Need To Know Attachment Flashcards
Privation
-child has never had an attachment to a caregiver
Deprivation
- an attachement between the child and the caregiver is broken
What is a secure base
- A place where a child can explore world
- have a safe haven to return when threatened
Monotropy
-idea that one relationship that the infant has with their primary attachment figure is of special significance in emotional development
Bowlbys monotropic theory
- theory suggests attachment is important for a childs survival
- attchment behaviours in both babies and caregivers have evolved through natural selection
- means infants are biologically programmed with innate behaviours that ensure that attachment occurs.
Bowlby’s evolutionary theory
-suggests children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive.
Evaluation
evidence for monotropy is mixed
- shaffer and Emerson:
- babies didnt attach to one person at first but significant minority formed attachments at the same time.
- Contradictory of bowlbys assertion that babies only form one attachment to a primary caregiver and this attachment is unique
- Attachment to mothers predicts later behaviour
- this could be because mother is primary attachment not the different attachment quality
Evaluation - monotropy
Monotropy is socially sensitive
- law of accumulated separation:
- having substantial time away from primary carer risks poor quality attachment that will disadvantage child in range of ways
- Feminists argue mothers are blamed for everything that goes wrong in child’s life
- this law pushes mothers into making lifestyle choices
Evaluating bowlbys theory
Attachment is innate
- Lorenz
- Newly attached goslings imprint and follow the first moving thing they see
Evaluation of Bowlby as theory - There is a critical period for attachment formations
- Rutter et al
- Romanian orphans form attachments to adopted parents in first year of life
- Older children form attachments more slowly but are still able to form them
- probably a sensitive period for attachment formation rather than a critical period.
Evaluating Bowlbys theory
Attachments form as monotropy and hierarchy
- Efe Tribe of Congo are breastfed by many women in village but form stable attachment to their natural mother.
- Fox
- Infants in Israeli kibbutzim are cared for by a metaplet but return to their natural mother at night
- strongest attachment is mother despite most care being provided by a substitute carer.
Evaluating bowlbys theory
There is a continuity between infant, childhood and adult attachments
- hazan and shaffer
- used love quiz
- found continuity between childhood attachment styles and later adult relationships
- Securely attached children had close and loving adult relationships
- Insecure avoidant children had insecure adult relationships with jealousy and lots of rejection.
Shaffer & emerson Glasgow babies
Advantages
- Gives mothers pov of child’s progress in attachment
- longitudinal study so has wide range of results and findings
- field study so was quite high in ecological validity and mundane realism
- Gives other factors other than food being main source of attachment
Shaffer & emerson Glasgow babies
Disadvantages
- mothers reported back to researchers so may not have been truthful of babies progress
- Social desirability bias is risk factor of study
- Cant be generalised to all infants
- Doesn’t support role of food coming into attachment
- Unreliable as mothers may have lied and didn’t want to accept that their baby may have only been attached to them because of food.
Shaffer & emerson Glasgow babies
Evaluation
- study is unreliable as its not performed in controlled environment but conducted in child’s home
- shows lack of control and cant be generalised to all children as babies used came from same working class home
- mothers may have lied to achieve social desirability bias among others
The strengths of learning theory
- Classical conditioning can be done with humans and animals
- Pavlov provides evidence to suggest that we learn to attach
- Skinner proved operant conditioning
- Adequate explanation of learning to attach
Stages of Attachment ages
- Asocial 0 - 6 wks
- Indiscriminate Attachments 6 wks to 7 mths
- discriminate Attachments 7 - 9 mths
- Multiple Attachment 10 mths and onwards
three main attachment styles
- secure (type B)
- insecure avoidant (type A)
- insecure resistant (type C)
Separation Anxiety experience for secure attachment type
- Distressed when mother leaves
Separation Anxiety experience for insecure resistant attachment type
- Intense distress when mother leaves
Separation Anxiety experience for insecure avoidant attachment type
- No sign of distress when the mother leaves
Attachment definition
- An emotional bond between two people
- two way process that endures over time
- leads to certain behaviours like clinging and proximity seeking
- serves function of protecting an infant
Caregiver definition
-Any person who is providing care for a child like a parent
Interactional synchrony definition
-Takes place when infants mirror actions or emotions of another person eg facial expressions
Reciprocity definition
- infant responds to actions of another person in a form of turn taking
- actions of one person so primary caregiver elicits a response from the other being the infant
Interactional synchrony klaus and kennel
- comparison of:
- mums who had extended physical contact with their babies lasting several hours a day
- mums who only had physical contact with their babies during feeding in three days after birth
Interactional synchrony the research meltzoff and Moore
- conducted first systematic study of interactional synchrony
- found infants as young as 2 or 3 wks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures
Interactional synchrony support research by meltzoff and Moore
- association found between expression or gesture adult had displayed and the action of the babies
- observational research
Research to support Reciprocity jaffe et al
- demonstrates infants coordinated their actions with caregiver which can be described as a non verbal conversation
Research to support reciprocity brezelton
- thought basic rhythm is important precursor to later communications
- regularity of infants signals allows carer to anticipate infants behaviour and respond accordingly
- lays foundations for attachments between infants and caregivers
Caregiver infant interactions evaluation 1 limitation
- questionable reliability of testing children:
- infants move their mouths and wave their arms constantly
- issue for researchers investigate intentional behaviour
- can’t be certain infants were actually engaging in synchrony or reciprocity as some behaviour may have occurred by chance
- methodical problems with studying interactional synchrony using observational methods
Caregiver and infant interactions evaluation 2 limitation koepke et al
- observer bias where researchers consciously of unconsciously interpret behaviour to support findings
- to address this more than one observer should be used to examine inter observer reliability of observations
- kopeke et al failed to replicate findings of meltzoff and Moore
- lack of research suggests M&M results are unreliable
- more research is required to validate findings
Caregiver and infant interactions evaluation 3 criticism of meltzoff and Moore
- recent research found only securely attached infants engage in interactional synchrony
- Isabella et al found more securely attached the infant the greater level of interactional synchrony
- suggests not all children engage in interactional synchrony
- meltzoff and Moore original findings may have overlooked individual differences which could be a mediating factor
What did Schaffer and Emerson aim to investigate
-formation of early attachment particular age which they developed their emotional
intensity and to whom they were directed
- longitudinal study where babies and mothers were studied every month for first year and then again at 18 mths
- used observations and interviews with mothers and assessed separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
Schaffer and Emerson findings
- found 25-32 weeks about 50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards their caregiver
- attachement tended to be caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infants signals and facial expression
- wasn’t necessarily person with whom infant spend most time
- by 40 weeks 80% of babies had specific attachment to primary caregiver
- almost 30% displayed multiple attachments
- suggests there’s a pattern of attachment common to all infants which is biologically controlled
List stages of attachment
- asocial
- discriminate
- indiscriminate
- multiple
First stage of attachment
- asocial:
- infant shows similar responses to objects and people
- the end of stage they display preference for faces and eyes
Second stage of attachment definition
- Indiscriminate:
- Infant prefers human company over non human
- can distinguish between different people but comforted by anyone
- don’t show stranger anxiety yet
Third stage of attachment definition
- Discriminate:
- infant shows preference for one caregiver displaying separation and stranger anxiety
- infant looks to particular person for security and protection
Fourth stage of attachment definition
- Multiple:
- attachments are displayed towards several people like parents, grand parents etc
Primary attachment figure definition
- person who has formed closest bond with child, demonstrated by intensity of relationship
- usually child’s biological mother but other people can fulfill role
Learning theory definition
- name given to group of exploration (classical and opérant conditioning)
- which explain behaviour in terms of learning rather than any inborn tendencies or higher order thinking
Internal working model definition
- internal template for future relationship expectations
- If child has strong and healthy attachment with primary attachment figure then they’ll develop strong and healthy relationships later in life
- if child has negative relationship with primary attachment figure they’ll have negative social and romantic relationships in their later life
Critical period definition
- infants must form attachment with caregiver during this time between 3 and 6 months of age
- bowlby later acknowledged infants could form an attachment after this period up to 3yrs if age
- bowlby said that if attachment didn’t form during this time frame child would be damaged for life:
- socially
- emotionally
- intellectually
- physically
List effects of institutionalisation
- underdevelopment of:
- social
- mental
- physical
-some of these effects may be irreversible
Effects of institutionalisation physical underdevelopment
- children in institutional care are usually physically small
- research shown lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is cause of what has been called deprivation dwarfism
Effects of institutionalisation intellectual underfunctioning
- cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation
Effects of institutionalisation disinhibted attachment
- form of insecure attachment where children don’t discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures
- Such children will treat near strangers with inappropriate familiarity and may be attention seeking
Animal studies of attachment Lorenz
- goose eggs incubated so first living thing they saw was their natural mother or Lorenz
- findings goslings imprinted on Lorenz and followed him
- critical period- imprinting doesn’t happen later
- long lasting effects - irreversible and related to mate choice (sexual imprinting)
Animal studies of attachment evaluation research support Guiton
- imprinting issues may not be irreversible and may be little more than just learning
Anima studies of attachment - Harlow procédure and findings
- Procédure:
- wire mothers one cloth covered feeding bottle attached to one of other
- Findings:
- monkeys spent most time with cloth covered mothers whether or not feeding bottle attached
- Critical period - attachments must be formed before 6 months
- Long lasting effects all motherless monkeys were abnormal socially and sexually
Animal studies of attachment evaluation list
- confounding variable:
- wire mother faces different varied systematically with independent variable
- generalising to humans may not be justified but findings confirmed
- ethics - benefits may outweigh costs but doesn’t challenge findings
Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation key study :44 juvenille thieves findings
- 86% of affectionless thieves had frequent separations before 2
- compared with 17% of other thieves and just 2% of control group
Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation definition
- Value of maternal care:
- children need warm intimate and continuous relationship with mother of mother substitute
- Critical period:
- frequent and prolonged separations from mother will have negative effects if they occur before age of 2 1/2 or up to age 5 if no mother substitute
- Long term consequences:
- include emotional maladjustment or mental disorder like depression
Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation evaluation list
- emotional rather than physical separation is harmful
- support for long term effects
- real world application:
- films of Laura brought social change bowlby and Robertson
Ainsworths strange situation type of attachment and findings
- ainsworth et al:
- systematic test of attachment to one caregiver, situation of mild stress and novelty
- behaviours assessed separation anxiety, reunion behaviour,stranger anxiety, secure base
- findings
- secure attachment - 65% type B
- insecure avoidant 22% type A
- insecure resistant 12% type C
Ainsworths strange situation evaluation list
- other types of attachment:
- disorganised type D
- high reliability
- real world application
- low internal validity
- maternal reflexive functioning
Insecure avoidant definition
-type of attachment describes those children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with others
Insecure resistant definition
-type of attachment which describes those infants who both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction ie resist
Secure attachment definition
- strong and contented attachment of infant to his or her caregiver
- develops as result of sensitive responding by caregiver to infant needs
- Secure attachment is related to healthy subsequent cognitive and emotional development
Strange situation definition
-controlled observation designed to test attachment security
Cultural variations definition
-ways that different groups of people vary in terms of their social practices and effects these practises have on development and behaviour
Adaptive definition
- Attachments in humans are an advantage making them more likely to survive
- If infant has an attachment they’re kept safe given food and kept warm by caregiver
Social releases définition
-are inborn and unlock an innate tendency in adults to care for them they’re physical and behavioural
Separation anxiety definition
- distress shown by infant when separated form his/her caregiver.
- isn’t necessarily child’s biological mother
Stranger anxiety definition
-distress shown by infant when approached or picked up by someone who is unfamiliar
Imprinting definition
- innate readiness to develop a strong bond with mother
- takes place during specific time in development probably first few hours after birth/hatching if it doesn’t happen at this time it probably will not happen
Classical conditioning definition
- Learning through association
- A neural stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so it eventually takes on properties of this stimulus
- able to produce conditioned response
Opérant conditioning définition
-Leaning through reinforcement
Social learning theory proposed by bandura
-Learning through observing others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded
Continuity hypothesis définition
-idea that emotionally secure infants go on to be emotionally secure trust and socially confident adults
What did dollard and miller suggest
- hungry infant feels uncomfortable and creates drive to reduce discomfort
- only behaviour resulting in rewards is reinforced
- any behaviour resulting in punishments isn’t repeated
- hungry infant feels uncomfortable and is driven to reduce a discomfort when fed it feels pleasure
- food is primary reinforcer as it directly satisfies hunger
- caregiver is secondary reinforcer as he/she is associated with primary reinforcer
- so attachment occurs because child seeks person who can supply reward (food)
Evaluation based on animals - behaviourists
- Behaviourists believe humans are no different from animals in terms of how they learn
- believe that our behaviour patterns are constructed form same building blocks of stimulus and response
- legitimate to generalise from animals studies
Évaluation based on animals non behaviourists
- non behaviourists argue attachment involves innate prédispositions and mental activity that could be explained in terms of conditioning
- behaviourists explanations may lack validity because they present an oversimplified version of human behaviour
Cupboard love theory
- strongest attachment will be with those who provide most primary care
- child loves the hand that feeds them being the mom
Learning theory explanation of attachment
- main assumption behind learning theory explanation of attachment:
- children learn to become attached to their caregiver because they give them food
- referred to as cupboard love
- Learning can be due to associations being made between different stimuli or behaviour
- can be altered by patterns of reinforcement and punishment
Classical conditioning learning by association
- food is an unconditioned stimulus that produces an unconditioned réponse
- caregiver is neutral stimulus who produces no response
- because they’re continually paired with unconditioned stimulus she slowly becomes associated with it until eventually mother alone can produce pleasure
- mother has now become conditioned stimulus and pleasure she brings is conditioned response
Opérant conditioning learning theory
- baby has to learn to form an attachment with its caregiver
- process of opérant conditioning caregiver rewards baby by feeding him so he associates caregiver with reward and repeats any action that brings her close
- happens because food brings feeling pleasure to baby food is primary reinforcer
- By removing discomfort it reinforces behaviour that led to its arrival
- But food doesn’t come without caregiver brining it, so caregiver becomes secondary reinforcer even without bringing food presence of mother reduces discomfort and brings feeling of pleasure
Drive reduction theory
- When animal is uncomfortable this creates drive to reduce this discomfort
- eg a hungry infant has drive to reduce accompanying discomfort
Schéma définition
- cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret info in brain
- A schema helps an individual to make sense of new info
The continuity hypothesis
-idea that emotionally secure infants go on to be emotionally secure trusting and socially confident adults
Critical period definition
- biologically determined period of time during which certain characteristics can develop
- outside of this time window such development will not be possible
Classical conditioning key terms
Cr etc
- conditioned response - réponse to CS once classical conditioning has been established
- conditioned stimulus - initially neutral with respect to UR which is by conditioning associated with US
- unconditioned réponse - an automatic or inherent response to US
Stimulus generalisation
-tendency for conditioned stimulus to evoke similar réponses after response has been conditioned
Role of the father part 1
- Schaffer and Emerson
- lamb
- biology
- Schaffer and Emerson found fathers are less likely to be primary attachment figures than mothers
- lamb reported little relationship between amount of time fathers spend with their infants and infant - father attachment
- biological reasons why fathers are less likely to be primary attachment figures: female hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour
Role of the father part 2
- Cultural expectations
- research heermann et al
- research Frank et al
- cultural expectations and sex stereotypes that affect male behaviour
- include belief that it’s ‘feminine’ to be sensitive to others needs
- heermann found men are less sensitive to infant cues
- Frodi et al shown there’s no difference in physiological responses of males and females to an infant crying
- evidence of males forming secure attachments with children or sharing role of primary attachment
- Frank et al although biological and cultural factors may make this less likely
Cultural variations in attachment van ijzendoorn and kroonenburg
Procedure
- conducted meta analysis of findings from 32 studies of attachment behaviour
- involved over 2000 strange situation classifications in 8 different countries
Cultural variations in attachment van ijzendoorn and kroonenburg
Findings
- differences were small
- secure attachment most common classification in every country
- insecure avoidant attachment was next most common except in Israel and Japan
- insecure resistant attachent was next most common variation within cultures was 1.5 times greater than variation between cultures
Cultural variations in attachment van ijzendoorn and kroonenburg
Conclusion
- global pattern across cultures appears to be similar to that found in US ie secure attachment is ‘norm’
- presence of these cultural similarities supports idea that secure attachment is ‘best’ for healthy social and emotional development
Cultural variations in attachment van ijzendoorn and kroonenburg
Évaluation
Research focuses on ‘countries rather than ‘cultures’
- an issue with van ijzendoorn and kroonenburg research is:
- studying differences in countries rather than cultures.
- eg Japanese study found similar distribution of attachment types to western studies in Tokyo but increase in insecure resistant individuals in a rural sample
- results demonstrate that ‘country’ and ‘culture’ aren’t same thing
- provide support to claim there’s more variation within that between cultures
