Pape 1 Topic 3: Attachment

Question 1

Define attachment

Answer 1

an emotional bond between two people. A two-way process developed over time. It leads to certain behaviours e.g clinging and proximity seeking, and serves the function of protecting an infant
Especially between infant and caregiver

Question 2

Define caregiver

Answer 2

Any person who is providing care for a child such as a parent.

Question 3

Define interactional synchrony

Answer 3

When two people interact they tend to mirror eachother such as their facial and body movements, and imitating emotions and behaviours in the same or similar pattern

Infant mirrors and imitates the actions or emotions of another person. The infant moves their body or carry’s out the same act as their caregiver simultaneously and so they’re in sync. This interaction serves to sustain communication between two individuals

Question 4

Define reciprocity

Answer 4

When a person (baby) responds to the action of another (care giver) with a similar action in the form of taking turns.

Question 5

Who researched reciprocity in relate to caregivers and infants and how

Answer 5

Brazelton(1979) deserves this interaction as a ‘dance’ as couples response to eachother movements and rhythm. Interaction flows back and forth.

Feldman suggested from 3 months old, reciprocity increases in frequency as the infant and caregiver pays an increasing amount of attention to each others verbal and facial communications. This sensitive responsiveness lays the strong foundations for attachment to develop

Question 6

Why is attachment important for the caregiver - infant interaction

Answer 6

Human babies are altricial
Meaning they’re born at a relatively early stage of development compared to other animals
Infants must form bonds with adults who will protect and nurture them

Question 7

Describe key study: Meltzoff and Moore

Answer 7

Aim: examine interactional synchrony in infants
Method:
-controlled observation
- adult displayed 1/3 facial expressions or hand gesture
-child had dummy to prevent facial response
-dummy was removed and Childs expressions were filmed

Results: assossiation between infants behaviour and adult model. They repeated experiment with 3 day olds and results were replicable and reliable.

Conclusion:
Findings suggest interactional synchrony is innate and supports theory that imitative behaviour is learnt

Question 8

Strengths of Carer-infant interactions - Meltzoff and Moores research

Answer 8

A strength of the research in this area is that it is usually highly controlled and therefore has good validity.
Observations of mother-infant interactions are generally well-controlled procedures, with both mother and infant being filmed, often from multiple angles. This ensures that very fine details of behavior can be recorded and later analysed.
Furthermore, babies don’t know or care that they are being observed so their behavior does not change in response to controlled observation which is generally a problem for observational research.
Therefore, it could be argued that the research in this field has good internal validity.

Question 9

Limitation of caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 9

A limitation of Meltzoff and Moore’s research is that recent research has suggested there are individual differences involved in interactional synchrony.
Isabella et al. (1989) found that the more securely attached the infant, the greater the level of interactional synchrony.
This suggests that not all children engage in interactional synchrony the same way and that Meltzoff and Moore’s original findings may have overlooked this mediating factor.
Therefore, maybe researchers cannot take a nomothetic approach to studying caregiver-infant interactions.

A limitation of Meltzoff and Moore is that the results may lack reliability due to the methodological problems with studying interactional synchrony using observational methods.
Recent research by Koepke et al. (1983) failed to replicate the findings of Meltzoff and Moore. There is the possibility of observer bias where the researchers consciously or unconsciously interpret behaviour to support their findings.
To address this problem more than one observer should be used to examine the inter-observer reliability of the observations.
This lack of research support suggests that the results of Meltzoff and Moore are unreliable and more research is required to validate their findings

Question 10

State the Stages of attachment

Answer 10

Asocial
Indiscriminate attachments
Discriminate (specific) attachments
Multiple attachments

Question 11

Explain the first stage of the stages of attachment

Answer 11

Asocial:
-reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing the infants relationship with others
-from 0-2 months
-shows similar responses to objects and people
-towards end of the this stage they do display a preference for faces/eyes

Beginning to show preference for social stimuli vs inanimale objects.

Question 12

Explain the second stage of the stages of attachment

Answer 12

Indiscriminate attachments:
-from 2 to 6 months
-prefers company of human other objects.
-but are comforted indiscriminately by anyone and shows little to no stranger anxiety yet

Question 13

Explain the third stage of attachment

Answer 13

Discriminate (specific) attachments
From 7-12 months
Infant shows a preference for one caregiver, displaying seperation and stranger anxiety.
Infant looks to primary caregiver giver for protection and security
In 65% this was the mother, a further 27% had joint attachment to mother and father.

Question 14

Explain the fourth stage of attachment

Answer 14

One year onwards.
Attachment behaviours shown to multiple people in secondary attachments like siblings and grandparents.
Typically form in the first month after primary attachment is formed and number of multiple attachment which develops on the social circle to whom the infant is exposed.

Within 1 month 29% of infants had at least one other attachment, within 6 months this rose to 78%. Depends on how many consistent relationships there are.

Question 15

Describe the key study: Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 15

Aim: examine formation of early attachments

Method:
Sample: 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow. Aged between 5-23 weeks.

Observed every 4 weeks until 1 year old
• Observed again at 18 months
• At each visit mother reported infant’s separation protest in seven everyday situations (e.g. being left alone in a room, being left with other people).
• Mother rated intensity of protest on a 4-point scale and identified to whom the protest was directed.
• Stranger anxiety measured by assessing infant’s response to the interviewer at each visit

Findings: Within one month of first becoming attached 29% of infants had multiple attachments
• Within 6 months this had risen to 78% of infants having multiple attachments
• Most infants maintained one principle object of attachment
• The primary object of attachment was not always the one who fed and bathed the infant as 39% of infants attached to someone else

Conclusion:
Responsiveness appeared to be the key to attachment
• Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly to their demands
and, interacted with their child
• Infants who were weakly attached had mothers who failed to interact
Schaffer and Emerson reported that there was little relationship between the time spent together and attachment
Infants can create multiple attachments once a primary attachment has been established

Question 16

Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson research of stages of attachment

Answer 16

Strength:

A strength of the study is that is has useful practical applications.
For example, if a baby is in a child care setting in the early stages (asocial and indiscriminate attachments) babies can be comforted by any skilled adult.
However, if a child starts day care later such as in the specific stages of attachment they would benefit from a key worker as they may get distresses with an unfamiliar adult.
Therefore the findings have practical value in the real world and can help with childcare decisions for parents and day care settings so increases validity

A criticism of Schaffer’s research is that it lacks population validity due to the limited sample in the research.
The sample consisted of only 60 working class mothers and babies from Glasgow, who may form very different attachments with their infants when compared with wealthier families from other countries.
For example, there may be specific issues associated with social deprivation e.g. poverty and mental health that may mean the results are not generalisable to other populations.
Therefore, we are unable to generalise the results of this study to mothers and babies from other social backgrounds or other regions as their behaviour might not be comparable. So low populational validity

A limitation of Schaffer & Emerson is that the results may have been affected by social desirability bias.
For example, Shaffer and Emerson interviewed the mothers about their children and some of them may not have reported accurate details about their children in order to appear like ‘better’ mothers with secure attachments.
This could cause a bias in the data that would reduce the validity of the findings since natural behaviour will not have been recorded about the stages of attachment.
However, there are always methodological issues with collecting data on infants as researchers are limited to observations and self-reports

Question 17

Define multiple attachments

Answer 17

attachments to two or more people. Research has shown that most babies are able to form multiple attachments once they have formed a specific attachment to their main caregiver.

Question 18

What’s the role of the father in attachemnt

Answer 18

Traditionally, the role of the father in attachment would have been limited, as they would go to work to provide resources for the family whilst the mothers took care of the children. Although recently the role of the father has changed significantly.

Question 19

How can we use Schaffer and Emerson to talk about the role of the father in multiple attachments?

Answer 19

Schaffer and Emerson has taught us that a baby can have multiple attachments which could include the father.
-they found that the father is rarely the primary attachment figure (only in 3% of cases)
- 75% of babies in S&E had formed an attachment with their father by 18 months (noted by separation anxiety when he left)
Babies are attached to the adult that is most responsive to their needs (this does not need to be the mother).

Question 20

What are the biological and social differences

Answer 20

-hormonal differences: men lack emotional sensitivity as testosterone promotes aggression. Female hormones estrogem and oxytocin promote caring and empathy behaviour so may mean men are not psychologically equipped to form an intense attachment
Mammals have evolved for women to take this role.

Cultural expectations: affect male behaviour, such as it being thought of as “feminine” to be sensitive towards the needs of others.
Social stereotypes: early and wood argued gender role division is social and not biological
Most men may be constrained to labelsm

Question 21

What’s the distinct role of the father

Answer 21

Research suggests father take on different role to mothers and act
more a s a play mate
• Fathers are more physically active, playful and provide more challenging situations which help develop problem solving skills
• The mother is more likely to be more conventional in their activities e.g. read a book together

Question 22

Strengths of the role of the father

Answer 22

-able to form secure attachments with their children if they’re in an intimate marriage
-research evidence that provides support of the role of the father as a ‘playmate’

P: Research suggests that fathers are able to form secure attachments with their
children if they are in an intimate or close marriage.
E - Belsky et al. (2009) found that males who reported higher levels of marital intimacy also displayed a secure father–infant attachment, whereas males with lower levels of marital intimacy displayed insecure father–infant attachments.
E - males can form secure attachments with their children; but strength of the attachment depends on the father and mother relationship.
L - Therefore, while fathers may be biologically determined to form a different relationship with their children, this relationship is mediated by their environment (the intimacy of their marriage) suggesting that while a father’s role may be determined, it is only determined to an extent and therefore a softer view of determinism is more appropriate.

P - There is research evidence that provides support for the role of the father as a ‘playmate’.
E - Research by Geiger (1996) found that fathers’ play interactions were more exciting in comparison to mothers’. However, the mothers’ play interactions were more affectionate and nurturing.
E - This suggests that the role of the father is as a playmate and not as a sensitive parent who responds to the needs of their children.
L - These results also confirm that the mother takes on more of a nurturing role and shows there may be biological explanations between the genders of the role they take with their children.

Question 23

Limitation of the role of the father

Answer 23

P - Evidence suggests that fathers don’t provide a sensitive and nurturing attachment.
E - Hrdy (1999) found that fathers were less able to detect low levels of infant distress, in comparison to mothers. These results appear to support the biological explanations; the lack of oestrogen in men means that fathers are not biologically equipped to form close attachments with their children.
E - This suggests that the role of the father is, to some extent, biologically determined and that a father’s role is restricted because of their biological makeup.
L - This provides further evidence that fathers are not able to provide a sensitive and nurturing type of attachment, as they are unable to detect stress in their children and are therefore less likely to the primary caregiver.

Question 24

Some researchers believe that caregiver-infant interactions influence the development of attachemnt

Explain one reason why it is difficult to draw conclusions about the role of caregiver-infant interactions in the development of attachment.

Answer 24

cannot ever show cause and effect because it is ethically impossible to manipulate the amount / quality of caregiver-infant interaction;

Question 25

Define ethology

Answer 25

Studying animals in their natural environment

Question 26

Define animal experiment

Answer 26

Studying animals in a controlled setting with an IV

Question 27

What’s the link between rhesus and humans genes

Answer 27

Rhesus monkeys share 93% of their genes with humans and are seen to experience the most ‘human like’ emotion amongst animals

Question 28

Which zoologist studied imprinting

Answer 28

Lorenz
one of the founders of modern ethology

Question 29

Describe Lorenz procedure study into imprinting

Answer 29

Procedure:
-split a large clutch of greylag goose eggs into two batches. One batch hatched naturally with the mother, the other batch hatched in an incubator with Lorenz making sure that he was the first moving object the goslings encountered.
•He placed all the goslings under and upturned box. The box was then removed and the gosling’s behaviour was recorded.

Question 30

Describe Lorenz findings study into imprinting

Answer 30

After birth, the naturally hatched baby goslings followed their mother about whilst the incubator hatched goslings followed Lorenz around.
•When released from the upturned box, the naturally hatched goslings went straight to their mother whereas the incubator hatched goslings went straight to Lorenz (showing no bond to their natural mother).
•Lorenz noticed how the process of imprinting occurred only a short period of time after birth (between 4 and 25 hours – critical period)

Question 31

Describe Lorenz conclusion into imprinting

Answer 31

found that certain animals had an innate tendency to respond immediately to specific forms of stimuli.​
•Imprinting is a form of attachment whereby close contact is kept with the first large moving object encountered.
•These bonds proved to be irreversible (the naturally hatched goslings would only follow their mother; the incubator hatched goslings would only follow Lorenz).

Question 32

Who inspired Bowley and what did Bowley argue

Answer 32

Lorenz

Bowlby argued there is an ‘innate pre-programming’ to stay close to primary care givers. Lorenz’s work can also be used as evidence to support the concept of a critical period and monotropy.

Question 33

Who’s the father of attachment theory

Answer 33

Bowlby

Question 34

Strengths and Limitatioms of Lorenz theory of imprinting

Answer 34

Strength:
-reliable finding as many animal studies have found that animals attach to the first object they see after birth.
E – Guiton (1966) demonstrated that leghorn chicks, exposed to yellow rubber gloves for feeding them during their first few weeks, became imprinted on the gloves. He also found that the male chickens later tried to mate with the gloves, showing that early imprinting is linked to later reproductive behaviour.​
​E – This is a strength because it increases the reliability of Lorenz’s findings as they both found that animals attach to the first moving object and mate with the

Limitation
- the findings of Lorenz imprinting study is the issue of animal extrapolation
-findings were based on studies of birds. Although his findings have been very influential to our understanding of human development, there is a problem in generalising from birds to humans as non-human animal brains are qualitatively different to humans.
-Research suggests that the mammalian attachment system is quite different to birds, for example, mammals tend to show more emotional attachment to young than birds do. Also, mammals can form attachments at any time, albeit less easily than in infancy. human offspring are much more dependant on thier caregivers than other species

Question 35

Describe the procedure of Harlows monkeys

Answer 35

Aim: examine the extent to which contact comfort and food influences attachment behaviour in baby rhesus monkeys

2 surrogate mothers:
- one harsh ‘wire mother’
-one soft ‘towelling mother’

Sample: 16 baby rhesus monkeys used across 4 categories

1. ‘wire mother’ dispensing milk and ‘towelling mother’ with no milk. 2. ‘wire mother’ with no milk and ‘towelling mother’ dispensing milk. 3. ‘wire mother’ dispensing milk.
2. ‘towelling mother’ dispensing milk.

Amount of time monkey spent with each mother and how long they spent feeding at each one was recorded

Tested mothers preference during periods of stress, monkeys were startled with a loud noise and responses recorded

Large cage was used in some conditions in order to observe the exploration by the Abby rhesus monkeys

Question 36

Describe the results and conclusions of Harlows monkeys

Answer 36

Results:
when given a choice of surrogate mother, the baby monkeys preferred to make contact with the soft ‘towelling mother’ irrespective of whether she dispensed milk.
Babies would stretch across to the ‘wire mother’ for food whilst clinging onto the ‘towelling’ mother for contact comfort
- baby monkeys in the condition with only the ‘wire mother’ showed signs of stress such as diarrhoea. When startled by the loud noise, the baby rhesus monkeys would cling tightly to the soft ‘towelling mother’ in the conditions where this surrogate was available to them. When given larger caged conditions, greater exploration behaviour was seen by the baby monkeys with the ‘towelling mother’ surrogate, which is indicative of emotional security

Conclusion:
Baby rhesus monkeys appear to have an innate drive to seek contact comfort from their parent suggesting that attachment is formed through an emotional need for security rather than food, which is in contrast to the learning theory explanation. This contact comfort provided by the mother is associated by a higher willingness to explore their surroundings and lower levels of stress.
Contact comfort was more important than food in the development of attachment

Question 37

Evaluate Harlows key study into contact comfort

Answer 37

Strength:
P: conducted In a controlled lab setting
Eg:
Ex: Harlow was able to control extraneous variables like monkeys being taken away from their mothers straight after birth, the baby monkeys not being exposed to any love or attention from their biological mothers
L: Harlow was measuring what he intended to measure (ie. Factors that affect the formation of attachemnt) and therefore the study can be seen to have high internal validity allowing a cause and effect relationship to be established

Strength:
P: rhesus monkeys share 93% of their dna with humans so monkeys are more genetically and behaviourally more similar to humans than Lorenz study, adds validity

Limit:
P: ethical issues
Eg: the monkeys in Harlows stud showed great distress when they were removed from their biological mothers.
Ex: In addition, After the study, when the monkeys were placed in situation with other
Rhesus monkeys not involved in the research, they showed great signs of distress eg: diarrhoea especially in social situations and were unable to communicate. When the monkeys for, the study had their own children, many were said to have neglected their offspring and in extreme circumstances killed their offspring.
L: this breaches the BPS guidelines as it fails to protect monkeys from harm. Furthermore, the study doesn’t tell about human attachments as monkeys are physiologically different to humans so psychologists can argue that the lack of generalisability from this research makes Harlows study even more unethical.

Question 38

Define contact comfort

Answer 38

The phenomenon which describes an offspring forming an attachment to the first large moving object it sees after birth

Question 39

What are the explainatioms of attachment

Answer 39

Learning theory
Bowlbys monotropic theory of attachment

Question 40

Define the learning theory of attachemnt as an explaination of attachment

Answer 40

Explains how infants learn to become attachment to their primary caregiver through the process of either classical conditioning or operant conditioning. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘cupboard love’ theory because the main principles of this explanation for attachment focuses on food. In a nutshell, it is thought that infants will form an attachment to whoever feeds them.

Question 41

Link classical conditioning to learning theory

Answer 41

associating two stimuli together to condition (learn) a response.

1. food (UCS) which produces an UCR (reflex) in the child – relief from hunger/pleasure.
2. the caregiver (NS) produces no conditioned response at all from the child.
3. During conditioning, the child associates the caregiver (NS) who feeds them with the food (UCS)
4. Through many repeated pairing, the caregiver (CS) who is associated with the pleasure from feeding. conditioned response (relief from hunger) from the child and the formation of an attachment.

Question 42

Link operant conditioning to learning theory

Answer 42

Dollard and Miller applied the principles of reward and reinforcement to explain human attachment between a caregiver and an infant.

When an infant feels hunger, it has a drive to reduce these unpleasant feelings and discomfort so is likely to cry in order to receive comfort.
When the caregiver provides food, a feeling of pleasure is produced for the infant which is rewarding and this is called positive reinforcement.
Therefore, the behaviour which elicited the reward, i.e. crying, will be repeated.
This reinforcement is a reciprocal process since the caregiver also experiences a reward in the form of negative reinforcement when the infant stops crying, so they too will repeat the caregiving behaviour again in the future.
Hunger - primary drive
food - primary reinforcer.
The caregiver who provided it - secondary reinforcer.
Attachment - the secondary drive, will occur because the infant will seek the person who can supply the reward

Question 43

Evaluate the learning theory explanation of attachment

Answer 43

P: animal studies
Eg: Pavlov + Skinner
used animals to base their theories of operant and classical conditioning instead of humans
Ex: reduces the generalisability of these findings and they cannot necessarily be extrapolated and since animals are more passive than humans so the theories may be less applicable to humans as it might be too much of a simple approach
L: alternative explanations should be considered as this may not be sufficient to explain the complexity of attachment formations

P: contact comfort over food
Eg: Harlow showed that infant rhesus monkeys were most attached to the towelling surrogate mother monkey which provided contact comfort not food.
Ex: strongly suggests that food is the key element in the formation of attachment however Harlow’s study which is further supported by Schaffer and Emerson (found less than half of infants had a primary attachment to the person who usually fed them.) , suggests that food is not important.
L: implies that caution must be taken not to consider this explanation the only and most accurate explanation of attachment as their is evidence from studies that suggests the antithesis to this theory.

P: alternative explaination:
Eg: Bowlby’s theory of attachment is a better explanation as uses the idea of monotropy and implies that attachment is an innate concept
Ex: This is a stronger explanation as it explains both why and how the attachment forms instead of just how and uses ideas about protection from harm and survival which gives a more complex and sufficient explanation which can explain formation of attachment more effectively
L: the learning theory is limited to an extent and may contribute to formation but alone is insufficient

Question 44

Define the Bowlbys theory of attachemnt as an explaination of attachment

Answer 44

-a monotropic theory
-takes an evolutionary perspective
-argues children are born with an innate tendency to form attachments with their parents in order to increases chances of survival

Question 45

What’s the 5 stages of bowblys theory of attachment

Answer 45

1) adaptive
2) social releases
3) critical period
4) monotropy
5) internal working model

Question 46

Explain the adaptive term of bowblys theory

Answer 46

Attachments are adaptive
They give humans an advantage
Keep us safe
Given food
Kept warm by their caregiver

Question 47

Explain the social releasers term of bowblys theory

Answer 47

-infants possess inborn social releaser which unlock an innate tendency in adults to care for them.
social releasers are:
-physical eg: button nose and big eyes
-behavioural eg: crying, smiling to get attention

Question 48

Explain the critical period term of bowblys theory

Answer 48

-between 3-6 months of age
-infants must form an attachment with thier caregiver during this period
-he maintained that the successful formation of an attachment would be increasingly difficult after this initial period. Bowlby said that if an attachment did not form during this time frame, the child would be damaged for life – socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically.

Question 49

Explain the monotropy term of bowblys theory

Answer 49

infants form one very special attachment with their primary caregiver, most frequently the mother. This special, intense attachment is called monotropy. If the mother is not available, the infant can bond with another ever- present adult, known as a mother substitute.

Question 50

Describe the internal working model term of bowlbys theory

Answer 50

Through the monotropic attachment, the infant would form an internal working model

This is an internal template for future relationship expectations. If a child has a strong and healthy attachment with their primary attachment figure, then they will develop strong and healthy relationships, later in life. However, if the child has a negative relationship with their primary attachment figure, they will have negative social and romantic relationships in their later life.

Question 51

Evaluate bowblys theory of attachment

Answer 51

P: socially sensitive implications
Eg: Used by right wing & politicians to suggest that mothers should stay at home instead of sending children to day care and this could restrict women’s roles even though Bowlby’s aim was to actually boost women’s roles
Ex: suggests that monotropy can be restricting and can hinder women’s progress and this has negative implications for society and hinders progression in the role of women and prevents equality being reached.
L: negative implications on society and the economy by preventing child care workers from having a job and by preventing women from entering the workplace

P: universal concept
Eg: Ainsworth found 4 I that within a tribe in Uganda, the infants all had one primary attachment even though they had multiple carers
Ex: conveys that across different cultures, this idea of monotropy is still evident and may not just be part of Western ideology and therefore Bowlby’s theory is not an imposed etic
L: increases its validity and generalisability and means we can apply it to all cultures so we can apply similar child-rearing practices across these different cultures using the findings of this theory

P: monotropy could be overemphasised
Eg: Thomas found that a network of attachments was better than one single
monotropic bond in supporting all of the child’s
needs
Ex: implies that while the monotropic bond is important, it also is important for the infant’s survival to have a range of different bonds beyond the one main caregiver to give a well rounded level of care
L: suggests that while research from this should be implemented into child care practices, it should still be considered that other attachments e.g. with the father are important and should not be dismissed.

Question 52

Define Ainworths strange situation

Answer 52

an observational method for testing strength of attachment between a caregiver and an infant devised by Ainsworth et al. (1971).

Question 53

Outline the use of the strange situation as a way of assessing types of attachment.

Answer 53

Infants aged between 9–18 months were placed in a novel situation of mild stress, namely an unfamiliar room whereby they are left alone, left with a stranger and reunited with their caregiver. Ainsworth observed how the infants behaved through a one-way mirror during a set of eight different scenarios, each lasting approximately three minutes. Observations of the following behaviours were video recorded:
 Separation anxiety/distress on separation  Reunion behaviour/seeking proximity
 Exploration/safe-base behaviour
 Stranger anxiety

Question 54

What is the first stage of the strange situation
And what behaviour is being tested in it

Answer 54

Mother and infant enter the room
Mother sits on a chair reading a magazine
Child is on floor playing with toys

Exploration behaviour

Question 55

What is the second stage of the strange situation
And what behaviour is being tested in it

Answer 55

A stranger enters and sits on the second chair and talks briefly with the mother.

Stranger anxiety

Question 56

What is the third stage of the strange situation
And what behaviour is being tested in it

Answer 56

stranger approaches the infant and attempts to interact and play with them.

Stranger anxiety

Question 57

What is the fourth stage of the strange situation
And what behaviour is being tested in it

Answer 57

Mother leaves room so infant is alone with stranger. Starter comforts the baby if they’re upset and offers to play with them

Separation anxiety and stranger anxiety

Question 58

What is the fifth stage of the strange situation
And what behaviour is being tested in it

Answer 58

Mother returns and strangers leaves

Reunion behaviour

Question 59

What is the sixth stage of the strange situation
And what behaviour is being tested in it

Answer 59

The mother departs again leaving the baby briefly alone in the room

Separation anxiety

Question 60

What is the seventh stage of the strange situation
And what behaviour is being tested in it

Answer 60

stranger re-enters and offers to comfort and play with the baby.

Stranger anxiety

Question 61

What is the eighth stage of the strange situation
And what behaviour is being tested in it

Answer 61

Mother returns and stranger leaves

Reunion behaviours

Question 62

What are the 3 types of attachment proposed by Ainsworth

Answer 62

Secure (66%)
Insecure avoidant (22%)
Insecure resistant (12%)

Question 63

Identify and outline characteristics of secure type of attachment

Answer 63

Exploration: infant explores unfamiliar environment, returning to the mother at regular intervals and using her as a safe-base

Separation anxiety: Moderate separation anxiety: the infant’s play is seriously disrupted when the mother leaves.

Stranger anxiety: Moderate stranger anxiety: the infant is wary of strangers and will move closer to the mother when she is present with the stranger.

Reunion behaviour: infant is pleased to see the mother, seeks proximity and is easily comforted in her presence. The child shows joy on reunion

Question 64

Identify and outline characteristics of insecure-avoidant type of attachment

Answer 64

Exploration: infant explores the unfamiliar environment but does not return to the mother and does not use her as a safe- base.

Separation anxiety: Low separation anxiety: the infant is not concerned by the mother’s departure.

Stranger anxiety: Low stranger anxiety: the infant is unconcerned about stranger and shows little preference between mother and stranger.

Reunion behaviour: infant shows little reaction upon the mothers return and often ignores her. The child does not seek proximity or show joy on reunion, i.e. avoids intimacy

Question 65

Identify and outline characteristics of insecure-resistant type of attachment

Answer 65

Exploration: infant does not explore the environment around them, choosing the stay close to the mother, i.e. being clingy.

Separation anxiety: High separation anxiety: the infant is extremely distressed and violent when the mother leaves.

Stranger anxiety: High stranger anxiety: the infant becomes extremely distressed when the stranger goes to comfort them.

Reunion behaviour: infant is not easily comforted by mother – seeks but rejects (resists) attempts of mother’s comfort on reunion.

Question 66

Evaluate Ainworths strange situation

Answer 66

P: methodological strengths
Ex: high reliability since it uses a scale of 1-7 and films behaviours which increases
inter-rater reliability
Ex: the findings of the 3 different attachment types is reliable since there is reliability and a lack of bias
Cou: methodological criticisms e.g.
ethics since but Marrone overcomes this as the same distress would be experienced in everyday life if the infant was left and it lacks ecological validity as suggested by Brofenbenner however, this is overcome by real life applications with intervention strategies
L: while the method can be criticised for minor issues, these are overcome and the procedure is reliable

P: culture
Eg: Grossman et al found that german infants were more likely to be classified as avoidant since independence is encouraged and Takahashi found that in
Japan, mothers would rush to their babies and would hide the infants reaction as a result of their belief in amae
Ex: suggests this is an imposed etic and we cannot apply these ideas necessarily to all cultures since Western ideology cannot be applied to all other cultures and this means we cannot establish universal attachment types as it will differ across different cUltures
L: while some universal principles could be established, there would need to be specific ideas within each culture to allow for these cultural ideological differences

P: insecure-disorganised attachment type
Eg: Main and Solomon A
found a fourth attachment type, insecure-disorganised, and this showed a lack of consistency in social behaviour patterns and this suggests they have no coherent strategy and Van lizendoorn et al found 15% insecure disorganised in a meta analysis
Ex: shows that the findings from this study are more than initially thought and therefore provides an explanation for those who do not fit into the original 3 categories which shows the procedure can be used in the future to find further times and is not restrictive and is progressional
L: shows that this can progress with changes to society and this also heightens its accuracy

Question 67

Who did research into cultural variations in attachment

Answer 67

van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988)

Question 68

Outline Van Ljzendoorn and Kroonenbergs study into cultural variations in attachment

Answer 68

Aim: investigate cross-cultural variation in attachment

Method: conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies from eight different countries that has used Ainsworth’s strange situation. In total, the results of over 1,990 infants were included in the analysis.

Results:
1) Secure attachment was the most common type of attachment, in all the cultures examined.
2) Japan and Israel (collectivist cultures) showed higher levels of insecure–resistant attachment in comparison to other cultures.
3) Germany (an individualistic culture) showed higher levels of insecure–avoidant attachment, in comparison to other cultures.

Conclusion: Since the global trend seems to reflect the US norm of secure attachment being the most common, it adds weight to the argument that secure attachment is the optimal attachment type for healthy development.

Question 69

What research supports van lzjendoorn and cultural similarities

Answer 69

Tronick et al. (1992)

The Efe tribe in Africa.
Live in extended family groups where infants looked after and even breastfed by different women within the social group. However, infants tend to sleep with their own mothers at night. Although the childrearing practices differ greatly from the Western norms, the infants still showed a preference for a primary attachment figure at six months old, supporting van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg’s main findings that secure attachment is the most common globally.

Question 70

Which research supports cultural differences in attachment

Answer 70

Grossman and Grossman (1991)

In German culture, child rearing practices favour independence from a young age whereby infants do not seek interpersonal contact with their parents. As a result, infants from this country appear to be insecurely attached in the strange situation since they do not seek proximity to their mothers or joy upon reunion

Question 71

Evaluate van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenbergs study into cultural variations in attachment

Answer 71

P: imposes etic
Eg: Ainsworth’s procedure was developed in the USA and therefore Uses Western ideological beliefs and criteria
Ex: means that the findings regarding other cultures could vary as it is unfair to use this procedure to test their attachments as it uses ideas of Western criterias to determine whether an attachment is secure while this may vary across different cultures
L: suggests that while this method may be an effective way of testing attachment cross-culturally, how the data is used to determine attachments could vary

P: historical bias
Eg: 1988, no internet so unknown how long ago these studies were done in the meta-analysis
Ex: means that some studies may indicate incorrect ideas about a culture as they may have changed their practices since these studies since the role of women has progressed significantly during the century and a modern society may have different beliefs
L: may be beneficial to conduct a similar study in our modern society where we now have access and this should at least be considered when making conclusions from older data

P: sample size
Eg: In Van lizendoorn 4 I and Kroonenberg’s study,
China and the USA both had high populations but more studies were used from the
USA than China so it was disproportionate
Ex: means that conclusions drawn about these other countries may be unrepresentative by not considering the varying social classes within each country, as the study acknowledged differences within cultures but if greater sample sizes were taken, this would be better understood and subcultures will be considered in more depth
L: increase reliability as well as generalisability of these findings

Question 72

Outline Bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 72

Deprivation occurs when an attachment bond is formed between an infant and caregiver but is broken
later in life. Bowlby proposed this theory 20 years before his attachment theory. However, the basis of the maternal deprivation hypothesis is the same as the critical period:

Bowlby believed that ongoing maternal deprivation would have lasting negative effects on a child in terms of their emotional development leading to possible mental health problems or maladjustment. Although Bowlby believed that the effects of maternal deprivation would be at their most acute during the critical period, should substitute emotional care not be provided, he also noted that there was a risk of adverse consequences up until five years of age.

Question 73

Describe Bowlbys key study into maternal deprivation

Answer 73

Aim: to see if early separation from the primary caregiver (deprivation) was associated with behavioural disorders. Bowlby defined a particular behaviour disorder as affectionless psychopathy to describe individuals who have no sense of shame of guilt.

Method: Children, from 5–16 years old who had been referred to a guidance clinic in London where Bowlby worked were examined. 44 of the children were criminals (guilty of theft) and 44 non-criminal participants were used a control group. Bowlby interviewed the children and their families to create a record of early life experiences.

Results identified 14 of the 44 thieves as affectionless psychopaths. 86% (12 out of 14) of these affectionless psychopaths had experienced early and prolonged deprivation. Only 17% of the ‘other thieves’ had experienced such separations and 4% of the control group had experienced frequent early separations.

Conclusion: findings suggest a link between early separations and later social maladjustment. The maternal deprivation hypothesis appears to lead to affectionless psychopathy and antisocial behaviour.

Question 74

Evaluate Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

Answer 74

P: individual differences
Eg: Barrett found that ‘ I securely attached children cope better with deprivation in a review
Ex: implies the impacts of maternal deprivation may not
necessarily be as extensive as suggested by Bowlby and may only apply to certain attachment types which means that only insecurely attached children would suffer these impacts which implies Bowlby may have overestimated the impacts of his theory
L: should be
considered when considering applications based on this theory as the impacts may differ according to each child

P: research to support
Ex: Douglas found that I separations for less than a week for children who were younger than 4 correlated to behavioural difficulties
Ex: This clearly shows a link between maternal deprivation and long term consequences and supports Bowlby’s idea of the negative impacts on the childs future that maternal deprivation can have
Cou: research relies on correlation and Kagan et al suggests that this does not establish a clear and direct link
L: should be considered that other impacts could also have an impact e.g. the environment around the child and the role of the father

P: real world applications
Eg: In England in 2013, 4 5 mother and baby units were established in 7 prisons and were more likely to be given places if they had good parenting
Ex: positive implications for attachment and is beneficial in ensuring the infant does not suffer and this is positive and shows how this theory can be applied to make real life improvements
L: can also as a result have positive implications for the economy as better and more emotional attachment will lead to better functioning individuals in the future and these children will be more likely to provide a positive impact on the economy

Question 75

Outline Romanian orphanage studies including the effects of institutionalisation.

Answer 75

1990s Romanian political events allowed psychologists to study the effects of institutionalisation. The Western world became aware that record numbers of children had been placed in orphanages as parents could not cope with the strict government rules. Under dictatorship, abortion was banned and couples were required to birth large numbers of children in a bid to boost the population. At the end of this thirty years of this regime, more than 100,000 children were reported to be in 600 state- operated orphanages.

Question 76

Describe Rutter and Songua-Barkes key study into the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 76

Aim: examine the long-term effects of institutionalisation in a longitudinal study, beginning in the early 1990s, called the ERA (English and Romanian Adoptees).

Method: 165 child re who had spent their early years in a Romanian orphanage formed the experimental group. 111 of these children were adopted before the age of two, while the remaining 54 were adopted by the age of four. They were compared to a control group of 52 British children, who were adopted before they were six months old. The social, cognitive and physical development of all infants was examined at regular intervals (age 4, 6, 11 and 15) and interviews were conducted with adoptive parents and teachers.

Results: At the point of adoption, the Romanian orphans showed delayed development on all elements of social, cognitive and physical progress. They were physically smaller, weighed less on average and many were classified as mentally retarded. However, almost all the Romanian orphans who were adopted before the age of six months caught up on these measures of development when compared to the British control group. The Romanian children who were adopted after six months continued to show significant deficits in terms of social, cognitive and physical development. They were more likely to experience difficulties with making or maintaining peer relationships and were often categorised as having disinhibited attachment disorder.

Conclusion: Institutionalisation can have severe long-term effects on development, especially if children are not provided with adequate emotional caregiving, i.e. adopted by two years old.

Question 77

Describe the Bucharest Early Intervention Project: Zeenah et al. (2005) that investigates effects of institutionalisation

Answer 77

Aim: To investigate attachment type of children who had spent most of their life in institutional care.
Methods: A sample of almost one hundred children aged between 12 months and 31 months, 90% of whom had spent most of their lives in an orphanage, were compared to a control group who had never been institutionalised. Using the strange situation methodology, the researchers assessed the infants’ attachment type. Additionally, the carers in the institution and parents of the control group children were asked about several aspects of the infants’ behaviour including: clinging, attention seeking and appropriateness of behaviour towards adults (to determine if disinhibited attachment disorder was present).
Findings: Zeenah et al. found that almost three quarters (74%) of the control group were classified as being securely attached to their caregivers. Conversely, less than one fifth (19%) of infants from the experimental group, who had spent most of their life in institutional care, were deemed to have a secure attachment. In fact, almost two-thirds of these infants (65%) appeared to have a disinhibited attachment.
Conclusion: Infants who spend their early years in institutional care, with the absence of a primary attachment figure to provide consistent and sensitive emotional caregiving, are less likely to develop a secure attachment and are far more likely, as a result, to experience a disinhibited attachment.

Question 78

Define the internal working model as an influence of early attachment on childhood and adulthood relationships

Answer 78

Proposed by Bowlby
A template of expectations, like a schema, about how to relate to others formed by early experiences with the primary caregiver and the type of attachment formed. Through this important early relationship with their primary caregiver, which Bowlby termed a monotropy, an infant learns what a relationship is, how it is formed, and patterns of behaviour about how individuals relate to one another in partnerships.
The internal working model of an infant is thought to predict the likely outcomes of behaviour in childhood and adulthood. For example, an infant who has experienced sensitive responsiveness from their caregiver will likely form a secure attachment type and come to expect functional, reliable and loving relationships in the future. Conversely, an infant who has poor early experiences in forming an attachment are more likely to behave inappropriately in future relationships or struggle to form any at all.

Question 79

What researchers studied relationships in childhood in the influence of early attachment

Answer 79

relationships during childhood whilst infants with insecure attachment types are likely to have difficulties with making or maintaining friendships.
Sroufe et al. (2005) conducted the Minnesota child–parent study and found that infants who were rated high in social competence during childhood were more empathetic, popular and felt less isolated. These results can be easily understood by considering the role of the internal working model since infants who are securely attached will have positive expectations that others whom they relate to will be trustworthy and friendly in return, which provides the ideal platform for interacting with others during childhood.

Question 80

Evaluate early attachments

Answer 80

P: research to support
Eg: Hazan and Shaver 4 A put a love quiz in the lifestyle section of an American publication and received 620 responses. The quiz questioned them on
attachment as a child and in their current relationship
Ex: useful in supporting the idea of continuity into adulthood from previous attachment styles and therefore reinforces the importance of attachment in the long term
L: This does convey a relationship between early attachment and later relatinoships but this may not be the same for all cultures and for males

P: alternative approach
Eg: Hamilton found W W that securely attached infants can have insecure romantic relationships if they experience a negative life event
Ex: suggests that while early attachment can influence romantic relationships, this influence may be less significant than we perceive it to be
L: Therapies relating to childhood traumas and difficulties in relationships with parents shouldn’t focus entirely on early childhood but should consider other events whcih may impact an individual’s attachment

P: correlational research
Eg: research such as Hazan and Shaver’s love quiz and Steele et al is correlational
Ex: means that causality is not established and therefore we cannot guarantee that the cause of later relationships is early attachment as there could be another factor which causes this
L: we should consider other influential factors and extraneous variables beyond just attachment styles as while this has an impact, many other variables also could

Question 81

Evaluate effects of institutionalisation

Answer 81

P: research to support
Eg: Curtiss and Rymer studied Genie who was denied human interaction and was beaten and strapped to a potty until she was 13 and as a result she suffered both mentally and physically and these consequences were long term
Ex: conveys that privation can lead to cognitive and physical difficulties which supports the findings from the orphan studies and conveys that privation has a negative impact upon attachment
L: heightens the validity and reinforces that actions should be taken to avoid this

P: real world applications
Eg: Langton found that children’s homes have now aimed to avoid too many caregivers and give each child their own key worker
Ex: shows that the evidence from this research has positive implications for society for ensuring these problems with institutionalisation are resolved which reduces the negative impacts on the child
L: positive impacts for the economy by increasing the amount of children who have healthy and strong development which means they will be more effective workers

P: deprivation is just one factor
Eg: Romanian orphanages were horrible environments with no toys and a lack of cognitive simulation and
Muhamedrahimov also found children would cry without being attended to
Ex: posisble that institutionalisation alone may not have led to problems and it may have been a combination of this with other factors which led to deficits in functioning which means we cannot make a conclusion that deprivation is the cause of problems
L: evident that deprivation causes issues with attachment as well as with functioning but this also could be caused by other factors but the vast amount of research implies deprivation is a key factor