attachment

Question 1

study into individual differences in attachment

Answer 1

strange situation: mary ainsworth
method: controlled observation
design: repeated measures
IV: 8 different episodes of strange situation
DV: babies’ responses - separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, reunion behaviour, seeking proximity

episodes:
1. child encouraged to explore
2. stranger comes in and interacts with child
3. caregiver leaves
4. caregiver returns, stranger leaves
5. caregiver leaves, child alone
6. stranger returns
7. caregiver returns

Question 2

findings of study into individual differences in attachment

Answer 2

identified 3 main types of attachment:
- secure attachment: 70-75%
- insecure avoidant attachment: 20-25%
- insecure resistant attachment: 3%

• erickson et al: observed 4-5 years olds in school settings and found securely attached children were less dependent and more confident in class

Question 3

evaluation of study into individual differences in attachment

Answer 3

• test may be culture bound: cultural differences in childhood may mean children are likely to respond differently to stranger situation. caregivers from different cultures behave differently in strange situation. e.g takahashi noted test doesn’t work in japan as mothers are rarely seperated from babies so there will be high levels of seperation anxiety. also found that upon reunion, mother would quickly pick up child, so wouldn’t be able to analyse baby’s reaction upon mother’s return
• validity as it can explain future outcomes. secure = good friendships
• reliability: controlled conditions. bick et al - looked at inter-rater reliability in a team of trained strange situation observers and agreed on attachment types of 94% of tested babies

Question 4

cross cultural variations in attachment studies

Answer 4

van ijzendoorn and kroonenberg:
- located 32 studies of where strange situation had been used to investigate attachment
- 8 different countries

simonella et al 2014:
- italian study
- to see whether proportions of babies of different attachment types still matches those found in previous studies
- assessed 76 12 month olds using strange situation

Question 5

cross cultural variations in attachment studies findings

Answer 5

van ijzendoorn and kroonenberg:
- west germany: 57%, 35%, 8%
- israel: 64%, 8%, 29%
- US: 65%, 21%, 14%

simonella et al:
- 50% secure, 36% avoidant
- lower rate of secure than in other studies. maybe because of mothers of young children working long shifts and use professional childcare

Question 6

cross cultural variations in attachment studies evaluation

Answer 6

• large sample, combining results from other countries e.g van izjendoorn: nearly 2000 babies
  -> increases internal validity - reduces impact of anomalies
  -> samples unrepresentative of cultures
  -> particular cultural characteristics of the sample need to be specified

Question 7

effects of institutionalisation

Answer 7

• IQ/developmental delays/damage to intellectual development: institutionalised kids showed signs of neurological divergence. not as pronounced if adopted before 6 months
• disinhibited attachment: child is equally friendly towards strangers and people they know well
• damage to physical development: deprivation dwarfism

Question 8

study into deprivation dwarfism

Answer 8

gardner 1972 - lack of emotion care could affect growth hormones studied 8 month who gets fed through a tube, mom wouldn’t cuddle them out of fear that she would move the tube. 8 months old: physically stunted and admitted to hospital. hospital staff gave attention: thrived and returned to normal

Question 9

studies into effects of institutionalisation

Answer 9

rutter et al 2007:
aim: study to investigate if good quality care can make up for poor institutional experiences
method: studied 111 romanian orphans adopted by british families before 2 years old. natural experiment
naturally occurring iv: age of adoption
results: high levels disinhibited attachment (attention seeking) behaviour if adopted after 6 months old (and IQ of 86). before 6 months rarely display this attachment and developed normally.
conclusion: the earlier adoption occurs, the less severe long-term effects of institutionalisation and deprivation, as children have the opportunity to form attachments.

chugani et al 2001:
- administered pet scans to a sample of 10 adopted from romanian orphanage, compared them with 17 normal adults and groups of 7 children
- romanian orphans showed significantly decreased activity in the orbital frontal gyrus, parts of the prefrontal cortex/hippocampus, amygdala and brain stem
conclusion: dysfunction in these brain regions may have resulted from stress of early deprivation and may be linked to long term cognitive and behavioural deficits

Question 10

evaluation of rutter et al

Answer 10

• longitudinal study: lots of detailed info over a long period of time
• natural experiment: may have been other variables
• adopted group may have been more socially skilled making them easier to place in adoptive families
• sample was all romanian kids so its not generalisable
• research on negative effects changed policies around adoption and care in orphanages and other institutional settings, key workers in instiutions ensured high levels of care

Question 11

infant caregiver interaction

Answer 11

• reciprocity
• interactional synchrony

Question 12

reciprocity

Answer 12

• how 2 people interact
  fieldman 2007: after 3+ months, interaction tends to be more frequent
  brazelton et al 1975: interaction = dance

Question 13

interactional synchrony

Answer 13

• mother and infant reflect both actions and emotions of the other in a co-ordinated way
  meltzoff and moore 1977: adults displayed and facial expressions. child’s response filmed and copied

Question 14

stages of attachment

Answer 14

schaffer 1996:
- pre attachment phases (0-3 months): infants demonstrate preference for human faces
- indiscriminate attachment (3-7/8 months): begin to distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people
- discriminate attachment (7-8 months onwards): develops specific attachments and becomes distressed when separated
- multiple attachments (9 months onwards): emotional ties to more than one caregiver

Question 15

evaluation of stages of attachment study

Answer 15

high ecological validity:
- research done in own homes, high mundane realism, behaviour of children similar to real life. good external validity e.g applying findings outside of study

lacks generalisability:
- 60 babies. most working/middle class background, all from glasgow
- not representative of entire population. practices may differ from one culture/social class
- gender specific, dads also play a part

longitudinal research:
- same children followed up regularly, better than cross sectional, comparing 2 groups of kids
- better internal validity = same ptps so ptp variable isn’t confounding

Question 16

positive research on the role of the father

Answer 16

field 1978:
- filmed 4 month old babies’ reactions and face to face interactions
- primary caregivers, whether mother or father, spent more time interacting with the child than secondary caregiver fathers.
- research suggests fathers can be primary caregivers in the same way mothers can, thus fathers are an essaential role as attachment figures

degree of sensitivity: more secure attachment of father is more sensitive to a child’s needs type. single fathers tend to form similar attachments to those they had with their parent

marital intimacy: being with a partner affects father - child attachment types

supportive co-parenting: amount of support given to partner affects type of attachment

Question 17

negative research on the role of the father

Answer 17

• bowlby suggested the only primary caregiver was the mother, fathers were more of a playmate

grossman 2002:
-conducted a longitudinal study on 44 families looking at how the quality of relationships between parents and children changed from infancy to the teenage years
- found that the early attachment to the mother was a better predictor of what the teenage relationship was like
- seems the father is less important to later development than the mother in terms of nurture
- however, grossman found that if the father had engaged in active play with the child when they were young, the adolescent relationship with BOTH parents is strengthened
- supports Geiger’s work ( dad = playmate and mother assosicated with nurturing and caring for the child)

Question 18

overall factors that affect role of father like individual difference

Answer 18

• culture
• the father’s age
• amount of time the father spends away from home.

Question 19

animal studies in attachment - harlow

Answer 19

aim: study to investigate if attachment is formed through food or comfort
procedure: lab exp
method:
- reared 16 baby monkeys with 2 wire model ‘mothers’. in 1st condition, milk was dispensed by plain wire model ‘mother’ whereas in 2nd condition, milk dispensed by cloth covered mother
design: independent groups
iv: mother
dv: attachment with mother
sample: 16 baby monkeys
findings: baby monkey cuddled cloth covered mother in preference to plain wired mother and sought comfort from her when frightened
conclusions: comfort>food when it comes to attachment behaviour

Question 20

animal studies in attachment - lorenz

Answer 20

aim: study to investigate if attachment in geese is innate
procedure: classic exp.
method: randomly divides a clutch of geese eggs. 1/2 in incubator with lorenz, 1/2 in natural environment with mother geese
design: independent groups
iv: mother/environment hatched in
dv: attachment to mother
conclusions: demonstrates imprinting: bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving thing they see. lorenz identified critical period in which imprinting needed to occur in. if imprinting doesn’t occur within this time (few hours after birth), lorenz found chicks don’t attach to mother

Question 21

evaluation of animal studies into attachment

Answer 21

harlow:
- ethical issues: caused sever and long term distress to monkeys
- child can develop important important relationships with other caregivers, not always mother
- far more unethical to take newborn human from mother, so next best option is animals
- can help us to understand some human behaviour as monkeys closely relate to us

lorenz:
-lorenz does support idea of critical period: found that the goslings needed to imprint within 30 hours or an attachment would not be possible
- ecological validity: field study
- replicable study
- small sample size: can’t generalise results

Question 22

maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 22

• bowlby stated that a child who suffers disruption of attachment leading to deprivation during the first 2 years would develop an internal working model of themselves as unworthy
• he claimed broken attachment would lead to affectionless psychopathy, lower intelligence, delinquency and depression

Question 23

privation

Answer 23

not having the opportunity to form a bond in the first place

Question 24

maternal deprivation

Answer 24

a bond/attachment formed with a main caregiver that has been disrupted

Question 25

study to support maternal deprivation theory

Answer 25

genie - privated child who couldn't talk, barely walk and was strapped to a chair or potty - she was found at 13 and proves that children were unable to form attachments have much lower intelligence

Question 26

study against maternal deprivation theory

Answer 26

czech twins: - found at the age of 7 after being locked away - were able to form later attachments - however ,this might be because they attached to each other so didn't lose the ability to atttach - isabelle found at age 6 and recovered from privation, suggesting it's the age and substituted care that reduces impact of deprivation

Question 27

separation

Answer 27

not being in the presence of primary attachment figure

Question 28

deprivation

Answer 28

a child completely losing an element of care

Question 29

study for short term seperation

Answer 29

robertson and robertson 1989: - the PDD model: babies go through 3 stages when a care giver leaves protests: child cries + protests angrily. they try to cling to parent despair: protest stop, child appears calmer but still upset. they refuse others' comfort and seem uninterested detachment: child will engage with owners again. they will reject the caregiver on return and show anger

Question 30

study to support bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 30

bowlby conducted his 44 juvenile thieves study: - found that 14/44 thieves displayed signs of affectionless psychopathy and 12 of these 14 thieves had suffered from maternal deprivation during the critical period of attachment formation - this was compared to only 5 affectionless psychopaths in the remaining 30 thieves - therefore, on this basis, bowlby believed that early maternal deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy and consequently, criminality

Question 31

evaluation of study to support bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 31

- lewis et al disagreed with bowlby's conclusion. through collecting qualitative data from interviews conducted with 500 juveniles, researcher found no link between maternal deprivation and difficulty to forming relationships later in life. suggest bowlby may have made incorrect casual conclusions - bowlby's 44 juvenile thieves study suffers from several methodological limitations e.g researcher bias: bowbly was aware of what he wanted to find and so may have phrased the interview questions in a way that influenced the respondents to reply in a certain way e.g leading questions - secondly, bowlby based his theory on maternal deprivation from interviews collected from war-orphans. this doesn't control for the confounding variable of poor quality care in orphanages or ptsd, which may have had a larger influence on the children's development rather than simply maternal deprivation - the effects of the critical period may not be as concrete as bowlby originally believed. e.g czech twins

Question 32

internal working model

Answer 32

- an internal representation of how we see ourselves as well as how we expect others to react to us - will impact how we interact with others and form relationships in the future

Question 33

temperament

Answer 33

hypothesis - the nature of infant attachments is due to innate personality factors - attempts to develop better quality relationships by changing attachment styles

Question 34

study to investigate if early attachments have an effect on later relationships

Answer 34

hazan and shaver: 'love quiz' - investigate if attachment type in infants affects attachment types in adulthood - repeated measures, questionnaire - ptps answering from a newspaper replies from 1200 ptps - 620/1200 analysed - variables: infant attachment type and attitude to most important love relationship - findings: 56% secure, 25% avoidant, 19% resistant - adults with secure attachment in childhood were more supportive and formed stable adult relationships and get along well with other children when younger - adults with avoidant infant attachments had difficulty forming close childhood friends and were afraid of intimacy and were more jealous - adults who were resistant had issues with trust as a child and were prone to obsession + extreme jealousy in relationships

Question 35

evaluation of theory that early attachments in childhood influence later relationships

Answer 35

bailey 2007: assessed 99 mothers and infants using the strange situation - majority of mothers had same attachment type with their infant as their mother izeins 1994: found securely attached infants had better relationships in later childhood than insecure - validity of questionnaire is limited based on ptps being honest and having realistic views of relationships - just because there is a relationship between 2 factors, doesn't mean they're connect e.g avoidant attachment doesnt 100% mean they'll have bad relationships - looking back at early relationships to a primary figure lacks validity as it relies on accurate recollections

Question 36

theories of attachment: learning theory

Answer 36

- behaviourist explanation, suggests that attachments develop through classical and/or operant conditioning - sometimes referred to as the cupboard love theory: based on becoming attached to those who feed the infant

Question 37

two steps of cupboard love attachment

Answer 37

classical conditioning: creates attachment, association of caregiver with food causes conditioned response of pleasure reinforcement from operant conditioning: strengthens attachment e.g crying is positively reinforced by caregiver

Question 38

studies to refute learning theory

Answer 38

schaffer and emerson: - showed that babies wouldn't become attached to whoever fed them the most - but instead, the adult who spends the most time sensitively responding to them - 'cupboard love' is too overly emphasised in the role of attachment. for example, harlow showed that comfort may play a more significant role in attachment than food. -

Question 39

evaluation of learning theory

Answer 39

- counter evidence from animal research e.g lorenz - studies showed that young animals don't necessarily attach to those who feed them. geese imprinted before they were fed and maintained these attachments regardless of who fed them - counter evidence from human research e.g shaffer and emerson - research also shows feeding ≠ attachment. many babies developed primary attachment to bio mother even though carers did the feeding

Question 40

bowlby's monotropy theory

Answer 40

- assumes humans have an innate drive to form an attachment with one person - infant holds primary attachment with primary caregiver as most important.

Question 41

key features of monotropy theory

Answer 41

- innate: argues that attachments have evolved to ensure survival of infants and we are born with the instincts to form an attachment - critical/ sensitive period: attachment has to be made within 1st few years of life - social releases: babies' elicit behaviours which instinctively make carers respond - monotropy: single attachment = most important - internal working model: this key attachment forms basis for all future attachments - continuity hypothesis: attachment will continue with next generation of children

Question 42

studies to support monotropy theory

Answer 42

- lorenz: found that infant geese formed attachments with the very first thing they saw after hatching, suggests that attachment is an innate process and supports the idea that attachment is evolutionary behaviour - fox (1977): found that infants formed monotropic bonds with mothers in some Israeli communities, despite only seeing mother for approximately three hours a day (nannies took care of them): suggests once more that attachment is innate, as Bowlby describes.

Question 43

evaluation of bowlby's monotropy theory

Answer 43

- the critical period was seen as too strict timing within a year as it was found that children could attach later, so he changed it to 2-3 years - schaffer and emerson: found that nearly 1/3 of infants form multiple attachments with no preferred attachment figure - czech twins: were found after 7 years of being locked up and formed meaningful attachments, and also showed normal functioning - there is no evidence of a gene providing attachment in humans