Effects of Maltreatment Socio-Emotional Attachment Flashcards
What is the definition of attachment?
an enduring emotional tie to a special person, characterized by a tendency to seek and maintain closeness, especially during times of stress
Who is the father of attachment theory?
John Bowlby
What are the driving forces behind the formation of attachment theory?
- Reaction against psychoanalytic thinking
- Observations of deprivation
- Ethology and evolutionary theory
What is the 44 adolescents thieves study?
44 teenagers that were stealing – he found that they were affectionless, no emotions, really detached. What do they have in common? They grew up without a parent, mother figure. Led to him thinking that maybe lacking a caregiver led you towards the path of delinquency and lacking emotions and being detached
What is the hospitalization without parental visitation study?
The child would stay in insolation without being able to see their parents, these children started to act more withdrawn and show behaviors of depression. Policies changed when they realized that depriving them of their parent was doing more harm than the disease or infection
What are the Harry Harlow monkey studies?
It tried to separate the source of comfort from the source of food
- Monkey studies were experimental - It was argued that babies were attaching to their mothers because of food, so they tried to separate comfort from food and looked at how long the babies spent time with each mother
What is the Lorenz and gosling imprinting study?
Maintaining proximity in order to enhance survival
- Baby duck follows the first thing it sees which is usually the mother - protects the infant from danger
What are the key principles of attachment theory?
-Unless there are incredibly unusual conditions, all children will develop and attachment
-There is variability in the quality of these attachments
-The quality of an attachment relationship depends on the quality of caregiving a child receives.
-Relationship-specific (can be different with different parents)
- The quality of an attachment relationship will predict the quality of future relationships and socioemotional functioning
- The strength of these predictive associations depends on other factors in the environment
- They are not deterministic associations.
What is needed in sensitive parenting?
-A safe haven when the baby is distressed
- A secure base from which to explore
What can a secure attachment lead to?
- Academic achievement
- Socio-emotional well-being
- Physical health
Correlational relationships
What is one way to measure infant attachment quality?
Strange Situation (Mary Ainsworth)
-Parent and baby in room together
-New person (stranger) comes in and out
-Two brief separations and reunions
Looking at how the baby acts during the reunion
What are organized attachment qualities?
Secure
Insecure-Avoidant
Insecure-Resistant
What are disorganized attachment qualities?
- Odd or anomalous response (e.g., freezing)
- Contradictory behaviors (e.g., crying while backing up)
- Apprehension or fear of the parent
How likely are maltreated children to have a disorganized attachment
92%
Why does a disorganized attachment develop in the context of maltreatment?
- Parent is a source of fear rather than a source of comfort
- Creates an “unsolvable dilemma” (“fright without solution”)
