Lecture 8: Chapter 9 - Emotion in Relationships and Society Flashcards
Babies can recognize mothers’ voice over other women ____ after birth, and their mothers’ faces __________
Hours after birth, within a few days
- Still not very selective about the people they interact with, as long as they are warm, comfortable, well-fed, content
At 6 - 9 months, infants develop ______. What does this entail?
Attachment: the capacity to form more intense and selective emotional bonds with a few special people
- Produces desire to be near that person, an impulse
to turn to that person when threatened, and a sense
of security and confidence in exploring new things
What does attachment produce?
Stranger anxiety: fear of unfamiliar people
- Changes from being calm in stranger’s arms to being hysterical when mother leaves room
- Will check with parents to see if they are around, instead of freely playing with objects/people
Describe Bowlby’s perspective on infant attachment
- Skeptical of infants only needing food, protection from disease, and safety to develop normally
- Disagreed with psychoanalytical theory suggesting that anxiety was caused from sexual and aggressive drives
How did the work of Konrad Lorenz on imprinting in bird species support Bowlby’s theory?
- Newly hatched chicks would fixate on the first moving thing they saw, and follow it closely throughout their youth
- Target would usually be mother, but could be even
Lorenz himself - Bowlby believed human children undergo a similar process, instinctively identifying their parents and remaining close to them for care and protection
How did Harry Harlow’s baby monkey experiments prove Bowlby’s theory?
- Baby rhesus macaques were allowed to move freely around a cage containing “wire mother” and “cloth mother” doll, with only one having bottle of food
- Monkey spend most time clinging to cloth mother,
regardless of which monkey had bottle of food - Reinforcing the idea that it’s not just basic necessities
(ex: food and shelter) that people need but it’s this
feeling of connection as well
- Monkey spend most time clinging to cloth mother,
What is the strange situation (developed by Ainsworth and colleagues)?
Series of events to elicit attachment behaviour and measure it
Describe the 6 steps the experimenter will do and orchestrate to try and test the level of attachment the baby has to their caregiver (strange situation)
- An infant and parent enter an unfamiliar, toy-filled room and the infant is allowed to play
- A stranger enters the room, talks with the parent, and engages the infant for a few minutes
- The parent leaves, is gone for 3 minutes while the stranger remains in the room (test baby to see how they will react → control condition), and then parent returns for a few minutes
- Both the stranger and parent leave the room
- Stranger returns alone and tries to comfort and play with the infant
- The parent returns to the room
How does an infant between 6 months to 2 years of age behave through such stages?
- Play freely during first stage
- Will explore room while making sure parent is still
there and watching
- Will explore room while making sure parent is still
- As soon as parent leaves the room, most infants protest and cry loudly, sometimes trying to follow
- Stranger can provide some comfort but cannot fully alleviate distress
- Only full smoothed when parent returns, is able to
return to play
- Only full smoothed when parent returns, is able to
Bowlby and Ainsworth argued attachment was an ____
Instinct
Bowlby and Ainsworth argued that humans and likely most other mammals have an evolved neural attachment program that kicks in at a particular stage of development, activated by particular situations. At what specific timeframe does such activate?
Around 6 months - 2 years
What is the first theory as to why attachment emerges after 6 months?
- Infants’ vision improves substantially over the first 6 months
- Gives infants opportunity to recognize
caregivers/parents well enough to know if they have
come and gone
What is the second theory as to why attachment emerges after 6 months?
- Cognitive maturation at 9 months is enough to gain object permeance: understanding objects still exist even if they are out of view
- The tendency of very young infants to respond mainly to what they can see at the moment would decrease their response to someone leaving the room
- Would not be able to tell that parent has left the
room, away from them but out of sight, would not
call for parent with crying - If you know that the parent is away, crying has an
adaptive purpose because you could actually bring
the parent that you know is away into your site
- Would not be able to tell that parent has left the
What is the third theory as to why attachment emerges after 6 months?
- Between 6-9 months of age, most babies learn to crawl
- Begin exploring new environment, increased chance to also get lost, injure themselves, eating something poisonous, interacting with aggressive animals
- Attachment helps regulate need to explore with need for protection- As soon as caregiver is out of sight, child does
something to repair the breach - Protest is mechanism to keep parent close when
needed, distant enough to allow independent
exploring- Protests after 2 years become less intense as child becomes more capable and self-confident
- As soon as caregiver is out of sight, child does
What is the first behavioural mechanism of attachment?
- Synchrony between two individuals’ behaviour as a possible trigger for attachment system
- Newborns experience alternating periods of alertness and withdrawal- Mothers will try to interact with babies when alert, let
them rest at other times → develop instinctively a
level of synchrony in your behaviour w/ the child’s
behaviour - Newborns are attuned to this contingent responding,
particularly interested in mothers who are sensitive
to their cues for play vs. quiet
- Mothers will try to interact with babies when alert, let
By the time infants are _ months old, they contribute to behavioural synchrony, matching facial expressions and turn-taking with vocalizations
3
Greater behavioural synchrony between infant and its ____ predicted more secure attachment, albeit not also seen for ______
Father, mothers
What is the second biological mechanism of attachment?
- Oxytocin released in mothers while nursing to facilitate maternal behaviours, makes its way into breastmilk into infant, facilitating bonding and attachment
- Baby rats injected with chemical interfering with
oxytocin fail to develop preference for their
mother’s smell (Nelson & Panksepp, 1996)
What were the results of a father interacting with 5 month old babies after oxytocin nasal spray (compared to controls)?
- Touched their babies for longer periods of time (which in itself would increase oxytocin)
- Showed more reciprocity (father’s behaviour is closely responsive to baby’s)
- Babies showed more oxytocin in saliva in father’s given oxytocin spray, showing bonding effect of oxytocin
What is the third biological mechanism of attachment?
- Separation distress: emotional distress experienced/displayed when one is away from an attachment figure
- Associated with sudden decrease in endorphins (drop in the feel-good hormones)
- Kalin, Shelton, and Barksdale (1988) found that giving young rhesus monkeys separated from mothers morphine (endorphins) reduced their cries, and naloxone (block opiod receptors) increases their cries
Moles, Kieffer, & D’Amato (2004) found that mice that lack gene for the μ (mu) - type endorphin receptor - made far fewer cries when they were separated from their mothers. Why?
- Less receptors, less sensitive to endorphin and the strengths of endorphin to bond you
- If you lack receptors you are less dependent on this endorphin for bonding and so you have just general weaker bonding w/ your caregiver
Barr et al. (2008) found rhesus with allele of μ - type for more efficient vs. normal receptor genes. What were their specific findings?
- Cried more persistently when separated from their mothers
- Spent more time with their mothers when other monkeys were present
- Strong preference for the mother’s company
Human fMRI studies have found that brain areas associated with physical pain (eg. anterior cingulate cortex) activated during ____ _____
Social rejection
High dose of Tylenol reduced participant’s hurt feelings after social exclusion in both lab task and their real lives. What does this show a correlation between?
Psychological pain and physical pain
What are the four types of infant attachment?
Secure, Anxious-Ambivalent, Avoidant, Disorganized
Describe the behavioural profile for secure attachment
- Exploration when attachment figure is present
- Crying and protest when attachment figure leaves
- Easy soothing when the attachment figure returns
- Show higher cognitive functioning, become teens that are more socially mature, and adults who maintain good relationships
- Corresponds to about 65% of babies
Describe the behavioural profile for anxious-ambivalent attachment
- Are hesitant to explore even when the attachment figure is present
- Become intensely distressed and panics when attachment figure leaves
- Difficult to soothe when the attachment figure returns
Simultaneous clinging and pushing/twisting away - Have increased risk of aggressive, antisocial behaviour later in life
- Accounts for about 20% of babies
Describe the behavioural profile for avoidant attachment
- Seem unconcerned with the caregiver’s presence or absence
- Will play quietly and independently regardless of circumstance
- Babies still show increase in biological measures of stress (eg. Increased heart rate, salivary cortisol)
- Suggests babies are just as upset, but are handling
stress in a different way - Children insecurely attached (anxious-ambivalent/avoidant) are more likely to suffer from psychopathology and physical illness symptoms as adults
- Accounts for about 15% of babies
Describe the behavioural profile for disorganized attachment
- Infant displays intense anxiety even when the caregiver is present
- Frightened yet unable to turn to caregiver for comfort
- Higher chance that the caregiver is emotionally volatile, suffering from depression or trauma, or even abusive
- Rare group
What is the first factor influencing differences in attachment?
- Gene basis – attachment insecurity has been associated with poly morphism of a
serotonin receptor gene
- Different poly morphisms of serotonin receptors modulates the strength at which babies can bond to their parents
- Effect is not large, and different studies are not always consistent
What is the second factor influencing differences in attachment?
- Attachment style correlates strongly with the warmth of child-parent relationship years (and even decades later), and is consistent given the same caregiver
- However, infants show different attachment styles to different caregivers, suggesting environment also play role in attachment
What is the third factor influencing differences in attachment?
- Parenting styles when child is distressed can influence attachment
When parents are highly responsive to baby’s signals of being upset, baby feels it can rely on parent. Thus more likely to be classified as ______?
Secure
If a caregiver is smothering and ignores needs for independence, infant may become frightened by separation. Thus more likely to be classified as ______?
Anxious ambivalent
If the caregiver is distant and unresponsive to baby’s distress, baby will feel crying is pointless. Thus more likely to be classified as ______?
Avoidant
What is the fourth factor influencing differences in attachment?
- Cultural differences might change interpretation of attachment style
E.g. Japanese mothers typically will stay with their infants almost constantly
- Infants may be less used to not having mother
around in strange situation, would be classified as
anxious-ambivalent in Western culture but not in
Japan
Which 3 attachment styles would Ainsley and Bowlby say are attached to parents?
Secure
Anxious-ambivalent
Avoidant attachment
“______” attachments (whether _____ or ______) present issues if child’s tendencies carry on into adulthood
“Insecure” attachments (whether anxious-ambivalent or avoidant)
It’s okay if a child is avoidant or anxious in childhood because the risks to their well-being are pretty low, these issues only really exist when a child has to be ___________________
Adaptive to their environment:
- E.g. panicking at separation from loved ones, not asking for help, hiding emotions rather than showing them
On average parent-arranged marriages in India are _____ than love-based marriages in the US. Whereas, parent-arranged marriages in China are ___ happy than love-based marriages in the US
- Happier
- Less
What is the first characteristic that is attractive cross culturally?
- Healthy people more attractive than unhealthy people
- E.g. in women, features include long, shiny hair, rosy skin
- E.g. In women having a waist: hip ratio of 0.7- Proportion found to be ideal to bear children without
extreme risk
- Proportion found to be ideal to bear children without
What is the second characteristic that is attractive cross culturally?
- Average Features are found to be attractive
- Averaged faces simulated on computers rated more attractive than individual faces composing the average
- Average faces more familiar, making one feel more comfortable
- May also represent genes that have succeeded in past generations- E.g. having a nose or mouth larger or smaller than
usual is questionable from an evolutionary
standpoint → because typically things will gravitate
towards the mean across time
- E.g. having a nose or mouth larger or smaller than
What is the third characteristic that is attractive cross culturally?
- Certain personality traits generally seen as attractive
- People like happy, kind people that are intelligent with a good sense of humour
- Physical attractiveness and personality are not independent- If someone has one good quality it starts to make
other qualities look good and vice versa for bad
qualities - E.g. Will find people we like more attractive, will be
repulsed by someone you dislike
- If someone has one good quality it starts to make
What is the fourth characteristic that is attractive cross culturally?
- People are more attracted to people similar to them
- People value others with similar values, education, attitudes, lifestyles, favourite activities, and beliefs
- Similarities in personality are less important, where happy couples have one extraverted and introverted person
The early stages of romantic relationship are marked by _______ ______(first stage). Describe this stage.
Passionate love
- Frequent thoughts about the other person, intense desire to be together, excitement from the partner’s attention
- Each person is likely to idealize the other
- Aware of the positive qualities, but less aware of
flaws
- Intensely rewarding even on neurological level
- Viewing one’s loved one while under fMRI activated
dopamine reward centers responsive to drugs like
cocaine
What is the first behaviour change associated with the passionate love phase?
People who had recently fallen in love describe themselves in more diverse ways than prior to falling in love → self-expansion
- When you are passionately in love w/ someone their
traits, personality, activities, and attitudes start
assimilating into your own self schema that you start
to embody or atleast want to embody
What is the second behaviour change associated with the passionate love phase?
As a relationship continues, partners grow even more alike
- However, couples often overestimate their similarity in attitudes and preferences
- Emphasize shared feelings over differences
- Projects their own feelings onto the other
partner
The passionate love phase is followed by the _______ _____ phase. Describe this stage.
Compassionate love: love that emphasizes security, mutual care, and protection, as well as affection and shared fun
- Begin to introduce each other to families, may begin
to share resources, live together, or make other long
term commitments
- Often related to high life satisfaction, much more so
than passionate love
Mikulincer and colleagues (2000) wanted to find a way to measure the attachment styles of people in romantic relationships. Describe their methods in detail.
Developed an indirect attachment measurement by asking whether people are quicker to detect words of closeness or separation when they feel threatened
- Asked participants to watch a computer screen
- When they saw a “prime” word flash on the screen
for a second, they had to decide whether the next
string of letters was a word
- Sometimes prime word was “failure” (to prime
anxiety), sometimes it was a neutral word
- Following string of words could be one of these 3:
1. Nonword string of letters (neutral)
2. Proximity-related word like closeness or love
3. Distance-related words like rejection and
abandonment
Mikulincer and colleagues (2000) wanted to find a way to measure the attachment styles of people in romantic relationships. Describe their findings in detail.
If certain kinds of thoughts are already on one’s mind, they should be able to identify words related to those thoughts more quickly
- People identified proximity related words faster after being primed with “failure” vs. neutral word
- Threat of failure makes one want to feel close to
someone regardless of attachment style (i.e. secure,
anxious, or avoidant)
