Paper 1 - Attachment

Question 1

Define attachment

Answer 1

A close two way reciprocal emotional bond between two individuals, in which each sees the other as essential for emotional security

Question 2

Describe the caregiver interactions key behaviours

Answer 2

Maccoby (1980) believes in 3 key behaviours which indicate a child has formed an attachment with another person
1. Proximity seeking behaviour - the infant tries to stay close to the primary caregiver
2. Distress on separation and Pleasure when reunited- both caregiver and infant
3. Secure Base Behaviour
- The infant regular return to the primary caregiver

Question 3

Describe reciprocity in caregiver interactions

Answer 3

• It is a description of how two people interact. The Caregiver-Infant interaction is reciprocal in that both the infant and Primary care giver take turns to respond to each others behaviour and ‘Eilat’ responses from the other (i.e. they reciprocate the others behaviours)
• A child’s social releasers are not by the appreciate parenting responses (Brazelton 1975 describes mother and child as treaty as ‘like a dance’)

Question 4

Describe interactional synchrony in caregiver interactions

Answer 4

• It is the idea that the caregiver and infant mirror the actions and emotions of each other in a coordinated way
• It is shown in research by METLTZOFF and MOORE (1997)

Question 5

Describe the Key studies into Interactional synchrony as a caregiver interaction

Answer 5

• Metzoff and Moore (1977) conducted a range of controlled observations of primary caregiver and their children aged from two weeks old. The adult displayed one of three facial expressions or performed one of three distinct gesture. The child responses was filmed and identified by independent judges. It was found that there was an Association between the adults behaviour and the infant response, in that the infant was assessed as imitating (mirroring) the adult expression/ gesture. This study clearly indicates that interactional synchrony is a feature of caregiver- infant interactions
• Isabella et al (1989) wanted to see if interactional synchrony had an impact on later attachments. The study began observing 30 mother-infant pairs and assessing the degree of interactional synchrony shown. Following this the researchers assessed the Quality of mother-infant interactions: They found that high levels of interactional synchrony was associated with Better quality attachments, and vice versa. This study indicates that there is an association between interactional synchrony and attachment quality, in that the higher the degree of interactional synchrony between the caregiver and infant, the better their attachment

Question 6

Evaluation of research into caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 6

• One strength of the research on this topic is that caregiver-infant interactions are usally filmed in a laboratory. This means that other activity, that might distract a baby, can be controlled. Also, using films menas that observaitons can be recorded and analysed later. Therefore it is unlikley that researchers will miss seeing key behaviours. Furthermore having filmed interactions means that more than one observer can record data and establish the inter-rater relaibility of observaitons. Therefore the data colleted in such research should have good reliability and validity
• A limtation of the caregiver-infant interactions is that they lack internal validlity. This is because many studies into caregiver-infant interactions take place in controlled artificial settings. This is a problem as it may impose demand characteristics as the particpants may know that they are being observed and change their behvaiour
• -Finally, we have to be careful with the correlational nature of the research which suggests that there is an association between the features of caregiver-infant interactions and later development. In the Isabella study, they found an association between the level of interactional synchrony and the quality of caregiver-infant interaction. However this is simply a correlation and we cannot be sure of conclusive cause and effect. Because of this we cannot say that quality of caregiver-infant interaction is a direct effect of levels in interactional synchrony.

Question 7

Describe and Outline Schaffer and Emerson’s study

Answer 7

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) conducted a classical longitudinal study which aimed to investigate the formation of early attachment

This study involved 60 babies from Glasgow, with the majority from working class families. The babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months

The researchers observed the children and questioned the mothers about the Protests the children showed in everyday separation, This was to measure Separation anxiety. Shafer also measured stranger anxiety- the infants response to unfamiliar adults

The found that between 25 and 32 weeks, about 50% of children showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually the mother.

By 40 weeks, 80% of the children had a specific attachment. However 30% of the children displayed multiple attachments

Question 8

Describe Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment

Answer 8

Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)- Similar responses to objects & people. Preference for faces/ eyes

Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks - 6 months)- Preference for human company. Ability to distinguish between people but comforted indiscriminately

Specific (7 months +)- Infants show a preference for one caregiver, displaying separation and stranger anxiety. The baby looks to particular people for security, comfort and protection

Multiple (10/11 months +)- Attachment behaviours are displayed towards several different people e.g. siblings, grandparents, etc

Question 9

Evaluate Schaffer’s Stages of attachment

Answer 9

• Shaffer’s’ research has good levels of external validity. This means that the extent to which the results of the study can be generalised elsewhere. And it is a good thing because the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observes. There is an excellent chance that participants behaved naturally while being observed, so it has good external validity. This means that Schaffer’s and Emmerson conclusion about the stages if attachment accurately reflects attachment in real life and to other situations beyond the research itself
• One the positive side Schaffer and Emerson based their stage account on a large-scale study with some good design features. On the other hand, they only looked at one sample which ahd unique features in terms of the cultural and historical context-1960s working-class Glasglow. In other cultures, for example collectivist cultures, multiple attachments from a very early age are more the norm.
• There are issues relating to the Population validity of the study. There is a problem with the population validity of the sample because most of the families were from a working class families and all came from Glasgow. There was also a small sample size of 60 families reduce the strength of the conclusion of we can draw the study. This is an issue because this cannot be applied to the places in the UK or even any countries. This means that not all children will adopt the stages of Attachment as suggested by Shaffer’s and Emmerson as it was taken on a working family background street and they are in a highly populated area and there was a strong sense of community which would effect the multiple attachment stage

Question 10

Why is role of the father even a topic ???

Think what has previous content missed

Answer 10

Most of the early research pointed to the Mother as being the primary caregiver, so the question was raised about how important the Father is with regards the child’s development

Question 11

Key studies into the role of the father

Answer 11

Bowlby (1988) argues that in many cultures the role of father in child rearing is very different. The responsible for nurturing and the emotional support of the child falls to the mother whereas the father’s role is primarily economic. In addition, Bowlby argues that a father is more likely to engage in psychically active and rule based play, which helps a child develop psychical skills and societal rules

Grossman (2002) carried out a longitudinal study looking at both parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of the child’s attachment into the teens. By observing interactions between parents and their children, it was found that quality off infant attachment to the mothers But not the father was related to children’s attachments in adolescence. This suggest the child’s attachment to the father is less important.
However, Grossman (2002) did make an interesting conclusions regarding the impact of the father’s play. They found that fathers who engaged in high quality play with their infant quality play with their infant children were more likely to have children who as adolescent had good quality attachments. This suggests the role of the father is less to do with nurturing and emotional soothing, but more to do with play, stimulation and learning rules

They is evidence that some fathers if they are the PCG they adopt more maternal behaviours. Field (1978) found that the primary caregivers fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding their children compared to secondary caregiver fathers. Therefore a father can be a nurturing attachment figure should the situation require it

Question 12

Evaluate the role of father

Answer 12

• One strength of this research into the role of the father is that it can be used to offer advice to parents. Parents and prospective parents sometimes agonise over decisions like who should take on the PCG role. Mothers may have to sacrifice their economic role in society with a more maternal at home role whilst men have to sacrifice their at home life to take on an economic role. Research into the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents. This that parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced
• There is a question about the temporal validity of many of the conclusions about the role of the father. Bowlby’s conclusion about the role of the father being largely economic may not be valid in modern society. This is because it is increasingly more common for males to take on the primary caregiver and therefore a much more nurturing role. We therefore have to take this into account as the role of the father may have changed significantly in modern society
• We also know that in evolution, the research into the role of the father is inconsistent, because of the different methods used and differing primary focus of each study. The research into the role of the father is mixed and sometimes contradictory. This could be due to the fact that different researchers use different research methods and each method has is own strengths and weakness. In addition, the focus o each study may be different (e.g. is the focus on the father as a Secondary or Primary attachment figure). This means that it is difficult to compare studies into the role of the father, making valid and reliable conclusions difficult to establish

Question 13

Outline and evaluate Lorenz Animal study research

Answer 13

Lorenz was one of the most prominent Ethologists of early 20th century. His research into imprinting was first stimulated when he was a child where a neighbour gave him a newly hatched duckling

Aim - To investigate the theory of imprinting and how geese are born with innate attachment behaviour

Procedure- took half a batch of gosling eggs and made sure they were the first thing they saw when hatched out of the incubator. Left the other half with the mother goose

Findings- demonstrated that behaviour was innate, the incubator group followed Lorenz where as control followed the mother even when the two groups were mixed. Identified a critical period when imprinting needs to take place.
This shows that geese had imprinted on Lorenz therefore showing the attachment in geese is innate.

This idea is supported by Bowlby’s monotropic theory that everyone is born with an attachment behaviour which helps with survival behaviour which further proves Bowlby’s theory of social releasers which. This means Lorenz study has shown us human attachment behaviours are present at birth

Question 14

Outline Harlow’s Animal studies

Answer 14

Aim- to investigate the basis of attachment- food or comfort?

Procedure- Harlow (1958) tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother. In one experiment he reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’. In one condition milk was dispersed by the plain wire mother whereas in a second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered mother

Findings - The baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother and sought comfort from the cloth one were frightened regardless of which mother spend make

Conclusions- This showed that ‘contact comfort’ was of more importance to the monkey than food when it cam to attachment behaviour

Question 15

Evaluate the research into the animal studies

Answer 15

Animal research into attachment has major practical value. Harlow and Lorenz research has important applications in a range of practical contexts. For example, it helped social workers understand risk factors in child cause and neglect, highlighting the important of early interventions. In addition it is a positive implication on social care setting because it demonstrates that children need to be placed with a caregiver within the critical period to prevent the effects of maternal deprivation from being long-term. Once again, animal studies have proven beneficial as they provided suggestions that could improve both the lives of animal and humans, particular those who suffered from attachment problems

There are criticism regarding the extrapolation of Harlow’s research and how much we can generalise animal research to human. That animal study research doesn’t tell use a lot about human attachment as the animal studies are much more simplistic. In the Lorenz imprinting study the theory is much more simplistic. This is proved as children do not imprint and the critical period for children is up to 2 years whereas the critical period for Harlow monkey is 90 days. This means that the findings are too simplistic to associate or prove the theories of human attachments

Another limitation of the research into animal studies is that Lorenz’s studies is the ability to generalise findings and conclusions from birds to humans. The mammalian attachment system is quite different and more complex than that in birds. For example, in mammals attachment is a two-way process, so it is not just the young who become attached to their mothers but also the mammalian mothers show an emotional attachment to their young. This means that it is probably not appropriate to generalise Lorenz’s ideas to humans

Question 16

Outline the learning theories as an explanation for attachment

Answer 16

Humans are born table rasa- a blank state

• Classical conditioning- the development of association. A child learns to associate the mother with food which causes them to form an attachment
  A child learns to associate the mother with food which causes them to form an attachment. A caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus. However, when the caregiver provides food over time they become associated with food. When the baby then sees this person there is an expectation of food. The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus. Once conditioning has taken palace the sight of the caregiver produces a conditioned response of pleasure. Then an attachment is formed
• Operant conditioning - It suggest a child forms an attachment to a PCG because the PCG provides both primary caregiver and negative reinforcement. When a child cries, the PCG provides Positive reinforcement in the form of Food. The PCG providing the food also provides negative reinforcement because their caregiving behaviour removes unpleasant feelings of distress and hunger. This reinforces the attachment behaviour such as comfort. For the PCG caregiving behaviour leads to negative reinforcement as it removes the distress caused by a crying child. In addition, a happy child, generates positive feelings in the PCG and severs as positive reinforcement This reinforces the attachment behaviour of the PCG. This shows that an attachment can be found between the PCG and child

Question 17

Evaluate the learning theory of attachment

Answer 17

One strength of learning theory is that elements of conditioning could be involved in some aspects of attachment. It seems unlikely that association with food plays a central role in attachment, but conditioning may still play a role. For example a baby may associate feeling warm and comfortable with the presence of a particular adult, and this may influence the baby’s choice of their main attachment figure. THis means that learning theory may still be useful in understanding the development of attachment

There is contradictory evidence from animal studies that challenge learning theories of attachment. There is a range of animal research which appears to contradict learning theory as it shows that animals do not form attachment to those who feed them. For example, Lorenz’s research contradicts learning theory because imprinting is innate and were not born with a blank state and this goes against the learning theory. The studies show that attachments develop due to reasons other than the simple provision of food, suggesting learning theory of attachment is incomplete

In addition, learning theory of attachment is accused of having too much on environmental determinism. Learning theory of attachment is accused of being environmentally deterministic as it argues that attachments are simply a product of early environmental learning and stimulus response association. This however is not the case as many children have the required learning experiences but develop very different attachment behaviours, suggesting that there are other factors that contribute to the development of attachments. For example, the tendency to develop and attachment may be innate and an evolved mechanism to increase chances of survival

Question 18

Outline the explanations of attachment

Answer 18

a) The evolutionary basis of attachment- Bowlby rejected learning theories of attachment, proposing instead that attachments have an evolutionary basis. The drive to develop attachments are Innate. This is because they are adaptive and provide a survival advantage, and infants have an innate need to survive - social releasers and adult attachment systems are innate behaviours

b) Monotropy - Bowlby’s is known as Monotropic theory because he emphasised the child’s attachment to one particular caregiver. Bowlby argues that our primary attachment to the Primary attachment figure is different and much more important compared to the other attachments we may form in our life

Question 19

Define the Law of continuity

Answer 19

The more constant and predictable a child’s care is , the better the quality of the attachments

Question 20

Define the Law of accumulated separation

Answer 20

It suggests that having sustained time apart from a primary caregiver risks a poor quality attachment that will disadvantage the child in a range of ways

Question 21

Outline Bowlby’s concepts of monotropic theory

Answer 21

a) Social releasers-Bowlby suggests that we are born with a set of innate behaviours that encourage and attract attention and caregiving behaviour from adults. These behaviours are known as social releasers. Behavioural (crying) and physical (round face with big eyes)

The social releasers activate Adult attachment systems which make the PCG feel love towards the child and eventually develop the attachment - innate

b) Critical period - Bowlby developed this by proposing the idea of a critical period. he suggests that the first two year so life ae crucial as this is when the child’s attachment system are the most active

c) Internal working model- Bowlby proposed that an attachment allows a child to form a mental representing of their relationship with the PCG. This is called an internal working model because it services as a model for what relationships are like, Because of this, a child’s early attachment has a major influence on their later relationships. This is sometimes referred to as the continuity hypothesis

Question 22

Evaluate of Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment

Answer 22

One strength of Bowlby’s theory is the evidence supporting the role of social releasers. There is clear evidence that cute baby behaviours are designed to elicit interactions from caregivers. Braxelton et al (1975_ observed babies trigger interactions with adults using social releasers. The researchers then instructed the babies’ primary attachment figures to ignore their baby’s social releasers. Babies became increasingly distressed and some eventually curled up and lay motionless. This illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development and suggests that they are important in the process of attachment development

Monotropy has been criticised as it may be a socially sensitive idea. The law of continuity and accumulated separation suggest that mothers who work may negatively affect their child’s emotional development. Feminists like Eric Burman (1994) points out that his beliefs set up mothers to take the blame for anything that goes wrong for the child in the future. On other hands, prior to Bowlby’s time people didn’t think the mother’s role was important, and in fact, many custody disputes were settled in favour of the father because mothers were not regarded as necessary

Bowlby’s theory undervalues the role of the father. Bowlby’s theory is based on the idea that the mother is generally the primary caregiver; he saw the father’s role as primary economic. This drastically undervalues the fathers role in a child’s emotional development. We can also accuse Bowlby’s theory of lacking temporal validity while it is the case that the mother will have been the primary caregiver or most people when Bowlby developed his theory this is less so now so it is is an outdated and sexist view. Because of these issues, Bowlby’s theories may not accurately reflect attachments and attachment behaviour in modern society

Question 23

Outline Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 23

Ainsworth worked with Bowlby’s on the development of attachment theory. However, her main contribution was to develop a method, which allowed researchers to asses the strength and type of quality of attachment between an infant and caregiver
Aim- Ainsworth aimed to investigate if children had different types of attachment to their PCG to do this she should monitor

• Separation Anxiety- How the child reacted to being separated from their PCG
• Response to reunion- How the child reacted to being reunited with their PCG
• Stranger Anxiety- How the child reacted towards a Stranger
• Exploration and secure base behaviour - How willing and confident a child was to explore a novel environment and did they use the caregiver as a safe base
• Proximity seeking- Did the infant stay close to the caregiver

The strange situation is a controlled observation; it takes place in a room with controlled conditions as it takes palce in a room with quite controlled enviroment (e.g. laboratory) with a two-way mirror and camers throguhout to observe the babies behaviour

Question 24

What are the 3 types of attachment

Answer 24

Secure attachment (b) , Insecure-avoidant (type a) attachment, Insecure- resistant attachment (c)

Question 25

Describe a secure attachment

Answer 25

Secure attachment - 60 to 75% of British babies are classified as secure
Separation anxiety- moderate separation distress
Response to reunion - securely attached babies require and accept comfort form the caregiver in the reunion stage
Stranger anxiety - moderate stranger anxiety
Exploration and secure base behaviour - these babies explore happily but regular go back to their caregiver
Proximity seeking- explore happily but regular go back to their caregiver

Question 26

Describe an insecure-avoidant attachment

Answer 26

About 20-25% of British babies are classified as insecure-avoidant
Separation anxiety- they show little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves
Response to reunion- They make little effort to make contact when the caregiver returns and may each avoid such contact
Stranger anxiety- Moderate stranger anxiety
Exploration and secure base behaviour - These babies explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour
Proximity seeking- Do not seek proximity

Question 27

Describe an insecure-resistant attachment

Answer 27

Around 3% of British babies are classified as insecure-resistant
Separation anxiety- an high levels separation anxiety
Response to reunion- resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver
Stranger anxiety- high levels of stranger anxiety but they resist comfort when reunited with their caregivers
Exploration and secure base behaviour - explore less
Proximity seeking- greater seeking for proximity than other

Question 28

Evaluate the stranger situation

Answer 28

A strength of the stranger situation is good inter-rater reliability (the agreement between different observers). Bick et al (2012) tested inter-rater reliability for the Strange SItuation for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases. The high level of reliability may be because the procedure takes place under controlled conditions and because behaviours (such as proximity seeking and stranger anxiety) involve large movements and are therefore easy to observe. For example, anxious babies cry and crawl away from strangers. This means that we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by the strange situation does not depend on subjective judgments

Some critics argue that the strange situation has ethical issues. This is because the research takes place in an unfamiliar environment and the procedures may cause the child to experience distress. Therefore there are issues with protection from harm. Because of these problems, some critics argue that the benefits and understanding gained from the strange situation procedure do not outweigh the distress caused to the participants involved. However, Ainsworth argues against this criticism by stating that the situations which occur in the research are no more distressing that those a child will experience in their everyday life.

Finally, some critics argue that the strange situation may be cultural bound. Although the strange situation procedure is easy to replicate in different settings, it is argued that the strange situation may be a culture bound test as it was developed in the West according to Western ideals. Cultural differences in child reasoning for example Takahashi (1990) noted that the strange situation does not work in Japan because Japanese mothers are separated from their children and therefore the children very high levels of distress during separation. This means that the attachment classification and conclusion given to non-western children may not be accurate if the the strange situation procedure is used.

Question 29

Outline Cultural variations of attachments

Answer 29

Van IJZENDOORN and KROONENBERG (1988)- they conducted a key meta analysis of cultural variations in attachment which used the strange situation to assess caregiver-child attachment.

They conduced a large scale meta analysis in which they analysed the results of 32 separate studios in eight countries using the strange situation.

They found that a large variation in the attachment type of children in different cultures, which is likely to reflect that different child rearing practices influence attachment types. - Type b secure attachments are the most common type of attachment across all cultures

Question 30

Describe key studies into cultural variations in attachment

Answer 30

Grossman (1991) studied attachment in German families using the strange situation procedure. Grossman found that there were significantly higher levels of Insecure- avoidant (type A) attachments amongst German families. They found that German caregivers have a greater tendency to ‘ignore’ their child when they are crying as they want to build impendence in the child

Takahashi studied attachment in 60 Middle Class Japanese families using the strange situation procedure. Takahashi concluded that there were significantly higher rates of Insecure-resistant -(type C) amongst Japanese families. They found that children were very rarely separated from the primary caregiver which was normally the mother. extremely rare for Japanese children to be left alone at any point in the first 12 months

Question 31

Evaluate the research into culture variations

Answer 31

One strength of cross-cultural research is that most of the studies were conducted by indigenous psychologists. Indigenous psychologists are those from the same cultural background as the participants. Research was included from Germany (grossman) and Japan (Takahashi). This kind of research means that many of the potential problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided, such as researcher’s misunderstandings of the language used by participants or having difficulty communicating instructions to them. Difficulties can also include bias because of one nation’s stereotypes of another. This means there is an excellent chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully enhancing the validity of the data collected

Research into cultural variations of attachments may not be truly representative of each culture. In some studies, the researchers only looked at as small number/ an unrepresentative sample of families. Comparisons were actually between Countries, not cultures. Within each country there may be very different cultures, each with their own child rearing practices. For example, in the Takahashi study only middle class families were studied. Therefore the limited number of studies in each country may have only taken into account a snapshot certain cultural practices, meaning conclusions are not representatives if the country as a whole and do not Generalise to the country as a whole.

Further weakness is that the studies into cultural variations in attachments may lack temporal validity. The studies may only reflect caregiving behaviour and social norms of the time in which they were conducted. These may have changed significantly. This is especially the case in studies that only use Women as the primary caregiver in the study. This means that conclusions can be criticised as being a ‘child of the time’ as they may not apply to the contemporary word. There may be different levels of attachment classification today and therefore the studies do not reflect current attachment trends in each culture. This point is further emphasized by the change that the Kibbutz system in Israel

Question 32

Outline and Describe Bowlby’s theory into maternal deprivation

Answer 32

Maternal deprivation hypothesis suggests that the absence of a primary caregiver attachment or indeed prolonged separation between a child and their PCG during the critical period will lead to serious negative developmental effects.

Bowlby saw that the first 30 months of life as crucial for psychological development- recall he named this the critical period. If a child experiences disruption to the attachment, extended separations from the PCG with no substitute attachment figure, there will be inevitable and irreversible psychological damage

Deprivation occurs when, due to the extended seperations, the child loses an element of the care providied by the priamry attahcment figure

Question 33

Describe Bowlby’s 44 thieves research

Answer 33

Bowlby’s (1944) 44 thieves study examined the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.

Procedure- The sample in this study consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing. All ‘thieves’ were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy: characterised as a lack of affection, lack of guilt about their actions and lack of empathy for their victims. Their families were also interviewed in order to establish whether the ‘thieves’ had prolonged early separations from their mothers. The sample was compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally-disturbed young people

Findings- Bowlby (1944) found that 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopathy and 12 of these experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives. In contrast only five of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separations Only two participants in the control group of 44 had experienced long separations. Bowlby concluded that prolonged early separation caused affectionless psychopathy

Question 34

What are the effects of maternal deprivation?

Answer 34

Bowlby argued that prolonged maternal deprivation will have major negative effects on a child. He argues that these effects will be irreversible

Poor intellection development (retardation)- Bowlby argues that maternal deprivation would lead to intellectual retardation, characterized by a low IQ. This was supported by Goldfarb who asses the IQ of 30 children who had experienced maternal deprivation as a result of being raised in an orphanage. 12 kids found out to how a low IQ compared to others. Children are not expected to language into intellectual/stimulation so they haven’t been given the opportunity to team language

Poor emotional development- Bowlby also agreed that maternal deprivation would lead to negative consequences with regards emotional development. Bowlby highlighted that children who had experienced maternal deprivation were more likely to suffer from emotional problems such as depression and, importantly affectionless psychopathy. They don’t have an internal working model and don’t have a template of what a relationship should look like.

Psychical problems such as deprivation dwarfism - Bowlby further argued that maternal deprivation may have negative effects on psychical development. In particular it may lead to deprivation dwarfism. Smaller in height/ smaller frame

Question 35

Evaluation of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory-

Answer 35

There is contradictory evidence which challenges Bowlby’s MDH. Not all research has supported Bowlby’s MDH. A famous case study which appears to contradict Bowlby’s MDH is the case of the** CZECH twins** as reported by KOLUNCHOVA. It was a study of two abused twins who were found at 7 years. They had been kept locked in isolation in a cellar with each other for company, They suffered Deprivation dwarfism and had the bodies of a 3 years old. After discovered they were and adopted by a lady who gave them endless love and attention. By the age of 11 years old they had an average IQ and further onto 14 year old. The contradictory nature of these studies suggest that Bowlby’s view of maternal deprivation may not be totally accurate and must acknowledge individual differences. It is overly deterministic therefore to suggest that maternal deprivation will always have irreversible negative effects. However it goes against Bowlby’s theory of deprivation that the failure of attachment during the critical period is irreversible

There are also case studies which support Bowlby’s MDH. There are unfortunately many cases of children who have experience maternal deprivations who have gone on to experience negative developmental consequences, thus providing supporting for Bowlby MDH. One famous case is that of ‘Genie ; as reported by Curtiss, 1977. Genie was discovered at the age of 13 when her mother to the social services office. She was severely undernourished and could not stand properly to walk properly. She had spent her life imprisoned in her room by herself. She didn’t get an opportunity to develop her skills and when discovered she improved quickly in some areas but her language did not develop beyond communicating using basic speech. Once again the conclusions of this case studies support Bowlby’s views about the effects of maternal deprivation has major negative effects, such as deprivation dwarfism and intellectual retardation

Finally, a limitation of the theory of maternal deprivation is the poor quality of the evidence it is based on. Bowlby’s 44 thieves study is flawed because it was Bowlby himself who carried out both the family interviews and the assessments for affectionless psychopathy. This left him open to bias because he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy.For example, Bowlby was also influenced by the findings of Goldfarb’s (1943) research on the development of deprived children in wartime orphanages. THis study has problems of confounding variables because the children in Goldfarb’s study had experienced early trauma and institutional care as well as prolonged separation from their PCG. This means that Bowlby’s original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and would not be taken seriously as evidence nowadays

Question 36

Describe the Effects of institutionalisation

Answer 36

• Institutionalisation is the term used by psychologists when referring to the effects of living in an institutional setting such as orphanage, where children live for long, continuous periods of time
• Psychological research has suggested that spending time in an institution may lead to a number of negative developmental consequences. This may be because there is a very little direct emotional care offered to a child.

The effects of instituitonalisaiton:
1. Delayed intellectual development
2. Poor emotional development
3. Relationship problems
4. Soical probelms
5. Deprivation Dwarfism
6. An increased risk of disorganised or disinhibited attachment

Question 37

Can children recover from the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 37

The research seems to suggest that it is difficult for a child to recover from the negative effects of institutionalization. However if certain factors are present;
- the age the child is adopted. If a child is adopted out of the institution before the age of sixth months, the chances of recovering from the negative effects are highest
- The quality of subsequent care is crucial. If a child is adopted into a loving, caring and consistent family, where they receive direct care and attention they is higher chances of recovery
- The less time a child spends in a institution, the more likely they are it recover from the negative effects

Question 38

What is the research into the effects of institutionalisation?

Answer 38

Researching the effects of institutionalization poses problems for psychologists; we cannot set upon an experiment to test the effects as this would be highly unethical. Used Romanian orphans as the orphanages were in poor conditions

Question 39

Outline the Key studies into the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 39

The Bucharest early intervention Project (Zeanah et al 2005)

Aim- to see if the effects on attachment behaviour of institutionalised children

Method and procedure- A natural experiment was adopted, where researchers compared 95 children aged 12-31 months who had been raised in an institution for a significant period of their lives with a control group of 50 children who had not spent any time institutional care
Attachments were measured using Ainsworth’s strange situation. In addition, carers were interviewed about unusual social behaviour, such as clingy, attention seeking behaviour directed inappropriately at adult

Findings- ZEANAH found that 74% of the control group were assessed as Securely attached. Only 19% of the institutionalised group were securely attached. 65% of the institutionalised group were assessed as having Disorganised attachment. 44% of the institutional group were assess as having disinhibited attachment compared to just 20% if the controls

Conclusions- these results seem to suggest that institutional care has negative effects on a child’s attachment behaviour, in that it leads it a higher chance of insecure and disorganized attachments.

Question 40

Outline Rutter’s Era ( Romanian Adoption) Study

Answer 40

Aim- to compare the effects of institutionalization in poor quality institutional and good quality insertions and to see if the effects of institutionalization could be overcome

Procedure- It is a longitudinal study with 165 Romanian orphans and 52 UK orphans which are in a control group (the control group is smaller than the Romanian group). Physical, emotional and cognitive developmental aspects were measured. They were assessed at the ages of 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25 years

Findings- Intellectual development - The age of adoption was related to intellectual developed. Before 6 months- intellectual development can be recovered. These after- have a lower IQ’
Disinhibited attachments - The age of adoption was related to disinhibited attachment.
Before 6 months- Disinhibited attachment can be recovered. After- Poor Attachments

Conclusion - The age at which we are adopted crucial. Children adopted earlier will recover the effects of initialisation . The effects of institutionalization and be undone if children are adopted and receiving considerate care

Question 41

Evaluate the research into the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 41

The Romanian orphan studies / research into the effects of institutionalization has had major real life applications. Studying Romanian orphans has enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation significantly. It has also resulted in a number of IMPROVEMENTS in the way children are cared for in institutions, which has obviously had a number of positive effects (LANGTON 2006). For example, research has led to an increased use of KEY WORKERS – specific individuals who care for specific children. Again this ensures children are given SENSITIVE, appropriate care and that staff recognise the children’s individual needs, giving them the chance to develop normal attachments. Research in this area is a clear example of how Psychology can be immensely valuable and lead to improvements in peoples lives, particularly at risk individuals who have experienced institutionalisation.

Romanian orphan studies have CONFOUNDING VARIABLES than other orphan studies, increasing the INTERNAL VALIDITY of the conclusions There were a number of orphan studies before the Romanian orphan studies, but these often involved children who had been institutionalized due to a range of factors (e.g. loss of parents, emotional trauma, abuse, neglect). The trauma of these experiences may have led to the negative developmental effects, not being raised in an institution (it was difficult for psychologists to disentangle the effects of institutionalisation from the other factors, known as CONFOUNDING PARTICIPANT VARIABLES).The Romanian orphan studies largely did not involve children with these problems (many were placed in the orphanage simple because the families could not afford to keep them). This means we can be more sure that any negative effects are a direct result of the institutionalization. This gives the studies HIGHER INTERNAL VALIDITY.

One limitation of Romanian orphanage studies is the current lack of data on adult development. The latest data from the ERA Study looked at the children in their early- to- mid0 20s. THis means that we do not currently have data to answer some of the most interesting research questions about the long-term effects of early institutional care. The research questions include the lifetime prevalence of mental health problems and participants’ success in forming the lifetime prevalence of mental health problems and participants’ success in forming and maintaining adult romantic and parental relationships. It will take a long time to gather this data because of the longitudinal design of the study. THis means it will be some time before we know more completely what the long-term effects are for the Romanian orphans. It is possible that late-adopted children may ‘catch up

Question 42

Outline the influence of early attachment on child and adult relationships

Answer 42

Psychologists argue that the major importance of our primary attachment is the ability to form subsequent relationships with other people. Bowlby’s idea of an INTERNAL WORKING MODEL and research into the link between early attachment and later relationships.

Bowlby proposed that an attachment allows a child to form a MENTAL REPRESENTATION of their relationship with the PCG. This is called an internal working model because it serves as a model for what relationships are like. The CONTINUITY HYPOTHESIS suggests that a child’s early attachment has a major influence on their later relationships, as it influences aspects such as what to expect in relationships, self esteem and interpersonal trust

Question 43

Outline research into the influence of early attachments on childhood relationships

Answer 43

Kerns (1994)- assessed attachment types of children conducted interviews with teachers and parents to assess childhood friendships. He found that SECURELY ATTACHED children had better quality friendships (e.g. they were more emotionally close and involved aspects such as sharing and empathy) whereas insecurely attached children had fewer friends and difficulties developing friendships.

MYRON-WILSON and SMITH (1998) also found that attachment type predicted BULLYING behaviour. They assessed attachment type using standardized questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 for London. They found; SECURE attachment children were less likely to be involved in bullying. Insecure-Avoidant children were most likely to be VICTIMS of bullying. Insecure-Resistant Children were most likely to be BULLIES THEMSELVES

Question 44

Outline McCarthy study on the influence of early attachment on adult romantic relationships

Answer 44

McCarthy (1992) studied 40 adult women who had their attachment types assessed when they were infants. He then used questionnaires to assess their adult relationships. It was found that adults who were SECURLEY attached as children had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships (e.g. in terms of closeness and trust). Those classified as infants as INSECURE RESITANT had problems MAINTAINING friendships in adulthood, whereas INSECURE –AVOIDANT individuals struggled with intimacy in their relationships.

Question 45

Outline Hazen and Shaver (1987) study on the influence of early attachment on adult romantic relationships

Answer 45

METHOD and PROCEDURE: Hazen and Shaver analysed 620 replies to a ‘Love Quiz’ questionnaire printed in a local American Newspaper – the Colorado Rocky Mountain news. There were three sections to this questionnaire; the first assessed respondents current or most important relationship, the second assessed general experiences of love (e.g. number of partners) and the third assessed attachment type.
FINDINGS: 56% of respondents were identified as SECURELY ATTACHED with 25% INSECURE AVOIDANT and 19% INSECURE RESISTANT.
SECURE ATTACHMENTS were most likely to have long term, generally positive romantic relationships. They believed in love and were not afraid of closeness.
INSECURE AVOIDANT respondents had relationships which were characterized by jealousy and a fear of intimacy. They often doubted the existence of true love and were distant.
INSECURE RESISTANT respondents again had poor adult relationships, with a greater degree found to be controlling and argumentative.
A small percentage of respondents were classified as TYPE D DISORGANISED. This group had CHAOTIC relationships that were explosive, insensitive and most likely to be abusive.

Question 46

Evaluate the influence of early attachment on later relationships

Answer 46

Most studies in this area have issues with VALIDITY. There are issues with the validity of many of the studies in this area. Most studies assess infant-parent attachment using RETROSPECTIVE interviews and questionnaires (i.e. adults are asked about their relationships with their parent in their childhood). This is problematic as as it relies on respondents being HONEST and ACCURATE in their reports – some participants may be influenced by SOCIAL DESIRABILITY (they may give inaccurate answers because they think it is what the researcher wants to hear), others may give inaccurate information because they have simply forgotten certain aspects or over exaggerated specific details (due to the nature and fallibility of memory). This means that evidence about attachments may not be accurate, which lowers the validity of the overall conclusions about the link between early experiences and later relationship

A major issue is that finding an ASSOCIATION (CORRELATION) between early attachments and later adult relationships DOES NOT MEAN CAUSALITY. Research suggests that there is a relationship between early attachment and later relationships. However, this does NOT mean that infant attachment DIRECTLY CAUSES the later relationships observed. There are alternative explanations and factors which may influence later relationships – PARENTING STYLE, NATURAL TEMPERAMENT, LATER EXPERIENCES (e.g. abuse) may all influence later adult relationships, arguably having more of an impact than early attachments. In addition, the relationship is never seen in ALL people, suggesting further that other factors may be involved (e.g. some people with insecure childhood attachments go on to develop secure, functional adult relationships). This is a limitation as it contradicts Bowlby’s views of the internal working model and highlights that we have to take into account many factors, not just early attachments, when discussing what has affected later relationships.