Key Studies Attachment

Question 1

Caregiver-infant interaction

Answer 1

Reciprocity
Interactional synchrony

Meltzof and Moore observed beginning of interactional synchrony in infants of two weeks old.

Isabella - high levels of synchrony associated with better attachments

Question 2

Role of the Father

Answer 2

Schaffer and Emerson - Majority of babies become attached to their mother first. 3% of cases father was first.

Grossman - quality of attachment with father was less important in attachment types of teenagers.

Field - filmed 4 month old babies and found primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary fathers.

Key to attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender.

Question 3

Stages of attachment - Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 3

Asocial stage, indiscriminate, specific, multiple.

60 babies from Glasgow, babies and mothers visited at home every month for a year at 18 months.
Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety measured

50% of babies showed separation anxiety between 25-32 weeks of age.

Question 4

Stages of attachment evaluation

Answer 4

External validity - behaviour occurred naturally, observed by parents.

Longitudinal study - cross-sectional design, better internal validity.

Problem in assessing asocial and multiple attachments -
Young babies are immobile - difficult to make judgement of behaviours. Bowlby pointed out children may be distressed when playmates leave, doesn’t signify attachment.

Question 5

Lorenz - Imprinting

Answer 5

Randomly divided 12 goose eggs, half hatched with mother in natural environment, other half hatched in incubator where first moving object they saw was Lorenz.

Mixed all goslings together, incubator group followed Lorenz, control group followed mother.
Identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place.

Sexual imprinting also occurs - birds acquire template of desirable characteristics required in a mate.

Question 6

Harlow - importance of contact comfort

Answer 6

Reared 16 rhesus monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers.

1) milk dispensed by plain wire mother
2) milk dispensed by cloth covered mother
Monkeys sought comfort from cloth-wire mother when frightened.

Question 7

Lorenz and Harlow Evaluation

Answer 7

Generalising issues - attachment systems are different.

Guiton - chicks imprinted on yellow washing up gloves, young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint in critical period. However, with experience they learned to mate with their own kind.

Practical application in social work.

Ethics - no protection from harm.

Question 8

Explanations of attachment - learning theory: Dollard and Miller

Answer 8

Importance of food (cupboard love)
Classical conditioning, baby learns to mother produces sense of pleasure
Operant conditioning - crying for food, negative reinforcement
Drive reduction: hunger is primary drive, attachment is secondary drive.

Question 9

Dollard and Miller evaluation

Answer 9

Schaffer and Emerson - showed primary attachment wasn’t always with the person who fed them.

Animal studies provide evidence against food as a basis of attachment - Harlow.

Ignores other factors linked with attachment such as reciprocity and interactional synchrony.

Question 10

Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment

Answer 10

Mono = one
Attachment is innate, it has evolved because it ensures young animals stay close to caregivers and protects them from hazards.
Law of continuity = constant childcare, better quality of attachment.
Law of accumulated separation = effects of every separation adds up.
Social releasers.
Critical period.
Internal working model.

Question 11

Monotropic theory evaluation

Answer 11

Socially sensitive - implications for mothers.

Schaffer and Emerson - babies form multiple significant attachments at the same time as forming one primary attachment.

Brazleton - instructed primary attachment givers to ignore social releasers. Babies curled up and lay motionless. Supports Bowlby’s views on significance of infant social behaviour eliciting caregiving from adults.

Question 12

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Answer 12

Proximity seeking, secure base, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, response to reunion.

Secure attachment - 60-70% British toddlers. Happy to explore, seek proximity, moderate separation & stranger anxiety, accepts comfort at reunion.
Insecure-avoidant - 20-25%. Explores freely, no secure base, little/ no anxiety, doesn’t require comfort at reunion.
Insecure-resistant - 3%. Explore less, seek greater proximity, considerable separation anxiety, resist comfort at reunion.

Question 13

Strange situation evaluation

Answer 13

Predictive validity of later relationships - insecure-resistant become bullies (Kokkinos) and have mental health issues (Ward).

Good inter-rater reliability - different observers generally agree on attachment types. Bick found 94% agreement in one team = controlled conditions.

Temperament may be a confounding variable.

May be culture bound - Takahasi found Japanese mothers are rarely separated from infants, show more separation anxiety.

Disorganised attachment - Main and Solomon.

Question 14

Cultural Variations: Van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg

Answer 14

Proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and resistant attachments across a range of countries.

32 studies, in 8 countries, meta-analysed.
Secure = most common - 75% Britain, 50% China.
Insecure Resistant = least common - 3% Britain, 30% Israel.
Insecure Avoidant = commonly observed in Germany.

Question 15

Cultural Variations: Simonelli - Italian study

Answer 15

Assessed 76 12 month olds using SS to see whether proportion of attachment types matched previous study.
50% = secure
36% = insecure-avoidant.
Cultural changes = mothers doing longer hours at work and children go to childcare.

Question 16

Evaluation of cultural variations in attachment

Answer 16

Meta-analysis - large samples, increase internal validity, reduces impact of biased methodology/ unusual participants.

May be representative of countries, not cultures. SS = biased towards American/ British culture - in Germany, behaviour like this may be seen as more independence than avoidance/ insecurity.

Temperament = confounding variable.

Question 17

Maternal deprivation: Bowlby

Answer 17

Continued emotional care from mother is essential for normal emotional and intellectual development.
Separation leads to maternal deprivation - ‘it’s as important for mental health as vitamins and proteins for physical health’
Critical period = 30 months.
Deprivation lowers IQ
Emotional development - affectionless psychopathy

44 Thieves = 14/44 = affectionless psychopaths, 12 had experienced separation from mothers.

Question 18

Evaluation of maternal deprivation

Answer 18

Lewis - partially replicated thieves study, 500 young people, early separation didn’t predict criminality/ difficulty forming close relationships. May be other factors.

Animal studies have demonstrated MD.

Didn’t distinguish between deprivation and privation (failure to form any attachment at all).

Question 19

Romanian Orphans: Rutter - English and Romanian Adoptee Study

Answer 19

Disinhibited attachment, damage to intellectual development.

Adopted before 6 months = mean IQ of 102.
Adopted between 6 months and 2 years = mean IQ of 86.
Adopted after 2 years = mean IQ of 77.
- clingy, attention seeking, indiscriminate affection.

Question 20

Romanian Orphans: Zeanah et al - Bucharest Early Intervention Project

Answer 20

Used SS to assess attachments in 95 children aged 12-31 months who had spent most of their life in institutional care.
Compared to control group of 50 children who never experienced institutional care.
19% institutionalised group = securely attached.
65% disorganised attachment.

Question 21

Early attachments and later relationships - Hazan and Shaver Romantic Relationships

Answer 21

Analysed 620 replies to love quiz. 
Assessed current and most important relationships, general love experiences, attachment types.
56% secure.
25% insecure avoidant.
19% insecure resistant.

Secure = more likely to have good relationships.
Internal working model, IWM affect parenting.

Question 22

Evaluation of early attachments and later relationships

Answer 22

Clarke and Clarke - greater risk of problems, aren’t necessarily doomed, ignores free will.

Validity issues - use of interviews, questionnaires, relies on accurate recollections.

Temperament may influence infant attachments and quality of relationships.