Disruption of attachment Flashcards
Bowlby’s theory suggests what?
attachment is essential for healthy social and emotional development
How can distruption occur?
when an infant is separated from their attachment figure
explain Robertson and Robertson’s study
John was placed in a residential nursery for 9 days while his mother was having a baby. His father visited regularly. During the first 2 days, John behaved normally. Gradually he begins to become attention seeking of the nurses but cannot compete with the more assertive children. When John cannot get attention from anyone he seeks comfort from a teddy. Over the next few days,he refuses to eat and drink, stops playing and cries a lot and stops trying to get the nurses attention. When his father visits John sits quietly and doesn’t say anything. When his mother returns to pick him up he struggles to get away from her and screams, for many months after he continues to have outbursts of anger towards his mother.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Robertson and Robertson study?
Strength: high validity as they were naturalistic observations
weakness: only a few case studies and cannot generalise these finding
what can help reverse the effects of short term separation
providing adequate substitute care can help reverse the effects of physical separation
What did Skeels and Dye find out about long term separation?
prolonged separation caused children to perform poorly on intelligence tests, some of these children performed so poorly they had to be transferred to a home for mentally retarded adults. Once their IQs were tested gain, they were higher, why?Possibly because they received emotional care from the retarded adults.
CONCLUSION: when is response to separation
strongest?
between ages of 12-18months
CONCLUSION: how do we know the ages of which separation is strongest between?
Schaffer and Callender: studied babes in hospitals and found that children under 7 months showed minimal upset. After this ages the strength of the response increased up to around 18 months.
CONCLUSION: why do securely attached children react better with short term separation?
maybe because they believe their mother will return
CONCLUSION: which gender copes better?
boys
CONCLUSION: those who have been left before are more likely to cope better with brief separation
they know the parent will return as they have been left before
describe the Robertson and Robertson experiment to do with maintaining the emotional bond
3 children were placed in foster care for a few weeks with the Robertson’s while their mother was in hospital. The Robertson’s tries to sustain a high level of substitute emotional care and to keep routines as similar as possible. Fathers visits were regular. One of the children visited their mother in hospital and was more settled. When reunited with their mother they did not reject her, some were reluctant to leave the foster mother but this shows a good formation of an emotional bond,
what did Spitz and Wolf do?
observed 100 “normal” children who were placed in an institution became severely depressed within a few months
what did Skeels and Dye do?
did a study on orphans who had been transferred to a home for mentally retarded adults and compared their IQ’s to a control group
what did Skeels and Dye find?
those in the control group had lower IQ’s than those in the home with the women
give an explanation as to why Skeels and Dye found what they did
because the women were giving them the emotional care the children needed.
Triggers, explain Bifulco et al.’s study
studied 249 women who had lost heir mothers before the age of 17. This group was twice as likely to suffer from depressive of anxiety disorders when they grew up.
what does Triggers by Bifulco et al. suggest about early disruptions in attachment?
that they may make an individual more vulnerable and, if triggered by stressful events in later life, mental disorder may develop.
INDIVIDUAL DIFF
Research has shown that not all children are affected by emotional disruption, explain what Barrett found
that securely attached children may cope reasonably well, whereas insecurely attached become especially distressed.
INDIVIDUAL DIFF
A study by Bowlby et al. did what?
60 children under the age of 4 who had TB stayed in hospital for a long period of time. They were visited only once a week and the hospital could not provide sufficient substitute care. They then tested these children for adolescence.
INDIVIDUAL DIFF
what did Bowlby et al. find?
some in the TB group were more maladjusted but there was no significant difference in intellectual development between them and a control group.
INDIVID DIFF
why might Bowlby et al. have found this?
that those who coped better may be more securely attached and so more resilient.
what is thr real world application of disruption of attachment?
that hospitals now allow the primary caregiver to stay with the child in hospitals
