psychology attachement

Question 1

what is reciprocity and an example?

Answer 1

Reciprocity is achieved when a baby and caregiver respond to and elicit responses for each other Eg: A caregiver responds to a babys smile by saying something and then the baby responds by making sounds of pleasure

Question 2

Interactional synchrony and an example ?

Answer 2

Temporal co-ordination of micro level social behaviour eg: baby and caregiver mirror each others behaviour

Question 3

research interactional synchrony ?

Answer 3

Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as two weeks old .
Adults displayed one of the three facial expressions or one of the three gestures.
Baby expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults than chance would predict .

Question 4

importance of attachement study ?

Answer 4

Isabella et al observed 30 mothers and babies and assessed the degree of synchrony .
The researcher also assessed the quality of mother-baby attachment .
They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment . eg: the emotional intensity of the relationship

Question 5

strength of interactional synchrony ? A03

Answer 5

Mother-baby interactions are usually filmed , often from multiple angles . Very fine details of the behaviour can be analysed and recorded later . Also babies dont know they are being observed , so their behaviour does not change in response to observation . This means the study has good realibility and validity .

Question 6

Limitation A03

Answer 6

It is very hard to observe babies because they are not very co-ordinated we just observe small gestures and small changes in expression . It also hard to interpret the meanings of babies movements Eg: deciding if a hand movement is a response to the caregiver or a random twitch . This means we cannot be certain that any particular interactions observed between baby and caregiver are meaningful

Question 7

Limitation A03

Answer 7

Feldman 2012 points out that synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviours that occur at the same time . These are robust phenomena in the sense that they can not be reliably observed , but this may not be useful as it does not tell us their purpose . This means that we cannot be certain from observations that reciprocity and interactional synchrony are important in development .

Question 8

schaffers stages of Attachement

How many stages ?

Answer 8

Stage 1: A social stage (First few weeks)
Baby behaviour towards people and inanimate objects is quite similar

Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment (2-7mnths)
Babies now display more observable social behaviour , with a preference of people rather than inanimate objects .
-They recognise ad prefer familiar people & do not show stranger or separational anxiety .

Stage 3: specific attachment (around 7mnths)
stranger and separational anxiety shown when separated from one particular person

stage 4: Multiple attachments (by one year)
secondary attachments form with other adults shortly after
In Schaffer and Emerson study , 29% babys had multiple attachments within a month of forming a specific attachment

Question 9

Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment study experiment ?

Answer 9

60 babies from Glasgow ,most from working class families . Researchers visited babies and mothers at home every month for a year and again at 18 months .
separation anxiety measured by asking mothers about their child behaviour during everyday separation Eg: Adult leaving the room
Stranger anxiety was measured was measured by asking mothers questions about their children anxiety response to unfamiliar adults .
Finding and conclusions:
Babies developed attachments through a sequence of stages . Specific attachment tended to be to the person who was most interactive and sensitive to babies, not necessarily with the person spends the most time with .

Question 10

strength of Schaffer and Emerson
A03
High external validity

Answer 10

Most of the observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers . The alternative would be to have observers present in the babies home . This may have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious . This means it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed

Question 11

Limitation A03:
poor evidence for Asocial stage

Answer 11

Because of their stage of physical development young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile . This makes it difficult for mothers to accurately report signs of anxiety and attachment for this age group. This means the baby might actually be quite social . because of flawed methods .

Question 12

Strength: A03
Real world application to day care

Answer 12

In the early stages (asocial and indiscriminate) babies can be comforted by any skilled adult . But if a child starts day care later, during the stage of specific attachments care from an unfamiliar adult may cause distress and long term problems . This means Schaffer and Emerson stages can help parents make day care decisions

Question 13

Role of the Father A01

Answer 13

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that Majority of babies became attached to their mothers first .
-75% formed secondary attachments with the father by the age of 18 months.

Question 14

Distinctive role for the father research

A01

Answer 14

Grossmann et al (2002) carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of childrens attachment into their teens.
This research found that quality of attachment with the father was less important for adolescent attachments than the quality of attachment with mothers.
Therefore fathers may be less important in long term emotional development .
However:
Grossman et al found the quality of fathers play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachment .
This suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment , one that is more to do with play and stimulation
and less to with emotional care.

Question 15

Fathers as the main caregiver research?

Answer 15

Some evidence suggests that when fathers do take on the role of being the main caregiver they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers .
Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies and found that primary caregiver fathers ,like mothers .Spent more time smiling ,imitating and holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers
These behaviours are related to interactional synchrony and the formation of an emotional attachment . (Isabella et al (1989)

Question 16

Limitation role of the father A03 ?
Confusion over research questions

Answer 16

Some psychologists want to understand the role of the father as secondary attachment figures. But others are more concerned with fathers as primary attachment figures . The former have tended to see fathers as behaving differently from mothers and having a distinct role. The latter have found that fathers can take on the maternal role . This means psychologists cannot easily answer the question What is the role of the father?

Question 17

Limitation conflicting evidence from different methodologies A03?

Answer 17

Grossman et al (2002) suggest fathers have a distinct role in childrens development , involving play and stimulation . However McCallum and Golombok (2004) found that children without a father do not develop differently . This means the questions of whether father have a distinct role remains unanswered .

Question 18

Strength using findings in parenting advice A03?

Answer 18

Mothers may feel more pressured to stay at home and fathers to focus on work . This may not be the best solution for all families . Research on the flexibility of the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents. This means that parental anxiety about the role of the father can be reduced and parenting decisions made easier .

Question 19

Lorenz (1952) Imprinting procedure and findings ?

Answer 19

Lorenz randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs .
-One half were hatched with the mother in their natural environment.
-Other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz .
-Mixed all the goslings together to see whom they would follow
_Lorenz also observed birds and their later courtship behaviour .
Finding:
-Incubator group followed Lorenz , control group followed their mother .
-Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place Eg: few hours after hatching.
-If imprinting did not occur within that time , chicks did not attach themselves to the mother figure .

Question 20

strength Lorenz A03

Answer 20

Regolin and Vallortigara exposed chicks to similar shape combinations that moved . When shown a range of moving shapes the chicks followed these in preference to other shapes. This suggests that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object .

Question 21

Limitation Lorenz A03

Answer 21

The mammalian attachment system is quite different from imprinting in birds . For example: mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to their young. This means that it may not be appropriate to generalise Lorenz Idea about imprinting to humans

Question 22

Harlow (1958) Importance of contact comfort

Answer 22

Harlow reared 16 rhesus monkeys with two wire model mothers
Condition 1: Milk was dispensed by plain wire model
Condition 2: Milk was dispensed by cloth covered mother
-The monkeys preferences were measured .
-To measure attachment behaviour Harlow observed how the monkeys reacted when placed in frightening conditions.
Findings:
-Baby monkey cuddled the cloth mother in preference to the plain wire mother regardless of which dispensed milk . This suggests that contact comfort was more of an importance than food when it came to attachment behaviour .
-As adults the monkeys who had bee deprived from their real mother suffered severe consequences -They were more aggressive , less sociable

Question 23

strength Harlow A03

Answer 23

It has helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and intervene how to prevent it (Howe1998) . We also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoo and breeding programmes . This means that Harlow research has benefited both animals and humans .

Question 24

Limitation Harlow A03

Answer 24

Monkeys are clearly more similar to humans than Lorenz geese and all mammals share some similarities in their attachment system . However they are not human and in some ways human mind and behaviour are much more complex . This means that it may not be appropriate to generalise Harlows findings to human

Question 25

Explanations of attachment : Learning theory

Answer 25

importance food: Cupboard love emphasises the importance of food in attachment.

Question 26

Role of classical conditioning?

Answer 26

Classical conditioning involves learning to associate two stimuli .
-UCS (food) leads to UCR (a feeling of pleasure) . This response is not learned so it is an unconditioned response .
-A caregiver mother starts as a NS (produces no response)
-When the caregiver provides food overtime (The NS becomes CS)
-once conditioning has taken place the caregiver produces a CR (sense of pleasure) .
-According to a learning theorist , the conditioned pleasure response is the basis of love

Question 27

Negative reinforcement ?

Answer 27

At the same time as the baby is reinforced for crying , the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops .

Question 27

Role of operant conditioning?

Answer 27

Operant conditioning explain why babies cry for comfort .
-Crying leads to a response from the caregiver eg: feeding. , Crying is reinforced because it provides a pleasurable consequence .

Question 28

Drive reduction ?

Answer 28

Hunger is a primary drive ,an innate biological motivator . We are motivated to eat to reduce hunger drive .
Attachment is a secondary drive learned by association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of primary drive . Sears et al (1957) suggested that as caregivers provide food . the primary drive of food
become generalised to them .

Question 29

Limitation A03 learning theory is counter evidence for animal studies

Answer 29

Lorenz geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw . Harlow monkeys attached to a soft surrogate in preference to a wire one with milk. In both of these animals studies imprinting/Attachment did not develop as a result of feeding . This shows that factors other than feeding are important in attachment formation.

Question 30

Limitation A03 counter evidence for human studies ?

Answer 30

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) showed that for many babies their main attachment was not to the person who fed them . Also Isabella et al (1989) found interactional synchrony predicted attachment quality . This suggests that other factors are important in attachment formation than feeding

Question 31

strength

Answer 31

It seems unlikely that association with food is central to attachment however conditioning may still play some role in attachment . Eg; A baby choice of primary attachment figure may be determined by the fact that a caregiver becomes associated with warmth and comfort . This means that conditioning could still be more important in choice of attachment figure .

Question 32

Bowlby monotropic theory A01

Answer 32

Bowlby theory is described as monotropic because of the emphasis of a childs attachment to one caregiver (mono=one) , tropic (leaning towards) . This attachment is different from others and are more important .

Question 33

what are two reasons bowlby believed about primary attachment figure ?

Answer 33

Bowlby believed the more time a baby spent with the primary attachment figure ; two main reasons
1) Laws of continuity- The more constant a childs care, the better the quality of attachment
2)Laws of accumulated separation-The effects of every seperations adds up

Question 34

purpose of social releaser ?

Answer 34

Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate cute behaviours eg; smiling,gripping that encourage attention from adults.
-The purpose of these social releasers is to activate social interactions

Question 35

Critical period duration ?

Answer 35

Bowlby proposed that there is acritical period of about two years when the infant attacgment system is active