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Psychology > Unit 3 - Attachment > Flashcards

Unit 3 - Attachment Flashcards

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1
Q

What is attachment ?

A

is a close emotional relationship between an infant and their caregiver

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2
Q

What are the 3 features of caregiver-infant interaction?

A

1 - interactional synchrony
2 - reciprocity/ turn-taking
3 - motherese

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3
Q

What is interactional synchrony?

A

infants react in time with the caregiver’s speech, resulting in a ‘conversation dance’.

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4
Q

What is reciprocity?

A

interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant

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5
Q

What is motherese?

A

the slow, high-pitched way of speaking into infants.

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6
Q

What are the stages of Schaffer’s in attachment formation?

A

1 - indiscriminate attachments
2 - the beginnings of attachment
3 - discriminate attachments
4 - multiple attachments

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7
Q

What is the indiscriminate attachment stage?

A
  • until about 2 months

- similar responses to all objects

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8
Q

What is the beginnings of attachment stage?

A
  • between 6 months and 7 months
  • infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people
  • smiling at familiar faces rather than strangers
  • still no strong preferences about who gives care
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9
Q

What is the discriminant (or single) attachment phase?

A
  • from 7 to 11 months
  • the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual, this is shown by being consent when that person is around, distressed when leave and happy when they return.
  • may be scared of strangers and try to avoid them
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10
Q

What is the multiple attachment phase?

A
  • from about 9 months
  • infant can form attachments to many different people
  • some attachments might be stronger than others and have different functions
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11
Q

What is the study which supports evidence for attachment stages?

A

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

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12
Q

What is the method of the study by Schaffer and Emerson?

A
  • 60 babies observed in their homes in Glasgow every four weeks from birth to about 18 months
  • interviews also conducted with their families
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13
Q

What were the results of the study by Schaffer and Emerson?

A
  • Schaffer’s stages of attachment were found to occur
  • at 8 months of age about 50 of the infants had more than one attachment
  • about 20 had no attachment with their mother or has a stronger attachment with someone else, even though the mother was the main carer
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14
Q

What was the conclusion from the study by Schaffer and Emerson?

A
  • infants form attachments in stages and can eventually attach to many people.
  • quality of care is important in forming attachments, so the infant may not attach to their mother if other people respond more accurately to signals
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15
Q

What are the weaknesses of the Schaffer and Emerson study?

A

limited sample
evidence from interviews and observations might be biased and unreliable
cross-cultural differences are not considered - Tronick et al found that infants in Zaire has a strong attachment to their mothers by 6 months but didn’t have a strong bond with others

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16
Q

What did Schaffer and Emerson find?

A
  • mother was only primary caregiver for only half of the infants
  • a third of infants preferred their father
  • the rest had their strongest attachment with their grandparents or siblings
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17
Q

What are 2 studies that supported the father plays an important role?

A

Goodsell and Meldrum - conducted a large study into the relationship between infants and their fathers. They found that those with a secure attachment to their mother are also more likely to have a secure attachment to their father

Ross et al - showed that a number of nappies changed was positively correlated to the strength of their attachment. This was supported by Caldera who investigated 60 fathers and mothers and their 14 month old infants. Found if the father was more involved in caregiver activities they were much more likely to develop a strong attachment

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18
Q

What are the 2 animals studies of attachment?

A

Lorenz Geese

Harlow’s monkeys

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19
Q

What did Lorenz find?

A

that geese were automatically ‘attached’ to the first moving thing they see after hatching, and follow it everywhere. This is called imprinting

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20
Q

What was the method of Lorenz study?

A
  • randomly divided some greylag goose eggs into two groups
  • left one with mother and incubated the other
  • he observed that the goslings from the incubator followed him around exactly like the other eggs would follow their mother
  • put both sets of goslings together and observed that when they were released, the two groups quickly re-formed as the goslings went off to find their respective ‘mothers’.
  • both sets of goslings had imprinted on the first moving object that they had seen
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21
Q

What did Lorenz determine by further studies?

A

imprinting occurs between 13 and 16 hours after hatching

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22
Q

What did Harlow show?

A

that comfort is important in attachment

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23
Q

What was the method for Harlow’s study?

A
  • aimed to find out whether baby monkeys would prefer a source of food or comfort and protection as an attachment figure.
  • in a laboratory experiments rhesus monkeys were raised in isolation
  • they had 2 surrogate mothers, one made of wire and contained food or one made of cloth but didn’t have food
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24
Q

What were the results of Harlow’s study?

A
  • the monkeys spent most time on the cloth surrogate and only used the other one to feed
  • the cloth surrogate seened to give them comfort in new situations
  • when monkeys grew up they showed signs of social and emotional disturbance
  • the females were bad mother who were often violent towards their offspring
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25
Q

What was the conclusion of the Harlow’s study?

A
  • infant monkeys formed more of an attachment with a figure that provided comfort and protection.
  • growing up in isolation affected their development
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26
Q

What were the strengths of the Harlow’s study?

A

lab study - strict control on variables. Means that it’s unlikely the results were affected by unknown variable

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27
Q

What were the weaknesses of the Harlow’s study?

A

low ecological validity - cannot generalise findings to humans, because human and monkeys are qualitatively different. Also the fact that the monkeys were isolated means that they were not in their natural environment so results cannot be applied to real life

ethical problems - monkeys were put into stressful situations, and later showed signs of being psychologically damaged by the experiment. Monkeys are social animals so it is unfair to keep them in isolation. Due to ethical guidelines this cannot be replicated to see if we would get the same results now

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28
Q

What changed in Harlow’s and Zimmerman further research?

A

he added a fearful stimulus

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29
Q

What were the results in Harlow’s and Zimmerman further research?

A
  • monkey would cling to cloth surrogate before exploring the toy
  • in the cage where there was only a wire surrogate the monkey would either freeze or run wildly around
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30
Q

What was the conclusion found from Harlow’s and Zimmerman further research?

A

that a strong attachment with a primary caregiver is therefore highly important in the development of an infant

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31
Q

What was the method of Harlow’s and Sumoi research?

A

investigated other factors which generated strong attachment
- when they placed a cloth surrogate with food and a cloth surrogate without food, they found that the one with food was preferred

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32
Q

What was the conclusion found from Harlow’s and Sumoi further research?

A

food may still be a significant factor in developing attachment

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33
Q

What does conditioning give an explanation for?

A

how attachments formed

34
Q

What does the learning theory focus on?

A

on the baby wanting its needs fulfilled

35
Q

What is classical conditioning ?

A

learning through associations between different things in our environment

36
Q

Explain the steps through how an association is formed between mother and food

A
  • getting food naturally gives the baby pleasure
  • the baby’s desire for food is met when mother is around to feed
  • so whenever the mother is around the baby will feel pleasure
37
Q

Who created operant conditioning for attachment?

A

Dollard and Miller

38
Q

What did Dollard and Miller claim?

A

that babies feel discomfort when they’re hungry and so have the desire to get food to remove the discomfort

39
Q

What did Dollard and Miller find?

A

that if babies cry their mother will come and feed them - so their discomfort is removed (negative reinforcement)

40
Q

What are the strengths of the learning theory ?

A
  • has lots of support from scientific research

- Bowlby’s theory supports

41
Q

What are the 2 things in the learning theory?

A

classical conditioning

operant conditioning

42
Q

What are the weaknesses of the learning theory ?

A
  • reductionist - tries to explain complex attachments using simple stimulus-response processes
  • lots of research uses animals - which cannot be generalised
  • Schaffer and Emerson’s findings do not fully support this. In their study, half of the infants didn’t have their mothers as primary caregiver
43
Q

What did Bowlby create?

A

the monotropic theory of attachment is an evolutionary theory

44
Q

What are the several claims that Bowlby made?

A

1 - attachment can be explained by evolution
2 - we can create one special attachment (monotropic attachment)
3 - we can create an internal working model of attachment
4 - there is a critical period for attachment

45
Q

How can attachment be explained by evolution?

A

we have evolved a biological need to attach our main caregiver
- this has developed through natural selection to ensure survival

46
Q

What is Bowlby’s idea of monotropy?

A

we form one main attachment - usually to biological mothers

47
Q

What does Bowlby’s theory say?

A

that forming an infant attachment gives us a template for all future relationships. This forms an internal working model for all later relationship.

48
Q

Why is the internal working memory a working model?

A

it can change and develop over time

49
Q

When is the critical period?

A

0-3 years

50
Q

What are the weaknesses of Bowlby’s theory?

A
  • Schaffer and Emerson provide evidence against monotropy - They found that rather than one main attachment, many children form multiple attachments.

-

51
Q

What are the strengths of Bowlby’s theory?

A
  • ## some evidence - Harlow’s study supports the idea that we have evolved a need to attach. Also, that social and emotional development can be damaged if attachment is not formed.
52
Q

What are the 2 types of attachment?

A

secure and insecure

53
Q

What is insecure attachment?

A

bond is weak

54
Q

What is secure attachment?

A
  • there’s a strong bond between caregiver and infant
  • they will show stress when seperated
  • pleasure when they are united
55
Q

What are the 2 types of insecure attachment that Ainsworth came up with?

A

insecure-avoidant

insecure-resistant

56
Q

What is insecure-avoidant attachment?

A
  • if they’re separated from caregiver, the child doesn’t become particularly distressed
  • usually discomforted by stranger
  • shown by children who avoid social interaction and intimacy with others
57
Q

What is insecure-resisant attachment?

A
  • child often uneasy around caregiver
  • becomes upset if separated
  • comfort can’t be given by strangers
  • often resisted by caregiver
  • these children both show accept and reject to social intervention and intimacy
58
Q

How can securely attachment be shown?

A

how a child reacts in a strange situation

59
Q

Who created the strange situation study?

A

Ainsworth

60
Q

What was the method of Ainsworth’s study?

A

controlled observation

  • 12-18 month children left in room with mum
  • 8 different scenarios occured
  • infants reactions were observed
61
Q

What were the results of Ainsworth’s study?

A

15% of infants were insecure-avoidant - they ignored their mother and didn’t mind if she left. A stranger could comfort them

70% were securely attached - they were content with their mother, upset when she left and happy when returned. Avoided strangers

15% were insecure-resistant - they were uneasy around their mother and upset if she left. They resisted strangers and hard to comfort when mother returned

62
Q

What was the conclusion of Ainsworth’s study?

A

infants showing different reactions to their caregivers have different types of attachment

63
Q

What were the strengths of Ainsworth’s study?

A

results reliable - research method allowed control of variables

64
Q

What were the weaknesses of Ainsworth’s study?

A

research method made it artifical - lab study

65
Q

What were the weaknesses of Ainsworth’s study?

A
  • research method made it artificial - lab study, reducing ecological validity
  • parent might have changed their behaviour as they knew that they were being observed. Could affect child’s behaviour.
  • new situation could affect child’s behaviour - doesn’t represent daily life
  • mother might not of been the child’s main attachment figure
66
Q

What are the names of the researchers who used strange situation in different cultures?

A

Van Ijzendoorn and Kronenberg

67
Q

What was the method of the Van Ijzendoorn and Kronenberg study?

A

carried out a meta-analysis of 32 studies of ‘the strange situation’ in different countries e.g Japan and Sweden

68
Q

What are the important findings from strange situation research?

A

1 - some cultural differences are found
2 - the causes of different attachment types are debatable
3 - the strange situation experiment doesn’t show a characteristic of the child
4 - attachment type may influence later behaviours

69
Q

Which researcher showed that there were cultural differences in strange situation study? and how?

A

Grossman et al - claimed more avoidant children were found in Germany because of the value of Germans put on independence - so avoidance is seen as good

70
Q

How does the strange situation not show a characteristic of the child?

A

experiment only shows the child’s relationship with a specific person, so they might react differently with different carers, or later in life

71
Q

How can attachment type may influence later behaviours?

A

securely attached children may be more confident in school and form strong, trusting relationships.

  • avoidant children may have behaviour problems in school and find it hard to form relationships.
  • resistant children maybe be insecure and attention-seeking in school and as adults, their strong feelings of dependency may be stressful for partners
72
Q

How can attachment be disrupted?

A

separation or deprivation

73
Q

What is separation?

A

is where a child is away from a caregiver they’re attached to.

74
Q

What is deprivation?

A

describes the loss of something that is wanted or needed

75
Q

What is maternal deprivation?

A

is the loss of the mother, a long-term or even permaent loss

76
Q

What were the 2 Bowlby maternal deprivation hypothesis?

A

1 - deprivation during critical period will cause harm to a child’s emotional, social, intellectual and even physical development.
2 - long-term effects of deprivation include separation anxiety. This can lead to problem behaviour. Future relationships may be affected by this emotional insecurity.

77
Q

What is the Bowlby’s study ?

A

the 44 juvenile thieves

78
Q

What is the method for the 44 juvenile thieves study?

A
  • case studies were completed on the backgrounds of 44 adolescents who had been referred to the clinic where Bowlby worked because they had been stealing
  • there was a control group of 44 ‘emotionally disturbed’ adolescents who didn’t steal
79
Q

What were the results for the 44 juvenile thieves study?

A
  • 17 of the thieves had experienced frequent separations from their mothers before the age of 2
  • compared with 2 from control group
  • 14 of thieves were diagnosed as ‘affectionless psychopath’
  • 12 of these 14 had experienced separation from their mothers
80
Q

What is the conclusion for the 44 juvenile thieves study?

A

deprivation of the child from its main carer early in life can have very harmful long-term consequences

81
Q

What is the study which gives evidence of maternal deprivation from separation studies?

A

Robertson and Robertson

Psychology (11 decks)

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