Pre-Lecture 2 Flashcards
Attachment I
What is attachment theory?
The idea that early caregiver child relationships have long term consequences for development
What study did Bowlby conduct in (1947) concerning the importance of early relationships?
retrospective research examining the life histories of 44 juvenile thieves
where 61% of these thieves suffered early prolonged separation from their mothers in childhood
What did Bowlby (1947) conclude?
- Suggested that quality of parental care in early childhood was vita; for mental health
- focused on maternal deprivation (ranging from mild to complete)
What is a primary drive?
Innate drives such as sex, nutrition/hunger/thirst, sleep
Prior to Bowlbly, in the 1950’s how did people view affectional bonds?
‘Secondary’, believed that relationships arose from the reduction of primary drives
Define attachment
A strong affectional bond to a particular other
A strong disposition to seek proximity and contact with another individual
What are attachment behaviours?
Any form of behaviours that results in a person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual
What are proximity seeking behaviours?
crying, smiling, vocalising, reaching
What are proximity maintaining behaviours?
clinging, following, calling
What is the methodological contribution to Attachment?
Laboratory methods for studying attachment behaviour in 12 - 20 month old infants
What are the theoretical contributions to attachment?
- Articulating the concept of responsive, sensitive caregiving
- Identifying individual differences in the quality of attachments between infants and caregivers
What is phase 1 of early attachment? (Bowlby, 1969)
before 3 months
signals, responds to others with limited discrimination
What is phase 2 of early attachment? (Bowlby, 1969)
3-6 months
signals, responds mainly to one or more discriminated figures; begins ‘greeting’ on return and crying on departure
What is phase 3 of early attachment? (Bowlby, 1969)
9 mths - 2 yrs
maintains proximity to discriminated figure; clinging, crying, following
What is phase 4 of early attachment? (Bowlby, 1969)
2.5 yrs
goal corrected partnership; develops some insight into attachment figure’s behaviour. Child formulates ‘internal working model’ of relationship
Define indiscriminate attachment
proximity seeking behaviours towards any adult
Define specific attachment
attachment seeking behaviours such as crying towards specific caregivers
What is the Universality and Normativity hypothesis?
All infants will become attached to one or more caregivers. Secure attachments is common
What is the continuity hypothesis?
Patterns of attachment are stable over lifespan
What is the sensitivity hypothesis?
Early attachment security is dependent on caregivers’ responsiveness to children’s signals
What is the competence hypothesis?
Secure attachment leads to positive outcomes in a variety of domains
What is the difference between attachment behaviours and attachment representations?
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
What studies are examples of attachment behaviour?
Strange Situation
Attachment Q-sort
What studies are examples of attachment representation?
Child attachment interview
Adult attachment interview
What are the 6 key features to consider before measuring attachment?
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
Describe the Ainsworth & Bell (1970) Strange Situation test
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
What behaviours are typically found in attachment research?
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
Name the types of attachment status
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.
Evaluate the reliability of the strange situation procedure
- 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
Evaluate the validity of the strange situation procedure
- 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)
What is the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS)?
- 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
Evaluate the AQS
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
