Attachment Flashcards
Define Attachment
A close, two-way, emotional bond between two individuals which is seen as essential for their emotional security
3 attachment behaviours
Proximity: people trying to stay physically close.
Separation anxiety: Feeling distressed when the figure leaves.
Secure base behaviour: explore the environment but return back to the att. figure for comfort
2 Caregiver-infant interactions
Reciprocity: one person responding to another with a similar action
Interactional synchrony: Reflecting the actions and emotions of the other. (Meltzoff and Moore)
Role of the father- Grossman (2002)
Longitudinal study - fathers attachment was less important to the quality of children’s attachments in their teens
However, the quality of the father’s play was related the quality of attachments they have in the future
Role of the Father: Extra
-Lamb: found that the role of the father was a playmate but the mother is preferred for comfort
-Paquette: Father’s are more likely to take part in risk taking activities & enjoyable games
Schaffer and Emerson: Background Info
Longitudinal, 60 babies, Glasgow, Working class, 5-23 weeks Mother’s had to keep track in a diary, all children were studied at home
Schaffer and Emmerson: Stages of Attachment
Schaffer and Emerson A03
Define Imprinting and Critical period
Imprinting: An innate readiness to form a strong attachment with the mother.
CP: The period of time in which imprinting must occur.
Lorenz - Geese Experiment
Divided a clutch of eggs in half
1/2 hatched with their mother
1/2 with Lorenz in an incubator
Controlled group followed their mum everywhere, whilst Lorenz’s group followed him everywhere. Once mingled together, they still went to their respective “mothers”
Lorenz evaluation
+(Hess) repeated the study on ducklings & found imprinting period can be strongest at 13-17 hrs.
(Guiton) found that chickens tried to mate with yellow rubber gloves after imprinting with them. // However, after spending time with their own species, they begun mating as normal.
Ag: Sluckin said it can be reversed
Harlow - Effects of privation
16 rhesus monkeys, immediately separated from mothers after birth. Access to 2 mothers - 8 got milk from a wire mother, 8 from the cloth mother.
Harlow’s findings
Both groups spent more time with the cloth mother.
- more timid
- aggressive and unsure of how to behave around other monkeys
- difficulty mating
- inadequate mothers, often killed offspring
Early maternal deprivation led to emotional damage, leaving permanent dysfunctional behaviours.
Harlow A03
+Helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse; how to intervene and prevent it
- If the rhesus monkeys were similar enough to humans to generalise the findings, their suffering was presumably also human-like
- Monkeys weren’t in their natural habitat which would already alter behaviour
Classical Conditioning
Learning through association, of two stimuli together
UCS = UCR
NS = No response
UCS + NS = UCR
CS = CR
Example: (Pavlov) dog salivating at the sound of the bell
Classical Conditioning: A03
- “food giver becomes primary attachment figure” only in 60% of cases
- atts. are emotionally rich and complex, CC reduces this behaviour and it’s importance (reductionism)
Operant conditioning
Learning through reinforcement
Crying leads to a response from the caregiver, so crying is reinforced because it produces a pleasurable consequence (i.e. feeding).
Negative reinforcement (escaping from something unpleasant) the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops
Bowlby’s monotropic/evolutionary theory
“an innate process that serves an important evolutionary function”. a prime example of a behavioural pattern that’s rooted in biology & evolution.
The purpose of att. is the same regardless of any culture and ethnic differences
Bowlby’s monotropic theory
(My Cat Is Always Sleeping)
M - Monotropy - forming one main att, which is unique to all others (with your mother)
C - Critical Period - Need to form an att in 2.5 years.
I - IWM - An internal cognitive template for all future relationships.
A - Adaptive - Humans are born with the innate need to form an att, to increase their chances of survival.
S - Social releasers - Innate behaviours that trigger responses.
Bowlby’s monotropic theory A03
+ Hazen and Shaver love quiz supports the IWM
+ Brazelton et al found social releasers in IS when observing babies & mums
- Lorenz supports the idea that we have innate att behaviours (lacks generalisability = animals)
- Lamb proposed that we form atts with our parents for different reasons
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
measured the security of attachment between mother & child
used 5 categories to judge quality of att.
procedure had 7 procedures, 3 mins long
Ainsworth’s strange situation findings
Type B: secure attachment: (60-75%) requires & accepts comfort at reunion. moderate SSA. happy to explore but seeks proximity
Type A: insecure avoidant: (20-25%) doesn’t require comfort at reunion. little/no SSA. Explores freely, no proximity
Type C: insecure resistant: (3%) resists comfort at reunion. considerable S/S A. Explore less, seek greater proximity.
Ainsworth A03
+ inter-rater reliability: different observers found similar results Bick et al found 94% same results.
+ validity: explains future outcomes, concludes their results.
- culture bound test: designed by an american, tested on brits
- may be more attachment types: Main and Solomon found some don’t fit them categories and have disorganised att.
-temperament may be confounding variable: Kagan suggests that temperament (child’s genetically influenced personality) is a more important influence on behaviour then SSA.
Cultural Variations - van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg
(Meta-analysis) 1990 children, 32 studies of the SS - looking at secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachments in a range of countries.
