attachment Flashcards
(35 cards)
what does reciprocity mean
-babies and mother spend a lot of time in intense interactions
- babies have alert phases and signals that they are ready for the interaction
- reciprocity happens when each person responds to the other
- 3+ months on the interaction is frequent and involves close attention and facial expressions
what is interactional sychrony
people are synchronised when they carry out the same action at the same time
this happens when mothers and babies mirror each other’s reactions
important for the development of mother-baby interactions
meltzoff and moore found that interaction synchrony began at two weeks
evaluation of caregiver infant interactions
- difficult to know if the interactions have special meaning. A child could merely be making a hand gesture that doesn’t have a lot of meaning. lowers the validity of the theory
+ methodological strengths. Most research is done under controlled conditions increases validity also has standardised procedure - seen as discriminating against women. makes women feel like they shouldn’t go back to work after
- cultural bias as all research is carried out in western countries
explain Isabella research
AIM
see if interactional synchrony is important for the development of caregiver and infant attachment
observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony
CONCLUSION
high levels of synchrony were seen with better quality mother- infant attachment
important for the development of mother infant interactions
explain parent-infant attachments
-research shows infants form attachment earlier with mothers than they do with fathers
- schaffer and emerson found that babies attached to their mothers at around 7 months and within a few weeks or months formed a secondary attachment to people including the father
755 of the infants formed an attachment to the father at around 18 months
explain the role of the father
- some people suggest the fathers role is less important than the mothers in determining adolescent attachment
some people argue men might not be biologically the best carers
socially however, times are changing
9% of single parents are male
some research shows that when a male is a single parent the take on some characteristics of a mother.
the important factors affecting the relationship between a father and a child are: - degree of sensitivity
-attachment with their parents
-marital intimacy
-supporting co parents
evaluation of the role of the father
+grossman carried out a longnitudinal study that looked into parent behaviour and its relationship to the quality of the child’s attachments. However the quality of the fathers play was associated to the child’s attachment in adolescence. suggests fathers play a different role in attachment
- weakness is pre-existing bias. researchers may have expected fathers to take on a certain role and could have biased the findings. reduced validity
- doesn’t take into account biological factors like womens levels of oestrogen that could make them more nuturing
- if fathers have a distinct role in attachment then it doesn’t explain how children who grow up without a father do not develop differently from those who do
what are schaffers stages of attachment
- asocial stage- up to six weeks
form attachments with any human - indiscriminate stage- 6 weeks to six months- babies are more sociable and can tell people apart so begin to form stronger attachments with those who they see more often. Don’t progress much until the next stage. no fear of strangers
- specific attachment- 7 months onwards- infant begins to show separation anxiety and begins to protest by crying. show fear of strangers
- multiple attachments- 10-11 months onwards- secondary attachments
evaluation of schaffers stages of attachment
- asocial stage is first few weeks of behaviour babies are too young to have control and good co-ordination so it is hard to make observations. hard to rely on evidence
- issues with measuring attachment- just because the child becomes distressed when a person leaves the room doesn’t mean they are their primary caregiver/ attachment
-methodological issues with research. argely based on self report and observations. self report may lack in validity.
+ schaffer and emerson supports- longnitudinal study on 60 babies at monthly intervals for th first 18 months of their life. glasgow and working class. asked mothers about seperation anxiety and stranger anxiety.
50% of the babies showed seperation anxiety between 25 and 32 weeks of age.
40 weks. 80% had a specific attachment and almost 30% showed multiple attachments.
however this research has low generlisability and doesnt represent target populations, mothers may not have reported negative experiences.
name the animal studies of attachment
lorenz- geese
harlow- monkeys
explain lorenz’s study
AIM
took a clutch of goose eggs and kept them until they were about to hatch
half the eggs were placed under the geeses mother and half of the eggs stayed by lorenz for several hours
to ensure imprinting had occured lorenz put all the chicks togther and put a box on to of them. When the bocx has removed the ducks split in half
CONCLUSION
- geese follow the first moving object they see during the 12- 17 hours after attching
explain harlows monkey experiment
AIM
reared 16 monkeys and 2 fake mothers- one was wire and one had soft padding around
wire had a milk bottle padding mother did not
CONCLUSION
monkeys cuddles cloth mother when frightened regardless if the mother provided milk
‘contact comfort’ is important
evaluation of harlows monkeys and lorenz’s geese
- low in generalisability as animals are different to humans- brains are less complex
- ethical issues with separating mother and child
+ good to carry out these types of experiments when not ethical on humans- enables insight into attachment
+ studies were controlled so fewer factors likely to impact results
+ real life application- how to care for animals in zoos
what is classical conditioning
refers to learning through association
attachments may be learned through association
food is an unconditioned stimulus which creates a natural response of pleasure as it relives hunger- this is an unconditioned response
UCS->UCS
NS
UCS+NS->UCR
CS->CR
what is operant conditioning
learning through reinforcement and punishment using positive, negatituve reinforcers and punishments
evaluation of classical and operant conditioning
-food may not be the main reason off attachment- schaffer and emerson found that 39% of babies forts attachments weren’t formed to the feeder
-reductionist- ignores evolutionary basis such as bowlbys theory of attachment
-problems with the use of animals- can’t generalise and animals are different to humans as they have less complex brains
+plausible explaination- makes sense that babies will like who feeds them
+ real life application in education
what is bowlbys monotropic theory
Adaptive- attachments are innate and promote survival
Social releasers- babies have social releasers which unlock the innate tendency of adults to care for them
Monotropy- infants have an innate tendency to form one special intense attachment with a primary caregiver- important for healthy development
Secure base- attachment is important for protection and acts as a secure base where the child can go and explore the world and have a safe place to return
Sensitive period- babies have to form an attachment with the primary caregiver in the sensitive period if this doesn’t happen the child will be damaged for life
Internal working model- children develop mental schemas of relationships
continued hypothesis- internal working model influences later relationships
evaluation of bowlbys monotropic theory
+ lorenz showed ducklings instinctively took him as their primary care giver- suggests attachment is innate and adaptive
-social constructionist theory argues that the theory is misoginistic. By blaming mothers for attachment it encourages them to stay at home- sexist and out dated
+ helped develop day care becasue of the focus on an attachment figure. now day care centres have ‘key workers’ for each child
- doesnt distingusih between deprivation and privation. genie shows privation may be more severe as she couldnt learn language
explain ainsworth strange situation
AIM
investigate individual differences in attachment style
infants ages 12-18 months were observed through video cameras in a lab play room
1. mother and infant enter room infant is free to explore
2. after 3 mins stranger enters and sits on the second chair and talks to the mother
3. stranger approaches infant and attempts to play and interact with them
4. mother leaves room
5.after 3 mins mother enters stranger leaves
6.after 3 mins mother leaves so child is alone
7.the stranger re-enters and tries to play with the child
8.mother returns stranger leaves
CONCLUSION
secure attachment- 70%
separation anxiety- distressed when mother left
reunion behaviour- happy when mother returns
stranger anxiety- avoidant when alone but friendly when mother present
other- will use mother as safe base
insecure resistant- 15%
separation anxiety- intense distress
reunion behaviour- child approaches mother but resists contact
stranger anxiety- avoidant and fearful of stranger
other- crys alot
insecure avoidant- 15%
separation anxiety-no distress
reunion behaviour- little interst when mother returns
stranger anxiety- plays normally in present not avoiding
other- mother and strager can comfort infant
indicidual differences to attachment
evaluation of strange situation
- alternate explanations- type d radke-yarrow
- not measuring parent caring styles but temperment of child- not accurate
-cross cultural differences - ethical issues- distressing for baby
+predicts later relationships so high validity
who studies cultural variations of attachment
van ljzendoorn and kroonenberg
explain the study that van ljzendoorn and kroonenberg carried out
analysed data from other studies using a method called meta analysis
studies data from 32 studies and 8 countries
15 studies from usa
all used strange situation
CONCLUSION
secure was common type in all cultures
lowest % in china and highest % in uk
individualist countries eg germany had high anxious avoidant
collectivist eg japan had high resistant
evaluation of cultural variations of strange situations
- still some cultural bias- may interpret actions from different cultures differently- bais and reduced validity
- designed by an american- applying assessment ot other cultures is known as imposed
- some argue it was a comparison of countries and not culture
-sample sizes for some countries were small- can’t generlise
+ sample used was large- 2000 children- mean we can generlise- increase internal validity
what is bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
bowlby argued that the continuous prescence of a mother was important in development
maternal seperation could lead to serious problems
seperation vs deprivation: seperation is where the child is simply not in the prescence of the mother whereas deprivation is when the child loses an element of care
critical period- bowlby believed that seperation in the first 30 months of childhood lead to serious consequences. a deprevation of maternal care would lead to mental redardation and lead to affectionless psychopathy.
