Child Flashcards
What is the acronym to help remember Bowlby’s concepts about attachment?
ASCMI
What is the ‘A’ in ASCMI?
Adaptive
What is the ‘S’ in ASCMI?
Social Releaser
What is the ‘C’ in ASCMI?
Critical period
What is the ‘M’ in ASCMI?
Monotropy
What is the ‘I’ in ASCMI?
Internal Working model
A social releaser is?
Things like crying which make a parent stay close and care for the baby
What does Adaptive mean?
Something which is beneficial to our survival e.g. having parents who love us when we are babies
Monotropy is?
a single bond considered more important than any other
The critical/sensitive period is?
where attachment needs to occur for a healthy, normal human to emerge
How long is the critical/sensitive period?
Around 2.5 years
A secure base is?
using your parent as a base from which to explore and interact with the world
An internal working model is?
where your early relationship becomes a schema for future relationships, how they treat you is stored in our memory
What is the continuity hypothesis?
The idea that our future relationships when we are older are similar to those we had with our parents when young
Which part of ASCMI does Robertson and Robertson specifically disagree with?
Monotropic bond/Critical period- They showed as long as their was good care it didn’t need to be with the monotropic figure
How many of Bowlby’s 44 thieves were considered affectionless Psychopaths?
14
What did Lorenz show?
Critical periods and attachment in general are adaptive and evolved
Hazan and Shaver show?
IWM is supported- childhood attachment does match adult attachment types
Spitz Shows?
The critical period is supported, children raised in an institution showed depressiona and behavioural issues
Evolutionary theories like this are a problem because?
Retrospective and post-hoc, you cannot measure our ancestors and so cannot make concrete judgements about it’s validity
Rutter criticised Bowlby for
Over focus on the mother and focusing on the separation rather than the cause of separation
Schaffer and Emerson found what % of children had multiple bonds (disproving monotropic bonds)
27%
Why is Bowlby seen as socially controlling and socially sensitive (or lacking temporal validity at least)?
Reinforcing gender roles of women staying at home for childcare
What is a problem of the concept of the IWM/Schemas?
The IWM is not empirical because you cannot directly test them
What is attachment?
The loving bond between two people where they are not interchangable with others
What is the aim of Ainsworth’s study?
To see if there are different types of attachment, what behaviours each shows and how parents influence the type?
What was the sample in Ainsworth?
Mothers and babies from USA (sample size varies depending on which study)
What type of observation is carried out in the stranger situation?
Controlled, non-participant
How many stages are in the strange situation and how long did they last?
Eight 3 minute stages but they could be cut short if mother wanted
What is separation anxiety?
If the chid gets upset when the parent leaves them
What is a secure base?
If the child uses the parent for comfort before exploring/needing them to explore
What is stranger anxiety?
If the chid gets upset when interacting with a stranger
What is reunion behaviour?
How easily they are comforted when their parent returns
What is the first and second stage of stranger situation?
Mother and child are together in the room playing together with toys
What is the third stage of stranger situation?
A stranger comes into the room, talks to the mother and attempts engagement with the child in the mothers presence.
What is the fourth stage of stranger situation?
Mother leaves the room leaving the child and stranger together, the stranger tries to engage and console the child, stranger anxiety is measured.
What is the fifth stage of stranger situation?
The mother returns and the stranger leaves the room. We look at reunion behaviour
What is the sixth stage of stranger situation?
The mother then leaves the child alone in the room, separation anxiety is measured.
What is the seventh stage of stranger situation?
The stranger enters the room with the child alone and attempts to play with the child.
What is the eights stage of stranger situation?
The mother returns and reunion behaviour is measured.
What % of children were insecure avoidant?
20
What % of children were secure?
70
What % of children were resistant?
10
The study concluded that type of attachment is caused by?
The level of sensitivity and responsiveness of the parent
Secure attachment is caused by?
Responsive parenting
Avoidant attachment is caused by?
Neglectful parenting
A secure child shows which behaviours
Stranger anxiety, parents as a secure base, separation anxiety and easily comforted on reunion
An Avoidant child shows which behaviours
No stranger or separation anxiety, explore without needing comfort (not using parents as a secure base), no need for comfort
A Resistant child shows which behaviours
No secure base,They’re clingy and don’t explore, strong stranger and separation anxiety, difficult to comfort on reunion and may lash out
Kagan criticised Ainsworth saying
Attachment type is due to a child’s temperament rather than parental behavious
Main and Solomon criticised Ainsworth saying
There is at least one other type of attachment (disorganised) so her study/theory ignores this
What is a strength of Ainsworth for reliablity?
It can be replicated to test for reliability in the results about attachment types because it is standardised with the same 8 steps for each child
Can you give a weakness (and a however) for the generalisablity of the study?
The sample is only american mothers so might not be representative of attachment types in other cultures or father and child interactions, it however did include both male and female infants
The study was done covertly on the children using a one-way mirror, this is a strength because?
It is more valid as the children don’t know they’re taking part so show no demand characteristics in their interactions with the stranger
What is a weakness of conducting the strange situation as a structured observation?
It is low in ecological validity because the situation the children are in is artificial and might not apply to how they’d really be separated from mother
The study was a controlled environment (in the artifical playroom) we controlled meaning?
It is more valid as situational variables like the setting and stranger behaviour don’t influence the children’s behaviour
Which EV might effect the results on this study about attachment type
whether the child is used to being with others i.e. going to daycare
What is the main ethical issue we could say about Ainsworth?
Protection from harm as the babies were upset by their mother leaving
What is the 3 point procedure for a cross-cultural study?
Conduct research in one culture and then do the same procedure in another. Compare the results to see if they’re the same or different. If they’re the same it means it is a universal behaviour and due to nature
What was the most common type of attachment around the world-every culture, in all but 1 study, according to Vanijzendoorn?
Secure
Which culture in Vanijzendoorn had the highest rate of secure children?
Great Britain 75%
Which culture in Vanijzendoorn had the lowest rate of secure children?
China 50%
Which culture in Vanijzendoorn had the highest rate of avoidant children?
West Germany 35.3%
Which culture in Vanijzendoorn had the lowest rate of avoidant children?
Japan 5.2%
Which culture in Vanijzendoorn had the lowest rate of resistant children?
UK 2.8
Which culture in Vanijzendoorn had the highest rate of resistant children?
Israel 28.8%
The difference within cultures in Vanijzendoorn was greater than the difference between cultures?
True, 1.5x greater
The strange situation procedure used by Vanijzendoorn is ethnocentric?
True, It is a westernised procedure and has been theorised not to work in Japan
Takahashi and Miyake both found what percentage of avoidant attachment in Japan?
0%
Sagi found what % of resistant attachment in Israeli kibbutz?
50%
Grossman and Grossman found what % of Avoidant attachment in Germany?
49%
What did Durrett (1984) find?
In Japanese families where the mother has to leave the child to work attachment types are similar in percentage to Ainsworth’s study
What did Sagi (1991) find?
In Kibbutz where parents and children live together we see similar attachment percentage to Ainsworth
What are strengths of cross-cultural studies in terms of generalisablity?
It is less ethnocentric and will apply to more cultures making it more generalisable
What is the purpose of cross-cultural research?
It lets us see what behaviours are due to nature or nurture
What is a problem with conducting research in another culture (in terms of sample)?
You might not get a representative sample of that culture, missing subcultures, which might make the results less representative
What is a problem of cross-cultural procedures in terms of methods?
The procedure might not apply equally in all cultures and impact the results making them less valid
What is a problem of cross-cultural procedures in terms of researcher ethnocentrism?
There may be bias (or at least misunderstanding) the results from those cultures which reduces the validity.
What is the aim of Vanijzendoorn
To look for cross-cultural differences in attachment types
What was the sample size of Vanijzendorn
1990
How many cultures were involved in Vanijzendoorn
8
How many studies were used in Vanijzendoorn?
32
What method was vanijzendoorn?
Meta-analysis
What study method was vanijzendoorn looking at across cultures?
Strange Situation
What filters were put in place to select the studies in Vanijzendoorn?
only mothers and children, samples had to be larger than 35, no SEN kids and only studies looking at the 3 types of attachment
What was the most common type of attachment around the world-every culture (in all but 1 study)?
Secure
Which culture had the highest rate of secure children?
Great Britain (75%)
Which culture had the lowest rate of secure children?
China (50%)
Which culture had the highest rate of avoidant children?
West Germany (35.3%)
Which culture had the lowest rate of avoidant children?
Japan (5.2%)
Which culture had the lowest rate of resistant children?
Great Britain (2.8%)
Which culture had the highest rate of resistant children?
Israel (28.8%)
Which culture had the highest rate of resistant children?
Israel (28.8%)
The difference within cultures was greater than the difference between cultures?
True- 1.5x greater
The strange situation procedure used by Vanijzendoorn is ethnocentric?
True- It is a westernised procedure and has been theorised not to work in Japan
What is a strength of the sample of Vanijzendoorn?
It included 8 different cultures so we can say it isn’t ethnocentric
Which of these is a problem with the sample of Vanijzendoorn?
Despite using 8 cultures there is still an imbalance i.e. collectivist vs individualistic AND it only included mothers
A problem with a meta-analysis?
Publication bias of the chosen studies
What effect do the filters have on the validity of this study?
Makes it more valid as it eliminates evs e.g. learning disabilities, relationships with others etc
Kagan criticised Ainsworth saying
Attachment type is due to a child’s temperament rather than parental behavious
Main and Solomon criticised Ainsworth saying
There is at least one other type of attachment (disorganised) so her study/theory ignores this
What is a strength of Strange Situation for reliablity?
It can be replicated to test for reliability in the results about attachment types because it is standardised with the same 8 steps for each child
Is Vanijzendoorn reliable?
Yes the meta-analysis procedure and the filters etc are replicable because they are standardised
What is a weakness of conducting the strange situation as a structured observation?
It is low in ecological validity because the situation the children are in is artificial and might not apply to how they’d really be separated from mother
The study was a controlled environment (in the artifical playroom) we controlled meaning?
It is more valid as situational variables like the setting and stranger behaviour don’t influence the children’s behaviour
Which EV might effect the results on this study about attachment type
whether the child is used to being with others i.e. going to daycare
What is the main ethical issue we could say about Ainsworth?
Protection from harm as the babies were upset by their mother leaving
What is deprivation?
Having had an attachment form and then losing it
What can cause deprivation?
Death, hospitalisation, divorce, daycare/work
Signs of short term deprivation include:
Protest, Despair, Detachment
What is Protest?
The child gets upset, cries etc
Despair is?
When the child shows low emotions, sadness and mopiness
Detachment is?
The bond between parent and child is and takes time to recover
What can long term deprivation lead to?
A poor/damaged internal working model
What is a problem with a damaged internal working model?
It can lead to Affectionless Psychopathy, Delinquency & relationship issues
What is affectionless psychopathy?
A lack of remorse, guilt for actions and caring for others
What can help to reduce deprivation effects?
Substitute care like Robertson, Key workers in daycare as an alternative attachment, Being part time at nursery, Seeing both parents, visiting hours at hospital, Maintain routines
What did Robertson discover?
They discovered children in hospital went through PDD
What did Bowlby 44 thieves do/find?
Interviewed 44 criminal teens and 44 controls about childhood and clinical interviews. They found 17 of the criminals had separations vs 2 in control. 14 were Affectionless vs 0 in control.
What did Olsvasky do/find?
fMRI scanned 33 instutionalised children and a control. The parents assessed their child for indiscriminate friendliness. He found that the institutionalised children did show less difference in amygdala functioning between mothers and strangers compared to the control group.
What did Spitz do/find?
Institutionalised children were more likely to show depression, especially after 3 months and it took months for bond to record
What did Goldfarb do/find?
studied 15 children who had stayed in an institution up to the age of 3 before being fostered. He compared them to a group of children who had been fostered from 6 months of age. He found that those who were fostered later showed more problems in adolescence compared to those who were fostered early
What did Rutter do/find?
Studied boys and found . He found that the majority did not become delinquent, but for those who did the separation usually involved other stressful factors such as a parent in prison, mental health issues, and family breakdown. This was what caused the issues
What did Skeels and Dye do/find?
Compared children from a care home to those from an institution Children looked after in the care home had an improved IQ over an 18 month period, where as children from institute had a reduced IQ
What did Follan and Minnis do/find?
Relooked at the 44 thieves and decided that affectionless psychopathy would nowadays be classed as reactive attachment disorder and it is the mistreatment rather than separation which causes it.
What is an issue with many studies like Robertson and Robertson, Goldfarb etc
They are case studies with small samples so are not representative of a wider population
What are applications of research into deprivation?
They can inform care e.g. using key workers and named nurses to reduce deprivation
What is an issue with studies like Goldfarb which Rutter highlights?
It might be the mistreatment/institutionalisation which causes the issues not the separation itself
What is a strength of Olsvasky?
It is empirical as measures brain activity
What is a weakness of Bowlby 44 thieves using interviews?
Bowlby used retrospective interviews and so bias/social desirability is an issue even though they gather large amounts of data
What is an issue with much of the research looking at institutions etc?
They lack temporal validity as institution and hospital policies have changed
What is a strength of using a control group like many deprivation studies do?
They allow for a comparision with the deprived group which allows for a more valid comparison to see the effects of deprivation