Explanations Of Attachment Flashcards
What did Dillard & Miller (1950) believe about the learning theory?
-Attachment is learnt (acquired through CC and OC), rather than innate.
-The focus is on associations and rewards, including food.
How does CC apply to attachment?
How does OC apply to attachment?
What are evaluation points for the learning theory?
-Theory is based on animal research (Pavlov, Watson & Skinner), making it difficult to generalise to humans.
-Lorenz: his goslings attached to the first thing they saw, without being fed.
-Harlow: his research suggests that attachments are based on contact comfort, and not food.
What does Bowlby believe about the evolutionary theory?
Bowlby claims that attachment is an innate behaviour that has evolved because of its survival value, giving us an adaptive advantage.
What is adaptive advantage?
Something that makes survival more likely.
What is the acronym for Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
MICIS.
What does the acronym for Bowlby’s monotropic theory stand for?
Monotropy.
Internal Working Model.
Critical Period.
Innate.
Social releasers.
What is monotropy?
The special primary attachment that one forms with a person (likely the mother).
What is the internal working model?
The primary attachment is a template for future attachments.
What is the critical period?
The timeframe in which an infant forms an attachment (birth - 2.5 years old). Otherwise, they will be physically and mentally damaged for life.
What is innate?
The unborn drive to attach, giving us an adaptive advantage.
What are social releasers?
Signals (given by the infant) which unlock the innate tendency for adults to care for them.
How are social releasers portrayed?
-Physical (facial expressions).
-Behavioural (crying).
What are evaluation points for Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
-Lorenz’s (1935) attachment process of imprinting is an innate process, which has a critical period.
Supports monotropy, innate and critical period.
-Bailey (2007) questioned 99 teenage mothers with 1 year old babies. They also observed their behaviour. They found that mothers who reported insecure attachments to their own parents, were more likely to have children whose behaviour implies insecure attachments.
Supports internal working model.
-Doubts- some infants form multiple attachments from the outset according to Schaffer and Emerson (1964).
