attachment

Question 1

What is the traditional behavioural thesis of attachment?

Answer 1

Blank slate when born
Learning through conditioning
Importance of rewards
Culture transmits knowledge

Question 2

What is the traditional psychoanalytic thesis of attachment?

Answer 2

Inborn instinct
Libidinal drive (seeking pleasure)
Stages of development
Unconscious process

Question 3

Who did experiments on baby monkeys on attachment theory?

Answer 3

H Harlow

Question 4

Who did attachment experiments with ducklings and found out they walk in lines instinctively but only triggered 2-8hrs after hatching?

Answer 4

Lorenz

Question 5

How did Mary Ainsworth contribute to attachment theory?

Answer 5

Created ‘the strange situation’

Tell whether mother and baby have a secure/insecure/disorganised attachment depending on reaction to first reunion

Question 6

What does secure attachment predict for those children?

Answer 6

More resilient children, interact better with peers

Question 7

What are the types of insecure attachment?

Answer 7

Avoidant

Ambivalent

Question 8

What type of attachment predicts criminality and mental health difficulties?

Answer 8

Disorganised

No strategy for coping/health

Question 9

How can you assess mothers on their attachment status?

Answer 9

Adult attachment interview
Produce and reflect on own memories of childhood
Produce coherent and collaborative discourse
Coherent and collaborative= autonomous
Minimal explanation=dismissive
Memory driven discourse=preoccupied
Unclassifiable=unresolved

Question 10

How does the ‘strange situation’ outcome for babies link with mother’s adult attachment status

Answer 10

Autonomous mother->secure attachment on child
Dismissive->Avoidant
Preoccupied->Ambivalent
Unresolved->Disorganised

Question 11

What is attachment behaviour?

Answer 11

Any behaviour with the predictable outcome of increasing proximity to the attachment figure
-> with the aim of acquiring feeling of security

Question 12

What are the 3 types of attachment behaviour?

Answer 12

Alert (calling)
Avert (crying)
Active (following)

Question 13

What is an attachment behavioural system?

Answer 13

Set of behaviours that are coordinated, activate-able, goal corrected and organised by specific control systems (mental representations)

Question 14

What are the things that make an emotional bond?

Answer 14

Persistent
Specific
Significant
Wish for contact
Distressed when separated
Seek for security (ONLY IN ATTACHMENT BOND)

Question 15

Secure attachment relies on:

Answer 15

Availability
Sensitivity
Responsiveness

Question 16

Sensitivity in mother predicts:

Answer 16

Quality of their attachment relationship
Self regulation
Social functioning
Cognitive and language competence

Question 17

What happens when a child has no attachment figure?

Answer 17

Autistic traits
No eye contact
Need an attachment figure by aged 3 otherwise will never fully recover

Question 18

What happens when the attachment figure abuses the child?

Answer 18

It strengthens the bond

Question 19

What is the key concept in the biology of attachment?

Answer 19

The baby ‘borrows’ minds of their attachment figure until they have established their own control pathway

Question 20

When does the human brain mainly develop?

Answer 20

Mainly in first 3 yrs of life
All connections and big changes happen before aged 5
Development and maturity in a social context has a biological advantage

Question 21

What structures eventually develop into the brain?

Answer 21

Forebrain-> cortex
midbrain
hindbrain-> cerebellum, pons

Question 22

What can cortical structures do?

Answer 22

Can inhibit structures deeper in the brain
They develop later
eg cortex thinking can inhibit limbic system feelings (CBT)

Question 23

What is shore’s hypothesis?

Answer 23

The baby brain is designed to use the structures of the mother’s brain to manage the ones it already has, before they develop the ones that aren’t yet functioning
As the different frontal structures get myelinated, they replace those of the mother’s brain in regulating the baby’s brain’s function

Question 24

Give an example of Shore’s hypothesis

Answer 24

When baby’s amygdala is activated in ager/distress it doesn’t know why its unhappy
It causes baby to cry and mother to regulate the baby’s distress
(eg feeding, changing nappy, temperature etc)
Mother and baby’s brain synchronise at a biological level

Question 25

What can be measured and shows synchrony in human relationships?

Answer 25

Cortisol
Prolactin
Testosterone
Oxytocin
Directed gaze
Arousal levels (pulse, bp)

Question 26

What areas of the brain are activated when synchronous mothers watch their babies?

Answer 26

Dopamine structures

Question 27

What areas of the brain are activated when non synchronous mothers watch their babies?

Answer 27

Amygdala (distress, arousal)

Question 28

What parts of the brain are used in arousal?

Answer 28

Amygdala, ventral striatum

Question 29

What parts of the brain are used in emotional regulation

Answer 29

Prefrontal cortex

ACC

Question 30

What parts of the brain are used in cognition?

Answer 30

Insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 31

What is oxytocin?

Answer 31

Produced in hypothalamus, released by posterior pituitary
Most abundant neuropeptide in body
Contracts uterus and produces milk
Involved in bond formation and social cohesion
Produced in orgasm and pleasant touch
Linked with dopamine and immune systems

Question 32

When does oxytocin increase?

Answer 32

When recalling positive caring maternal behaviour

If given nasal oxytocin, women will recall positive maternal behaviour

Question 33

How does oxytocin link with stress?

Answer 33

Increased oxytocin, decreased stress
but mediated by own experience of relationships
(1º partner, own child, romantic partner)

Question 34

What does baseline oxytocin predict?

Answer 34

Predicts touching behaviour and parent-child interaction

Question 35

What allows caregiving system to mature in teenage girls?

Answer 35

Hormonal
Neurobiological changes
Environmental stimuli
Prior attachment experiences

Question 36

What is key in motivating and maintaining caregiving behaviours?

Answer 36

Oxytocin
Motivates and maintains caregiving behaviours
Increases maternal sensitivity to infant cues