Week 01: Attachment

Question 1

death system

Answer 1

An interpersonal socio-physical and symbolic network through which our orientation toward mortality is mediated and expressed
the total range of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are directly or indirectly related to death

Question 2

Why Death Education is Important

Answer 2

1. Increased Life Expectancy
2. Decreased Exposure to Death
3. Changes in Family Structure
4. Belief we can override natural forces
5. Changing Philosophical, Ethical, and Spiritual Values

Question 3

Increased Life Expectancy

Answer 3

during the last several decades, life expectancy has increased tremendously
- medical developments improved nutrition and sanitation have seen average life expectancy approach 80 years

Question 4

Decreased Exposure to Death

Answer 4

• because people are living so long, children can grow up and seldom experience death
• it used to be that children witnessed the deaths of their mothers in childbirth or their siblings deaths due to disease
• in the past, it was more common for people to die at home, rather than in hospitals or retirement homes

Question 5

Changes in Family Structure

Answer 5

• families are smaller and geographically more distant
• children may rarely see they relatives
• children are often not taken to old age homes, hospitals, visitations or funerals to keep them from becoming upset by knowledge of illness, aging and death
• Children are denied the opportunity to learn about death as a natural part of living

Question 6

Belief we can override natural forces

Answer 6

advance medical technology leads us to expect and/or demand, that however injured, aged, or ill a person is that life can be preserved
-Death is often regarded as a failure by the medical system

Question 7

Changing philosophical, ethical, and spiritual values

Answer 7

• At one time the majority of people subscribed to faith, spiritual or religious systems which dealt with the should and it immortality
• people felt assured that after their deaths their should survived in some way
• with the decline of religious training many people are struggling in an existential void

Question 8

DeSpelder & Strickland: Children’s understanding of death

Answer 8

by age 4 or 5, death enters children’s thought and seen in their play
games - cops and robbers, snakes and ladders
books: good vs evil or themes of life and death
media and television - children witness 8000 murders plus over 100,000 acts of violence by the time they finish elementary school

Question 9

Carson: Teachable moments

Answer 9

this concept is understood as unanticipated evens in life that offer potential for developing useful learning insights and lessons
opportunities that arise unexpectedly out of ordinary circumstances, e.g. dead insects

Question 10

Silvermans Theory

Answer 10

Talking to Children About Death

Question 11

Talking to Children about death (1/5)

Answer 11

give children the vocabulary for what they are feeling and experiencing

Question 12

Talking to Children about death (2/5)

Answer 12

Teach them how to respond in circumstances involving death

Question 13

Talking to Children about death (3/5)

Answer 13

encourage them to embrace their need for others at difficult times

Question 14

talking to children about death (4/5)

Answer 14

help them to learn our values

Question 15

Talking to Children about death (5/5)

Answer 15

Engaging in such discussions promotes competence, protective factors, problem solving; increases self-esteem

Question 16

Corr, Nabe and Corr Theory

Answer 16

Four Principles that influence the understanding of death

Question 17

Four Principles that Influence the Understanding of Death

Answer 17

1. Developmental Level - includes cognitive level and maturity
2. Life experiences - any experience a child has with death/loss
3. individual personality - unique attributes of a child influences how they think and feel
4. communication and support - above factors will influence the child’s willingness to discuss death and receive support

Question 18

A Fifth Principle to Consider

Answer 18

A child’s relationship with their parent/caregiver
- good family experience = advantage

Question 19

Dr John Bowlby Definition of Attachement

Answer 19

any from of behaviour that results in a person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual who is conceived as better able to cope in the world

Question 20

Dr. Mary Ainsworth: Secure Attachment

Answer 20

• develops when mother/caregive is available to meet the needs of the child in a responsive and appropriate manner
• child explores freely and engages with strangers while the mother’s present
  will be visibly upset when mother leaves
  will not engage with strangers if mother is not in the room
  most adaptive attachment style, can explore world

Question 21

Dr. Mary Ainsworth: Anxious/Ambivalent Attachment

Answer 21

• a form of insecure attachment
• develops due to mothering style that is engaged by the child’s needs are met more on the mother’s terms
• child is anxious about exploring and of strangers even with mother present
• child is ambivalent when mother returns
• seeks to remain close to mother but resentful or resistant
  child is not confident that the parent will always be there when called upon for help
• prone to separation anxiety, clinging, and anxious about exploring

Question 22

Dr. Mary Ainsworth: Anxious/Avoidant Attachement

Answer 22

Style develops from a disengaged mothering style
- strangers will not be treated differently rom the mother
- shows little emotion when mother departs or returns
child will typically ignore the mother
- child’s needs are frequently not met
- child comes to believe that communication of needs has no influence on the mother
- children are often independent from a young age

Question 23

Drs Solomon & Main: Disorganized/Disoriented Attachement

Answer 23

• these children are often in terror at the hands of caregivers
• inconsistent behaviours
• often disoriented, confused, may suddenly change, constricted affect, interrupted movements, jittery
• creates a paradox which activates circuits of fear in the brain
  these children lack a coherent coping strategy

Question 24

Parenting Styles

Answer 24

Secure
Anxious Ambivalent
Anxious Avoidant
Disorganized

Question 25

Secure parenting style

Answer 25

the parent is available, sensitive to child’s signals, and responds lovingly to her child, particularly in early years of life

Question 26

anxious/ambivalent parenting style

Answer 26

parent is available and helpful on some occasions, not on others, by separations, and by threats of abandonment used as a means of control

Question 27

Anxious/avoidant parenting style

Answer 27

• parent constantly rebuff when child seeks support of comfort of protection

Question 28

Disorganized parenting style

Answer 28

may be abuse/neglect, mental illness resulting in erratic, inconsistent and unpredictable parenting

Question 29

Attachment - behavioural system

Answer 29

• attachment behaviours are acts that promote proximity to the attachment figure
• The ABS is the organization of attachment behaviours within the individual
• just because attachment behaviours are not directly observed does not mean that a child is not attached
• the activation of attachment behaviour is largely situational, however the one itself is consistent
• even after periods of long separation the lack of AB is not an indication that a bond does not exist

Question 30

Affiliation (Murray)

Answer 30

manifestations of friendliness and goodwill and the desire to be in the company of others, this is broader than attachment

Question 31

The sociable system

Answer 31

a biologically based, survival-promoting tendency to want to be with others, many benefits arise from being around others: increased chance of survival, learning about the environment, shelter, warmth etc.

Question 32

The attachment bond