Chapter 5 IQ's Flashcards
why might attachment be more difficult for adopted infants?
temperament and personality are inherited, so adopted child may end up completely different than adopted parents
what did Elinor Ames’s research with Romanian orphans find?
- infants who had lived in Romanian orphanages for more than 4 months before being adopted had more psychological and motor-behavioural problems
- the more time spent in orphanage, the more severe the problems were
what did Lucy LeMare’s research with Romanian orphans find?
as teens, the Romanian orphans as a group still showed many more difficulties than Canadian-born children or early-adopted Romanian orphans (ie. lower IQ, difficulty with attention, learning, peer relationships, etc.)
synchrony
mutual, interlocking pattern of attachment behaviours shared by a parent and child
similar parental behaviours between fathers and mothers
- their bond with infants depend more on development of synchrony than on contact immediately after birth
- both have same repertoire of attachment behaviours in early weeks of baby’s life (ie. they both cuddle, touch, and talk to baby in same way)
difference in parental behaviours between fathers and mothers
after first few weeks, fathers spend more time playing with baby and more physical roughhousing; mothers spend more time in routine caregiving, talking to, and smiling at the baby
how are the benefits of father involvement culture-specific?
- in societies that value gender equality (ie. Israel), high father control is negatively correlated with infant social skills
- in highly patriarchal societies (ie. Palestine), high father control is positively correlated with infant social skills
2 crucial ingredients for secure attachment
- emotional availability (willingness to form attachment with infant)
- contingent responsiveness (being sensitive to infant’s cues and responding appropriately)
avoidant attachment parent responses
caregiver rejects/withdraws from infant, or is overly intrusive and directs/controls behaviour
ambivalent attachment parent responses
caregiver is inconsistently or unreliably available to infant
disorganized/disoriented parent responses
infant has been abused or comes from family where either parent had some unresolved childhood trauma (ie. abuse, death of their parent, etc.)
how does age influence the attachment process?
- older moms are less likely to view their babies as “difficult” than young/teen moms
- older moms display more sensitive caregiving behaviours than young/teen moms
how does marital conflict influence attachment?
6-month-olds exposed to verbally aggressive parents are more likely to display signs of emotional withdrawal than unexposed babies
effects of attachment in childhood
securely attached infants are more sociable, more positive in behaviour towards friends and siblings, less dependent on teachers, less aggressive/disruptive, more empathetic, more emotionally mature in childhood
effects of attachment in adolescence
securely attached infants are more socially skilled, have more intimate friendships, are more likely to be leaders, have higher self-esteem and better grades in adolescence
effects of attachment in adulthood
attachment history predicts sociability, sexual dysfunction in males, internal models of attachment (which influence parenting behaviours), and parental attitudes
Thomas and Chess’s 3 types of temperament
- easy
- difficult
- slow-to-warm-up
easy
approach new events positively, display predictable sleeping and eating cycles, are happy, and adjust easily to change
difficult
irregular sleeping and eating cycles, emotional negativity and irritability, resistance to change
slow-to-warm-up
display few intense reactions (either positive or negative), and appear unresponsive to unfamiliar people
5 key traits/dimensions of temperament
- activity level: tendency to move often and vigorously rather than remaining passive/inactive
- approach/positive emotionality/sociability: tendency to move toward rather than away from new people, situations, or objects
- inhibition and anxiety: tendency to respond with fear or withdraw from new people, situations, or objects
- negative emotionality/irritability/anger: tendency to respond with anger, fussiness, loudness, or irritability; a low threshold of frustration (“difficult” children have this)
- effortful control/task persistence: ability to stay focused and manage attention and effort
neurological difference in reaction to new stimuli between shy children and extroverted children
shy children exhibit higher levels of arousal in the right hemisphere than the level (don’t respond symmetrically) -> temperament may therefore be influenced by neurological processes
why is it impossible to know whether neurological findings with shy children are cause or effect?
because behaviour shapes the brain (ie. synaptic pruning)
compare 2-3 month old’s ability to identify emotional expressions with a 5-7 month old
- 2-3 month olds can identify emotional expressions best when they receive info from many channels (ie. seeing a facial expression and hearing that emotion expressed in the adult’s voice), and are better at reading faces of people they know
- 5-7 month olds can read one channel at a time (ie. can respond to facial expressions alone or tone of voice alone), and can read stranger’s emotional expressions
