Attachment

Question 1

Reciprocity (AO1)

Answer 1

The word reciprocal means two-way, or something that is mutual. Infant and caregiver are both active contributors in the interaction and are responding to each other.
Reciprocity is a form of interaction between infant and caregiver involving mutual responsiveness, with both infant and mother responding to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other. Smiling is an example of reciprocity – when a smile occurs in the infant it triggers a smile in the caregiver, and vice versa.

Question 2

Reciprocity (AO3)

Answer 2

Reciprocity influences the child’s physical, social and cognitive development. It becomes the basis for development of basic trust or mistrust, and shapes how the child will relate to the world, learn, and form relationships throughout life.
Jaffe et al. said that from birth, babies move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult almost as if they were taking turns as people do when having a conversation.

Question 3

Interactional Synchrony
AO1

Answer 3

Interactional synchrony is when two people interact and tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial and body movements (emotions and behaviours).
Interactional synchrony is form of rhythmic interaction between infant and caregiver involving mutual focus, reciprocity and mirroring of emotion or behavior. Infants coordinate their actions with caregivers in a kind of conversation.
From birth babies move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult almost as if they were taking turns. Infant and caregiver are able to anticipate how each other will behave and can elicit a particular response from the other.
For example, a caregiver who laughs in response to their infants giggling sound and tickles them, is experiencing synchronised interaction.
Interactional synchrony is most likely to develop if the caregiver attends fully to the baby’s state, provides playful stimulation when the infant is alert and attentive, and avoids pushing things when an overexcited or tired infant is fussy and sending the message ‘Cool it. I just need a break from all this excitement’.

Question 4

Interactional Synchrony
AO3

Answer 4

Heimann showed that infants who demonstrate a lot of imitation from birth onwards have been found to have a better quality of relationship at 3 months. However, it isn’t clear whether the imitation is a cause or an effect of this early synchrony.
Many studies involving observation of interactions between mothers and infants have shown the same patterns of interaction. However, what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression. It is extremely difficult to be certain, based on these onservations, what is taking place from the infant’s perspective. Is, for example, the infants imitation of adult signals conscious and deliberate?
This means that we cannot really know for certain that behaviors seen in mother-infant interaction have a special meaning.
Observations of mother-infant interactions are generally well-controlled procedures, with both mother and infant being filmed, often from multiple angles. This ensures that very fine details of behavior can be recorded and later analysed.
Furthermore, babies don’t know or care that they are being observed so their behavior does not change in response to controlled observation which is generally a problem for observational research. This is a strength of this line of research because it means the research has good validity.

Question 5

Stages of Attachment
AO1

Answer 5

Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964) studied 60 babies at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life (this is known as a longitudinal study).
The children were all studied in their own home and a regular pattern was identified in the development of attachment. The babies were visited monthly for approximately one year, their interactions with their carers were observed, and carers were interviewed.
A diary was kept by the mother to examine evidence for the development of an attachment. The following measures were recorded:
• Stranger Anxiety - response to arrival of a stranger.
• Separation Anxiety - distress level when separated from carer, degree of comfort
needed on return.
• Social Referencing - degree that child looks at carer to check how they should respond to something new (secure base).

Question 6

Stages of Attachments

Answer 6

Asocial, Indiscriminate Attachments, Specific Attachment, Multiple Attachment

Question 7

Asocial

Answer 7

(0 - 6 weeks)
Very young infants are asocial in that many kinds of stimuli, both social and non-social, produce a favourable reaction, such as a smile.

Question 8

Indiscriminate Attachments

Answer 8

(6 weeks to 7 months)
Infants indiscriminately enjoy human company and most babies respond equally to any caregiver. They get upset when an individual ceases to interact with them.
From 3 months infants smile more at familiar faces and can be easily comfortable by a regular caregiver.

Question 9

Specific Attachment

Answer 9

(7 - 9 months)
Special preference for a single attachment figure. The baby looks to particular people for security, comfort and protection. It shows fear of strangers (stranger fear) and unhappiness when separated from a special person (separation anxiety).
Some babies show stranger fear and separation anxiety much more frequently and intensely than others, but nevertheless they are seen as evidence that the baby has formed an attachment. This has usually developed by one year of age.

Question 10

Multiple Attachment

Answer 10

(10 months and onwards)
The baby becomes increasingly independent and forms several attachments. By 18 months the majority of infants have form multiple attachments.
The results of the study indicated that attachments were most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the baby’s signals, not the person they spent more time with. Schaffer and Emerson called this sensitive responsiveness.
Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly to their demands and, interacted with their child Infants who were weakly attached had mothers who failed to interact.

Question 11

Stages of Attachment AO3

Answer 11

P = lacks population validity.
E = infants in the study all came from Glasgow and were mostly from working class families. In addition, the small sample size of 60 families reduces the strength of the conclusion we can draw from the study.
E = cannot be generalised, and so is a limited explanation of attachment development.
L = Schaffer’s stages of attachment lack both population validity and temporal validity - parenting techniques have significantly changed since the 1950s, such as through the influence of Bowlby’s work on attachment, and so caution should be taken when generalising the findings.

P = may lack internal validity.
E = it uses the self report method as the parents kept a daily diary.
E = therefore the accuracy of data collection may not be the best. The parents were busy so may not have included the full details. They may also be subject to social desirability bias, in that they would skew their reports so they appear to be closer to what they see as socially acceptable or desirable i.e. they may believe that it is better if the infant responds to them, so they would report that it happens sooner than it actually did, or they may intentionally not report any negative experiences they have. There may also be demand characteristics as they try to tailor their report to fit or go against what they think is the aim/hypothesis of the study.
L = Therefore, caution should be taken when placing confidence in the conclusions drawn from this study.

P = the asocial stage cannot be studied objectively.
E = children as young as 6 weeks lack basic motor co-ordination skills, meaning that we cannot establish whether their responses, such as ‘separation anxiety’, are deliberate.
E = Bremner drew the distinction between behavioural response and behavioural understanding. Just because a child appears to have a bond with their primary caregiver, does not mean that such a bond exists or that the child understands the significance of such a bond.
L = Therefore, it is important not to draw causal conclusions!

Question 12

Multiple Attachments
AO1

Answer 12

Many of the babies from the Schaffer and Emerson study had multiple attachments by 10 months old, including attachments to mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings and neighbours.
By 18 months 31% had five or more attachments. The mother was the main attachment figure for about half of the children at 18 months old and the father for most of the others.

The multiple attachments formed by most infants vary in their strength and importance to the infant. Attachments are often structured in a hierarchy, whereby an infant may have formed three attachments but one may be stronger than the other two, and one may be the weakest.

Question 13

Multiple Attachments
AO3

Answer 13

The Schaffer and Emerson study has low population validity. The infants in the study all came from Glasgow and were mostly from working class families. In addition, the small sample size of 60 families reduces the strength of the conclusion we can draw from the study.
However, accuracy of data collection by parents who were keeping daily diaries whilst clearly being very busy could be questioned. A diary like this is also very unreliable with demand characteristics and social desirability being major issues. Mothers are not lkely to report negative experiences in their daily write up.
The study lacks historical validity. It was conducted in the 1960s when gender roles were different – Now, more men stay at home to look after their children and more women go out to work so the sample is biased.

Question 14

The Role of the Father
AO1

Answer 14

There is now an expectation in Western cultures that the father should play a greater role in bringing up children than was previously the case. Also, the number of mothers working full time has increased in recent decades, and this has also led to fathers having a more active role.
However, whereas mothers usually adopt a more caregiving and nurturing role compared to father, fathers adopt a more play-mate role than mothers. For example, fathers are more likely than mothers to encourage risk taking in their children by engaging them in physical games.
Most infants prefer contact with their father when in a positive emotional state and wanting to play. In contrast most infants prefer contact with their mother when they are distressed and need comforting.

Question 15

The Role of the Father
AO3

Answer 15

Numerous factors effect the father’s role and the impact he has on his child’s emotional development. For example, culture, father’s age, and the amount of time the father spends away from home. The existence of so many factors means it difficult to make generalisations about the father’s role.
It is possible that most men are just not psychologically equipped to form an intense attachment because they lack the emotional sensitivity women offer. Oestrogen underlies caring behaviour and there continues to be sex stereotypes which affect male behaviour.
However, Field found that when fathers have the main caregiver role, they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers therefore the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness, not the gender of the parent.
Economic implications – Mothers will feel pressured to stay home because research says they are vital for healthy emotional development but in some families, this may not economically be the best solution.
It is not important – McCallum and Golombok found that children growing up in single or same sex families didn’t develop differently from those in two parent families – Evidence undermines the idea of fathers having distinct roles.
if father can be primary attachment figure, this information should be shared in antenatal classes etc. to ensure fathers play an equal role in childcare – Research can be used to improve the quality of care of infants and to strengthen attachment bonds.

Question 16

Cultural Factors role of the father

Answer 16

There are also cultural differences in the role of the father. Until very recently men were expected to be breadwinners and not to have direct involvement in their children’s care. However this might be a very stereotypical view rather than reflect reality as fathers might not have been directly involved in the day to day care but they were involved in factors like play, instruction and guidance.
In modern familie, fathers are less likely to engage in physical play in middle class Indian families.

Question 17

Social Policy role of the father

Answer 17

In the UK, fathers until last year were not given any paternal leave so the responsibility for child care was implicitly given to the mothers. This could change the attachment the children make with their fathers. However this is not the case in every country so the pattern of attachment between father and children might be different.

Question 18

Biological factors role of the father

Answer 18

Men seem to lack the emotional sensitivity to infant cues (Heerman, et al. 1994) that women offer spontaneously this could be due to the fact that women produce a hormone, oestrogen which increases emotional response to other’s needs. However Frodi et al. (1978) found that men’s physiological response was the same than women’s.

Question 19

The child role of the father

Answer 19

Age and gender: Freeman et al. (2010) found that male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children. He also found that children are more likely to be attached to their father during their late childhood to early adolescence. Infants and young adults are less likely to seek attachment to their fathers.
Temperament: According to Manlove et al. (2002) fathers are less likely to be involved with their infant if the infant has a difficult temperament.

Question 20

Harlow
AO1

Answer 20

Harlow wanted to study the mechanisms by which newborn rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers.
These infants were highly dependent on their mothers for nutrition, protection, comfort and socialisation.
The behavioral theory of attachment would suggest that an infant would form an attachment with a carer that provides food. In contrast Harlow’s explanation was that attachment develops as a result of the mother providing “tactile comfort”, suggesting that infants have an innate (biological) need to touch and cling to something for emotional comfort.

Question 21

Harlow Procedure

Answer 21

16 monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in cages with access to two surrogate mothers, one made of wire and one covered in soft terry towelling cloth.
• Eight of the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother
• Eight monkeys could get milk from the cloth mother
The animals were studied for various length of time.

Question 22

Harlow Results

Answer 22

Both groups of monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother (even if she had no milk). The infants of the second group would only go to the wire mother when hungry. Once fed they would return to the cloth mother for most of the day. If a frightening object was placed in the cage the infant took refuge with the cloth mother. The infant would explore more when the cloth mother was present.
Then Harlow observed the difference in behaviour differences between the monkeys who had grown up with surrogate mothers and those with normal mothers. They found that:
a) They were much more timid.
b) They didn’t know how to act with other monkeys.
c) They were easily bullied and wouldn’t stand up for themselves.
d) They had difficulty with mating.
e) The females were inadequate mothers.
These behaviors were observed only in the monkeys who were left with the surrogate mothers for more than 90 days. For those left less than 90 days the effects could be reversed if placed in a normal environment where they could form attachments.
Harlow concluded that “contact comfort” (provided by the cloth mother) was more important than food in the formation of attachment. This also shows that contact comfort is preferable to food but not sufficient for healthy development.
He also concluded that early maternal deprivation leads to emotional damage but that its impact could be reversed in monkeys if an attachment was made before the end of the critical period. However if maternal deprivation lasted after the end of the critical period then no amount of exposure to mothers or peers could alter the emotional damage that had already occurred.

Question 23

Harlow
AO3

Answer 23

Harlow’s work has been criticized. His experiments have been seen as unnecessarily cruel (unethical) and of limited value in attempting to understand the effects of deprivation on human infants.
It was clear that the monkeys in this study suffered from emotional harm from being reared in isolation. This was evident when the monkeys were placed with a normal monkey (reared by a mother), they sat huddled in a corner in a state of persistent fear and depression.
In addition Harlow created a state of anxiety in female monkeys which had implications once they became parents. Such monkeys became so neurotic that they smashed their infant’s face into the floor and rubbed it back and forth.
Harlow’s experiment is sometimes justified as providing a valuable insight into the development of attachment and social behavior. At the time of the research there was a dominant belief that attachment was related to physical (i.e. food) rather than emotional care.
It could be argued that the benefits of the research outweigh the costs (the suffering of the animals). For example, the research influenced the theoretical work of John Bowlby, the most important psychologist in attachment theory. It could also be seen a vital in convincing people about the importance of emotional care in hospitals, children’s homes and day care.

Question 24

The Learning Theory of Attachment (A01)

Answer 24

In line with an empiricist approach, learning theory views children as being born with blank slates. Everything we know is learned through our experiences, so a baby has to learn to form an attachment with its mother. We learn to form attachments through classical and operant
conditioning, in line with learning theory and behaviourism. This is the idea of ‘cupboard love’ i.e. where we form attachments to the person providing us with food. Hunger is a primary drive and attachment is the result of an association formed between the caregiver and the satisfaction of primary drive reduction i.e. feeling less hungry.

Classical conditioning (like Pavlov’s dog):
● By the process of classical conditioning, the baby forms an
association between the mother (a neutral stimulus) and the feeling of pleasure that comes with being fed (an innate unconditioned response)
● At first, the baby feels comforted by food
● However, each time it is fed, the mother is also present (e.g. breast feeding)
● It quickly associates the mother with the pleasure of being fed
● Before long, the mother becomes a conditioned stimulus and also causes pleasure for the child
● This means that the baby feels happier when the mother is near
● This is the beginning of the formation of an attachment

Operant conditioning (like Skinner’s rats):
● The child carries out an action such as crying, which triggers a response, such as the mother coming to comfort or feed the baby
● The more this happens, the more that the action is reinforced, as the child associates the mother with those rewards
● i.e the reward for crying encourages the child to cry more to receive more rewards like attention and food
● Food is the primary reinforcer
● The mother is the secondary reinforcer

Key words:
Stimulus = event causes a response
Response = the action that happens as a result of a stimulus
Innate = natural, from birth

Question 25

The Learning Theory of Attachment (A03)

Answer 25

— There is contradictory evidence from animal studies. For example, Harlow demonstrated that contact comfort was more important than food in the development of an attachment, where the
baby monkeys formed a primary attachment to the cloth-bound mother, regardless of which mother was dispensing milk. This suggests that there is no unconditioned stimulus (of food) and even if there is, it has very little influence upon the formation of attachments.

— There is also contradictory evidence from human studies! For example, Brazleton et al emphasised the importance of interactional synchrony and reciprocity in the secure formation of attachments between a primary caregiver and infant - these are universal features of
attachment. Attachments form not to the person who spends the most time with the infant, but rather the person who is most attentive to the infant and deals with their signals most skilfully. This means that the unconditioned stimulus of food is irrelevant in most cases!

— The focus on unconditioned and conditioned stimuli means that there is a loss of focus. Interactional synchrony and reciprocity are both universal features of attachment and should be treated as such, as demonstrated by Feldman and Brazleton. Learning theory does not account for these aspects and so is a limited explanation of only some aspects of attachment formation.

Question 26

Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment (A01)

Answer 26

This is the evolutionary theory of attachment. It states that attachments are innate, i.e you are born with it. The acronym, ASCMI (like ‘ask me’), summarises the theory.

A = Adaptive – attachments are an advantage, or beneficial to survival as it ensures a child is kept safe, warm and fed

S = Social releasers – e.g. a cute face on a baby. These unlock the innate tendency for adults to care for a child because they activate the mammalian attachment system.

C = Critical period – This is the time in which an attachment can form i.e. up to 2.5 to 3 years old. Bowby suggested that if an attachment is not formed in this time, it never will. If an attachment does not form, you will be socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically stunted. Bowlby demonstrated this in his 44 juvenile thieves study, where maternal deprivation was associated with affectionless psychopathy and mental retardation.

M = Monotropy – means ‘one carer’. Bowlby suggested that you can only form one special intense attachment (this is typically but not always with the mother). This attachment is unique, stronger and different to others. Maternal deprivation, which is characterised by a lack of a mother figure during the critical period for attachment formation, results in emotional and intellectual developmental deficits i.e. affection less psychopathy and mental retardation.

I = Internal working model – This is an area in the brain, a mental schema for relationships where information that allows you to know how to behave around people is stored. Internal working models are our perception of the attachment we have with our primary attachment figure. Therefore, this explains similarities in attachment patterns across families. Those who have a dysfunctional internal working model will seek out dysfunctional relationships and behave dysfunctionally within them.

Question 27

Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment (A03)

Answer 27

+ There is supporting evidence for the importance of internal working models, as presented by Bailey et al. Through the observation of 99 mothers and the recording of their children’s attachment type using the Strange Situation, the researchers found that poor, insecure attachments coincided with the mothers themselves reporting poor attachments with their own parents. Therefore, this suggests that internal working models are likely to be formed during this first, initial attachment and that this has a significant impact upon the ability of children to become parents themselves later on in life.

— Monotropy is an example of socially sensitive research. Despite Bowlby not specifying that the primary attachment figure must be the mother, it often is (in 65% of cases). Therefore, this puts pressure on working mothers to delay their return to work in an effort to ensure that their child develops a secure attachment. Any developmental abnormalities in terms of attachment are therefore blamed on the mother by default. This suggests that the idea of monotropy may stigmatise ‘poor mothers’ and pressure them to take responsibility.

— Monotropy may not be evident in all children. For example, Schaffer and Emerson found that a small minority of children were able to form multiple attachments from the outset. This idea is also supported by van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg, who found that monotropy is scarce in collectivist cultures where the whole family is involved in raising and looking after the child. This means that monotropy is unlikely to be a universal feature of infant-caregiver attachments, as believed by Bowlby, and so is a strictly limited explanation of some cases of attachments.

Question 28

Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’ (A01)

Answer 28

Mary Ainsworth designed a study called ‘the strange situation’ as a procedure to assess how securely attached a child was to its caregiver, and if it is insecurely attached, to assess which type of insecure attachment it has. This was a controlled observation conducted through a two way mirror.

There were seven stages which each lasted 3 minutes.
1. The caregiver enters a room, places the child on the floor and sits on a chair. The caregiver does not interact with the child unless the infant seeks attention.

2. A stranger enters the room, talks to the caregiver and then approaches the child with a toy.
3. The caregiver exits the room. If the infant plays the stranger observes without interruption. If the child is passive, the stranger attempts to interest them in the toy. If they show distress the stranger attempts to comfort them.
4. The caregiver returns while the stranger then leaves.
5. Once the infant begins to play again, the caregiver may
   leave the room, leaving the child alone briefly.
6. The stranger enters the room again and repeats behaviour mentioned in step 3 (observing, engaging, comforting as needed)
7. The stranger leaves and the caregiver returns. The “strange situation” places the child in a mildly stressful situation in order to observe 4 different types of behaviour which are separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, willingness to explore and reunion behaviour with the caregiver.

Using this procedure, Ainsworth was able to identify 3 types of attachments:

● Secure = this was the most popular attachment type (with both types of insecure attachments being equally as common). This was found when the infant showed some separation anxiety when the parent/caregiver leaves the room but can be easily soothed when the parent/caregiver returns. A securely attached infant is also able to play independently but used their parent/caregiver as a safe base to explore a new environment. This usually accounts for 65% of children.

● Insecure resistant = this is when the infant becomes very distressed and tries to follow them when the parent/caregiver leaves, but when they return, the infant repeatedly switches from seeking and rejecting social interaction and intimacy with them. They are also less inclined to explore new environments. This usually accounts for 3% of children, and so is the least common attachment type.

● Insecure avoidant = this is when the infant shows no separation anxiety when their carer leaves the room and shows no stranger anxiety when a stranger enters the room. They may show anger and frustration towards their carer and actively avoid social interaction and intimacy with them. They are able to explore and play independently easily, no matter who is present. This accounts for around 20% of children.

Question 29

Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’ (A03)

Answer 29

Evaluation
P = It only measured the relationship type with one attachment figure
E = They only used mothers and their child in the study
E = This can mean that the wrong attachment type for a child can be identified, as although they may not be so strongly attached to the mother, they may be securely attached with their father or an extended family member. The study wrongly assumes that the child will be closer to the mother than any other adult figure. Therefore, the study lacks internal validity, as it does not always correctly measure a child’s attachment type with their primary caregiver.

P = There are ethical issues involved.
E = 20% of children cried desperately at one point.
E = This highlights how it is ethically inappropriate, as a large proportion of the participants could have experienced psychological harm. This is unethical as it could cause long term emotional damage to the child, for the sake of a simple study.
L = Despite ethical issues not detracting from the quality of the research (i.e. in terms of validity and reliability), it is important to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to assess whether the ethical costs are smaller than the benefits of an improved knowledge within this subject field.

P = The study lacks population validity.
E = It was primarily based on Western culture almost all of the studies were carried out in America.
E = It therefore suffers from cultural bias, so we are less able to generalise the findings and criteria to other cultures. This is particularly the case due to the individualist-collectivist divide between Western and Eastern countries, alongside cultural differences in upbringing and the experiences which the child is exposed to.
L = This suggests that the findings are culture bound and also lack ecological validity, because the results can only be generalised to the research settings within which they were found.

P = The study also lacks ecological validity.
E = It was conducted in a lab setting, so all the variables were highly controlled.
E = Despite the strict control over confounding and extraneous variables increasing the confidence that can be placed in drawing a ‘cause and effect’ relationship between the two outcomes. This is not representative of real life so it lacks mundane realism and cannot be generalised to reality.
E = However, the high control of variables means it is easily replicable so the findings are highly reliable. This increases confidence in the idea that the findings were not simply a ‘one-off’ but were statistically significant.
L = This increases the confidence that can be placed in the attachment classification of children assessed using the Strange Situation!

Question 30

Cultural Variations in Attachment - Van Izjendoorn (A01)

Answer 30

*Van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg (1988) conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies using 8 countries, all investigating the patterns of attachment across a variety of cultures. The findings are displayed to the right.

• Several other studies have also been conducted into the distribution of attachment patterns across various cultures. For example, Simonella et al demonstrated that the proportion of securely attached children in Italy was only 50%, which was lower than expected and lower than the predictions formed across a variety of different cultures. The researchers suggested that these changes may be due to changing cultural and social expectations of mothers - more mothers are working and are choosing to use professional childcare to enable them to do so, thus decreasing the likelihood that their children will be able to form a secure attachment with a consistent primary caregiver.
• Similarly, Jin et al (2012) found that when the Strange Situation was used to assess 87
  Korean infants aged 6 months old, the vast majority of insecurely attached children were
  actually classed as insecure resistant, as opposed to insecure avoidant. Therefore, since this pattern is similar to that of Japan, this suggests that similarities in child-rearing practices are influential in establishing patterns of attachment.

Question 31

Cultural Variations in Attachment - Van Izjendoorn (A03)

Answer 31

— The study may lack ecological validity i.e. it did not measure what it intended to measure. The study attempted to measure cultural variations in attachment through studying different countries. However, multiple different cultures can exist within the same country, and this cultural variation was unlikely to be acknowledged. For example, Sagi and van Izjendoorn found that rural areas had an overrepresentation of insecure-resistant individuals, whereas urban areas had similar attachment patterns to the Western world. This therefore suggests that van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg did not account for such differences and so are more likely to be studying differences between countries of attachment patterns, rather than culture.

— The Strange Situation has been criticised as being culture-bound, in that the sample was biased (only used American children) and so the findings are unlikely to be generalised to other cultures, such as collectivist cultures. This is an example of imposed etic because Ainsworth assumed that the stages of attachment she developed could be universally applied to all children across all cultures, whereas this is unlikely to be the case.

+ The findings of van Izjendoorn and Kronenberg can be considered reliable due to the
significantly large samples that they used i.e. 1990 children. This replicability increases the validity and faith in the conclusions drawn because it decreases the likelihood that the observed results were simply due to chance or a ‘one-off’.

Question 32

Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation (A01)

Answer 32

This is the theory that an attachment is essential for healthy psychological and emotional development. It states that there will be many negative consequences of maternal deprivation (being deprived/separated from a mother-like figure), such as:

● An inability to form attachments in the future (see the Internal Working Model)
● Affectionless psychopathy (being unable to feel remorse)
● Delinquency (behavioural problems in the child’s teenage years)
● Problems with cognitive (brain) development

Attachments are commonly disrupted in situations when a child is put in day care, has
prolonged stays in hospital care or were put in institutional care to be separated from abusive/ neglectful or unintentionally absent parents. This can have temporary effects on the child, or permanent but fairly mild harm. Privation is when a child fails to form any attachments at all. This has been said to be more harmful to a child. One of the most common causes of privation has been institutional care. In order to assess the effects of maternal deprivation, Bowlby conducted his 44 juvenile thieves study. He found that out of 44 thieves, 14 displayed signs of affectionless psychopathy and 12 of these had suffered from maternal deprivation during the critical period of attachment formation i.e. the first 30 months of life. This was compared to only 5 affectionless psychopaths in the remaining 30 thieves. Therefore, on this basis, Bowlby believed that early maternal deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy and consequently, criminality!

Question 33

Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation (A03)

Answer 33

— Lewis et al disagreed with Bowlby’s conclusion that affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation caused criminality. Through collecting qualitative data from interviews conducted with 500 juveniles, the researchers found no link between maternal deprivation and a difficulty in forming relationships in later life. This suggests that Bowlby may have made incorrect causal conclusions.

— Bowlby’s 44 juvenile thieves study suffers from several methodological limitations. One of these includes researcher bias - Bowlby was aware of what he wanted to find and so may have phrased the interview questions in a way which influenced the respondents to reply in a certain way i.e. leading questions. Secondly, Bowlby also based his theory of maternal deprivation from interviews collected from war-orphans. This does not control for the confounding variable of poor quality care in orphanages or post-traumatic stress disorder, which may have had a larger influence on the children’s development rather than simply maternal deprivation.

— The effects of the critical period may not be as concrete as Bowlby originally believed. For example, the case of two twins locked away in cupboards in Czechoslovakia for the first 7 years of their lives was reported by Koluchova. Despite the obvious trauma and maternal deprivation which occurred for an extended period of time, even exceeding the critical period, the researchers found that with appropriate fostering, the twins made a full psychological recovery. Therefore, the effects of maternal deprivation are not always so clear-cut.

Question 34

Effects of Institutionalisation: Hodges and Tizard, 1989

Answer 34

Aim:
To observe the effects of institutionalisation on how infants form attachments and the quality of attachments they form

Procedure:
● They followed a group of 65 British children from early life to adolescence.
● The children has been placed in one institution when they were less than four months old.
● At this age children have not yet formed attachments.
● There was an explicit policy in the institution against the ‘caretakers’ forming attachments with the children.
● An early study of the children found that 70% were described as not able ‘to care deeply about anyone’.
● Thus we can conclude that most, if not all, of these children had experience early emotional privation (a lack of attachment rather than simply a disruption of attachments).

Findings:
● The children were assessed at regular intervals up to the age of 16.
● Some of the children remained in the institution, but most had left it (where ‘ex-institutional’), and had either been adopted or restored to their original families.
● The ‘restored’ children were less likely to have formed attachments with their mothers, but the adopted children were as closely attached to their parents as both groups of ex-institutional children had problems with peers.
● They were less likely to have a special friend and less likely by other
children.
● They were also more quarrelsome and more likely to be bullies, and also sought more attention from adults (a sign of disinhibited attachment).

Conclusion:
● These findings suggests that early privation had a negative effect on the ability to form relationships even when given good subsequent emotional care.
● This supports Bowlby’s view that the failure to form attachments during the sensitive period of development has an irreversible effect on emotional development.
● The children cope well at home, when the other person in the relationship was working hard on their behalf, but the same was not true for peer relationships

Question 35

Effects of Institutionalisation: Romanian Orphan Studies

Answer 35

Wars in Eastern Europe have provided more opportunities to study the effects of
institutionalisation on attachment, as many children have been left homeless and put into care. One example of a study was by Rutter et al in a Romanian orphanage.

Rutter et al (2007):
Aim) To investigate the effects of institutionalisation in a group of 165 Romanian
orphans.

Procedure:
● Studied a group of about 165 Romanian orphans and assessed them
at four, six and eleven years old, in terms of psychological, emotional
and physical development.
● These results were compared to 50 children adopted in Britain at
roughly the same time, which acted as a control group.

Findings:
The majority of orphans were malnourished. The mean IQ was dependent
upon the age of which the orphans were adopted. For example, those adopted before 6 months of age had an IQ 25 points higher than those adopted after 2 years of age, as also demonstrated by Goldman. Those adopted after 6 months displayed signs of disinhibited attachment (a type of disorganised attachment), whereas those adopted before 6 months rarely showed such signs. This is characterised by attention-seeking and affectionate behaviour being shown towards any or all adults, and is thought to be the result of having too many caregivers within the critical period of attachment formation, so a secure attachment cannot be developed.

Conclusion:
● Rutter et al demonstrated the importance and effects of adopting orphans at different ages, which was directly related to their rate of recovery.
● A full recovery could be made if adoption occurred before the age of 6 months. This includes both emotional and intellectual developmental recoveries.
● These conclusions were supported by the Bucharest Early Intervention project carried out by Zeanah et al (2005), who demonstrated that 65% of their sample of 95 orphans displayed signs of disorganised attachments, compared to only 20% of the healthy, non-deprived control group.

Question 36

Effects of Institutionalisation: Romanian Orphan Studies (A03)

Answer 36

+ The main advantage of Rutter’s study, compared to other adoption studies, is that he was able to study the effects of institutionalisation in isolation through removing the confounding and extraneous variables of PTSD and trauma often associated with war orphans. This increases the confidence that researchers can place in drawing reliable conclusions about the effects of institutionalisation and the displayed differential rates of recovery.

— A key methodological issue associated with Rutter’s study is the focus on short-term recovery, rather than long-term rates. For example, just because a child adopted at the age of 3 years olds does not exhibit normal intellectual development at age 4, does not necessarily mean that the child is retarded or that they will not achieve normal development at a later point in their lives. Therefore, to increase the validity of the conclusions drawn, it would have been better to carry out the study across a longer time scale.

— Some researchers have criticised the findings from Rutter’s study as having very low ecological validity because the conditions of the Romanian orphanages were especially poor. For example, the orphanages did not provide any intellectual stimulation for the orphans, which may have had a larger impact on their intellectual development compared to maternal deprivation as a single cause. Cases of abuse were also frequently reported. Since the average orphanage would have considerably better conditions, this suggests that the findings cannot be generalised beyond the research setting they were found in.

Question 37

Influence of Early Attachment on Childhood and Adult Relationships (A01)

Answer 37

Bowlby suggested that there will be continuity (a similarity or connection) between your
experiences as a baby/your attachment type or quality, and your relationships later in life (in childhood and adulthood). These relationships include friendships, romantic relationships and family relationships etc. He said that when we form our first main attachments, we form an internal working model, which is a mental template for what a relationship is and how to behave.

Early attachments have also been found to determine various personality types, which can influence many parts of your life, but one notable part is your parenting style when you have a child of your own. It has been found that we are more likely to raise our children similarly to how we were raised, as our internal working model was built using our parent’s’ parenting style as a template, which was demonstrated by Bailey et al (2007). A result of this is that you and your child will have a similar attachment type to that of you and your parents. This is why attachment style tends to be passed on through generations of a family.

The internal working model affects your expectations of others and subsequently your attitude towards them, which would have an impact on the quality of romantic relationships in adulthood. For example, someone who is insecure resistant may have trust issues and may find it hard to commit to one person.

A child’s internal working model can lead to the development of an attachment disorder. If they experience abuse or neglect in their childhood, they may grow up to resist or reject intimacy in their adult relationships. It may also lead to a lack of responsiveness or excessive overfamiliarity.

Question 38

Influence of Early Attachment on Childhood and Adult Relationships (A03)

Answer 38

P = This is supported by Bailey (2007).
E = They found that the majority of women (out of the 99 studied) had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers.
E = This supports the idea of continuity, as suggested by Bowlby. The internal working models that we develop in response to our first attachment to our primary attachment figure contain our perceptions of what a normal relationship looks like, and so we seek out such relationships in accordance with our internal working model.

P = Hazan and Shaver supported the idea that the quality/type of early attachments have a significant impact on our ability as adults to form attachments.
E = Hazan and Shaver found that those who were securely attached as children had happier and longer lasting relationships, and those who were insecurely attached had more divorces and tended to believe love was rare.
E = This supports the idea that childhood experiences have significant impact on people’s attitude toward later relationships.

P = It is reductionist and deterministic, due to suggesting that the influence of early attachments is deterministic, so a poor-quality attachment inevitably means that the individual will become bad parents themselves and be unable to form ‘normal’ romantic relationships and friendships in adulthood.
E = it suggests that insecurely attached infants are doomed to grow up and have bad adult relationships, when this is of course not true.
E = There are many cases of insecurely attached children growing to have strong happy
relationships.

P = Research support link between early attachment type and success in later relationships.
E = Fraley conducted a meta-analysis of studies- found correlations of up to 0.50 between early attachment types and later relationships.
E = This demonstrates the link between some attachment types (e.g. insecure-anxious) and adult relationships being less clear than they were with other attachment types. This in turn suggests that some attachment types are more unstable over time, and so reduces the confidence that can be placed in Bowlby’s theories of attachment and continuity.

P = Supported by Simpson et al
E = longitudinal study – participants were studied at 4 key points: infancy, early childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Attachment types and romantic relationships were assessed at different stages. Found that securely attached children were more expressive and emotionally attached in later romantic relationships
E = support claim that expression of emotions in adult romantic relationships can be traced back to early attachment experiences

P = The influence of early attachment on future relationships is guilty of determinism.
E = There are significant problems with the research. For example, the theory suggests that children who are insecurely attached are doomed for later relationships. This is deterministic because it assumes that implies no choice/free will, and that self-fulfilling prophecies must occur.
E = Other research suggests that plenty of insecurely attached children grow up to experience happy and fulfilling relationships. For example, such researchers suggest that experiences throughout life and genetic factors play a role in functioning. The temperament hypothesis, proposed by Kagan, is an alternative explanation that sees the quality of adult relationships as being determined biologically by innate personality factors. This suggests that attachment styles are irrelevant to adult relationships and thus implies that any attempts to develop better-quality relationships by changing people’s attachment styles to more positive ones will not work!