P1: Attachment

Question 1

Outline Harlow’s Animal Study of Attachment

Answer 1

Baby monkeys caged with wire mothers; one provided comfort the other food.
Time spent on each was measured.
All monkeys spent up to 22hr on the comfort mother, only leaving to feed.
When frightened they would cling to the cloth mother.
90 day critical period and maternal deprivation shown.

Question 2

Strengths of Harlow’s Animal Study

Answer 2

Challenges learning theory/ Supports maternal depribation / reformed animal treatment.

Question 3

Weaknesses of Harlow’s Animal Study

Answer 3

Ethical issues/ can’t be generalised/ confounding variables of mother heads

Question 4

Outline Lorenz’s Animal Study

Answer 4

Greylag geese eggs were separated between their natural mother and an incubator. When the incubator eggs hatched they imprinted onto Lorenz. Checked this by covering mixed chicks and palcing a cardboard box over the top- they returned to their imprinted parent.
Critical period of 2 days.

Question 5

Strengths of Lorenz’s Animal Study

Answer 5

Chicks imprint on yellow gloves.

Tested by placing egg box on all chicks- still followed Lorenz.

Question 6

Weakness of Lorenz’s Animal Study

Answer 6

Imprinting can be reversed.

Limited application to humans.

Question 7

What is Classical Conditioning?

Answer 7

Caregiver becomes a conditioned stimulus because it’s associated with food.

Question 8

What is Operant Conditioning?

Answer 8

Negative reinforcement by feeding infants to remove discomfort.

Question 9

Weakness of Learning Theory (Conditioning)

Answer 9

Food giver isn’t always the primary attachment.
Infants have multiple attachments.
Environmental reductionism.
Geese imprint before feeding.
Contact comfort is more important than food.

Question 10

Outline Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

Answer 10

A child has an innate need to attach to to one main figure.

Suggests that one relationhip is more important than the rest.

Question 11

What is the internal working model?

Answer 11

Blueprint for future relationships based on your first attachment.

Question 12

What is the critical period?

Answer 12

2-3 year period but sensitive of up to 5 years. Can have irreversible effects if deprived of emotional care in this period.

Question 13

Strengths of Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory?

Answer 13

Subsequent research uses Bowlby’s ideas.
Lorenz & Harlow support critical period.
Has real life application.

Question 14

What was Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?

Answer 14

A controlled observation designed to test attachment security.
Babies are assessed on their response to playing in an unfamiliar room, being left alone, left with a strange and reunited with the caregiver.

Question 15

What was the aim of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?

Answer 15

To observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a baby’s attachment to a caregiver.

Question 16

Outline Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?

Answer 16

Takes place in a room with controlled conditions with a two-way mirror and/or cameras.
It can be used to judge attachment such as:
Proximity-seeking
Exploration and secure-base
Stranger anxiety
Separation anxiety
Response to reunion

Question 17

Define secure attachment

Answer 17

Associated with psychologically healthy outcomes.

Moderate stranger anxiety and ease of comfort at reunion.

Question 18

Define insecure- avoidant attachment

Answer 18

Characterised by low anxiety but weak attachment.

Low stranger and separation anxiety and little response to reunion, maybe even avoidance of caregiver.

Question 19

Define insecure- resistant attachment

Answer 19

Strong attachment and high anxiety.

High levels of stranger and separation anxiety and resistance to comfort.

Question 20

Findings of attachment in the Strange Situation

Answer 20

Secure (Type B): 60-75% of British babies.
Insecure-avoidant (Type A): 20-25%
Insecure-resistant (Type C): 3%

Question 21

Strengths of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Answer 21

Good Predictive Validity- Predicts later development, babies and toddlers assessed as B have better outcomes including better achievements in school.
Measures real and meaningful things in development.
Good inter- rater realibility- Bick tested it, found agreement of 94% of cases.
Controlled conditions, Strange Situation does not depend on subjective judgments.

Question 22

Weaknesses of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Answer 22

Culture Bound- developed in Britain and US. Babies have different experiences in different cultures which may affect responses.

Question 23

What did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study?

Answer 23

Cultural variations of attachment

Question 24

What did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg do?

Answer 24

Located 32 studies of attachment where the Strange Situation had been used to investigate the proportions of babies with attachment types. Conducted in 8 counties- 15 in US. 1,990 children. Created a meta-analysis.

Question 25

What did the meta-analysis find?

Answer 25

GB and Sweden had the most securely attached babies- 75%.
China had the last - >75%.
Germany and the Netherlands had the most insecure- avoidantly attached babies- 30%.
Israel and Japan had the most insecure- resistantly attached babies.

Question 26

Strengths of the meta-analysis

Answer 26

Indigenous researchers- those from the same background as the ppt.
Potential problems of cross-culture research can be avoided eg. misunderstanding of language. Bias can be avoided.
Increased validity.

Question 27

Weaknesses of the meta-analysis

Answer 27

Confounding variables on findings: Studies are not usually matched for methodology. Environmental variables may vary.
Imposed etic: Trying to impose a test designed for one culture to another.
When we assume an idea or technique that works in one culture will work in another.

Question 28

What is maternal deprivation?

Answer 28

The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother. Bowlby proposed that continuous care for a mother is essential for normal psychological development and prolonged separation can cause serious damage

Question 29

What is the difference between separation and deprivation?

Answer 29

Separation is simply not being in the prescence of a primary attachment figure. This only becomes a problem if the child is deprived from emotional care.

Question 30

What can maternal deprivation have effects on?

Answer 30

Intellectual development- Abnormally low IQ.
Demonstrated in studies of adoption.
Emotional development- Affectionless psychopathy.
Inability to express guilt or strong emotion towards others, lacking remorse.

Question 31

Outline Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study into Maternal Deprivation

Answer 31

To investigate the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.
44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing. All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. Families were also interviewed to find whether they had prolonged early separations from their mothers.
Compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionmally-disturbed young people.
Findings: 14 of 44 were described as affectionless psychopaths, 12 of these had experienced deprivation.

Question 32

Weaknesses of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Answer 32

Flawed Evidence- Bowlby himself who carried out both the family interviews and assessments for affectionless psychopathy. Open to bias as he knew who he expected to show signs.
Difference between deprivation and privation- Overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation.
Critical vs Sensitive Periods- Evidence that good quality after care can prevent most or all damage.

Question 33

What was Rutter’s aim in his orphan studies?

Answer 33

To investigate the extent to which good care could make up for poorly early experiences in institutions.

Question 34

What does Bowlby propose that the internal working model affects?

Answer 34

Our future relationships because it carries our perception of what relationships are like.
If a child’s first relationship is loving and reliable they will expect that all relationships are the same.