Lecture 4 - Sensitivity Hypothesis

Question 1

Define sensitive responsiveness.

Answer 1

Adequate perception of, and appropriate and prompt response to, infants’ attachment signals

Question 2

What is the temperament hypothesis?

Answer 2

Proposes that any individual differences in attachment quality reflect biological differences in individual temperament.

Question 3

What did Goldsmith & Alansky’s (1987) meta analysis of temperament in strange situations show?

Answer 3

• Proneness to distress predicted resistance behaviours

- Irritable newborns and insecure attachments

Question 4

If the temperament hypothesis was strongly accurate, what might influence attachment styles? Is this the case? What does this show?

Answer 4

Genes.
Difference in attachment style between monozygotic and dizygotic twins is not large enough to suggest that genetics play a strongly influential role in attachment style.

Howe (2011) - 70%MZ vs 64%DZ

Question 5

If there was a strong biological driver of attachment pattern, what would not be observed that currently is? (i.e what is the evidence which opposes the attachment hypothesis?)

Answer 5

• A minimal difference in attachment styles between MZ and DZ twins.
• Different attachment styles with different caregivers

Question 6

What is the sensitivity hypothesis?

Answer 6

Secure attachments largely result from sensitive, responsive caregiving, and insecure relationships largely result from insensitive caregiving.

Question 7

Younger women are the most sensitive caregivers compared to who? What are the reasons for these differences?

Answer 7

Younger women are more sensitive compared to any age of men, and older women. This is a result of (reproductive) hormones, which enable younger women to detect cuteness in infants more quickly, allowing them to also respond more quickly to attachment cues. (Sprengelmeyer et al., 2009).

Question 8

According to the sensitivity hypothesis, what are the features of caregiving that lead to secure attachments?

Answer 8

• consistent and warm

- shows sensitivity to the child’s needs

Question 9

According to the sensitivity hypothesis, what are the features of caregiving that lead to anxious-avoidant attachments?

Answer 9

• inpatient
• unresponsive and rejecting
• overstimulating

Question 10

According to the sensitivity hypothesis, what are the features of caregiving that lead to anxious-ambivalent attachments?

Answer 10

• inconsistent

- lacks affection

Question 11

According to the sensitivity hypothesis, what are the features of caregiving that lead to insecure disorganised attachments?

Answer 11

Fails to provide basic security and protection.

Question 12

Describe experimental evidence on the sensitivity hypothesis by Anisfield et al., (1990).

Answer 12

Randomly selected parents to carry infants with a baby carrier, or put them in a car seat. Those that carried them on their fronts, in the baby carriers were more likely to have secure attachments.

Question 13

Describe experimental evidence on the sensitivity hypothesis by Van den Boom (1994).

Answer 13

Enhanced maternal sensitivity by giving mothers training. Those receiving sensitivity training were more likely to form secure attachments with their children.

Question 14

Which two pieces of methodological evidence support the sensitivity hypothesis?

Answer 14

• relationship between sensitivity of caregiving and security of attachment remains when assessing attachment on the AQS.
• relationship remains for paternal attachments.

Question 15

What is the internal working model?

Answer 15

Mental representation of self, expectations, caregivers, relationships. We can be secure or insecure in our state of mind about attachment.

e.g. More secure representations will mean we believe others will be more caregiving, etc.

Question 16

What is the adult attachment interview?

Answer 16

Very in-depth interview talking about experiences, in rder for the interviewer to assess the security of their attachments.

Question 17

Describe evidence for intergenerational transmission of attachment.

Answer 17

Across 2 generations:

Steele et al., (1996) - 64% concordance in mothers, 63% in fathers.

Across 3 generations:

Hautamaki et al., (2010) - 47% grandmother to mother to infant.

(Concordance of same attachment style between parent and infant)

Question 18

Explain why the sensitivity hypothesis might be true in predicting infant attachment styles from parental attachment styles.

Answer 18

Parents who have a secure state of mind and have no unresolved past conflicts are better positioned to care more sensitively with their own children.

Question 19

What might be the more accurate hypothesis; sensitivity or temperament, according to evidence from van Ijdenzoorn et al., (1992)?

Answer 19

Sensitivity hypothesis may be more accurate. Insecure attachments are much more likely to form when maternal problems occur, compared to when infant problems occur.

This indicates that the sensitivity of the mother is more influential than the temperament of the infant in the resulting attachment style that forms.

Question 20

What are the critiques of the sensitivity hypothesis being a large predictor of attachment style?

Answer 20

• Evidence is consistent, but only has moderate effect sizes (r=.30)
• Transmission gap. Parents’ sensitive caregiving only accounts for a small proportion of the intergenerational transmission.
• Developmental influences do not occur in isolation. Cultures, other siblings, environment, etc can influence too.

Question 21

What did Poehlmann & Fiese (2001) find about the interaction between maternal and infant vulnerabilities and their effect on attachment style?

Answer 21

Insecure attachments were most likely to form when maternal problems (high depression) were co-existent with infant problems (pre-term birth).

Secure attachments were most likely to form when mothers were low in depression and when infants were born pre-term.

Study showed that both infants and mothers contribute to attachment style.

Question 22

Describe evidence which argues that high sensitivity does not always lead to secure attachments.

Answer 22

A study found that high sensitivity caregiving for ASD individuals decreased the percentage of secure attachments that formed.

Question 23

What are the main 3 ways that mothers become biologically prepared to raise and attach to their child?

Answer 23

• estrogen levels in young women make them responsive to cuteness in infants (Sprengelmeyer et al., 2009).
• Mothers undergo hormonal changes during pregnancy which make them sensitive to infants’ cries (Barrett & Fleming, 2011).
• Oxytocin release during breastfeeding is linked to increased maternal sensitivity.

Question 24

What biological changes occur in paternal figures once their infant has been born?

Answer 24

Testosterone levels drop once they have met the infant, leading them to report greater sympathy and responsiveness to infant cries (Fleming et al., 2002).

Testosterone levels of fathers who have more than one child, or spend more than 3 hours daily with their child is lower than those that do not (Gettler et al., 2011).

Question 25

What aspects of caregiving are needed for secure attachments to develop?

Answer 25

• close contact with primary caregiver(s)
• sensitiveness and responsiveness throughout
• parents need insight (increases sensitivity)

Question 26

What are insecure-disorganised attachments linked to?

Answer 26

Abusive parenting - 82% of abused infants in Carlson et al’s (1989) study had insecure disorganised attachments to their parents.

Question 27

How do secure and happy marriages relate to the security of attachments (+ citation)?

Answer 27

A secure attachment is more likely when parents have a happy marriage (Belsky & Fearon, 2008).

Question 28

How does socioeconomic status link with security of attachment?

Answer 28

The lower the income of the family, the more threats, such as lack of food, rough neighbourhood, violence, etc. This then decreases the sensitivity of mothers, decreasing the likelihood that secure attachments can/will form ( Raikes & Thompson, 2005).

Question 29

What does each attachment type link to, in attachment categories on the AAI, and who linked them?

Answer 29

Secure - autonomous
Insecure-avoidant - dismissing
Insecure-ambivalent - preoccupied

Main et al., (1985)

Question 30

Describe each attachment category on the AAI.

Answer 30

Autonomous - value close parental relationships, but are objective about them.
Dismissing - devalue attachment and claim they cannot remember incidents from their childhood. When they do remember, they exaggerate ‘I had the greatest mom!’

Preoccupied - has ongoing conflicts with parents and are therefore unable to be sensitive with own child.

Question 31

What was the 4th group, later identified as an attachment category?

Answer 31

Earned secure - those who overcame childhood difficulties, perhaps through therapy/strong adolescent relationships/resilience. These individuals were able to form secure attachments with romantic partners, spouses and future children.

Question 32

What did Belsky et al., (2007) find about the effect of childcare on the security of attachments?

Answer 32

When factors such as parents’ education, income and attitudes were controlled for, infants in child care were no more likely to be insecurely attached to their mothers than infants not in care.