Development of attachment Flashcards
How classical + operant conditioning is used to explain development of attachement
CLASSICAL - a baby may become attached to mother because it associates her with food
OPERANT - positive reinforcement from mother as baby wants to receive a reward
Bowlby’s evolutionary theory
Bowlby’s internal working model
attachment is biologically pre-programmed into children at birth (both animals + humans use mother as safe base)
internal working model - mental representation of ourselves + caregivers +predict how other people wo; behave towards them in future
Positive internal working model = secure attachment - easy to make friends, long lasting healthy relationships
Negative internal working model = insecure attachment - hard to bond, need constant reassurance (insecure-resistant) or avoidance (insecure-avoidance)
Deprivation - bond is broken through separation
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis
child requires continuous presence of primary career throughout a critical period (until 30 months)
if this is missed, privation occurs (no bond formed)
failure of attachment leads to affectionless psychopathy + developmental retardation ( low intelligence)
> found children who experience separation in first 2 years are more likely to develop affectionless psychopathy
Explain what happened to Genie
(effects of privation)
American child who severely neglected + abused > locked room, strapped, no one interacted with her
= no language + social skills developed
= after support, she made some advances eg. basic social skills + some attachment, couldn’t form full sentences
Genie
- Sampling Bias
- Validity
- Ethics
Sampling Bias
- only one person
Validity
- high as real case study of girl who has severely neglected
- both quantitative + qualitative data + range of tests
Ethics
- subject to too much testing after founf
- caused distressed > not protected from harm
- did have confidentiality - Genie not real name
KEY RESEARCH - Ainsworth and Bell
- Aim
- Sample
AIM- to investigate attachment and to see whether babies use their mothers as a secure base for exploratory behaviour
SAMPLE - 56 babies under 1 years old from white, middle class families
KEY RESEARCH - Ainsworth and Bell
- Procedure
Babies and mothers were observed through one-way vision window during Strange Situation
this involved 8 episodes involving mothers leaving the room twice and stranger coming into the room to see how baby reacts
2 observes recorded their observations every 15 seconds on tape recorder, which was transcribed and coded
5 categories of behaviour was assessed on seven-point rating scale including proximity and contact seeking behaviours
KEY RESEARCH - Ainsworth and Bell
Results
The babies showed more exploratory behaviours when their mothers were in room
All but 4 babies showed attachment to their mothers by crying when she left room
Most of babies showed proximity seeking behaviours when mother returned to room
KEY RESEARCH - Ainsworth and Bell
Conclusion
Absence of mother/attachment figure reduces exploration of a unfamiliar situation
There are individual differences in quality of attachment - some resisted contact with mother when she returned while most sought contact
KEY RESEARCH - Ainsworth and Bell
Sampling Bias
Ethnocentrism
Babies all from white, middle class familes
Only from USA
Strange situations has been used in other cultures. but based on western ideas of attachment
Japanese children rarely left so they show less exploratory behaviour in strange situ
Ainsworth suggests Japanese babies have more insecure attachments - ethnocentric
KEY RESEARCH - Ainsworth and Bell
- Reliability
- Validity
RELIABILITY - controlled observation with standardised procedure
> categories of behaviour on 7-point-rating scale
> high inter-rater reliability
VALIDITY - low ecological validity
> strange situation was scripted + artificial
> mothers behaved differently than normal so babies changed behaviour as unfamiliar setting
Strategies of creating an attachment friendly environment
> good staff to child ratio
key worker for each child
Explain implementation of good staff to child ratio
needs to ensure there are fewer children per caregiver
HOW
- make sure nursery sticks to national standards for staff : child ratio
- 1:3 for 0-2, 1:4 for 2-3
- employing enough staff at nursery to ensure ratios are kept to
WHY
- important that staff are responsive and attentive to children’s emotional needs
- eg. responding quickly to children who were distressed - easier with good staff:child ratio
- Bowlby suggested that substitute caregivers who are responsive can be an adequate substitute for mother + figure children can bond with
Explain implementation of key workers
HOW
- make sure there is a key worker for each child who settles them into nursery + response quickly to needs
- key worker needs to be approachable, warm, responsive
- provide tailored care for child + build relationships with parents
WHY
- key worker can act as substitute attachment figure for children
- don’t replace primary caregiver but can form beneficial bond
Strategies for hospitalisation and attachment
> improving family accommodation
allowing no strict visiting hours
