Chapter 3 - Attachment

Question 1

What did Bowlby suggest about attachment?

Answer 1

Bowlby suggested that early attachment are a basis for our future relationships

And that we view our future relationships on our early relationships because that all we have to base it on.

Question 2

What is the definition of attachment?

Answer 2

An emotional relationship between to people characterised by proximity seeking and resulting in the feeling of security when in teh presence of each other

Question 3

What is proximity?

Answer 3

Physical closeness

Question 4

What is secure base behaviour?

Answer 4

Even when independent infants will regularly return to their attachment figure

Question 5

What is separation anxiety?

Answer 5

Visible distress when an attachment figure leaves

Question 6

What are the 2 types of caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 6

Reciprocity
Interactional Synchrony

Question 7

What is reciprocity?

Answer 7

If baby and mum spend a lot of time reacting then they will develop a reciprocal interaction by 3 months and means they elicit a response from them

‘Turn-taking’

Question 8

What is Interactional synchrony?

Answer 8

A simultaneous action
It’s a rhythmic interaction that both teh caregiver and infant mirror each other in a synchronised way.

‘Simultaneous action’

Question 9

Summaries the study carried out by Metzoff and Moore?

Answer 9

1983

• conducted the first research into Interactional synchrony.In infants as young as 2 weeks were able to imitate facial expressions of adult, which shows their ability to mirror is innate behaviour

Question 10

Summaries the study carried out by Isabella et al?

Answer 10

1991

• observing 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony.They found higher levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother-infant attachment

Question 11

What is the evaluation for the introduction of attachement?

Answer 11

• we don’t know hat is happening when observing the infants

+ controlled observations capture the fine details

• observations dont tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity

Question 12

What are the stages of attachment?

Answer 12

Stage 1 - Asocial stage - 0 to 6 weeks - babies are beginning to see the differences between humans and non humans, they start to prefer familiar people and objects

Stage 2 - Indiscriminate stage - 2 to 7 months - babies become more sociable and prefer human company. They can be comforted by anyone

Stage 3 - Specific attachments - 7 to 11 months - babies form a main attachment and they start to show separation and stranger anxiety

Stage 4 - Multiple attachments - 12 months onwards - babies can form multiple attachments these can all serve different purposes

Question 13

Evaluation of Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachments?

Answer 13

+ high ecological validity

-observer bias

-lacks temporal validity

• culture bias so can’t be generalised

Question 14

What is the difference between caregivers and attachment figure?

Answer 14

A primary caregiver is the person who spends the most time with the baby and caring for its needs

A primary attachment figure is teh person who the baby has teh strongest attachment to

Not always the same person but can be

Question 15

Who is the father to the baby?

Answer 15

The closet male caregiver (if their isn’t a father present)

Question 16

What are the statistics for Schaffer and Emersons study?

Answer 16

Schaffer and Emerson found that babies became attached to mum at 7 months

3% the father was the sole object
27% found mother and father were joint attachment
75% studied babies made an attachment with the father at 18 months

Question 17

What is Grossman (2002) find?

Answer 17

By using a longitudinal study that researched into the relationship of both parents realtionship form child to teen, he found that the quality of infant attachment with the mother was stronger than the fathers suggesting it was less important but the quality of time dads spent playing with their infant strengthened their adolescent attachments, this concluded that they are better at play than nurturing

Question 18

What did Field (1978) find?

Answer 18

After filming 4 month year old babies’ face to face interactions with their primary caregiver mothers or fathers and secondary fathers.
She found that just like primary mothers the primary fathers they spent more time smiling and holding the baby than the secondary fathers

Question 19

What is the evaluation for the role of the father?

Answer 19

• Confusion over the research question - lacks clarity, we are unaware of what the question actually means and it can be interpreted differently, needs to be more specific
• conflicting evidence - findings may vary depending on the methodology, some evidence show they have a distinct role where as people who grow up without a father present are the same

+ real-world application - can be used to offer advice to parents, shows its the quality of the time spent that is important

Question 20

What did Lorenz discover by using geese?

Answer 20

Developed imprinting by splitting goose eggs into two groups one with a mother other in incubator. When mixed together the first group went back to their mother and he second group to Lorenz .

This shows imprinting and the critical period

Question 21

What did Harlow find?

Answer 21

Harlow studied monkey who has recently been separated from their mothers, he split them into 2 groups and gave them each a mother.
Group 1 had a cloth mother that was warm and Group 2 had a wire mother that provided food.

Results showed that the monkey spent more time with cloth mother to keep warm suggesting warmth and comfort is more important to them than food.

Later they were socialised and Harlow found that they couldn’t make proper attachments. Like to their off spring

Question 22

Why are animal studies useful?

Answer 22

It increases our understanding of basic brain principles
Helps us to develop neurological theories

Question 23

Explain the real life example of animal testing?
(coronavirus)

Answer 23

They originally tested on mice then, humans in clinical trials

In the example video watched they rushed it through in 14 days which is not long enough to test.

Question 24

What are the problems with animal studies?

Answer 24

Extrapolation - what happens to other species infants may not be the same as humans, there is a difference between nature and nurture too.

Ethical considerations - depending on the location, animals and humans have rights and responsibilities.Law protects us and animals

Animal Rights - Tom Reagan in 1984 argued that there were no circumstances that animal research is acceptable and all animals are subject of a life

Question 25

What are the 3R’s?

Answer 25

Replacement - should be replaced by a suitable alternative
Reduction - reduce number down to a minimum
Refinement - reduce the pain and harm

Question 26

What is the evaluation for the imprinting theory?

Answer 26

Limitation - Guiton found partial support for the theory, with leghorn chicks but he found that the process was reversible, this disproves the critical period

Further limitation - If the first thing a baby sees is what it attaches to then it would be the midwife

Question 27

Evaluation of Harlow Research

Answer 27

Strength - influential to help us understand the importance of comfort

Limitation - The way Harlow set up his set was different, there was no faces only cloth mother and food mother.

Question 28

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 28

Learning by association

Question 29

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 29

Learning through consequences

Question 30

What are the assumptions based off Learning theory?

Answer 30

• we are born a blank slate
• we are born with the capacity to learn
• behaviourists
• behaviour is learnt form the Environment
• focuses on the observable behaviour

Question 31

What is Pavlovs conditioning using mum, baby and food?

Answer 31

Before conditioning:
Food(UCS) = baby feels pleasure(UCR)
Mum(NS) + food(UCS) = baby feels pleasure(UCR)

After conditioning:
Mum(CS) = baby feels pleasure(UCR)

Question 32

What is reinforcement?

Answer 32

Anything that increases the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated

Question 33

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 33

Anything that increases the effect of likelihood of that behaviour being repeated by using pleasant consequences

Question 34

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 34

Anything that increases the likelihood of those actions being repeated by using a pleasant consequence after they stop

Question 35

What is punishment?

Answer 35

Anything that decreases the likelihood of behaviour being repeated by using unpleasant consequences

Question 36

What did Dollard and Miller say?

Answer 36

That babies are hungry so they are uncomfortable, they then reduce it - so drive state, when they are fed the drive i s reduced and they feel pleasure, food = primary reinforcer, this is a reinforcer because its taking away something unpleasant, so person becomes secondary reinforcer.

Question 37

What are the first and secondary drives?

Answer 37

First - hunger, an innate desire/ biological motivator

Secondary - learned by an association between caregiver and satisfaction of primary drive

Question 38

What is the evaluation of the learning theory?

Answer 38

+ its perfectly clear to see that there are plenty of opportunities to associate the caregiver with food, eg Dollard and Miller

• doesn’t account for if anyone other than the parent is feeding the child
• Harlows research suggested that monkeys clearly prefer comfort over food
• doesn’t explain why those in poverty are still attached to parents

Question 39

What is Bowlby’s second theory of attachment?

Answer 39

Evolution

The process of useful features being introduced into a species so that the animal can survive long enough to successful reproduce, so they need to be well adapted.

Bowlby proposed that human infants have an innate tendency to form attachments to their primary caregiver ( usually the mother)

attachment = imprinting means that the young animal is most likely to be kept safe, if not the infants may not survive.

Question 40

What can Bowlby’s theory be broken down into?

Answer 40

attachment is innate
critical period
caregiving is adaptive
secure base
monotropy and hierarchy
internal working model
continuity hypothesis

Question 41

What is rooting?

Answer 41

a infants head turning toward their cheek when stroked and swallowing reflexes follow, which allows the infant to take in nourishment

Question 42

What is social releasers?

Answer 42

Something that babies have that unlocks an innate tendency of adults to care for them

can be :
physical - baby face
behavioural - crying or cooing

Question 43

What is the critical period?

Answer 43

birth - 2 1/2 years old, it starts about 7 months, if it doesn’t happen the child could be socially, emotionally and intellectually damaged.

Question 44

What is monotropy?

Answer 44

he suggested that infants form one very special attachment

so if mum isn’t available then the infant may bond with another ever-present adult or primary attachment figure

failure to form this bond could lead to insecure attachment and avoidant, mistrustful behaviour in childhood and adulthood.

Question 45

What is internal working model?

Answer 45

The monotropic attachment forms a internal working model which is a model for relationships what to expect from all future relationships based on mother-child relationship.

Question 46

What is the law of accumulated seperation?

Answer 46

each time a child is left it has a negative consequence it accumulates.

Question 47

Evaluate Bowlby’s theory

Answer 47

+ Hazen and Shavers love quiz - supports the internal working model, the continuity hypothesis, that the stronger the relationship with caregiver the better relationships in the future.

• Kagans temperament - opposing theory, its a weakness because Kagan says that babies are born with an innate personality that makes them more friendly and easier to care for.

Question 48

Who proposed the strange situation?

Answer 48

Mary Ainsworth

Question 49

What is the strange situation?

Answer 49

A technique that places the infant in different situations in order to research the quality of attachment to caregiver

Question 50

What did the strange situation observe?

Answer 50

• stranger anxiety
• exploration and secure base behaviour
• proximity seeking
• separation anxiety
• reunion behaviour

Question 51

What was the group assessed?

Answer 51

100 North american infants with the mum from middle class families.
They were 1 to 2 years old

Question 52

What are the stages of the procedure?

Answer 52

Stage 1 - mother takes infant into the lab and puts the baby on the floor so it can explore.

Stage 2 - stranger enters and talks to mum then approaches the child.

Stage 3 - mum leaves, if the child is playing the stranger watches, if they are passive the stranger tries to get their interest, if the child is upset the stranger attempts to comfort them.

Stage 4 - mum returns and the stranger leaves

Stage 5 - infants play and mum leaves

Stage 6 - stranger enters and approaches child doing the same as stage 3

Stage 7 - stranger leaves and the caregiver greets the child.

Question 53

What are the 3 types of attachment according to Mary Ainsworth?

Answer 53

Avoidant insecure
secure
resistant insecure