Attachment Flashcards

Question

Lorenz's research- Findings

Answer 1

- Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere, control group hatched in the presence of the mother - When released, Lorenz marked the goslings and the naturally hatched goslings went straight to their mother whereas the incubator hatched goslings went straight to Lorenz (showing no bond to their natural mother). - Lorenz noticed how the process of imprinting occurred only a short period of time after birth (between 13 and 16 hours)- which was the **critical period**. - If imprinting does not occur within that time Lorenz found that chicks did not attach themselves to a mother figure

Answer 2

**- Process by which a young bird learns species-specific characteristics that enables it to find a conspecific mate when adults.** - He investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences. He observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviours towards humans - In a case study Lorenz described a peacock that was brought up in the reptile house of a zoo, where the first moving objects the peacocks saw after hatching were giant tortoises. - As an adult this bird would would only direct courtship behaviours towards giant tortoises - Lorenz concluded that this meant the peacock had undergone sexual imprinting

Answer 3

- Limitation is the generalised simplification of conclusions from birds to humans. - It is obvious that the mammalian attachment system is a lot more complex and differentiated. - Research displays that in mammals attachment it is a two way process as in mammals the attachment is reciprocated. (E.g It is not just the baby who is attached to the mother, the mothers display emotional attachment to their young as well). - Which in Lorenz’s studies may not be relevant and not appropriate to be generalised to the human species. ## Footnote A limitation is the oversimplified generalisation from birds to humans. Mammalian attachment is more complex and reciprocal, with both mother and infant showing emotional bonds — unlike in Lorenz’s studies, which may not be applicable to humans.

Answer 4

- Strength is that a study done by Regolin and Vallortigara supports Lorenz’s concept of imprinting. - Here chicks were exposed to shapes in random combinations. - The shapes were then moved in front of them and they followed the original the closest. - This supports view that animals can imprint on a moving object.

Answer 5

- Need for physical closeness and touch to provide infants comfort

Answer 6

- Tested if a soft object could have similar functions to that of a mother - In one experiment he gave 16 monkeys with 2 wired model ‘mothers’ - In one condition, milk came out of the plain wire ‘mother’ but in the 2nd condition it came out of the cloth covered ‘mother’

Answer 7

- Found that the baby monkeys huddled up to the softer object more than the plain one - They found comfort in the cloth one when scared regardless if milk came out of it - When the wired one had food they would go to eat from it and return to the clothed one - Without the clothed one, some were paralysed with fear, sucking their thumb while curled up in a ball - It showed that ‘contact comfort’ was far more important than food when it came to forming attachments

Answer 8

- Strength is it was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting - He was able to control extraneous variables such as the monkeys being taken away from their mothers straight after birth. - This means he was measuring what he intended to measure (ie factors that can affect the formation of attachment) - And study can be seen to have high internal validity allowing a cause and effect relationship to be established

Answer 9

- This study does not tell us much about the attachment of humans because monkeys and humans are physiologically different. - Therefore psychologists would argue that the generalisability form this research makes harlow study even more unethical.

Answer 10

- As we learn attachment through classical conditioning - When babies eat they feel pleasure - Mum on her own will produce pleasure response- baby feels happy when mum picks them up 1. Food (UCS) > Pleasure (UCR) 2. Food + Mother (NS) > Pleasure (UCR) 3. Mother (CS) > Pleasure (CR)

Answer 11

1. Hungry baby = discomfort 2. Food (primary reinforcer) = discomfort reduced (negative reinforcement) food seeking behaviours repeated 3. Classical conditioning > food + mum mum becomes secondary reinforcer baby seeks mum 4. Attachment occurs because the child seeks out the person associated with reduction in discomfort Food takes away uncomfortable feelings Mum then also takes away feeling of discomfort If the baby is in discomfort they seek mum- mum takes away negative feelings

Answer 12

- Limitation of L.T is that there is a lack of support from studies of human babies - E.g Schaffer and Emerson found that babies formed a connection with their mother despite if their mother was the one to feed them - These factors are not related to feeding - Suggests food is not the main factor in the formation of human attachments

Answer 13

- Strength is that there are elements in conditioning involved in attachment - E.g it is unlikely food plays a central role in attachment however with a presence of an adult they may associate that with a warm feeling and therefore may be their main attachment figure - Means that learning theory can be used in the development of attachment

Answer 14

- Learning theory it's a reductionist - Doesn't talk about emotions and feelings - Doesn't take into account biology- oxytosin- bonding hormone- helps to form bond with baby - Over simplistic

Answer 15

- In Harlow's monkey study the babies did not become attached to wire mum that fed them - They became attached to cloth mum- showing milk is not the primary reason for attachment

Answer 16

- Each new generation of animals will show some new genetically caused variations - Some of these variations may enhance the ability of that individual to survive, and more importantly to reproduce - Therefore the genes for this variation will appear in future generations - Variations or traits are *naturally selected* when they are adaptive (increase the likelihood of reproduction

Answer 17

- Babies are born helpless - It is important for parents to look after the baby - Attachment keeps the baby safe

Answer 18

- Children have an **innate** drive to become attached to 1 care- giver (normally mother) because it ensures survival - Infants born with **social releasers** (e.g smiling/ crying/ reciprocity/ synchrony)- cause care- giving behaviour - Limitied window of time (**critical period**) for attachment to develop. (accept 3-6 months or approx. up to 2.5 years.) If attachment bond is NOT formed during that time there is no bond- will never form parent attachment - Attachment figure allows a secure base from which a child can explore the world- allowing independence. NOT clingy- learnt mum is there for them- become confident - **1 primary attachment to the person who provides the most sensitive responsiveness- monotropy ** - Secondary attachments are important but there is a **hierachy** with primary attachment providing main foundation - Secondary attachment figures act as a kind of safety net and contribute towards development of soical skills - From the relationship between the infant and care- giver the infant develops an **internal working model** of what all relationships will be life - Continuity hypothesis- infants securely attached as infants continue to be socially and emotionally secure in later life

Answer 19

Baby -> secure attachment: -> Develop internal working model: -> Secure relationships at school -> secure romantic relationships Cognitive blue print of what relationships should look life, based on first relationship with main caregiver - loving - dependable - trustworthy

Answer 20

- Strength- evidence supporting role of social releasers - E.g- Brazelton observed that babies trigger interactions with adults using social releasers - Then researchers instructed babies' primary attachment to ignore their babies social releasers - Illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development and suggets they are important in process of attachment development

Answer 21

- Strength- support for internal working model - E.g Bailey assessed relationships in mothers and their 1 year old - They found that mothers with poor attachment to their own primary attachment figures were more likely to have poorly attached babies - Supports Bowlby's idea that mothers' ability to form attachments to their babies is influenced by their internal working model

Answer 22

Particular types or styles of attachment between mothers and babies

Answer 23

Begining caregiver and baby enter an unfamiliar playroom 1. Baby is encouraged to explore- Tests exploration and secure base 2. A stranger comes in, talks to the caregiver + approaches the baby- Tests stranger anxiety 3. The caregiver leaves the baby and stranger together- Tests separation and stranger anxiety 4. The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves- Tests reunion behaviour + exploration secure base 5. The caregiver leaves the baby alone- Tests separation anxiety 6. The stranger returns- Tests stranger anxiety 7. The caregiver returns and is reunited with the baby- Tests reunion behaviour

Answer 24

- Babies explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver (proximity- seeking + secure base behaviour) - Usually show moderate separation distress + moderate stranger anxiety - Securely attached babies require + accept comfort from care- giver in reunion stage - **60- 75%** of British babies are classified as secure

Answer 25

- Babies explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure- base behaviour - Show little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves + little stranger anxiety - Make little effort to make contact when care- giver returns + may avoid contact - **20- 25%** of British babies are classified as insecure- avoidant

Answer 26

- Babies seek greater proximity than others + explore less - Show high levels of stranger + separation distress but resist comfort when reunited with care- giver - **3%** of British babies are classified as insecure- resistant

Answer 27

- Strength- outcome predicts some aspects of the baby's development later in life - E.g babies who were assessed as secure had better outcomes in childhood and adulthood but those who were assessed as insecure- resistant did not - Suggests that the stranger situation measures something meaningful in the baby's development

Answer 28

- Weakness- it measured something important associated with later development - E.g Kagan suggested that genetically- influenced anxiety levels could account for variation in attachment behaviour in Strange Situation/ later development (measuring your temporant) - Means the strange situation may not actually measure attachment

Answer 29

- Strength- is good inter- rater reliability (agreement between different observers) - E.g Bick tested inter- rater reliability on this experiment and found agreement on attachment type in **94%** of cases - High level of reliability may be due to it taking place under controlled conditions - Means we can be confident that attachment type assessed does **not depend on subjective judgements **(personal opinion)

Answer 30

- Weakness- is that it may not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts - E.g Strange Situation was developed in Britain + US may be culture- bound and therefore babies have different experiences in different cultures to the Strange Situation - Means that it is very difficult to know what the Strange Situation is measuring when outside Europe + US

Answer 31

- Learned norms, values, behaviours, specific to a particular group - Western cultures are known as **Individualist**- value independence and important of the individual - Other cultures e.g Japan are **collectivist**- see the goals of the group as most important, value interdependence

Answer 32

- Baby in a pram- looking out - Baby sleeps in cot - Going to nursery/ having nanny - Educational system- your success

Answer 33

- Lead to insecure- avoidant baby

Answer 34

- Baby being held by mum - Baby sleeps with mum- co- sleeping - Looked after by other family members - Children do well- care about reputation of school/ family

Answer 35

- Lead to insecure- resistant baby- very distressed - Difficult to soothe

Answer 36

- Conducted a study to look at the proportions of secure, insecure- avoidant, insecure- resitant attachments across a range of countries to assess cultural variations - Looked at differences within same countries to get an idea of variations within a culture

Answer 37

- Located 32 studies of attachment where the Strange Situation had been used to investigate proportions of babies with different attachment types- conducted in 8 countries- 15 in US - Studies yielded results for 1990 children - Data for 32 studies was **meta- analysed**- means results of studies were combined + analysed together, weighting each study for its sample size - DIDN'T COLLECT OWN DATA- LOOKED AT EXISTING DATA

Answer 38

- Wide variation between proportions of attachment types - In all countries **secure attachment** was **most** common- supports Bowlby- innate- biological- seen in all cultures - Proportion varied from **75%** in Britain to **50%** in China - In Individualist cultures, rates of insecure- resitant attachment were similar to Ainsworth- all under 14% - For collectivist samples from China, Japan- rates were above 25%- rates of insecure- avoidant reduced - Variations between reslts of study within same country were 150% greater than those between countries - In US, e.g 1 study found only 46% securely attachement compared to 1 sample as high as 90% Most common- **secure** Individualist- 2nd most common- **insecure- avoidant** Collectivist- 2nd most common- **insecure- resistant** Within country variation is bigger than within country variation

Answer 39

- An Italian study that supports cultural variations was done to assess the proportion of babies of different attachment types that still matches those found in previous studies. - For example the research assessed 76 babies aged 12 months using the strange situation. They found 50% were secure and 36% were insecure avoidant. - This shows that many mothers who have very young children work long hours and use childcare which suggests that attachment types do change with culture, attachment style isn’t biological but due to culture.

Answer 40

- A study that supports cultural variations is Jin carried out a study to compare the proportions of attachment types in Korea against other studies. - The overall proportions of secure and insecure babies were similar to those in most countries, most babies were secure. - But most of those classified as insecurely attached were resistant and and only one was avoidant. - Japan's distribution of attachment was similar to this. Seeing as Japan and Korea, both collectivist cultures, have similarly child-rearing techniques. - This similarly might be explained in terms of child -rearing techniques. - This supports IJzendoorn’s research as it demonstrates cultural variations between collectivist cultures and their ‘child-rearing’ parenting methods.

Answer 41

- Samples tend to be unrepresentative of culture (ruby,shriya and maria) A limitation to the meta- analysis by Van Ijzendoorn Is that he set out the intention to study cultural variations but instead he looked for variations between countries and not cultures. This is a limitation because there are subcultures that exist within a country. Furthermore, one country contains a mass population so it is irrational to conclude that these countries may not have different child - rearing practices. - A deduction by Ijzendoorn concluded that distributions of attachment in an urban setting (e.g Tokyo) were similar to Western studies, however a more rural sample had an over- representation of insecure- resistant attachments. - - This shows that the particular cultural characteristics need to be specified.

Answer 42

- One weakness of this study is that the method of assessment could be seen as biased. The Strange Situation was designed on the basis of Anglo-American theories and there is little evidence to show that this is the same in different cultures. - If you try to apply something inappropriately that occurs in one culture to a different culture it's known as imposed etic. An example of this is that in Germany (individualist culture) many babies are insecure avoidant, so they lack separation anxiety as babies are seen as more independent in Germany so insecure avoidant is not, therefore, a sign of insecurity. - However, this is unlike babies in Japan or China which are collectivist countries, meaning you cannot apply the same theory to very different cultures. - Different babies in different cultures all received varying upbringing, and in varying cultures, which this study is not designed for, the results will vary, not due to the results found but because of differences in the culture.

Answer 43

- Emotional + intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother - More separations there are more damaging for the child

Answer 44

- First two- and- a half years of life as a 'critical period' for psychological development - If a child is separated from their mother in the absence of suitable substitute care and so deprived of her emotional care for an extended duration during this 'critical period' then (Bowlby believed) psychological damage was inevitable

Answer 45

Intellectual development: - Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would experience delayed intellectual development, characterised by abnormally low IQ (Goldfarb's example) Emotional development: - Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others - Prevents a person developing fulfilling relationships and is associated with criminality. - Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate feelings of victims + so lack remorse for their actions

Answer 46

- Consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing - All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy- lack of affection, lack of guilt about actions - Families were interviewed to establish whether the 'thieves' had prolonged early separations from their mothers - Sample was compared to a control group of 44 non- criminal but emotionally disturbed people - **Concluded that prolonged early separation/ deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy ** - **14** of 44 thieves were **affectionless psychopaths** and of those, **12** had experienced **maternal deprivation**- led to them becoming affectionless psychopaths

Answer 47

- Limitation is the poor quality of the evidence it is based on - E.g Bowlby's 44 thieves study is flawed because it was Bowlby himself who carried both the family interviews and the assessments for affectionless psychopathy - This means that Bowlby's original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and would not be taken seriously as evidence nowadays

Answer 48

- Some research has provided some modest support for the idea that maternal deprivation can have long- term effects - Levy showed that separating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development but NOT other aspects of development - This means that although Bowlby relied on flawed evidence to support the theory of maternal deprivation, there are other sources of evidence

Answer 49

- Limitation is Bowlby's idea of critical period - E.g, Koluchova reported the case of the Czech twins, who experienced very severe physical and emotional abuse from 18 months until 7 years old - Although they were severely damaged emotionally by their experience, they received excellent care + by their teenage years had fully recovered - This means that lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation. - The 'crtical period' is better seen as a 'sensitive period'

Answer 50

- Limitation- is his confusion between different types of early experience - E.g Rutter drew an important distinction between 2 types of early negative experience - **Deprivation** refers to the loss of the primary attachment figure after attachment has developed - **Privation** is the failure to form any attachment in the first place - Rutter pointed out that the severe long- term damage Bowlby associated with deprivation is actually more likely to be the result of privation. - This means that Bowlby may have overestimated the seriousness of the effects of deprivation in children's development PRIVATION- Don't make any attachments at all- rare- lead to long term effects DEPRIVATION- Have other attachment figures that will support them- good alternative care

Answer 51

- Effects of living in an instituitional setting (hospital/ orphanage) - Children live here for long periods of time - Little emotional care provided: high staff turnover (lots of people leave their jobs), limited resources, explicit policies

Answer 52

- Roman dictator tried to boost the nations population by encouraging parents to have large families and banning abortion - Women were encouraged to have at least 5 children - Many parents could not afford to look after these children - Children were malnourished and uncared for - Spent their days alone in cribs and had no cognitive or emotional stimulation

Answer 53

- Followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans for many years - Orphans had been adopted by families in UK - Aim of English and Romanian adoptee (ERA) has been to investigate the extent to which good care could make up for poor early experiences in instituitions - Physical, cognitive + emotional development has been assessed at ages 4, 6, 11, 15 + 22- 25 years - A group of 52 children from UK adopted around *same time* as a *control group*

Answer 54

- Half the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development + majority were severely malnourished - At age 11- adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to age of adoption - Children adopted after 6 months showed signs of **disinhibited attachment**- symptoms- attention- seeking, clinginess, social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards adults (unfamiliar and familiar) - Those adopted before 6 months rarely displayed disinhibited attachment- recovered

Answer 55

- Conducted Bucharest early intervention (BEI) project - Assessing attachment in 95 Romanian children aged 12- 31 months who had spent most of their lives in instituitional care (90% on average) - Were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an instituition - Attachment type was measured using strange situation - Carers were asked about unsusual social behaviour- e.g clingy, attention- seeking behaviour directed inappropiately at all adults (measure of disinhibited attachment)

Answer 56

- Researchers found that **74%** of control group were classed as securely attachment in strange situation - Only 19% of instituitional grou[ were securely attached - Description of disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of instituitionalised children as opposed to less than 20% of controls

Answer 57

1. Attachment disorder- disinhibited attachment - Adaption to living with multiple care- givers during sensitive period - In poor quality instituitions- child might have 50 carers but don't spend enough time with 1 of them to form a secure attachment 2. Intellectual development disorders - Damage to intellectual developent as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered, provided adoption takes place before 6 months- age where attachments form

Answer 58

- A weakness of instituitionalisation is that the Romanian orphanages are not typical institutional care - For example, in the Romanian orphanages the children experienced privation and were severely neglected - This shows that we can't generalise the results for example, people in care homes

Answer 59

- A weakness of instituitionalisation is that the long term effects are not clear yet - For example, adopted children may lag behind in emotional, social, and cognitive development - This shows that the children have missed the key years of their life to form an attachment and therefore are behind

Answer 60

- A strength of instituitionalisation is that there has been an introduction of a key worker - For example, all children now have a key worker who looks after them and forms a relationship with them - This shows that we know the importance of all children forming attachment relationships

Answer 61

- A strength of instituitionalisation is that we are able to see the effects of instituitionalisation - For example, children who are placed in instituitions have often experienced trauma which is a confounding variable and is therefore difficult to assess the impact of instituitionalisation. - This shows that it improves the outcomes for children in care and the intellectual development disorder is due to the instituition not previous trauma.

Answer 62

- Bowlby suggested baby's first relationship with their primary attachment figure leads to a mental representation of this relationship. - This internal working model acts as a template for future childhood and adulthood relationships. - The babys first attachment quality is crucial as it will be a template of future relationships and will affect them a lot. - If a baby's first relationships loving with a reliable attachment figure then their later relationships will most probably mirror it and also be quite loving and healthy. They will then seek out functional relations and act functionally within them. - A child with bad experiences of their first attachment will continue to bring these bad experiences to other relationships later on in life. - This means they will struggle to form relationships in the first place or will not behave appropriately within relationships therefore either displaying insecure- avoidant/ insecure- resistant behaviour towards friends and partners.

Answer 63

- A strength of the research for attachment and later relationships would be the supporting evidence. - Fearon and Roisman said, early attachment consistently predicts attachment later, emotional well-being and attachment to own children. - The strength of the relationship between early attachment type and later development depends on both the attachment type and aspect of later development meaning insecure-avoidant attachment may seem to have fairly mild effects for any aspect of development, disorganised attachment is strongly associated with later mental disorder. - This shows secure attachment as a baby seems to convey advantages for future developments, whilst disorganised attachment seems to disgavante children severely. - A limitation of the research for attachment and later relationships is that not all the evidence supports the existence of close links between early attachment and later development. - For example the Regensburg (longitudinal) study followed 43 individuals from 1 year old. - At the age of 16, attachment was assessed using the adult attachment interview and there was no evidence of continuity. - This shows that it is not clear to what extent the quality of early attachment actually predicts later development. - Other relationships will also affect your internal working model. - Relationships in primary school friends etc, these will change/adapt your idea of relationships in you internal working model and it’s also a deterministic point of view. (one thing causes another internal working model causes future relationships) minimising free will.

Answer 64

- Securely attached babies- have good friendships - Insecurely attached babies will not have good friendships- bullying behaviour can be predicted - Wilson and Peter Smith made a questionnaire about bullying behaviours in insecurely attached babies: Secure attachment- no involvement in bulluing, insecure- avoidant- likely to be victims of bullying, insecure- resistant- likely to be bullies

Answer 65

- One limitation of most research into the influence of attachment is that early attachment is assessed retrospectively - Researchers usually ask adolescent or adult participants questions about their relationships with parents, and identify attachment types from this. - This causes two validity problems one being that the questions rely on the honesty and accuracy of the participants. The other being that it is hard to know whether what is being assessed is early attachment or adult attachment. - This means that the measure of early attachment used in most studies may be confounded with other factors making them meaningless.

Answer 66

- Internal working models also affect the child’s ability to parent their own children - People tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model so attachment type tend to be passed on through generations of family - Bailey considered the attachments of 99 mothers to their babies and to their own mothers - Mother-baby attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation and mother-own mother attachment was assessed using an adult attachment interview - The majority of woman had the same attachment classification both to their babies and to their own mothers

Answer 67

- A limitation of studies into the influence of early attachment on later development is the existence of confounding variables. - Some studies do assess attachment in infancy e.g. McCarthy which means that the assessment of early attachment is valid. - However, even these studies may have validity problems because associations between attachment quality and later development may be affected by confounding variables.