Chapter 11: Love & Attachment

Question 1

Infant’s Attachment to Mother

Phase 1: 0-3 Months

Answer 1

Nursing
Pre-attachment
Proximity promoting
Crying, clinging, cooing, facial displays, touch, eye contact

Question 2

Infant’s Attachment to Mother

Phase 2: 3-5 Months

Answer 2

Progressive attachment in response to care, feeding, reduction in discomforts
Discriminates faces and smiles to familiar faces

Question 3

Infant’s Attachment to Mother

Phase 3: 6-7+ Months

Answer 3

Clear attachment to mother
Proximity seeking (clings, moves towards mother)
Bases self around mother in exploration
Separation anxiety and fear of strangers

Question 4

Infant’s Attachment to Mother

Phase 4: 12+ Months

Answer 4

Multiple attachments, including father, older siblings, grandparents, babysitters

Question 5

Mother’s Attachment to Infant

Answer 5

Infanticide, abandonment usually occur prior to nursing
Lactation, nursing, and hormonal involvement
In humans, initial skin to skin contact immediately after birth is associated with positive attachment later
Progressive meshing involves mutual eye gaze, smiling, “baby-play”

Question 6

Lingle & Riede (2014)

Deer & Speakers

Answer 6

Mothers will come toward speaker playing a crying fawn
Crying vocalizations of various species adjusted to fundamental freq of the deer
- deer would come to speaker no matter the species as long at freq of crying was within their fundamental freq
Very specific to newborn vocalization frequencies

Question 7

Hormones and Maternal Behaviour

• progesterone
• oxytocin
• prolactin

Answer 7

Progesterone declines prior to birth
Oxytocin release at birth –Promotes uterine contractions, aids in birthing process
Menstrual cycling suspended
Prolactin promotes milk production
Oxytocin stimulates milk ejection, evidence suggests implication in bonding

Question 8

Experience in Motherhood

• rats
• prolactin
• blood transfusion

Answer 8

In lab rats, experienced mothers show maternal behaviour much more readily, regardless of hormones
Prolactin injected into the brain promotes nurturance in virgin rats
Blood transfusion from parturient female to virgin female leads to maternal behaviour

Question 9

What area of the brain is involved in maternal behaviour?

Answer 9

medial (and dorsal) preoptic area of the hypothalamus

Question 10

Paternal Bond

Answer 10

Less reliable and more variable
Paternity confidence is an issue
Contribution to care may be indirect (financial, mother=nursing (direct))
Role of care may increase with age

By 7 months of age, can be just as strong as maternal bond
If father absent: boys (behavioural difficulties), girls (issues in self-esteem)
More fighting b/w adoptive father and children than biological father

Question 11

Siblings

Answer 11

Competition for resources
Gene sharing (r = 0.5)
First and most likely playmates
Jealousy for maternal affection observed in very young (or resources)
Rivalry and mutual support are both common (nepotism)
Inter-sibling aggression usually non-injurious

Question 12

Peers

Answer 12

Develops with progressive independence from mother and family
Human children show substantial interest in peers that are similar in age and sex
Develop social experience
Learning of communication
Play and skill acquisition
Alliances for mutual benefit

Question 13

Passionate Love

• Cognitive
• Emotional
• Behaviour

Answer 13

Cognitive: Preoccupation, idealization, desire to know the person

Emotional: Sexual attraction, Polarization of affect (success vs. failure), Longing for reciprocity, Physiological arousal, Desire for permanent union

Behaviour: Gaze, Studying other, Seeking physical closeness, Courting, Flirting

Question 14

Temple et al (2012)

- sexting in high school students

Answer 14

Males and females (28%) engage in sexting/sending nudes (sent a sext)
Males more likely to ask, whereas females more likely to be asked

57% of ppl been asked to engage in this behaviour
Males mostly not bothered/a little bothered by these requests
Females mostly a lot/great deal bothered by these requests

Males may make them more socially popular, females associated with negative stereotypes
Those that have sent, asked, been asked were more likely to have ever dated/ever had sex

Question 15

Holmes et al (2020)

- sexting in university students

Answer 15

Over half had engaged in explicit sexting at some point in their lives, many w more than 1 partner
Most w committed partners
15-25% report sending/receiving from ex-partners, friends, online acquaintances

Over half of senders rated their experience w sexting as positive
~17% had a negative experience
~1/3 unlikely to engage in this behaviour again

Men and women finding sending an explicitly sext as arousing/sexually gratifying
Women less likely to report receiving sexts as enjoying/sexually gratifying

Question 16

Compassionate Love

• Cognitive
• Emotional
• Behaviour

Answer 16

Cognitive: Intimacy and self-disclosure, Knowledge of strengths and weaknesses, Long-term expectations

Emotional: Caring, trust, stability
Daily emotions are not as intense
Betrayal possible (jealousy, loneliness, anger, depression)

Behaviour: Gaze, physical proximity, sexuality, Efficient non-verbal communication

Question 17

Francis & Mialon (2014)

• married couples
• divorce

Answer 17

Less time spent dating b/f proposal=greater likelihood to get divorced
As annual income for the household increases, less likelihood to divorce
Individuals who are somewhat religious more likely to get divorced than religious individuals
If partners looks was most important=more likely to divorce; partner wealth second highest; neither=least likely to divorce
More people attend wedding=less likely to divorce (more ppl support your unionship)
The more money you spend on your wedding=more likely to divorce
Honeymoon=less likely to get a divorce

Question 18

Oxytocin and Bonding

Answer 18

In female prairie voles, central oxytocin administration leads to partner preference in the absence of mating
Central administration of drug blocking oxytocin does not influence mating, but prevents partner preference

Question 19

Brain Activity

When viewing photos of romantic partners compared to friends…

Answer 19

Elevated activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

Diminished activation of the posterior cingulate gyrus and in the amygdala

Question 20

HPA Activity

Answer 20

positive social bonds and behaviour reduce HPA activity, while negative social bonds increase HPA activity

• Ppl you spend time with in a very stressful situations, form very strong emotional attachments quickly

Question 21

Adult Sexual Jealousy

• Cognitive
• Emotional
• Behaviour

Answer 21

Cognitive: Shock, confusion, suspicion, obsessive thinking

Emotional: Mix of primary and secondary emotions –Anger, fear, despair, sadness, depression, anxiety, shame, embarrassment

Behaviour: Information seeking, withdrawal, revenge, aggression

Question 22

Sexual Dimorphism in Jealousy

Male vs Female

Answer 22

Male:
The greatest concern is sexual infidelity
Cuckoldry is potential outcome

Female:
The greatest concern is emotional infidelity
Loss of support is potential outcome