paper 1- C - attachment Flashcards
attachment meaning?
an emotional relationship between two people characterised by proximity seeking and resulting in the feeling of security in the presence of each other
proximity meaning?
physical closeness
secure- base behaviour meaning?
even if independent infants will regularly return to their attachment figure
separation anxiety meaning?
visible distress when an attachment figure leaves
What is reciprocity?
when an infant/caregiver respond to eachother’s actions/words
= turn taking behaviour
What is interactional synchrony?
= when the infant and caregiver are in sync
=they follow the same patterns of interaction
=mirroring eachother
= they observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants from 2 weeks
=an adult displayed 1 of 3 expression/gesture
=the childs response was filmed and observed
=they found that there was a link between the adults expression/gesture and the babies response
Isabella et al experiment?
=observed 30 mothers and infants and assessed their synchrony
=also assessed the attachment between the infant and mother
=high levels of synchrony was seen between the better attached mother and infants
Parent - infant attachment experiment? Emerson and shaffer results?
- infants do normally form attachments to their mothers first
-after this within a few weeks/months they would form a secondary attachment
-
Emerson and Schaffers stages of attachment experiment?
aim= investigate formation of attachments in particular the age they were formed and with who and the emotional intensity
method= studied 60 babies, all from Glasgow working class families.
=babies visited in their homes every month for a year and then at 18months
=the mothers kept diarys on their child’s behaviours to look at how they were when left and doing normal activities
findings = between 25-32 weeks 50% of babies showed signs of seperation anxiety
=attachments were mainly to people that cared for the baby the best and responded to their needs and not who spent the most time with them
What are Emerson and Shaffers stages of attachment?
1.asocial stage
2.indiscriminate attachment
3.specific attachment
4.multiple attachments
What happens in the asocial stage of emerson and shaffers stages?
=behaviour to human and non human objects are similar
=babies happy in the presence of humans
=show preference to familiar adults
Whats the indiscriminate attachment stage in emerson and shaffers stages?
=2-7 months
=prefer people of inanimate objects
=recognise and prefer familiar adults
=accept comfort from any adult
=dont show stranger anxiety
Whats the specific attachment stage in emerson and shaffers stages?
=from around 7 months
=start to show stranger anxiety
=and separation anxiety
=forms a specific attachment (primary attachment figure)
=this is a person who responds to the babys signals
whats the multiple attachment stage in emerson and shaffer stages?
=start to form secondary attachments to multiple people
=29% of babies for secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment
Evaluation for emerson and shaffer attachment stages?
STRENGTH= good external validity
=carried out in the babies homes and most observations where done by the parents during normal activities
=this means the babies would not change their behaviour
WEAKNESS= limited sample characteristics
=there were 60 babies observed
=however, they were all from the same district and class and was 50 years ago
=material cannot be generalised
WEAKNESS= problem observing asocial stage
=babies at this stage have poor co-ordination and mobility so they are immobile
=this means there is not much observable behaviour
STRENGTH= study carried out longitudinally
=this means the same participants are observed every time
=has good internal validity
definition of primary caregiver?
spends the most time with the baby
definition of primary attachment figure?
baby has the strongest attachment to them
What did Emerson and Shaffer discover for role of the father?
-most babies formed their first attachment to their mother
-after a few weeks/months the baby would then form secondary attachment like with their father
-75% of babies had formed an attachment to their father by 18 months
-29% of infants formed secondary attachments by 10/11 months
What was Grossmans investigation in the role of the father? and findings?
method
-carried out a longitudinal study
-looked into the behaviour of the parent and how that related to their attachment in teens
FINDINGS
-the quality of the attachment with the mum related to their attachments later on in life but the fathers did not
-the amount the father would play with the infant did impact their attachments
later on
What dis Field discover involving the role of the father?
PROCEDURE
-fathers can adapt to be the main caregiver
-they can adapt behaviours that are associated with mothers
-she filmed 4 month old babies having face-to-face interactions with primary caregiver mothers and fathers and secondary attachment fathers
FINDINGS
-primary fathers spent more time smiling’s and holding the infant than the secondary fathers
-shows that attachments are based on gender but responsiveness
Rohner and venesiano investigation relating to the role of the father?
-looked into attachments with fathers
-found that mother love and father love are equally important
-father love is important for social competence and academic achievement
Geiger investigation on role of the father?
-mother attachment was more nurturing
-fathers attachment focused more on play
-mother and father provide the infant different things and one cannot replace the other
Verissimo et al investigation on the role of the father?
-the father cannot just be present he needs to be a good father
-the quality of the attachment is important
-he studied 35 families
-if the attachment was of a good quality there was a positive correlation with the amount of friends made at pre-school
Gottman investigation on role of the father?
-looked at daughters of heterosexual and homosexual couples (lesbian)
-there were no major differences between them involving social adjustment or orientation even with a lack of a father figure
imprinting meaning?
when an animal thinks the first moving thing is their mother so follows it
critical period for lorenz?
-imprinting had to happen in a certain amount of time or it wouldn’t happen
-he believed it mainly happened in the first 13-16 hrs and the cut off was after 32 hrs
evaluation of the role of the father?
WEAKNESS- inconsistent studies
=all researchers are interested in different areas
-this can cause confusion as they dont lead all to the same thing
WEAKNESS-children without a father are not different
=grossman
=he found fathers have an important role and are secondary attachments
=gottman
-found that children without a father have no differences
-suggests the father role isnt important
Whats the investigation done by Lorenz on imprinting?
PROCEDURE
-used a classic experiment
-randomly split the goose eggs up
-half the eggs hatched with the mother in a natural environment
-the other half hatched in an incubator first seeing Lorenz
FINDINGS
-lorenz group followed him after hatching and the control group followed the mother
-when all the geese where mixed they still separated and followed either lorenz or the mother
=the geese imprinted so were following who they thought was their mother so that they survived
evaluation of Lorenz investigation?
STRENGTH= practical application
=can be applied to animals and demonstrates how attachments are formed
WEAKNESS= cannot be generalised
=birds cannot be generalised to humans as we are different species, mammal attachments are different to birds
=mammal mothers show more emotional attachments to their infant than birds
=cannot be generalised to humans
WEAKNESS= some of lorenz observations have been questioned
=imprinting may not be permanent
=Guition imprinted birds to washing up gloves and they did try to mate with them but later on changed to prefer other birds
Harlow’s investigation on animal studies?
METHOD
-reared 16 monkeys with 2 wired mothers
-in one condition milk was dispensed by the wire model and the other condition milk was dispensed by the cloth covered wire mother
FINDINGS
=babies cuddled cloth mothers over wired ones
=found comfort off the cloth one when frightened even if it didn’t dispense milk
=found that comfort wad more important than food
In Harlows experiment on the monkeys what happened in adulthood?
they were maternally deprived
=this lead to severe consequences
=more aggressive, less sociable and bred less
=as mothers they attacked their children and sometimes killed them
What did Harlow think of the critical period?
=90 days
=after this attachment wasn’t possible
Evaluation of Harlows research?
STRENGTH
=PRACTICAL APPLICATION
-shown social workers risk factors of neglected children so they will intervene and prevent it
WEAKNESS
=ETHICAL ISSUES
-the monketys used were impacted largely
-harlow was well aware of the harm he caused
-knew it would torture them
WEAKNESS
=CANNOT BE GENERALISED
-based off monkeys not humans so may be slight differences
what is classical conditioning?
learning through association
how is classical conditioning used to form attachments?
-the baby is given an unconditioned stimuli (food)
-the baby then displays an unconditioned response (being happy from being fed)
-the caregiver is a neutral stimuli giving the food
-the baby will start to associate the caregiver with the food and making them a conditioned stimuli
-this leads to pleasure a conditioned response
whats operant conditioning?
learning through punishment and rewards
how are attachments formed through positive reinforcement?
- baby cries for attention
2.caregiver feeds the baby as its crying - baby learns to cry to get food
=attachment happens as the baby relies on the caregiver for food which is a reward
how are attachments formed through negative reinforcement?
1.caregiver knows to stop the baby crying they should feed it
=attachment formed through ‘cupboard love’ attachment is based on providing food
Evaluation of the Learning theory?
WEAKNESS= HARLOW STDUDY
=not all infants will imprint on those who feed them
=monkeys attached to the mother that gave them comfort not food
=food doesnt form attachments
WEAKNESS- SCHAFFER AND EMERSON
-feeding isnt important
-they saw that babies attached to their mother first even though others mainly fed the baby
WEAKNESS -IGNORES OTHER FACTORS
=attachment is associated with reciprocity and interactional synchrony
=best attachments are with sensitive parents
=attachment is based on food
Why did Bowlby reject the idea of the learning theory for attachments?
as he he said that a baby should be attached to who feeds them then however this is not the case
Whats Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
that attachment is an innate system that provides survival advantages
= imprinting on a caregiver provides the infant with protection
What are the stages of Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
- adaptative
- social releasers
3.critical period
4.monotropy
4.internal working model
What is the monotropy stage in Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
this is when the infant forms an important attachments with one primary caregiver that is stronger than other attachments
=this was developed by spending time with each other
Whats Bowlby’s law of continuity?
the more consistent and predictable a child’s care is the better the quality of the attachment
What’s Bowlby’s law of accumulated separation?
the effects of each separation from the mother add up
What is the stage of social releasers in Bowlby’s theory mean?
= he believed babies are born with cute features (smiling, cooing, big eyes ) these get the attention of adults
=they are used to make the adult feel attached to the baby
= both adults and babies are innate to forming attachments social releasers encourage this
What is the critical period in Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
What is the internal working model in Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
- children use their relationship with their caregiver as a model for future relationships
-people also raise their children/parent how they were treated by their parents
Evaluation of Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment?
Weakness - Schaffer and Emerson
= they did find that infants do form one attachment
=however they found a minority that could form multiple attachments at the same time as their first
Strength- internal working model Bailey etal
=looked at 99 mothers with one year old babies
=looked at the mothers attachments to their mothers with an interview
=they then used observation to look at the attachment of the mother and baby
=mothers who had poor attachments with their mother were more likely to have poor attachments with their baby
weakness- monotropy is socially sensitive
=mothers may want to go back however they have been told that any separation from their child could cause issues to their child this could push mothers into a lifestyle of not returning to work
meaning of maternal deprivation?
the emotional and intellectual issues that appear from separation of the mother and infant
What was Bowlby’s quote on his maternal deprivation theory?
“mother-love in infancy and childhood is as important as for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health”
what’s separation in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory?
= when the infant is away from the caregiver this doesn’t cause issues unless they are deprived of care
whats Bowlby;s critical period in his maternal deprivation theory?
=he believed that the first 30 months of life were the critical period
=psychological damage would happen if the baby was separated from the cargiver and care
how did Bowlby think maternal deprivation affects an infant intellectually?
=delayed intellectual development
=low IQ
how did Bowlby think maternal deprivation affects infants emotionally?
=could become an affectionless psychopath
=they do not feel guilt for others and lack empathy for others feelings
=lack remorse for their actions
=more likely to be a criminal
What is Bowlby’s 44 thieves experiment?
PROCEDURE
-studied 44 teenage criminals accused of stealing
-interviewed to see of they had a lack of guilt for what they did and lack of empathy for their victims
-families also interviewed to see if they had prolonger separation from caregiver
-their results were compared to a control group of non-criminals but they were emotionally disturbed
FINDINGS
-14/44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths
-12/14 had experiences prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of life
=prolonged separation caused affectionless psychopaths
what did Bowlby believe about evolution of babies for attachments?
=infants are innate to form attachments
=infants that don’t attach will have implications when they are older
whats the Genie Wiley feral child case study?
=she was unable to speak/function in society
=she was shielded from the world
=she slept in a crib with wires
=she looked 6 at 14
=she was not allowed to cry
what is the koluchova twins case study?
=kept in a basement isolated
=5 years in the basement only had each other
=1967 the father took one of the twins to the doctor so he didn’t have to attend school
=doctor saw he looked 3 but was 7 and lacked speech
=they were taken off parents abd placed in a new home
whats the adaptation stage in Bowlbys maternal deprivation theory?
=species has an adaptive advantage making us likely to survive as if infants have an attachment they are fed and kept safe and warm
Evaluation of Bowlbys maternal deprivation theory?
weakness- poor sample
=his sample size was small and hand picked by him so could have researcher bias
=they were also ww2 children that could have caused them development issues and not separation
srength
=high internal validity as Bowlby did the research himself it stuck by what the aim of the study was
strength
application to real life
hospitals in 1950 only 25% allowed daily visits as apparently is caused the child to become distressed
