attachment Flashcards

Question

what were the conclusions of this experiment

Answer 1

Infant monkeys formed more of an attachment with a figure that provided comfort and protection. Growing up in isolation affected their development.

Answer 2

a laboratory experiment this meant that it is unlikely the results were affected by an unknown variable. it can bee argued that you cant generalise the results of this study to human beings, because humans and monkeys are qualitavely different. There were also ethical problems with this study-the monkeys were put in a stressful situation, and later they showed signs of being psychologically damaged by the experiment. Monkeys are social animals, so it was unfair to keep them in isolation. The fact that they were in isolation also means the study lacked ecological validity- the monkeys weren,t in their natural environment, so the results cannot be reliably applied to real life. Laboratory experiments can usually be replicated, but ethical guidelines now in place mean that you couldnt repeat this study today.

Answer 3

an individualistic culture is one which emphasises personal independence and achievement at the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition A collectivist culture is one which emphasised family and work goals above individual needs and desires, there is a high degree of interdependance between people

Answer 4

Main and Solomon (1986) pointed out at least one more attachment type and that a minority of children display atypical attachments that do not fall within types A B or C behaviour. This is known as disorganised attachment disorganised children display an odd mix of resistant and avoidant attachment.

Answer 5

prolonged deprivation of a young child of maternal care may have grand and far reaching effects on his character. similar in form to deprivation of vitamins in infancy

Answer 6

Bowlby considered there was a critical period from about 0-2.5 years when infants could have continuous unbroken relationships with one person monotropy

Answer 7

attachment is a close emotional relationship between an infant and a caregiver 'securely attached' infants will show a desire to be close to their primary careggiver (usually their biologicL

Answer 8

sensitive responsiveness-the caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant imitation-the infant copies the caregivers actions and behaviour. For example Meltzoff an Moore (1977) found that infants between 2 and 3 weeks of age appeared to imitate the facial expressions and hand movement of the experimenter. Interactional synchrony-Infants react in time with the caregivers speach, resulting in a 'conversation dance' Condon and Sander (1974) provided evidence for this concept, by showing how babies do appear to move in time with adult conversations. reciprocity/turn-taking-interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant. Motherese-The slow, high pitched way of speaking to infants. However, there is no evidence that this influences the strength of an attachment between parent and infant

Answer 9

the pre attachment or asocial phase the indiscriminate or diffuse attachment phase the discriminate or single attachment phase the multiple attachment phase

Answer 10

during the first 0-3 months of life, the baby learns to separate people from objects but doesn't have any strong preference about who cares for it

Answer 11

between 6 weeks and 7 months the infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than at strangers. However there are still no strong preferences about who care for it.

Answer 12

From seven to 11 months the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual. This is shown by being content when that person is around, distressed when they leave and happy when they return. It may be scared of strangers and avoid them.

Answer 13

from about nine months the infant can form attachment to many different people. Some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions, eg for play or for comfort, but there doesnt seem to be a limit to the number of attachments it can make. Although Schaffer found that after 18 months, approximately 32% of babies had at least 5 attachments, the original attachment is still the strongest.

Answer 14

one way in which attachment can be describes is through social earning theory this is the belief that attachment is formed in two ways by either classical conditioning or operant conditioning

Answer 15

classical conditioning is the gradual process of making connections of two different things in our immediate environment as infants we all have straight forward physical desires gradually we learn that drink food sleep parents and bed fulfil these basic desires and classically conditioning allows us to make connections between our needs and our environment and we gradually form attachments to the caregiver who provides those needs

Answer 16

operant condition works in the reverse of classical conditioning when we feel hungry-we do not have enough food, we feel thirsty because we do not have enough fluids when our caregivers are present, they relieve these discomforts caregivers casually become associated with the removal of discomfort and we form an attachment

Answer 17

has some support from scientific studies but is reductionist in nature much evidence which backs up learning theory comes from animal studies, these have ethical issues and cant be generalised to humans

Answer 18

jhon Bowlby was a major figure in attachment psychology:he developed the "Monotropic Theory of Attchment" as a coherent explanation of how attachments form

Answer 19

1951) put porward the idea that a sophisticated type of imprinting occurs in huhmans as we have an evolutionary need to form an attachment to our primary caregiver: without this attachement it is unlikely an infant would survive, and therefore natural selection prefers infants who do form attachments

Answer 20

- The idea of "Monotropy" is that we form a single attachment as infants: this is obviously usually, but not always, our biological mother - Bowlby's idea was that this initial single attachment gives us a "template" which we use for all future attachments, both as infants and as adults - Therefore, if this attachment is disrupted or abnormal, we form abnormal or disrupted attachments through our adult lives too

Answer 21

- There is some evidence in favour of Bowlby's ideas, but there is also experimental evidence against it, such as Schaffer and Emerson (1964) - It is also worth noting that Bowlby developed his theory during the 1950's: it has been theorised that this theory, which was explained poorly by the media, contributed to a rapid increase in "stay at home" mothers during this socially conservative and traditionalist era

Answer 22

Seperation and Deprivation

Answer 23

Seperation is when something wanted or neeeded is removed on a permanent basis

Answer 24

Bowlby carried out the 44 juvenile thieves study in 1944 which examines the backgrounds and infancy of 44 young criminals and found that there was a link between childhood maternal deprivation and criminality

Answer 25

Robertson and Robertson (1968) also carried out a naturalistic observation of a single child named “John” who was seperation from his mother for nine days This study concluded that this relatively short seperation may have had a permanent damaging effect on John relationship with his mother:he was reluctant to be affectionate when he was reunited with her

Answer 26

Many people argued that it is reductionist: and bowlby did not consider other factors such as poverty social deprivation and genetics

Answer 27

privation is where a child has never had an attachment to its mother or caregiver deprivation is where an attachment was once formed but is now broken these terms were formed by rutter who said that bowlby was confused with the term deprivation and the factors within his theory shuold be split into privation and deprivation

Answer 28

rutter claimed that the effects of maternal privation are more likely to be serious than the effects of maternal deprivation. Evidence for this comes from case studies of children who have suffered through difficult conditions or cruel treatment

Answer 29

this case reported a girl who suffered extreme cruelty from her parents, and never formed any attachments.Her father kept her strapped to a high chair with a potty in the seat for most her childhood she was beaten if she made any sound and didnt have the chance to play with toys or with other children. she was finally discovered when she was 13 years old.She was physically underdeveloped and could only speak with animal like sounds.After alot of help she learned some language but social and intellectual skills never seemed to fully develop

Answer 30

after the fall of the communist regime in romania during the early 1990s orphanages started getting vastly overcrowded. The orphans were fed, clothed and looked after but they lacked any form of sensitive care or any opportunity to form an emotional attachment.

Answer 31

111 Romanian orphans who were adopted by british families were compared with a group of 52 uk adoptees and followed over a prolonged period. Some of the orphans were adopted before they were 6 months old and some were older than 6 months. Each child was assesed at ages 4,6,11

Answer 32

111 Romanian orphans who were adopted by british families were compared with a group of 52 uk adoptees and followed over a prolonged period. Some of the orphans were adopted before they were 6 months old and some were older than 6 months. Each child was assesed at ages 4,6,11

Answer 33

The children who were younger than 6 months when they were adopted had the same level of emotional development as other uk children who were eolder than 6 months at adoption showed signs of insecure attachments and social problems. The Uk children who were older than 6 months at adoption didnt show the same problems.

Answer 34

the short-term separation had very bad effects on Jhon, including possible permanent damage to his new attachment with his mother

Answer 35

John reaction might not have been due to seperation- it could have been down to his new environment or the fact he was getting much less attention than he was used to. There will have been little control of variables,and it would be difficult to replicate each individual situation.However as the study took place in a natural setting,the results will have ecological validity but will be less reliable

Answer 36

affectioneless psycopathy:the child will show little to no empathy and have little regard for how their actions impact others anaclitic depression:The child will slow and impaired social development,reccurent insomnia and have little apetite deprevation dwarfism:the child will be physically underdeveloped as a result of sustained emotional deprivation delinquency:the child will carry out minor crimes or a regular basis reduced intelligence:the childs intellectual capacity willl develop at a slower rate than usual

Answer 37

bowlby developed the idea that our attachments as adults are guided by a template we form as infants:if our infant attachments are disrupted or abnormal its likely our adult ones are too

Answer 38

if our attachments are secure, then it is likely we will form normal secure attachmentts as adults however if we suffer insecure avoidant or insecure resistant then our adult attachments will also be "resistant" or "avoidant"

Answer 39

Hazzan and Shaver(1987) used a series of questions in local newspapers to examine how the relationships with 620 people had with their parents influenced their later expectations of adulthood they found a correlation between insecure avoidant and insecure resistant childhood attachments

Answer 40

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg came to the conclusion that there are cross cultural similarities in how children are raised and how infants form attachment

Answer 41

Some studies have suggested that children who experience disrupted attachments will go on to have difficulties in forming normal relationships with their own children therefore leading to a range of social problems eg recurrent deprivation, rising crime rates and ingrained poverty and employment

Answer 42

- Quinton et al (1984) compared the parenting of two groups of 50 women - The hrst group of 50 women had experienced institutional care as children - The second group of 50 women had experienced a normal family life as children - It was found that the first group were far more likely to encounter difficulties are parents than the second group: this would suggest that there is a "cycle of privation'

Answer 43

An inability to give or recieve affection Constant dishonesty Poor social relationships Involvement in criminal behaviour

Answer 44

That the majority of child refugees during the Second World War went on to experience normal cognitive development and relationships as adults in the following decades