Practical 1 - Attachment

Question 1

What did Bowlby say is the Primacy of attachment?

Answer 1

“Mother love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins are for physical health” Bowlby, 1952

Question 2

What did Harlow say is the Primacy of Attachment?

Answer 2

“Psychologists, at least psychologists who write textbooks, not only show no interest in the origin and development of love or affection, but they seem to be unaware of its very existence.” Harlow, 1058

Question 3

What is Harlow’s Monkeys experiment?

Answer 3

• Shows primary drive isn’t just about food
• Monkeys separated from mothers and given surrogates (cloth and wire)
• Cloth for love, wire for food

Question 4

What are the four different types of attachments suggested by Ainsworth?

Answer 4

• Secure
• Avoidant
• Ambivalent
• Disorganised

Question 5

Children living under high risk conditions have a

Answer 5

Low secure and highly disorganised attachment

Question 6

Study on disorganised attachment - Maselle et al 2017

Answer 6

Increased levels of inflammation among infants with disorganized histories of attachment

Early life adversity is associated with elevated inflammatory markers such as circulating levels of C-reactive protein (CRP).

• Infants with disorganized attachments histories and those exhibiting disorganized and avoidant behaviors had elevated levels of salivary CRP.
• Exposure to early adversity may engender a pro-inflammatory phenotype in infancy, with implications for later health.

Question 7

What is an example of anxious attachment - Oskis et al 2011

Answer 7

Anxious attachment style and salivary cortisol dysregulation in healthy female children and adolescents

Question 8

What are the 8 stages of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Procedure?

Answer 8

1. Parent and infant are introduced to the experimental room.
2. Parent and infant are alone. Parent does not participate while infant explores.
3. Stranger enters, talks with parent, then approaches infant. Parent leaves.
4. First separation episode: Stranger with infant.
5. First reunion episode: Parent greets and comforts infant, then leaves again.
6. Second separation episode: Infant left alone.
7. Continuation of second separation episode: Stranger enters.
8. Second reunion episode: Parent enters, greets infant, and picks up infant; stranger leaves conspicuously.