Attachment Flashcards
what are the 4 key behaviours of attachment?
Seek proximity to primary caregiver
Caregiver and infant experience distress on separation
Both experience pleasure when reunited
Orientation of behaviour towards primary caregiver
what are the 2 types of non-verbal interaction?
Reciprocity:
Responding to an action of another with another action (actions causing a response)
Builds skills for later communication (caregiver can predict behaviour and respond appropriately
Synchrony:
Caregiver and infant imitate one another (imitation on purpose by infant to be synchronised)
what was one investigation into how infants and caregivers behaved?
Controlled investigation on infants and caregivers
- 4 different stimuli (3 different faces and a hand gesture)
-2-3 week old infant presented with one of the 4 stimuli
-researchers filmed it, the it’s judged by blind judges (no bias)
what are 4 evaluation points of this study?
2 or more observers should produce same record (inter- observer reliability)
All scores greater then 0.92 (strong correlation of agreement)
-genuine imitation (supports synchrony)
Controlled- eliminates extraneous variables, can infer cause and effect (high internal validity)
-lacks ecological validity (its in controlled environment (although could argue baby’s don’t understand).
what was a study measuring separation protest and stranger anxiety?
60 infants- working class in glasgow.
Studied from 5-23 weeks to 1 year.
Measured separation protest and stranger anxiety
Visited every 4 weeks, mothers asked about separation protest in 7 everyday scenarios (mothers tasted on 4 point scale).
Stranger anxiety measured by infants response to interviewer.
what are the 4 stages of attachment?
1-Indiscriminate attachment:
-0-2 months.
-preference to social stimuli.
2-Beginnings of attachment:
-4 months old
-Prefer human company can tell whose familiar and unfamiliar.
- no stranger anxiety
3-Discriminate attachment:
-around 7 months old.
-Preference for one person in particular (primary caregiver) the most stimulating/ comforting
-Seperation anxiety + joy on reunion
-Stranger anxiety
4-Multiple attachments:
-Soon after first attatchment forms
-Attachments based of number of consistent relationships
-Relationships also suffer seperation anxiety
-1/3 had 5+ secondary attachments
what are 4 evaluation points of stages of attchment?
Lacks validity- based off mothers reports, not actual behaviours (social desirability bias/ observer bias)
Lacks population validity- based on working class, can’t be generalised to other classes.
Temporal validity- sample from 1960’s- parental care changed since. (More stay-at-home dads, more working mum’s)
Baulby- attachments not equal, One special bond
Rutter- attachments are equal (produce one overal attachment type.)
what does research show about the role of the father?
fathers are much less likely to be the primary attachment figure (Schaffer and emerson). (Fathers were rarely the first sole object of attachment (3%), but 27% of them were the joint first object), due to fathers spending less time on average with their children.
Ross et al (1975) showed the number of nappies a father changed was positively correlated to the strength of their attachment! This suggests that fathers who do spend more time with their babies have the strongest attachment to their babies.
why could fathers lack of sensitivity be seen as positive?
Certain gender stereotypes might affect men’s behaviour; for example, it is thought to be “feminine” to be sensitive to the needs of others. Evidence has found men are less sensitive to the needs of infants on a variety of scales at every age (Heermann et al 1994). However, there is no gender difference in the physiological response to an infant crying.
why is it difficult to determine the actual role of the father?
some research investigates the role of the father as a primary attachment figure & other research looks at the father as a secondary attachment figure.
why is it thought that the mother plays a more important role?
McCallum (2004) found that children bought up with a single mother or in same sex families do not develop any differently to those brought up in a household with both a mother & father.
what is the Aim and procedure fro strange situations?
A: produce method of assessing quality of attatchment- wether there are individual differences in attatchment.
P: stage 1- child and mother playing in room with toys
Stage 2- stranger enters.
Stage 3- mother leaves.
Stage 4- stranger tries to interact with child.
Stage 5- mother returns and stranger leaves. (Reunion)
Stage 6- mother leaves child alone.
Stage 7- stranger returns.
Stage 8- mother returns (2nd reunion)
-100 middle class American mothers and infants
-Observing stranger anxiety, willingness to explore, seperation anxiety, reunion behaviour
-3 min stages
-one way mirror
what are the 3 types of attachment discovered from SS?
Type A- avoidant (22%) – not concerned by mothers absence/ reunion, doesn’t prefer mum or stranger.
Type B- securely attached (66%)- infant explores room, upset when mum leaves comforted on return, prefers mum.
Type C- Resistant (12%)- explores little
what are 4 evaluation points of SS?
Inter-observer reliability- high; strange situations was recorded so it can be rewatched and judged by others for reliability.
Test-Retest- 78% stayed in same category between ages 1-6 (German study)- change in attatchment usually due to change in family structure.
Ethnocentric- centred on American middle-class women.
Imposed etic- believed it was a universal truth (might not be)
what is the study investigating individual differences in attachment?
A: if there is cross- cultural differences in individual differences in attatchment.
P: used meta- analysis (various studies that used strange situation to assess attatchment type.
-Excluded studies that included P’s with ‘special groups’ and less than 35 infants.
-Examined data from 2000 strange situations from 32 studies in 8 countries
F: secure attachment most common in all countries measured.
Avoidant= second most common in all countries except japan/ Israel (resistant).
-Overall little variations between cultures.
C: global pattern seems to be similar to U.S with secure being the norm
Supports that secure attatchment is important for development.
what are 4 evaluation points of cross-cultural differences in attachment?
-Cross- cultural studies highlight universal nature of attatchment- perhaps attatchment is inherited or due to influence of media.
-15x more variation within cultures than between cultures
(Didn’t consider sun- cultures in a country)
I.e., tel aviv vs kibbutz in Israel.
-Imposed etic- appropriate in America but not elsewhere.
I.e., Germany= more avoidant- encourage independence.
-36 P’s in Chinese study, not representative of Chinese population (1.4 billion)
what is Lorenz’s sstudy into imprinting?
A: investigate imprinting.
P: clutch of gosling eggs divided to 2 groups, group 1 left with biological mother, group 2 placed in incubator- first thing group 2 saw was Lorenzand started following him. Lorenz marked the chicks and put them together; presented with Lorenz and mother.
F: goslings he looked after imprinted on him regardless of mother being present, this group had different mating preferences, chose to mate with similar objects they first imprinted on.
C: supports idea of imprinting.
what is imprinting and the critical period?
Imprinting- pre-programmed readiness to develop a strong bond with their mother.
Critical period- from first few hours till 48 hours after birth were first bond forms.
what are 3 evaluation points of Lorenz’s study?
-Supporting study- Guilin 1966- chicks initially fed by people wearing rubber gloves, chicks imprinted on rubber gloves.
-Animal studies are limited when being generalised to humans
Humans much more incomplete and bonding takes longer.
-Imprinting is flexible/ reversible after spending time with own species.
what is Harlow’s monkey study?
A: wether attachment is based of comfort or feeding
P: baby rhesus monkeys separated from mothers at birth and put in cage with 2 artificial mothers; cage with food and cloth with no food.
8 monkeys studied over 165 days.
4 monkeys had milk on cloth mum and 4 had milk on wire mum.
Time spent with each other measured/ response to mechanical toy measured.
F: all monkeys spent most time on cloth mother regardless of food, clung onto cloth mum when frightened too.
C: attatchment to person who offers comfort not food.
what is 3 evaluation points of Lorenz’s monkey study?
-Can’t generalise to humans, however observations seen in animals are mirrored in humans
(Supported by Schaffer and Emerson)
-2 different heads (lacks internal validity) might prefer one.
ethics:
-Replacement- animals should be replaced with suitable alternatives
-Reduction- no. Of animals should be minimised
-Refinement- care, breeding, accommodation methods refined to reduce pain/ suffering.
-caused lasting emotional harm.
what are the 2 learning theorys of attachment?
classical learning (pavlov)
operant conditioning (skinner)
what is classical conditioning in leaarning attachment?
Before conditioning:
Unconditioned stimulus > unconditioned response
Neutral stimulus > no response
After conditioning:
Food + bell > unconditioned response
Conditioned stimulus > conditioned response
Food= pleasure
Person who feeds becomes conditioned stimulus
Mother becomes source of pleasure, with or without food.
Forms attatchment.
what is operant conditioning in learning attachment?
Rewards to increase behaviour
Punishment to decrease behaviour
Behaviour that is rewarded is repeated
Baby fed, reduces hunger.
Reduced hunger= rewarding.
Food= primary reinforcer
Person who gives food= secondary reinforcer.
