Pre-Lecture 2

Question 1

What is attachment theory?

Answer 1

The idea that early caregiver child relationships have long term consequences for development

Question 2

What study did Bowlby conduct in (1947) concerning the importance of early relationships?

Answer 2

retrospective research examining the life histories of 44 juvenile thieves

where 61% of these thieves suffered early prolonged separation from their mothers in childhood

Question 3

What did Bowlby (1947) conclude?

Answer 3

• Suggested that quality of parental care in early childhood was vita; for mental health
• focused on maternal deprivation (ranging from mild to complete)

Question 4

What is a primary drive?

Answer 4

Innate drives such as sex, nutrition/hunger/thirst, sleep

Question 5

Prior to Bowlbly, in the 1950’s how did people view affectional bonds?

Answer 5

‘Secondary’, believed that relationships arose from the reduction of primary drives

Question 6

Define attachment

Answer 6

A strong affectional bond to a particular other
A strong disposition to seek proximity and contact with another individual

Question 7

What are attachment behaviours?

Answer 7

Any form of behaviours that results in a person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual

Question 8

What are proximity seeking behaviours?

Answer 8

crying, smiling, vocalising, reaching

Question 9

What are proximity maintaining behaviours?

Answer 9

clinging, following, calling

Question 10

What is the methodological contribution to Attachment?

Answer 10

Laboratory methods for studying attachment behaviour in 12 - 20 month old infants

Question 11

What are the theoretical contributions to attachment?

Answer 11

• Articulating the concept of responsive, sensitive caregiving
• Identifying individual differences in the quality of attachments between infants and caregivers

Question 12

What is phase 1 of early attachment? (Bowlby, 1969)

Answer 12

before 3 months

signals, responds to others with limited discrimination

Question 13

What is phase 2 of early attachment? (Bowlby, 1969)

Answer 13

3-6 months

signals, responds mainly to one or more discriminated figures; begins ‘greeting’ on return and crying on departure

Question 14

What is phase 3 of early attachment? (Bowlby, 1969)

Answer 14

9 mths - 2 yrs

maintains proximity to discriminated figure; clinging, crying, following

Question 15

What is phase 4 of early attachment? (Bowlby, 1969)

Answer 15

2.5 yrs

goal corrected partnership; develops some insight into attachment figure’s behaviour. Child formulates ‘internal working model’ of relationship

Question 16

Define indiscriminate attachment

Answer 16

proximity seeking behaviours towards any adult

Question 17

Define specific attachment

Answer 17

attachment seeking behaviours such as crying towards specific caregivers

Question 18

What is the Universality and Normativity hypothesis?

Answer 18

All infants will become attached to one or more caregivers. Secure attachments is common

Question 19

What is the continuity hypothesis?

Answer 19

Patterns of attachment are stable over lifespan

Question 20

What is the sensitivity hypothesis?

Answer 20

Early attachment security is dependent on caregivers’ responsiveness to children’s signals

Question 21

What is the competence hypothesis?

Answer 21

Secure attachment leads to positive outcomes in a variety of domains

Question 22

What is the difference between attachment behaviours and attachment representations?

Answer 22

behaviour - measures are focused on observable attachment behaviours of children

representations - our state of mind or how we think about the close relationships we have with other people

Question 23

What studies are examples of attachment behaviour?

Answer 23

Strange Situation
Attachment Q-sort

Question 24

What studies are examples of attachment representation?

Answer 24

Child attachment interview
Adult attachment interview

Question 25

What are the 6 key features to consider before measuring attachment?

Answer 25

Presence/Absence (of attachment) vs Individual differences (in attachment) Form (maintaining proximity) vs Function (will it be the similar/diff at diff ages) Behaviour vs Representation

Question 26

Describe the Ainsworth & Bell (1970) Strange Situation test

Answer 26

1-2 year olds Mum + child enter Stranger enters Mother leaves Mother enters + Stranger leaves Mother leaves (child alone) Stranger enters Mother returns + stranger leaves

Question 27

What behaviours are typically found in attachment research?

Answer 27

Proximity and Contact Seeking - Approaching, Gesturing, Vocal Signals Contact Maintaining - Clinging, Embracing, Clutching Proximity and Interaction Avoiding - Looking Away, Turning Away, Moving Away Contact and Interaction Resisting - Pushing Away, Kicking, Hitting, Screaming, Squirming Searching Behaviour - Orienting to door, Banging on door, Looking at empty chair

Question 28

Name the types of attachment status

Answer 28

Secure (60%) - may or may not cry upon separation. quick and positive reaction to reunion. contact with caregiver reduces distress. Avoidant (15%) - no distress when separated from caregiver. does not approach caregiver at reunion. treats caregiver and stranger similarly. Resistant (10%) - marked distress when separated from caregiver. resists contact from caregiver at reunion. contact with caregiver does not reduce distress. disorganised (15%) - no consistent behaviour during separation. no consistent pattern of behaviour during reunion. may react to caregiver with disorientation/fear.

Question 29

Evaluate the reliability of the strange situation procedure

Answer 29

* Consistency across observers (85-100%) * Consistency over time ○ Low test-retest reliability (2 weeks) ○ 12-18 month test-retest reliability (Waters, 1978) § Moderate rank- order stability in attachment behaviour Kappa of .92 in A/B/C classification

Question 30

Evaluate the validity of the strange situation procedure

Answer 30

* Narrow window for valid assessment (12-20m) * Convergent: correlates with individual differences in attachment behaviours in other settings (Ainsworth et al., 1978) *Discriminant: Security shows weak associations with child negative temperament (d = .08) (Groh et al., 2017)

Question 31

What is the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS)?

Answer 31

* Individual differences in 'secure base' behaviour in natural settings * Suitable for children age 12-48 months * Detailed observations at home lasting between 1.5 - 2 hr on at least two occasions * Researcher sorts a set of cards (75 - 100 items) * Child compared against prototype secure child profile * Calculate continuous score between -1 to +1 representing correlation between child's profile and that of secure child

Question 32

Evaluate the AQS

Answer 32

Strengths * suited for 12-48 mths and can be used on repeated occasions * test-retest stability r=.50 * convergent validity with SSP when rated by observers r=.40 * discriminant validity with temperament r = .21 Limitations * lengthy (>3h) observations needed * caregivers do not give valid ratings * no distinction between types of insecurity