Week Seven - Attachment & Parenting Flashcards
What is attachment?
An affectional tie between an individual and a specific other that endures over time and physical separation
Explain attachment behaviours
There are some common behaviours but there are also large individual differences
Explain the Learning theory
Suggests there is an importance of the mother-infant relationship and feeding
Mother and infant are mutually reinforced by feeding
- does not account for strong emotions
Explain the Ethology theory
Imprinting - innate tendency to follow mother (genetically preprogrammed)
- critical period for imprinting
Explain Bowlby’s attachment theory
Described how infants become attached to adults
The first 5 years of life are critical for attachment otherwise it may cause abnormal development
What is monotropic theory?
Attachment to a single other - usually the mother
For normal development - the parent-child attachment must be?
Warm, intimate and continuous
What did Mary Ainsworth promote?
The idea of a caregiver as a secure base and investigated individual differences in type and degree of attachment in infants
Explain Ainsworth’s strange situation
It involves observing the behaviour of infants in a series of highly standardised scenarios:
- When the infant is with the parent
- In the absence of the parent
- When a stranger is present
- When the parent returns
What occurs in a SECURE attachment style? (65-70%)
Initially will play happily and explore in an unfamiliar room - as long as parent is present
Become wary when stranger enters but will still continue to play - but easily comforted when alone with them
When parent leaves, they may search/cry and immediately seek contact on return
Recover quickly from distress
What does a secure attachment promote?
It promotes the seeking of effective relationships and look for others who can help them feel good about themselves in adulthood
Define an INSECURE-AVOIDANT attachment style (20%)
Initially show little involvement with parent and seek little proximity when parent is present
Not distress - does not cry when parent leaves
React similarly to parent and stranger
Show low-level engagement and tendency to avoid when reunited with parent
What can be the outcomes of an insecure-avoidant attachment?
They may mask their emotions - believe others are untrustworthy
Tend to be emotionally avoidant
May rely on themselves and risk aggressive behaviour
Characteristics of an INSECURE-AMBIVALENT attachment style? (10%)
Both positive and negative reactions to parent
There is anxiety even before separation - want close contact with parent
No/minimal exploration of room and exhibit intense distress at separation
Refuse comfort from stranger and seek close contact on reunion (but resist comforting)
Outcomes of Insecure-ambivalent attachment?
May find it hard to manage anxiety in everyday life
Exaggerate emotions and have negative beliefs about themselves and risk phobias, anxiety, depression etc
Characteristics of DISORGANISED-DISORIENTED attachment (5-10%)
Inconsistent and contradictory behaviour
When parent returns, approach but avoid eye contact - unresponsive when held (frozen, turn head)
Cry out after being comforted
Outcomes of DD attachment?
Often unable to form close relationships
Risk of personality disorders
Explain the parental role in attachment
Attachment depends on how parents responds to child’s overtures
What maternal behaviours are associated with a SECURE attachment
Appropriate response to needs
No over or under responding
Responsive to how infant feels
What maternal behaviours are associated with a INSECURE attachment
Inconsistent response to needs
Ignore or reject infants overtures
Unclear/ambivalent messages to infant
As part of attachment everyone has?
Environmental model
Organismal model
What is an Environmental model?
An internal working model of the world
What is the Organismal model?
An internal working model of self and others
When are IWM built? What are they based on, allow and encode?
Built in first 5 years of life
Based on everyday child-parent interactions
They encode one’s own attachment style
Allow the child to predict , control and manipulate their environment
A secure child IWM characteristics?
E: reliable, responsive, loving
O: they are worthy of love/attention
An insecure child IWM characteristics?
E: world is dangerous, untrustworthy
O: they are not worthy
What did Ainsworth/Bowlby initially think about styles?
They are static (more stable now - but can be malleable)
Attachment styles can be malleable depending on what circumstances?
quality of attachments
transition between developmental stages
changes in attachment
nature of relationship type
Attachment in adulthood?
Emotional bond between adult romantic partners functions somewhat the same as attachment in infancy
Secure attachment characteristics in adulthood?
Both positive model of self and other
- healthy balance and autonomy with freedom to explore
Ambivalent attachment history characteristics of attachment in adulthood?
Negative view of self but positive model of other
- desperate for love and worthiness, worry about abandonment, express anxiety
Avoidant attachment history characteristics of attachment in adulthood?
Positive view of self but negative model of other
- sut out emotions, defensive, avoid intimacy, self-reliant
DD attachment history characteristics of attachment in adulthood?
Negative model of self and other
- need relo but doubt self worth, lack coherent strategy
When is strange situation less effective?
When children get older (eg childhood)
What can we use to assess attachment in older children?
Lab observation Naturalistic observation (at home) Narrative assessment (child response to hypothetical scenarios) Play therapy Self-report
What do families dp?
Form a building block for forming identity and learning to function in social groups
Bronfenbrenner’s model of the infants social world?
Micro: home (parents, siblings)
Meso: neighbourhood, childcare
Exo: child’s experiences in immediate settings
Macro: laws and values
What happens with parent-infant interactions in first year of life and then later on?
First year: parent matches infants actions
Later: child attempts to match parent
What are parent-child relationships influenced by?
Infants reactions
Parents temperament and ability to respond to infant
What is synchrony?
When parents can sensitively tune their responses to the infants signals
Parent-child relationships change in early childhood, explain
Children have an increased ability to initiate verbal and physical activity and this promotes a new set of challenges
Parents need to be mindful of limitations and abilities
How do siblings help?
They provide children with frequent and reliable companionship and earliest chance to socialise with other children
Parent-child relationship changes in middle childhood
Children spend less time with their parents
Develop close relationships with others
Siblings continue to provide support
Start to understand parents beliefs/values
Parent-child relationship changes in adolescence
Major shift
- social networks become more complex
- children become autonomous
What are the 4 parenting styles?
Authoritarian
Authoritative
Permissive
Uninvolved
Characteristics of Authoritarian
Low on warmth/responsiveness
High on control
Characteristics of Authoritative
Warm, responsiveness, supportive
High on control but emphasis is on fostering independece/responsibility
Characteristics of Permissive
Vary on warmth/cold
Low on control
Unpredictable - impulsive and disobedient children (no emotional control)
Characteristics of Uninvolved
Low warmth and control
Emotionally detached parents. Children have low self-esteem
Parenting dimensions that have a negative impact on socio-emotional development?
High levels of overprotection
Over-control
Inconsistent parenting
High levels of hostility
Lack of warmth
Is there any benefits of growing up in a ‘certain’ family?
No, social emotional adjustment is not really associated with family type
Where do we see the most problems with social emotional development?
Low-income
Family dysfunction
Family stress
Parental nurturance
Strength/quality of family relationship
