Child development - attachment Flashcards
What is attachment theory?
Early life experiences strongly influence later adult functioning and vulnerability to psychopathology.
What is secure attachment?
Classified by children who show some distress when their caregiver leaves but are able to compose themselves and do something knowing that their caregiver will return. Children with secure attachment feel protected by their caregivers, and they know that they can depend on them to return.
What does secure attachment do?
Provide the child with social competance, expression and recognition skills, avoiding anxiety and dealing with stress, positive self view and self in relation to others.
What anxious-resistant insecure attachment?
Explore little (in the Strange Situation) and is often wary of strangers, even when the parent is present. When the mother departs, the child is often highly distressed. The child is generally ambivalent when she returns. The Anxious-Ambivalent/Resistant strategy is a response to unpredictably responsive caregiving.
What is anxious-avoidant insecure attachment?
Will avoid or ignore the caregiver – showing little emotion when the caregiver departs or returns. The child will not explore very much regardless of who is there.
What is disorganized/disoriented attachment?
Extreme behaviors such as crying during separation, falling to the floor when around mom, and even rocking or hitting themselves.
What are the consequences of lack of early secure attachment?
Issues in adult relationship and problems with psychological help.
Between what ages is the pre-attachment phase?
0-2 months
Between what ages is the attachment-in-the-making phase?
2-7 months
Between what ages can clear-cut attachment be observed?
7-24 months
At what age do you see goal-corrected partnership?
24 months +
At what age do you see stranger anxiety?
Around 10 months
At what age do you see seperation distress?
Around 12 months
What are the features of pre-attachment?
Evidence of transnatal auditory learning e.g. mirroring expressions, feeding interactions
How does secure attachment help the infant develop autonomy?
Helpless infant -> responsive mother -> infant develops trust -> mother more attached -> infant more attached -> mother becomes secure base -> infant explores -> mother encourages exploration and sets limits -> infant develops autonomy, self-concept
What are the key maternal qualities as discovered by Harlow and Harlow?
Food, warmth, contact and rocking
What are the features of attachments in young children?
Selective, involve physical proximity seeking, provide comfort and security and produce seperation distress.
What is the Strange Situation?
Infant explores, mother watches. Stranger enters, talks to mum and plays with infant. Mother leaves, stranger interacts with infant. Mother returns, stranger leaves. Mother leaves infant alone. Stranger enters and interacts. Mother returns, stranger leaves.
What is the Minnesota longitudinal study?
1975 - 250 children of moderate-risk mothers (poverty)
At 5-years old insecurely attached as infants - more reliant on teachers, more socially isolated, and more often rated by teachers as passive and easily frustrated.
What percentage of infants form attachments to mother at 6 months?
95%
What percentage of infants are attached to father at 18 months?
81%
