introduction to attatchment

Question 1

What are the 3 types of caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 1

Attachment
Reciprocity
Interactional synchrony

Question 2

Define attachment
Outline the research to support it

Answer 2

Strong emotional bond between 2, especially an infant and caregiver. each individual sees the other as essential for development
Tronick asked mothers to interact with their infants as normal, then asked to look away from their baby, before returning with a still face, stopping response to baby
Found that babies became distressed from a lack of interaction with the mother

Question 3

Define reciprocity
E.g.
Outline the research to support it

Answer 3

Caregiver-infant interaction is a 2 way mutual process, bringing out a response from each other
E.g. mother smiling back to baby
Isabella et al observed 30 mothers and babies, addressing their synchrony, also observing the quality of the attachment
Found that higher levels if synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment

Question 4

Define interactional synchrony
E.g.
Outline the research to support it

Answer 4

Caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other, in a coordinated way that mirrors one another>mother and baby become similar over time
E.g. baby moves her hand in time with mother
Psychologists observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as 2 weeks old. Adult displayed 3 facial expressions and babies were filmed
Babies expressions and gestures mirrored those of the adults more than chance would predict

Question 5

A strength of caregiver-infant interactions is the research that controlled observations used filming which ensured small details are recorded
PET

Answer 5

E: Filming mother and infant>no detail is lost, can be analysed later
T: Gives research high validity as lot’s of detail is gathered
Films can also be watched by other observes to check for inter rater-reliability

Question 6

A weakness of caregiver-infant interactions is the practical issues when studying infants
PET

Answer 6

E: A lot of care is required>observations of interactions are interrupted by feeding/nappy changing time
T: Limits the amount of data that’s collected as there’s interruptions

Question 7

A weakness of caregiver interactions is the findings are socially sensitive
PET

Answer 7

E: Research suggest mothers should stay at home and be with their infant. But if they have work, they have less opportunity for interactional synchrony, mother feels bad
T: Causes distress to parents who return to work who return to work to financially survive

Question 8

How is research into the role of the father contradictory?

Answer 8

Role of the father is significant: Bowlby, Field
Role of the father is insignificant: Schaffer and Emerson, MacCallum and Golombok

Question 9

Outline Bowlby’s and Field’s research into the role of the father
If significant, is it as a primary caregiver, or as another role?

Answer 9

Bowlby:
Father is more likely to engage in physically active play than the mother>childs preferred play companion
Significant, not in the same way as the mother
Field:
Fathers who were primary attachment figures acted in very similar ways to mothers who were primary attachment figures toward their children
Significant and can be nurturing and a primary caregiver if needed

Question 10

Outline Schaffer and Emmerson’s, and MacCallum and Golombok’s research into the role of the father
If significant, is it as a primary caregiver, or as another role?

Answer 10

Schaffer and Emmerson:
75% of infants studied had formed an attachment with the father at 18 months during the multiple attachment stage
Insignificant, not primary caregiver
MacCallum and Golombok:
Children growing up in a single-parent household, do not develop any differently from those who grow up in more conventional families
Insignificant, individuals without a partner show no diffeence than those without one

Question 11

A strength of the role of the father is that there’s real world application
Field’s (fathers can be primary caregivers) research is that it can be used in parenting advice
PET

Answer 11

E: mothers may feel pressured to stay at home, and fathers to focus on work and being the breadwinner, but Fields research on the flexibility can be reassuring to parents
T: parental anxiety about the role of the father can be reduced>parenting anxiety is made easier>workload can be shared

Question 12

A weakness of the role of the father is that there’s bias in research
PET

Answer 12

E: Stereotypes that males are less nurturing may lead to the observer expecting to see this behaviour>reporting it regardless of what happens
T: Lacks internal validity>conclusions cannot be trusted

Question 13

A weakness of the role of the father is that there’s economic implications
PET

Answer 13

E: If fathers can be primary care givers>more fathers remain at home>less contribution to the economy>changing laws on paternity leave (gov funded>costs gov more money
T: Weakens the economy

Question 14

What did Schaffer’s and Emmerson’s study look into?
What was the sample?
What did the researchers do?

Answer 14

Formation of early infant-adult attachments
60 babies from WC Glasgow families
Researchers visited babies and mothers in their own homes once a month for the first year of babies life
Visited a final time when the babies were 19 months old
4 distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour (Schaffers and Emmerson’s stages)

Question 15

What did Schaffer and Emmerson find?
What are they?

Answer 15

4 distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour (aka Schaffers and Emmerson’s stages of attachment)
Asocial stage (first few weeks)
Indiscriminate stage (2-7 months)
Specific attachment stage (from 7 months)
Multiple attachments stage (by 1 years old)

Question 16

Describe the asocial stage of attachment

Answer 16

Behaviour between humans and non-human objects quite similar
Recognise specific faces
Happier in the presence of humans than when alone
Preference for familiar adults
Prefer faces to non-faces
Accept comfort from any adult

Question 17

Describe the indiscriminate stage of attachment

Answer 17

Primary attachment to one particular individual (who shows sensitivity to their signals)
Show stranger anxiety
Show separation anxiety
Use familiar adults as a secure base

Question 18

Describe the specific attachment stage of attachment

Answer 18

Recognise and prefer familiar people
Smile more at familiar than familiar faces
Preference for people rather than inanimate objects
Accept comfort from any adult

Question 19

Describe the multiple stages of attachments stage of attachment

Answer 19

Form secondary attachments with familiar adults

Question 20

What’s the difference between separation and stranger anxiety?

Answer 20

Separation- becoming upset when the caregiver leaves
Stranger- becoming upset in the presence of a stranger

Question 21

One weakness of Schaffer and Emmerson’s study is that the sample has low population validity
PET

Answer 21

E: Research only used babies from a WC background in Glasgow, not representative of other cultures
Multiple attachments is the norm in collectivist cultures, Glasgow is individualistic
T: findings can’t be generalised to other populations

Question 22

One strength of Schaffer and Emmerson’s study is that it has high ecological validity
PETC

Answer 22

E: Behaviour babies produced is authentic and not affected by the presence of researchers who might’ve made them anxious
T: Observed in natural environment shows us how babies behave in everyday life
C: Mothers may have been subject to social desirability bias

Question 23

One strength of Schaffer and Emmerson’s stages of attachment is that it has high real world application to day care
PET

Answer 23

E: Early stages of attachment=babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. If child starts day care later (during specific attachment), care from unfamiliar adults may cause baby distress and LTM issues
T: Research can help parents make decisions around their child and day care

Question 24

One weakness of Schaffer and Emmerson’s stages of attachment is that there’s issues when it comes to studying babies
PET

Answer 24

E: E.g. in asocial stage, babies are barely developed physically>poor coordination>hard to know their intentions of actions (asocial or socialise?)
T: Babies may actually be social, but don’t have ability to show it>undermining validity of the asocial stage

Question 25

One weakness of Schaffer and Emmerson’s stagesof attachment is that there’s evidence that not all babies go through the stages at the same rate
PET

Answer 25

E: 75% of infants had established multiple attachments by 18 months
T: attachment theories don’t account for individual differences, cannot be applied for every child

Question 26

How did Lorenz study attachment through animals?

Answer 26

Divided goose eggs into 2 groups
Group 1- left with natural mother
Group 2- Kept in incubator. First living thing they saw was Lorenz: followed him

Question 27

What is imprinting?
How did Lorenz test the effect of this?

Answer 27

Readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother, taking place during a specific time in development
Marked group 1 and 2 and placed them together, both Lorenz and the natural mother was present

Question 28

What did Lorenz find?

Answer 28

Incubator group (2) followed Lorenz, showed no recognition to the mother goose
Group 1 followed the mother goose
Imprinting happens at a critical period and needs a moving object
Imprinting is irreversible and long lasting- found it had an effect on later mate preference (animals chose to mate with same object they were imprinted)

Question 29

How did Harlow study attachment through animals?

Answer 29

Created 2 wire mothers, each with a different head
Wire mother 1- wrapped in soft cloth
Wire mother 2- milk dispenser
8 monkeys were studied for 165 days

Question 30

What did Harlow find?
What does this suggest?

Answer 30

All 8 monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth covered mother (1)
When frightened, monkey clung onto 1
Infants don’t develop attachment to the person that feeds them, but offering comfort

Question 31

One strength of Harlow’s research is that it has real world implications for childcare
PET

Answer 31

E: importance of early experiences on LTM development>vital needs are catered for, not just physical needs
T: his research improves the QoL for young children

Question 32

One weakness of Harlow’s research is that there are ethical issues
PET

Answer 32

E: Monkeys suffered for the purpose of research: purposely frightened, consequenses are LTM
T: Psychology has a negative perception to public domain, especially animal rights activists

Question 33

One weakness of Lorenz’s research is that using birds to study attachment is questionable
PET

Answer 33

E: His findings on birds aren’t applicable to humans as mammalian attachment system differs (mammel mothers show more attachment)
T: Decreases usefulness of his research as findings can’t be extrapolated

Question 34

One weakness of Lorenz’s research is that his assumption of sexual imprinting (birds show courtship behaviour toward whatever specie they imprint on) have been criticised
PET

Answer 34

E: another study showed that chickens who imprinted on yellow rubber gloves showed courtship behaviour toward glovers at first, but then mated with other chickens
T: exaggeration over the effects of imprinting on mating behaviour

Question 35

What is the critical period?

Answer 35

Time period which imprinting must occur in, to avoid irreversible consequences (few after birth)