Harlow & Harlow

Question 1

Definition of attachment?

Answer 1

-an emotional bond between an infant and one or few significant adult caregivers (mainly mother)

Question 2

What were the early approaches of attachment?

Answer 2

• 1950s and 60s
• dominant view was a focus on oral gratification
• pyschodynamic and behaviorism
• mother-infant bond is result of basic drives to fulfil hunger, thirst, pain
• attachment seen as secondary drive, a by-product of the infant’s attempt to fulfil basic drives

Question 3

What were the 3 things investigated?

Answer 3

• role of comfort vs feeding
• full and partial social isolation
• maternal and peer deprivation

Question 4

What was the procedure of the surrogate mother studies?

Answer 4

• wire mother vs cloth mother

- wire mother had feeding bottle while cloth mother provided no food but made of soft material

Question 5

What were the findings of the surrogate mother studies?

Answer 5

• monkeys spent more time on cloth mother irrespective of feeding
• cloth (that brought comfort) is more important than feeding
• behavioural deficits remained, interaction is important

Question 6

What is the procedure of the social isolation studies?

Answer 6

• monkeys isolated in chamber (pit of despair)

- varied isolation periods: 0-2 years, 0-6 months, 0-80 days

Question 7

What were the findings of the social isolation studies?

Answer 7

• found fearful response: threat/fear when paired, crouching, fleeing, freezing when attacked (effects continued after 2 years)
• found negative effects of isolation: disturbing behaviours, unable to form social structures, unable to mate
• continued to isolate
• at 6 months they adapted slowly but still froze when attacked
• at 80 days (critical period) they adapted faster and were normal after 8 months

Question 8

What was the procedure of the maternal and peer deprivation studies?

Answer 8

• maternal deprivation: raised with peers
• 4 in a cage, play in playroom
• surrogate raised, play in playpen
• surrogate raised, play in playroom
• the 3 types: normal mother and no play, surrogate cloth mother and play, normal mother and play

Question 9

What were the findings of the maternal and peer deprivation studies?

Answer 9

• saw normal behaviours when they had the opportunity to have social interactions with their peers, developed normal behaviours
• normal mother, play: normal behaviour and play
• surrogate mother, play: almost normal but slightly defenceless
• normal mother, no play: normal defences, low play, sex drive limited

Question 10

What was the procedure and findings of the group psychotherapy?

Answer 10

• monkeys reared in isolation moved to zoo after reaching maturity where their behaviour improved
• after return to the lab their behaviour deteriorated
• peer group is important in normal development

Question 11

What did the study find evidence of?

Answer 11

• dangers of early isolation
• existence of critical period of development
• importance of mothering
• importance of peer groups

Question 12

What are the problems in comparing rhesus monkeys to children?

Answer 12

• development time (faster than children)
• role of cognition
• social interactions
• family/social constellations

Question 13

What impact did the study have on sociability?

Answer 13

• Shaffer and Emerson (1964): infants have an innate ability to seek interactions with other individuals and can form multiple attachments
• known as sociability and is integral to the phases in the development of attachment

Question 14

What is Bowlby’s stage theory?

Answer 14

• attachment is an adaptive behaviour, forms during a sensitive period in development as a result of interactions between infant and caregiver
• suggests children come into world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others as it helps them survive
• though it ignores individual differences and is specific to western society

Question 15

What are the 4 stages of attachment in Bowlby’s theory?

Answer 15

• pre-attachment; 0-3 months, at 6 weeks infants begin to treat other humans differently, start to smile/gurgle making it apparent
• indiscriminate: 3-7 months, infants can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people
• discriminate: infant distinguishes between carers and strangers, exhibit distress/anxiety when alone
• multiple: 9+ months, attachments develop with other people

Question 16

What did the research of Ainsworth et al (1978) find and what types of attachment did they identify from it?

Answer 16

• had caregiver and infant enter room, stranger entered and caregiver leaves, then caregiver returns and stranger leaves, then caregiver leaves and stranger returns, then caregiver returns and stranger leaves
• 3 main types of attachment: insecure-avoidant, securely attached, insecure-resistant

Question 17

What are the maternal deprivation consequences?

Answer 17

• delinquency
• reduced intelligence
• increased aggression
• depression
• affectionless psychopathy (inability to show affection/concern for others)

Question 18

What did Goldfarb (1947) find as evidence of maternal deprivation?

Answer 18

• 30 children, 15 in foster homes and 15 in institution (till 3.5 years old), children were given up before 9 months old
• tests on children now 10-14 on intelligence, reading, arithmetic and reports from caregivers on behaviour
• institutionalised children performed worse on tests than those put directly into foster care, were also reported as more fearful, restless and needy with adults
• suggests children can overcome some deprivation (6-9 months) and suggests institutionalisation is responsible for poor development

Question 19

What is the importance of maternal sensitivity?

Answer 19

• not always physical separation, emotional can be just as bad
• maternal sensitivity: emotional sensitivity of the mother to recognise her child’s cues and respond to them appropriately and consistently
• Ainsworth et al (1978) argued it explained differences between attachment types recorded

Question 20

What is social development and how is it impacted by day care?
(Clarke-Stewart et al, 1994) And the effect later on in life?

Answer 20

• refers to growth of child’s ability to form relationships with others and to acquire a level of independence
• used strange situation as way of measuring attachment, found there was no difference in amount of distress shown between high-level day care children (over 30 hours per week) and low-level (under 10 hours) when mother departed
• became less aggressive and more sociable, better able to cope with new social interactions when attending school however other studies suggest children tend to be more aggressive
• effect of day care on social development is seen to be positive, gain greater independence and are more competent with social interactions

Question 21

What is cognitive development and how is it impacted by day care?

Answer 21

• refers to the growth of cognitive functions, such as thinking, reasoning and linguistic skills
• evidence suggests positive benefits
• Broberg et al (1997) compared cognitive ability in 3 groups of 8 year olds who either went to nurseries, childminders or stayed home
• those who went to nurseries had better verbal and mathematical abilities than others, positive correlation between length of time there and cognitive ability
• positive effects found to be especially true for working class children as it’s thought they have less stimulation
• alternative study found cognitive ability of those who started day care earlier was lower than that of later starters