Child Flashcards
Procedure for Stranger Situation and what’s observed
- Mother and child introduced to the room.
- Mother and child are left alone and child can investigate the toys.
- A stranger enters the room and talks to the mother. The stranger gradually approaches the child with a toy (STRANGER ANXIETY).
- Mother leaves the child alone with the stranger, and stranger interacts with the child (STRANGER AND SEPARATION ANXIETY).
- Mother returns, greets and picks up the child. The stranger leaves without drawing any attention (REUNION BEHAVIOUR).
- Mother leaves and child is left on their own (SEPARATION ANXIETY).
- Stranger returns and interacts with the child (STRANGER ANXIETY).
- Mother returns to comfort child and stranger leaves (REUNION BEHAVIOUR).
4 things were being observed during the experiment:
1) Separation Anxiety – Stress caused by being separated by caregiver.
2) Stranger Anxiety – Stress caused by the presence of a stranger.
3) Reunion Behaviour – The way the caregiver was greeted on return.
4) Exploration – Extent to which child felt safe to explore the room.
Results of Stranger situation
Findings:
- Secure (B) – Refers to infants who show enthusiasm at reunion with the caregiver. Thecaregiver’s behaviour is sensitive. The infant shows high stranger anxiety and high levels of willingness to explore. 66%
- Insecure Avoidant (A) – Refers to infants who avoid contact with their caregiver at reunion. The caregiver may also ignore the infant. The child shows lower stranger anxiety but high evens of willingness to explore. 22%
- Insecure Resistant (C) – Refers to infants who are not easily soothed by reunion of caregiver and seek and reject comfort. The caregiver’s behaviour is ambivalent. The infant shows high stranger anxiety but low willingness to explore (clingy). 12%
Evaluate SSC
G.Research used a large sample of 100 mothers and children however the study excluded the input of fathers who a child may have had a more secure relationship with. As a result it may have meant that the findings are not representative of the wider population and cannot be generalised to them.
R.Research is reliable as the experiment was standardised, for example each of the 8 stages lasted 3 mins each. As a result the experiment can be easily replicated to find the same or similar results.
A.Can help parent with their parenting styles as if you can identify what type of attachment type a child has, parents can modify it to be more secure which Bowlby states will provide stronger relations with others when the child grows up.
V.Not ecologically valid as the experiment was conducted in a laboratory. This means results cannot be generalised to real life settings as the children’s behaviour may have changed due to unfamiliar surroundings, therefore behaviour cannot be generalised to real life setting.
E.- Consent was obtained by the parents on behalf of the children to be part of the experiment and to have the findings published.
- Exposes the children to a degree of stress which may have affected them in a negative way. However they had trained psychologists on hand to asses the degree of stress, who would stop the experiment if the child was extremely distressed.
Describe Bowlby
Attachment – Is a close emotional, warm, loving bond between a child and a caregiver. Attachment is necessary to promote proximity between the child and caregiver in order to provide safety and security.
3 Stages of Attachment:
- During the first few months the baby will respond indiscriminately towards any adult figure. This will include eye contact, grasping and smiling to promote proximity.
- A child will use social releases e.g. Saying/smiling to promote proximity directly with the primary caregiver. (3-6 months )
- At 6 months the baby shows intense attachment and shows distress at separation and joy at reunion.
Theory of attachment:
- Bowlby believes that children form bonds with a primary caregiver (Not just mother but usually is), this bond is known as monotropy; a more intimate relationship where child interacts and is more vocal with this person.
- This attachment provides a safe haven for the child, which a child can return to for comfort when emotional or afraid. It also provides a secure base, from which a child can explore the environment due to the security provided by the caregiver.
- When the child is separated it displays distress e.g. Crying, known as separation anxiety in order to gain attention of caregiver.
- This attachment develops a child’s internal working model; this is needed to form the template needed for good mental health and forming stable relationships with other people.
- The critical period of forming attachments is within the first 2 years if this attachment is broken or does not exist, the child will be affected later in life. This is the maternal deprivation hypothesis
Bowlbys links to evolution
Links to Evolution:
- Attachment is an adaptive behaviour and we have an innate desire for attachment as it increases our chances of survival. This is because attachment provides us with a caregiver that provides food and emotional comfort.
- Argues we are born with social releasers that ensure and promote proximity with a caregiver such as crying, smiling ect.
- Argues that separation anxiety such as crying is a survival mechanism as it draws attention of the caregiver back to the child.
Evaluate bowlby
P. Can help parents with parenting styles as they would now have a better indication as to keep proximity and create a secure base to ensure the child has fruitful future relations (attachment parenting).
A. Cupboard Love theory suggests that attachment is learnt through classical conditioning and is not an innate desire we are born with. Theory states a child associates food and water with the caregiver that provides this. The child therefore forms an attachment with the caregiver as it associated food and water with the caregiver.
C. - Is a creditable theory as it has been empirically tested and explains the effects both nature and nurture have on attachment. - Based on his own research which is likely to hold some sort of bias as well as his theory having an animal basis.means his theory is less credible.
E. - Hazan & Shaver (1987) used a ‘love quiz’ and found that securely attached children had close and loving adult relationships. Insecure avoidant children had insecure adult relationships with jealousy and fear of rejection. This supports the Internal Working Model as it shows early attachment provides a template for later relationships.
- Harlow and Zimmerman (1959) found that monkey chose to stay with a cloth mother as opposed to the wire mother that provided food. This supports that Bowlby’s theory as it shows that attachment s not formed just for food as cupboard love theory suggests.
- Lorenz (1938) found that newborn geese imprinted on him and treated him as a mother. This supports the theory that we are born with an innate desire to attach. Also supports the theory of a critical period as if the geese took longer than 32 hours they can no longer imprint and with not form an attachment.
EV. - Hazan & Shaver’s experiment used self report data so some may have answered incorrectly in order to make it more socially desirable.
- Both Harlow and Lorenz’s studies used animals and as such it cannot be generalised to human behaviour as human minds and behaviour are more complex than that of animals.
- Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found 75% of babies also had an attachment with their fathers. This opposes monotropy and proposes that there can be multiple attachment models rather than primary and secondary attachment.
Describe Sylvia
- Sylvia et al (2004):
➢ The Effective Provision of Preschool Education Project was a longitudinal study of daycare provision for over 3000 children in the UK.
➢ Researchers created developmental profiles for each child from the age of 3 to 7 based on SAT’s results, and preschool staff, parents & school teachers ratings.
➢ Also measured parental occupation and qualification, social background and the child’s birth weight as factors which could effect development.
➢ Found that children benefited socially and intellectually from preschool care,particularly if they started daycare before the age of 3.
➢ Found that high quality provision with highly-qualified staff led to better social and cognitive development; cognitive effects seen at end of key stage 1 gettinghigh scores in maths and literacy.
➢ Concluded high quality provided short term advantages in social development and long term advantages in cognitive development.
Describe NiCHD
NICHD (national institution of child health and human development):
➢ Followed 1364 families from birth to first grade to see the relationship between day care and development of American children from a range of social classes and ethnic backgrounds.
➢ Nursery-type care as opposed to care in a home led to improvements in cognitive and language development.
- Good staff to child ratio, positive interactions between staff and children and staff that are more qualified leads to better effects in cognitive and social development.
Belksey rovine
➢ Used the findings of two longitudinal studies in America
➢ Was to investigate effects on daycare on attachments between parents and child in first 2 year of life. Included mother-child and father-child relationships.
➢ Used data of children and their attachment types with their parents from the strange situation procedure.
➢ Higher incidence of insecure avoidant attachment (A) with mother (43%) when the child spent 20 hours or more in daycare a week compared to those doing lessthan 20 hours a week.
➢ Boys whose mothers worked full time and therefore spent 35 hours in daycare formed insecure attachments with their fathers.
➢ This suggests that there are negative effects of daycare on the emotional developments of children.
- NICHD (national institution of child health and human development):
➢ Followed 1364 families from birth to first grade to see the relationship between day care and development of American children from a range of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds.
➢ Children who spent early, continuous and intensive time in daycare were more likely to have behavioral problems later such as aggressiveness and disobedience. (Behavior was rated by parents and teachers).
➢ Low quality daycare was bad for children whose mothers lacked sensitivity.
Why’s cross cultural research important in child
cross cultural research involves using samples from different cultures to draw comparisons between them to gain an insight into how culture can affect behaviour. An example would be from child psychology where Van Izjendoorm and Kroenberg used cross cultural research to compare attachment types between different cultures. Another example is to compare the diagnosis of mental disorders across different cultures.
- Can be used to see whether behaviour is a result of nature or nurture for example if the attachment types are the same across different cultures regardless of the difference in environment and upbringing, then attachment can be said to be universal and caused by genetics (nature)
- Can be used to reduce ethnocentrism in psychological studies and the conclusions can improve the generalisability of research.
What makes a good daycare
- Low staff turn over to ensure the consistency of care.
- There should be a good staff to child ratio to help build substitute attachments.
- Staff training and qualifications are good indications of good quality care provision. Shown by Sylvia et al.
- Limit the number of hours in daycare.
- Bowlby would support later a less intensive day care for children in order for parents to form secure attachments with their parents before separation. This is supported by Belsky and Rovine’s study.
- Conclusion point- The lack of consistent findings suggest it is safer to assume that good quality provisions are more beneficial to the social, emotional and cognitive development of children compared to low quality provision as difference in results is probably due to quality of provision.
Describe attachment in different countries
Longitudinal studies conducted in Germany. Observed parent-child interactions within the home. At 2 years old, children assessed using SSC found that 49% showed insecure avoidant attachment (A). German children taught independence at a young age as it is valued in German culture; they are used to being left with other adults which is interpreted as avoidant behaviour, due to low separation anxiety.
Attachment types in Japan (Miyake):
Research in Japan found absence of insecure avoidant attachment (A) and more insecure resistant attachment (C) compared to USA. This was because child rearing practices in Japan is to keep a child in close proximity to the mother but little affection is shown e.g. Hugging. This meant they displayed high separation anxiety and high levels of stranger anxiety as they are not used to being separated from the mother. They would also show resistant behaviour at reunion as they don’t need emotional comfort to reduce distress the presence is enough.
Attachment types in Israel (Sagi):
Israel has communal living environment (kibbutz). Children separated from their parents during the day and looked after in nursery environments where they are cared for collectively. Research found high levels of insecure resistant attachment (C). This is because mother is not always present and caregivers rotate shifts meaning immediate attention is not given.
How does culture affect reliability of SSC
Looking at cross cultural research we can assume that Japanese, German and Israeli are insecurely attached due to lack of maternal sensitivity. SSC suggests that child rearing practices in these cultures are ‘incorrect’ and their parenting is insensitive leading to insecure attachment forming. This means the SSC reflects that practices of these cultures cannot be compared to others.
Van ijzensorn
Aim:
- Investigate any pattern in attachment types across 8 cultures.
- See whether there are intra-cultural variations and inter-cultural differences.
- Evaluate similarities and differences in the profiles of attachment types between cultures.
- See whether measuring attachment types is a valid measure cross-culturally.
- See whether Ainsworth’s strange situations is valid/reliable in other cultures.
Procedure:
- Meta analysis was on 32 studies.
- Sample size of 1990 mother & infant pairs.
- Only chose studies which involved mother & child bonding.
- He excluded any studies which involved children with learning difficulties.
- Only included studies with children of the same age.
Results/Findings:
- Across all countries, secure attachment (B) is most prevalent . This shows that some attachment types are universal therefore the SSC is reliable to an extent.
- Japan has a high percentage of resistant insecure attachment (C) because children are rarely separated from their parents (clingy).
- Germany has a high percentage of avoidant insecure attachment (A) because German children are encouraged to be independent.
- Collectivist cultures seem to have higher rates of resistant insecure attachment (C).
Evaluate van ijzendorn
Van Ijzendoorn & Kroenberg – Meta-Analysis (GRAVE):
G.Research used a large sample of 1990 mothers and children from individualistic and collectivist cultures therefore it is a representative sample and as such can be generalised to the wider population. However was based on Western ideals and therefore cannot be generalised as child rearing practices are fundamentally different and as such the tool will not take this into account, making it less generalisable
R.Research is reliable as the experiment was standardised, for example he excluded all children with learning difficulties. As a result the experiment can be easily replicated to find the same or similar results.
A.Can help parent with their parenting styles by improving relationship with their child. For child rearing practises however, application is limited in Collectivistic cultures.
V.- They used children’s toys specific to American culture so the children’s response to the procedure may be because they are unfamiliar to their surroundings therefore it lacks internal validity. - Lots rich data increases internal validity, however due to it being a meta analysis the data from the studies they collected from has different aims to their own this therefore reduces internal validity.
E.- Used all secondary data as a result no participants were used in this specific experiment so there are no ethical issues. - However more socially sensitive for different cultures as some attachment types are more credit worthy than others.
