Child Psychology

Question 1

How would you define ‘Attachment’?

Answer 1

Attachment is a two-way emotional relationship between two people, in this case between a mother and her child.

Question 2

How would you define ‘ Proximity Seeking’?

Answer 2

Wanting to be physically close to an attachment figure

Question 3

How would you define ‘Secure Base Behaviour’?

Answer 3

We explore the world, but regularly return to our attachment figures.

Question 4

How would you define ‘Stranger Anxiety’?

Answer 4

Fear and Distrust of unfamiliar adults (strangers)

Question 5

How would you define ‘Separation Anxiety’?

Answer 5

A dislike of being apart from the attachment figure.

Question 6

How would you define the ‘Critical Period’?

Answer 6

The time during development of a child or animal when an event must happen if normal development is to take place (Bowlby relates this to 2 years, if normal development was to take place).

Question 7

What is meant by the Evolutionary Basis of Attachment?

Answer 7

This is where Psychologists look at human behaviour in other species, whereby behaviour is described as adaptive and the emotional bond between parents and children increases the probability of the child surviving to adulthood.

Question 8

What is the link between the Critical Period and Lorenz (1935) - Birds

Answer 8

Lorenz identified the critical period in which looks at imprinting; if imprinting does not occur within the critical period (2 years) chicks will not attach themselves to a mother figure - which could affect their development.

Question 9

What did Belsky (1999) suggest?

Answer 9

Suggested that insecure attachments can actually be an advantage in particular circumstances. E.g. someone who creates a close attachment with people often die, having an insecure attachment can be a good thing as it will hurt them less when they lose someone.

Question 10

What is meant by the term ‘Monotropy’?

Answer 10

The tendency to direct infant attachment behaviours towards a single main attachment figure, e.g. mum.

Question 11

What is meant by the term ‘Social Releasers’?

Answer 11

These refer to behaviours that encourage attention from adults, e.g. smiling, cooing, gesturing, gripping and sucking.

Question 12

What is meant by an ‘Internal Working Model’?

Answer 12

Where each child forms a mental representation of its first attachment, which will then reflect future attachments with their child. (Will act as a prototype influencing their own parenting behaviour)

Question 13

Provide some supporting evidence for Bowlby’s Internal Working Model

Answer 13

Bailey et al (2007) Questioned 99 teen-age mothers with 1 year old babies about their attachment to their mothers; they also observed the attachment behaviours of their babies. Found that those mothers who reported insecure attachments to their own parents were much more likely to have children who’s behaviour implied insecure attachments.

Question 14

What were Ainsworth’s 2 insecure attachment types?

Answer 14

Type A: Avoidant - children do not seek proximity (closeness), do not show distress when she leaves and makes no contact when she returns. (Commonly German)
Type C: Resistant - children explore less, get very distressed when left alone with a stranger and resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver. (Japanese)

Question 15

What was Ainsworth’s secure attachment type?

Answer 15

Type B: Secure - children play independently but seek proximity and regularly return to the caregiver; they show moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety, require and accept comfort.

Question 16

What was Ainsworth’s secure attachment type?

Answer 16

Type B: Secure - children play independently but seek proximity and regularly return to the caregiver; they show moderate separation distress and stranger anxiety, require and accept comfort.

Question 17

Define Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Study

Answer 17

A study whereby infants/babies are placed in an unfamiliar/strange room.

Question 18

Describe the key features of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation.

Answer 18

The procedure has 8 stages:
1 - child are carer in an empty room
2 - child free to explore
3 - stranger enters & attempts to play with child
4 - carer leaves child with stranger
5 - carer re-enters and stranger leaves
6 - carer leave the child alone
7 - stranger re-enters
8 - stranger leaves and carer re-enters

Question 19

What is meant by ‘Sensitive Responsiveness’?

Answer 19

The ability of the adult to pick and respond to non-verbal signals from the baby.

Question 20

What did Vanljzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988) find?

Answer 20

The found cultural variations between attachments types based on the Strange Situation Procedure.

Question 21

How would you define ‘Cross Cultural Studies’?

Answer 21

A study that compares a psychological variable like attachment in people from 2 or more cultures.

Question 22

What did Grossman & Grossman say?

Answer 22

They argued that the idea of ‘attachment’ has different meanings in different cultures; e.g. the avoidant attachment for many British and American infants is bad, but may be regarded as Independent for German infants.

Question 23

What did Takahashi (1990) find?

Answer 23

Found that the Strange Situation doesn’t work in all cultures, e.g. In japan the cultural norm is for mothers and babies to be rarely separated, therefore in the procedure the mothers regularly returned to their child and were falsely labelled as insecure.

Question 24

Describe Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis.

Answer 24

Argued that a child required the continuous presence of a primary caregiver for at least the first 2 years; if there is failure to form an attachment in these 2 years there are 2 consequences:
Affectionless Psychopathy - unable to feel guilt or deep feelings for one another, associated with criminality where they lack remorse.
Developmental Retardation - a child would suffer retardation with very low intelligence.

Question 25

What is the conclusion of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study?

Answer 25

Found that the young criminals who had a prolonged separation in their first 2 years were several times more likely to exhibit affectionless psychopathy than those who had no separation.

Question 26

Describe Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis.

Answer 26

Argued that a child required the continuous presence of a primary caregiver for at least the first 2 years; if there is failure to form an attachment in these 2 years there are 2 consequences:
Affectionless Psychopathy - unable to feel guilt or deep feelings for one another, associated with criminality where they lack remorse.
Developmental Retardation - a child would suffer retardation with very low intelligence.
(Usually associated with Privation)

Question 27

What is the conclusion of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study?

Answer 27

Found that the young criminals who had a prolonged separation in their first 2 years were several times more likely to exhibit affectionless psychopathy than those who had no separation.

Question 28

What is meant by Deprivation?

Answer 28

Separation from an attachment figure

Question 29

What is meant by Privation?

Answer 29

Failure to form a normal attachment with a caregiver, e.g. Genie

Question 30

Distinguish between short-term and long-term separation

Answer 30

Short-term Separation: Separation from an attachment figure for a few hours or days.
Long-term Separation: Separation from an attachment figure for extended periods or permanently.

Question 31

Give some examples of Privation.

Answer 31

Severe Abuse or Institutional Care

Question 32

Give some examples of Short-term separation

Answer 32

Day-care e.g. nurseries or child-minders.

Hospitalisation.

Question 33

Describe the stages in which children go through when experiencing separation in hospital (Robertson & Bowlby).

Answer 33

Protest - children are panic-stricken, they cry and stop their parents from leaving.
Despair - children cry less frequently, become apathetic and uninterested.
Detachment - children begin to take an interest in their surroundings, and rejected their primary caregiver.

Question 34

Give some examples of long-term separation.

Answer 34

Divorce

Death

Question 35

How are the effects of deprivation reversed in hospitals?

Answer 35

Parents are now allowed unlimited visiting time with children and are even provided with a bed so that they can stay with a child 24 hours a day.

Question 36

Describe the key features of the case study of Genie after being rescued.

Answer 36

Rescued at the age of 13.
Had very little speech and was afraid of adults.
Fostered by a special needs teacher and then by a psychologist studying her.
Began to show progress and developed limited language.
Began to form attachments to her carers.

Question 37

Describe the Case of the Czech Twins - Koluchova (1972-1991)

Answer 37

Twins were separated from their mother after she shortly died after birth;
They were reared by their step-mother who had mental health issues; she kept them locked in a dark room and regularly beat them;
Boys were rescued at the age of 7 - they were retarded and had no speech and were afraid of adults.
They received 2 years intensive care and were then fostered by a pair of sisters.
At 14 they had normal IQ, at 20 they had above average IQ and were working with normal successful relationships.

Question 38

What is meant by ‘Institutionalisation’?

Answer 38

When a child spends a substantial period of time living in an institution, e.g. orphanage or children’s home.

Question 39

Describe the study of Rutter (Romanian Orphanage)

Answer 39

Looked at Romanian children who had been in an orphanage almost since birth; they found that the younger a child is when adopted the better they would do. In terms of intellectual and physical development, early privation can largely be compensated for by good care later on. Early intervention is much more effective than later intervention, e.g. should take place before 6 months of age.

Question 40

Describe the study of Rutter (Romanian Orphanage)

Answer 40

Looked at Romanian children who had been in an orphanage almost since birth; they found that the younger a child is when adopted the better they would do. In terms of intellectual and physical development, early privation can largely be compensated for by good care later on. Early intervention is much more effective than later intervention, e.g. should take place before 6 months of age.

Question 41

People who are Autistic generally suffer from which problems?

Answer 41

Communication: struggling to read body language, difficulty with jokes and speech problems.
Social Interaction: difficult to understand others emotions and express their own.
Social Imagination: find it hard to imagine what is going to happen next in a situation, find new or unpredictable situations frightening and may not anticipate danger.

Question 42

Describe the ways in which Autism can affect a person’s cognitive development.

Answer 42

People with Autism often lack empathy (not being able to understand others emotions); they also tend to hypersystematise - looking at patterns in information (explaining why many excel at science and maths).

Question 43

Describe the ways in which Autism can affect a person’s social development.

Answer 43

Due to the issue with cognitive development, it makes it harder for people with Autism to interact with other people, obsessive interests may be uninteresting to most people and a lack of empathy can mean people assume they are uncaring or insensitive.

Question 44

Describe the ways in which Autism can affect a person’s social development.

Answer 44

Due to the issue with cognitive development, it makes it harder for people with Autism to interact with other people, obsessive interests may be uninteresting to most people and a lack of empathy can mean people assume they are uncaring or insensitive.

Question 45

Describe the biological explanation for Autism (only explanation)

Answer 45

Where twins are tested for Autism, if one identical twin has Autism the other twin is at a high risk of developing it. Non-identical twins have known to not share the diagnosis of autism, suggesting a genetic influence on Autism.
Extreme male brain: features such as low empathy and high systematising refer to that of a male brain; autism is therefore said be be caused through an Extreme Male Brain.

Question 46

Describe the biological explanation for Autism (only explanation)

Answer 46

Where twins are tested for Autism, if one identical twin has Autism the other twin is at a high risk of developing it. Non-identical twins have known to not share the diagnosis of autism, suggesting a genetic influence on Autism.
Extreme male brain: features such as low empathy and high systematising refer to that of a male brain; autism is therefore said be be caused through an Extreme Male Brain.

Question 47

Define ‘Day-care’

Answer 47

Refers to non-parental care, e.g. nurseries or childminders.

Question 48

Describe the evidence for the negative effects of day-care

Answer 48

Belsky - stated that babies cared for in day-care settings for their first year were at a higher risk of developing an insecure attachment and displaying aggressive behaviour.

Question 49

Describe the conclusions of Belsky’s study.

Answer 49

Found that day-care for 20+ hours per week during the first year of a child’s life increases the risk of them developing an insecure attachment to the mother, 35+ a week increases the risk of developing an insecure attachment to the father.

Question 50

Describe the conclusions of Belsky’s study.

Answer 50

Found that day-care for 20+ hours per week during the first year of a child’s life increases the risk of them developing an insecure attachment to the mother, 35+ a week increases the risk of developing an insecure attachment to the father.

Question 51

Describe the evidence for the positive effects of day-care.

Answer 51

Andersson (1996) found that day-care can help children with social skills and peer relations.
Day-care also supports the idea of families who are of poorer backgrounds, where day-care provides the care that they cannot provide.

Question 52

Outline the ‘Starting age/dosage’ argument for day-care being good or bad

Answer 52

Starting age/dosage: Studies have shown that daycare in the first year has negative effects. Belsky (2002) found that those spending more hours in day-care for the first 4.5 years were more likely to develop aggression, therefore dose effects are important.

Question 53

Outline the ‘Transition’ argument for day-care being good or bad.

Answer 53

It is suggested that parents introduce their child to day-care e.g. staying with them to begin with then slowly leaving them. Ahnert et al (2004) found that parents who put their child into daycare immediately were likely to change from a secure to insecure attachment. Those who gradually introduced their child maintained their attachment type.

Question 54

Outline the ‘Quality’ argument for day-care being good or bad.

Answer 54

This explain that the better a child is looked after the better they will develop. The quality of day-care us therefore important as well as the amount of time spent in it.