Attachment Flashcards

Question

AO3 Strength of Schaffer and Emerson's study (Longitudinal study)

Answer 1

-One strength of research into the development of attachments s the use of longitudinal studies -For example, Schaffer and Emerson conducted a longitudinal study with 60 infant pairs over 18 month, whereby researchers visited the same pairs every moth and then again at 18 months -This means researchers were able to study these infant pair over a period of time focusing on patterns and changes within the specific pair over a period of time, reducing individual differences

Answer 2

-One strength of Schaffer and Emerson's study is that it was a naturalistic observation -Infants were observed in natural settings e.g. at home, in shops... -This means the results are higher in ecological validity and can be better generalised to everyday life -Therefore this strengthens our acceptance of the theory

Answer 3

-One weakness of Schaffer and Emerson's study is observer bias -In Schaffer and Emerson's study, observers may have had a preconceived bias that more sensitive responses leads to stronger attachments -When the researchers measured the attachment between mother and baby, they might have expected the mothers who displayed more sensitive responsiveness, to have stronger attachments with their babies and so the researchers may have incorrectly rated the sensitive mothers as having stronger attachments to their babies than they really did.

Answer 4

The person who has formed the closest bond with the child, demonstrated by the intensity of the relationship

Answer 5

-Fathers are more playful, physically active and better at providing challenging situations for their children -Mothers form a more conventional role and fathers are seen as a playmate (Geiger 1996) -Schaffer and Emerson showed that babies form multiple attachments and do form attachments with their father -Gender stereotypes that affect male behaviour. This may discourage males from becoming the primary attachment figure E.g. Thought as feminine to be sensitive. -Men have less oestrogen which underlies caring behaviour, so women generally have better interpersonal skills. E.g. listening, understanding Counter: Research shows that men's Test levels decrease. Oxytocin increases suggesting men are biologically capable -Schaffer and Emerson found that 3% of babies form their first attachment with their father

Answer 6

- Research evidence provides support for the role of the father as a playmate -Research by Geiger et al found that a fathers play interactions were more exciting in comparison to a mother's. However, the mothers play interactions are more affectionate and nurturing -This suggests that the role of the father is in fact as a play mate and not as a sensitive parent who responds to the needs of their children.

Answer 7

Research evidence suggests that fathers are not able to primary caregivers are not biologically equipped to be primary caregivers. For example, Hrdy (1999) found that fathers were less able to detect low levels of infant distress, in comparison to mothers. This could be due to different hormone levels such as oxytocin and lack oestrogen to detect the child's needs. This coincides with the theory which suggests fathers cant be the primary caregiver, thus strengthening acceptance of the theory.

Answer 8

One strength is that there is supporting research from Grossman et al. For example, Grossman found that children’s internal working model was associated with the play sensitivity of their dad and were associated with the strength of their attachment to their mum but not their dad. This supports the notion that fathers function as a playmate for their children, mothers and fathers have different roles in the child’ development. This validates the key principles of the theory, thus strengthening acceptance of the role of fathers as playmates. HOWEVER, these lines of research may not in fact be in conflict. It could be that fathers typically take on distinctive roles in two parent, heterosexual families, but that parents in single-mother and lesbian parent families simply adapt to accommodate the role played by fathers

Answer 9

Research suggests that fathers are able to demonstrate sensitive responsiveness to their infant Belsky (2009) found that males who reported higher levels of marital intimacy also displayed a secure father-infant attachment, whereas males with lower levels of marital intimacy displayed insecure father-infant attachments. This suggests that fathers can form secure attachments with their infant depending on levels of marital intimacy

Answer 10

An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother figure which takes place during a specific time in development probably the first few hours after birth/hatching

Answer 11

12 gosling eggs and divided them into 2 groups Group 1: Eggs left with their own mother Group 2: Eggs placed in an incubator and when they hatched the first thing they saw was Lorenz

Answer 12

-Goslings who saw Lorenz first followed Lorenz first -Goslings who saw their mother first followed their mother

Answer 13

-Created two wire monkeys each with a different head -One wire mother - wrapped in soft cloth, the other was a plain wire monkey -Milk bottle was on plain wire

Answer 14

-All 8 months spent most of the time with the soft covered mother regardless of where the milk bottle was -Those who were fed by the wire monkey , fed and then returned to the cloth mother when they were scared

Answer 15

Monkeys don't form attachments with the person who feeds them but rather the person offering contact comfort

Answer 16

-Monkeys developed abnormally -Socially abnormal - fled when approached by other monkeys -Sexually abnormal - Didn't show normal mating behaviour or cradle their own babies. Sometimes they neglected their young and even killed them in some cases

Answer 17

One weakness of Harlow's research is that there was confounding variables which may have affected outcome of the study. For example, the monkey's head shape was a lot more 'monkey like' than the wire monkey. This suggests the monkey may have chosen the cloth monkey more due to the head shape being more realistic, rather than the cloth comfort. Therefore this may result in inaccurate data meaning we cant establish cause and effect, thus weakening our acceptance of Harlow's research.

Answer 18

One strength of Lorenz's research is that there is support from Regolin et al. Chicks were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved, such as a triangle with a rectangle in front . A range of shape combinations were then moved in front of them and they followed the original most closely. This supports the view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development, as predicted by Lorenz, thus strengthening acceptance of Lorenz's theory.

Answer 19

One strength of Harlow's research is that it has provided real world value. For example, it has helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes. We also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild. This means that the value of Harlow's research is not just theoretical but also practical, thus strengthening acceptance of the research as it has led to real life interventions

Answer 20

Holly has formed an attachment to Melissa through classical conditioning, through the feeding process. Holly has formed an association between the pleasure of food with Melissa, prompting a conditioned response of laughing and smiling whenever she is with Melissa. Holly has also formed an attachment with Melissa through operant conditioning. Holly’s behaviour of being around Melissa has been reinforced, by the fact that she gets fed more, and so rewarded more, when she is with Melissa.

Answer 21

-When a child never has an attachment figure or is removed from their care during the CP -Bowlby suggested there would be long term irreversible negative consequences of maternal deprivation -Child will suffer impaired intellectual, behavioural and emotional consequences -Can lead to the children becoming affectionless psychopaths -Bowlby found that 32% of 44 thieves were affectionless psychopaths, of AP, 86% had experienced maternal deprivation Critical period - If a young child is denied emotional care due to frequent or prolonged separations may become disturbed If its within the critical period of attachment or there is no substitute mother person available Value of maternal care - infants need a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with a mother or permanent substitute to ensure normal mental health

Answer 22

One weakness of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation is that there were confounding variables. For example, many other factors can affect a child's development, not just being deprived, however, this isnt taken into account in Bowlby's theory. Poverty, abuse and malnourishment are all likely to contribute to emotional distress, therefore they are confounding variables which influence the relationship between deprivation and psychological distress. This suggests we cant establish a causal relationship between maternal deprivation and these negative consequences as there are many other factors which can influence a child's development, which are not accounted for in the theory of MD. Therefore this weakens our acceptance of Bowlby's theory as it doesn't take confounding variables such as environmental upbringing into consideration.

Answer 23

One weakness of Bowlby's theory is that there is contradicting evidence from Koluchova. A twin study found that the effects of deprivation can be reversed. Two twins were abused and neglected till the age of 7 when they were put into foster care and developed loving relationships with foster parents and caught up with their peers in school, they both went on to have happy relationships and good jobs later on in life. This research contradicts Bowlby's theory, because Bowlby states children will have life long effects of maternal deprivation. This real world research weakens acceptance of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation.

Answer 24

One weakness of Bowlby's theory is that it may be lacking in detail. For example, Rutter argued that the effects of privation would be worse than the effects of deprivation. Privation is when a child never experiences an attachment figure. This is a weakness as it isnt taken into account by the theory, thus indicating the theory of MD is incomplete, thus weakening acceptance of the theory of MD as it doesn't fully account for privation

Answer 25

To investigate long term effects of maternal deprivation

Answer 26

-Analysed the case histories of a number of patients in a child guidance clinic -Natural experiment -88 children - 44 were the control group and the other 44 were thieves (caught stealing) -Bowlby described some thieves as affectionless psychopaths - who lacked signs of affection, shame or a sense of responsibility -He felt this affectionless psychopathy enabled them to steal

Answer 27

-One weakness of Bowlby's theory of 44 thieves study was data was collected retrospectively -For example, data was from 14 years ago -This means that the information may be inaccurate, reducing the validity of the data and its findings -Therefore this weakens our acceptance of the research s results may not be compleely accurate

Answer 28

-32% were affectionless psychopaths - Of affectionless psychopaths, 86% had experienced early separation from mother -Only 17% if thieves without affectionless psychopathy experienced maternal deprivation and just 4% had experienced separations during critical period

Answer 29

One weakness of Bowlby's 44 thieves study is that it has been criticised for social desirability For example, not all parents would have been completely honest about how they treated their children as they don't want to look bad. This means the data could have been skewed and not accurate which affects the validity of the study Therefore, this weakens our acceptance of Bowlby's findings as they may not be genuine

Answer 30

China Japan Germany Israel UK America Holland Sweden

Answer 31

Most secure attachment type = UK Most avoidant attachment type = Germany Most resistant attachment type = Japan Results showed that individualistic countries that support independence such as Germany had high levels of avoidant attachment type, whereas countries that are more culturally close (collectivist), such as Japan, had quite high levels of resistance.

Answer 32

Attachments are learned through experiences of being fed through caregivers Attachment is learned through classical and operant conditioning Classical conditioning: Baby has association between the mother (NS) and feeling of pleasure that comes from being fed by caregiver (UCR) . Therefore, baby then feels pleasure when mother is around. Attachment occurs because the child seeks the person who can provide them a reward which is food

Answer 33

One weakness of this theory is that it isn’t supported by Harlow’s study, which shows that baby monkeys choose comfort over food. Another weakness is that the theory isn’t supported by observations that babies raised in communal environments by foster mums called metapelites don’t attach to the foster mums.

Answer 34

One strength of the LT of attachment is that there is supporting research from Dollard and Miller. For example, in the first year of an infants life they are fed over 2000 times by their caregiver. In this time period an attachment could have formed through classical conditioning, making the learning theory of attachment believable. The baby could have formed the link between the caregiver (NS) and the feeling of pleasure from being fed (UCR) to make the caregiver the conditioned stimulus which evokes a conditioned response of pleasure from when the caregiver is seen by the infant, forming an attachment between infant and caregiver who is now the attachment figure. Therefore, the supporting research indicates that LT is a plausible explanation for how we form attachments.

Answer 35

One weakness of the learning theory of attachment is that there is contrary evidence from Harlow For example, Harlow found that when monkeys experience fear, they run to a cloth mother who offers comfort rather than a wire mother who had a milk bottle, feeding them. This indicates that monkeys form attachment through comfort rather than food. This research contradicts the core principles of learning theory thus weakening acceptance of learning theory as an explanation of attachment. However, one problem with such animal research is that it may not be generalisable to humans. Humans are way more complex than monkeys and therefore may form attachments differently to monkeys, rendering the research ineffective at providing a stance against the learning theory of attachment

Answer 36

One weakness of the learning theory of attachment is that the central predictions may not be correct. For example, the theory states that whoever feeds the baby the most, will form an attachment with the baby. However, in Israel, many babies are often fed and cared for by foster mothers called metapelites during the day. But because they are often caring for many babies, they don't spend a lot of time with the babies. At the end of they day, the babies are returned to their mothers who don't need to feed them but are able to spend quality time with the infant. According to LT, the child should form the attachment with the metapelite, but this isn't the case. This provides real world evidence which contradicts LT, thus weakening acceptance of LT as an explanation of how attachments are formed

Answer 37

-Babies form one very special attachment with their mother -This intense attachment is called monotropy -If the mother isn't available, the infant could bond with another ever present adult, mother substitute

Answer 38

-First 2.5 years of a babies life -Cant form an attachment with the caregiver after this age

Answer 39

-The schema for relationships that we develop from our attachment with our main caregiver -Acts as a template for our future relationships -Positive relationship with caregiver = Positive internal working model = Positive future relationships vice versa

Answer 40

One strength of Van Ijendoorn and Kroonenberg is that they used a large sample (2000 babies across 8 countries).This suggeests there is high population validity meaning findings can be generalized to other populations of people. Therefore large samples used in meta analysis increase the internal validity, thus strengthening our acceptance of the research

Answer 41

Insecure avoidant Insecure resistant Secure

Answer 42

-Strength: Enables researchers to collect highly detailed, reliable observations -Weakness: Studies are correlational making it hard to infer a cause and effect -Weakness: Observer bias

Answer 43

Procedure: -Love quiz in Rocky Mountains newspapers -The quiz asked questions about current attachment experiences and attachment Findings: -Positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences -Securely attached adults were reported as more positive and enduring in relationships - 10 years on average -Insecure avoidant attached individuals tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy

Answer 44

One weakness of the influence of early attachment is that there is a theoretical problem which exists in research related to internal working models This is because the internal working model is an unconscious structure so participants would not be able to discuss it through a questionnaire consciously. Furthermore the IWM is an unfalsifiable concept which cant be emprically measured through brain scans. This means the IWM is an untestable concept so it cant be measured, thus weakening our acceptance of it and its role in early attachments

Answer 45

-It is deterministic -Plenty of insecure people still manage to form happy relationships. People are not always doomed to have bad relationships because they have attachment problems in childhood. They have a greater risk of encountering problems, people can still be happy if they are insecure

Answer 46

-Association doesnt mean causation -Alternative explanations exist for the continuity between infant and later relationships. Attachment styles and love styles could be influenced by a third environmental factor such as parenting style or one's personality. This third factor might have a direct effect on the attachment the infant forms and the child's ability to form relationships with others

Answer 47

-A procedure to assess how securely attached a child was to its caregiver -Controlled observation 1. The caregiver enters a room, places the child on the floor and sits on a chair. 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 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.

Answer 48

-To see how a child would react when separated from their mother -100 middle class Americans

Answer 49

One strength of the SS is that its outcomes predicts a number of aspects of the baby's later development. A large body of research has indicated that babies with a secure attachment have better outcomes than others, both in later childhood and in adulthood. In childhood this includes better academic achievements and less involvement in bullying. Securely attached babies have better mental health in adulthood. Those babies assessed as having insecure avoidant and resistant attachment types go on to have worse outcomes. This suggests the SS measures something real and meaningful in a babies development, thus strengthening acceptance of the research HOWEVER, not all psychologists believe this is something important. For example Kagan et al suggested that genetically-influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment behaviour in the SS and later development. This means that the SS may not actually measure attachment

Answer 50

One strength of the SS is good inter-rater reliability. Bick et al tested inter-rater reliability for the SS for a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases. This high level of reliability may be because the procedure takes place under controlled conditions and because behaviours such as stranger and separation anxiety involve large movements and are therefore easy to observe. For example, anxious babies cry and crawl away from strangers. This means we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by the SS does not depend on subjective judgements.

Answer 51

One limitation of the SS is that it may not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts. The SS was developed in Britain and the US. It may be culture bound. One reason for this is that babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their responses to the strange situation. For example, in one Japanese study by Takahashi et al, babies displayed very high amounts of separation anxiety and so a disproportionate number were classified as insecure resistant. Takahashi suggests that this anxiety response was not due to high rates of attachment insecurity but to the unusual nature of the experience in Japan where mother-baby separation is very rare. This means that it is very difficult to know what the SS is measuring when used outside of the US and Europe, thus weakening acceptance of the research, as it may be ethnocentric

Answer 52

One weakness of the SS is that there may be other attachment types which were unaccounted for. For example, Main et al identified a 4th category of attachment - a disorganised attachment, a mix of resistant and avoidant behaviours. However, babies with this attachment are unusual and have generally experienced some form of severe neglect. Most will go on to develop psychological disorders by adulthood

Answer 53

Secure - 70% Insecure avoidant - 15% Insecure resistant - 15%

Answer 54

-Studied 163 romanian orphans who suffered effects of institutionalisation -111 were adopted before the age of 2 and another 52 were adopted before the age of 4 -Adoptees were tested at separate regular intervals (4, 6, 11 and 15) to assess physical and cognitive social development -Progress was compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted in the UK before 6 months

Answer 55

-Deprivation dwarfism (Physical underdevelopment) -Mental retardation -Disinhibited attachment - Infant displays attention seeking behaviour and over friendliness to strangers - Lack of internal working model -Lack of emotional development

Answer 56

One strength of the Romanian orphanage study is their application to improve conditions for growing up outside their family home. Studying the Romanian orphans has improved psychologists' understanding of the effects of early institutionalisation care and how to prevent the worst of these effects. This has led to improvements in the conditions experienced by looked-after e.g. Children's homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child, instead the children tend to have one or two 'key workers' who play a central role in their emotional care. Considerable effort is made to accommodate such children in foster care or to have them adopted instead. This means that children in institutional care have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachments are avoided.

Answer 57

A second weakness of the studies of institutionalisation is that because the studies used interviews, the results might have been prone to social desirability bias, which is when participants provide inaccurate answers in order to appear socially acceptable and avoid being judged negatively. For instance, the families of the adopted children may have wanted to appear like things were going better than they really were, so they might have said that the children had fewer psychological problems than they really did, meaning that, again, the effects of privation might have been underestimated.

Answer 58

Another strength of the Romanian orphans studies is the lack of confounding variables. There were many orphans studies before the Romanian orphans became available study. Many of the children studied in orphanages had experienced varying degrees of trauma, and it is difficult to disentangle the effects of neglect, physical abuse and bereavement from those of institutional care. However the children from Romanian orphanages had, in the main, been handed over by loving parents who could not afford to keep them. This means that results were much less likely to be confounded by other negative early experiences meaning there is higher internal validity HOWEVER, studying children from Romanian orphanages might have introduced different confounding variables. The quality of care in these institutions was remarkably poor, with children receiving very little intellectual stimulation or comfort. This means that the harmful effects seen in studies of Romanian orphans may represent the effects of poor institutional care rather than institutional care

Answer 59

One weakness of the longitudinal design often used in research into institutionalisation is that, there’s a big risk that, across the multiple timepoints, a lot of participants will stop wanting to take part in the research, meaning the researcher loses a large proportion of their sample. This loss of participants across the course of the study is called attrition, which is a problem because it can influence the results of a study. We don’t know what the outcomes were for the children and families who refused to continue taking part in the study. It’s likely that families who refused to keep taking part were the ones who felt that their children were behaving badly and struggling psychologically, so the effects of privation might have been underestimated in the study.

Answer 60

-Romanian children adopted before 6 months old showed good emotional development -Romanian children adopted after 6 months old showed severe psychological damage -British children adopted from orphanages displayed good emotional and cognitive development -British children adopted after 6 months old did not demonstrate severe psychological damage

Answer 61

Babies are separated from their attachment figure during the critical period

Answer 62

They found that in the multiple attachment stage, 87% of babies formed an attachment to two or more caregivers.

Answer 63

Strength = Lead to positive changes in the real world such as longer waiting times for children in hospital and longer parental leave Weakness = Discouraged mothers from going out and working by making them feel bad for not taking care of their child

Answer 64

Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment

Answer 65

-Participants might have been influenced by investigator effects causing them to respond to demand characteristics - They might have pretended like there was more deprivation than what occurred. -Reconstructive memory gives inaccurate results of what happened because participants were asked to recall events from 14 years ago. -Social desirability - The mothers may not have been genuine with their answers because they wouldn't say how they treated their child if they knew they treated them badly

Answer 66

Impaired cognitive, behavioural and emotional development

Answer 67

One limitation of natural experiments is that the researchers have little control over extraneous variables which could have influenced the results. The children who displayed criminal behaviour may have been deprived of an attachment figure. Their behaviour might have also been caused by other factors such as low socioeconomic status, a poor but not deprived attachment to their parents, or experiencing lots of family conflict. Without being able to control for these factors, we can’t be sure that it was maternal deprivation that made children more likely to turn to crime, rather than these other uncontrolled factors.

Answer 68

One strength of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation is that there s supporting research from his 44 thieves study. For example, children who were separated from their main caregiver are likely to develop delinquency and affectionless psychopathy later in life. Of the children he interviewed, 50% of those who demonstrated delinquency had been separated from their mothers, compared to around 5% of those who did not demonstrate delinquency. This suggests that there are lasting effects of MD as Bowlby's theory suggests, thus strenghtening acceptance for his theory of MD.

Answer 69

Koluchova’s case study describes a pair of twins who were severely neglected and deprived of an attachment figure, during their critical period. The twins showed the severe psychological damage that Bowlby claimed they would have, and Bowlby claimed that this psychological damage would be long-lasting and irreversible. However, after being adopted by a loving family and receiving schooling, the twins cognitive abilities improved leaving them with an above-average IQ. They also went on to form a positive attachment with their caregivers and have happy relationships in adult life. Therefore, the twins don’t support Bowlby’s idea that the consequences of deprivation are long-lasting and irreversible.

Answer 70

Rutter was critical of Bowlby’s definition of deprivation. According to Rutter, deprivation is when a child has attached to a caregiver, but is then separated in early childhood. Privation is when a child has never experienced the love of a caregiver, and never forms an attachment with anyone.

Answer 71

This was found to be the least common of the three attachment types identified by Ainsworth -Around 10-12% of infants were classified as insecure resistant -The infants did not explore the room and were reluctant to leave the PCG's side, in case they were left -separation anxiety -stranger anxiety -On reunion with the PCG, they were not able to be calmed down and protested at the PCG as comfort was offered -They resisted the PCG's attempt to calm them on return

Answer 72

-18-20% of infants were found to be insecure avoidant -The infants were happy to explore the room and play but didn't use caregiver as a safe base -There was no separation anxiety -No stranger anxiety -Indifferent reunion behaviour

Answer 73

-This was found to be the most common attachment type in the Strange Situation experiment conducted by Ainsworth and is the most common attachment type globally -Between 66-70% of infants are classified as secure -The infants were happy to explore the room and play, using the Primary Care Giver (PCG) as a safe base -Demonstrated separation anxiety -Showed stranger anxiety -On reunion with the PCG, they were happy and any upset disappeared very quickly

Answer 74

The caregiver is sensitive and responsive to the needs of the infant - High stranger anxiety - High separation anxiety - Use the caregiver as a safe base, so they are happy to explore - Happy when reunited with caregiver

Answer 75

The caregiver is not responsive to the child. The child doesn't trust the caregiver - Low separation anxiety - Low stranger anxiety - Don't use the caregiver as a safe base - Indifferent reunion behaviour

Answer 76

The caregiver shows inconsistent care to the child, so the child is unsure if tey can depend on the caregiver or not. Become needy and attention seeking - High separation anxiety - High stranger anxiety - Angry reunion behaviour - Don't use the caregiver as a safe base

Answer 77

- Main conducted an interview-based study, in which participants were asked questions about their relationships with their parents and their relationships with their children - The participants' attachment styles with their parents correlated with the attachment patterns they had with their own child - She found that the percentage of adults displaying each of the three attachment types was very similar to the percentages first described by Ainsworth

Answer 78

-Investigator effects as it was an interview -The ppts responses may not have been accurate and they may have displayed social desirability bias -Inaccurate memory as events were in childhood

Answer 79

-Used a volunteer sample which means it may not have been representative of the whole population - Self report measure means results might not always be accurate or objective and may suffer from social desirability biases - The study was correlational meaning a causal relationship can't be established between attachment styles with parents and later romantic relationships

Answer 80

-Control over extraneous variables due to standardisation. All children went through same script and same 8 stages -Replicable - Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg did a meta analysis of studies which replicated strange situations and found that these studies replicated the findings from strange situations -Stable across time

Answer 81

-The results may lack population validity -The method may be culturally biased towards behaviours expected in Western cultures -The results may lack ecological validity

Answer 82

-Families might have displayed social desirability bias meaning a possible underestimation of the negative effects of privation -There is often attrition in longitudinal studies meaning a possible underestimation of the negative effects of privation.

Answer 83

-Looked at the cultural variation of attachment # -Sample size was 2000 -Meta-analysis of 32 studies in which strange situations were conducted to determine the proportions of babies with different attachment types -Conducted across 8 countries Secure attachment = UK. UK parenting often balances warmth with clear boundaries, a hallmark of the authoritative style. This promotes sensitive, responsive caregiving which is key to developing secure attachment. Insecure resistant attachment = Israel Many Israeli infants in the study were raised in kibbutzim, where children often slept separately from parents and were cared for in communal nurseries. This inconsistent caregiver access may contribute to anxious, clingy behaviour, typical of insecure-resistant attachment. Insecure avoidant attachment = Germany. Cultural factors in Germany often value independence and self-reliance from an early age. Variations between results of studies within the same country were actually 150% greater than those BETWEEN countries. In the Us for example, one study found only 46% securely attached vs one study which found 90%

Answer 84

One strength of the research is that it is carried out by indigenous researchers. Indigenous psychologists are those from the same cultural background as the ppts. For example, they included research by a German team (Grossman et al) and Takahashi who is Japanese. This kind of research means that many of the potential problems in cross-cultural research can be avoided such as the researchers misunderstandings of the language used by ppts or having difficulty communicating instructions to them. Difficulties can also include bias because of ones nation's stereotypes to another. Therefore this suggests there is high chance that the researchers and ppts communicated well, increasing the validity of the data collected. HOWEVER, this wasn't the case for all researchers. For example, Tronick et al were outsiders from America when they studied child rearing and patterns of attachment in the Efe of Zaire. Their data might have been affected by difficulties in gathering data from ppts outside their own culture. This means that the data from some countries might not have been affected by bias and difficulty in cross-cultural communication

Answer 85

One weakness of the research is that there may have been an impact of confounding variables on the findings. For example, studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in reviews or meta-analyses. Sample characteristics such as poverty, social class and urban/rural make up can found results as can the age of ppts studied in different countries. Environmental variables might also differ between studies and confound results. For example, the size of the room and the availability of interesting toys there - babies might appear to explore more in studies conducted in small rooms with attractive toys compared to large, bare rooms. Less visible proximity seeking because of room size might make a child more likely to be classified as avoidant. This means that looking at attachment behaviour in different non-matched studies conducted in different countries may not tell us anything about cross - cultural patterns of attachment, thus weakening acceptance of the research as it is victim to confounding variables

Answer 86

A further limitation of cross-cultural research is in trying to impose test designed for one cultural context to another context. Cross-cultural psychology includes ideas of emic (cultural uniqueness) and etic (cross-cultural universality). Imposed etic occurs when we assume an idea or technique that works in one cultural context will work in another. An example of this in attachment research is in the use of babies' response to reunion with the caregiver in the SS. In Britain and the US, lack of affection on reunion may indicate an avoidant attachment. But in Germany such behaviour would be more likely interpreted as independence rather than insecurity. Therefore that part of the SS may not work in Germany. This means that behaviours measured by the ss may not have the same meaning in different cultural contexts, and comparing them across cultures is meaningless

Answer 87

One strength of Bowlby's theory of monotropy is that there is research support for the concept of the IWM. The idea of the internal working mode predicts that the patterns of attachment will be passed from one generation to the next. Bailey at al measured the mother's attachment to their own primary attachment figures and also assessed the attachment quality of the babies. They found that mothers with poor attachment to their own caregivers were more likely to have poorly attached babies. This coincides and supports Bowlby's theory which states that the ability of the mother to form attachments to their babies is influenced by their IWM, which comes from their own attachment experience. HOWEVER, there are other significant influences on social development. For example, some psychologists believe that genetic differences in anxiety and sociability affect social behaviour in both babies and adults. These differences could also impact on their parenting ability. This means that Bowlby may have overstated the importance of the IWM in social behaviour and parenting at the expense of other factors