Attachment Flashcards

Question

What were the procedures of harlows contact comfort study?

Answer 1

16 Infant monkeys were removed from their bioligxal mothers and placed in cages with surrogate mothers one surrogate mother provided milk but not comfort as it was just a wire The next mother provided comfort as it was a wire cloth but didn’t provide food time spent with the monkey was recorded as well as which surrogate the infant ran to when frightened by a mechanical monkey

Answer 2

Infant monkeys spent most their time with the comfort providing mother only visiting the food mom when needed The monkey retuned to the cloth mother when frightened monkeys without a cloth mother showed signs of stress related illness Maternal deprivation caused permanent social disorders including difficulty in mating and raising offspring

Answer 3

Babies love mothers because they feed them

Answer 4

The generalisation of animal behaviour to human psychology is problematic Humans and animals have very different biology and humans have various social and cultural experiences that inform their behaviour

Answer 5

Bowlby argues there’s a similar critical period to humans 6-30 moths and if there’s isn’t an attachment it can result in permanent damage However humans with care can help recover

Answer 6

Been applied to childcare e.g. after birth immediate physical contact between the mother and the babies is now encouraged

Answer 7

Harlow caused harm and stress to monkeys

Answer 8

Argues infants become attached to caregiver because they learn that their caregiver provides food

Answer 9

The food is initially an unconditioned stimulus, instinctively proivdes pleasure an unconditioned response As the mother is present every time the baby is fed the mother becomes associated with the pleasure of being fed she changes from being a neutral stimulus to a conditioned stimulus now in the presence of the mother the infant experiences a conditioned pleasure response

Answer 10

Positive reinforcement:b when a. Behaviour is made more likely when receiving a pleasurable stimulus in attachment when a parent feeds a crying baby the baby is more likely to repeat the crying behaviour to get food Negative reinforcement: the parents feeding behaviour is negatively reinforced by the baby stopping its crying behaviour when fed

Answer 11

It makes intuitive sense that babies cry more when they learn crying gains them attention ultimately food

Answer 12

It is seen as environmentally reductionist as behaviourists argue that the complex interactions between caregivers and their infants are just the result of simplistic stimulus associations

Answer 13

Harlows monkey research shows that comfort is more important than food

Answer 14

An evolutionary explanation of attachment bowlby argues infants have an innate drive to from an especially strong attachment to their mother and stay in close proximity he argues that this drive is instinctual and its vital for their survival as their mother provides food and security

Answer 15

Use signals called social releasers that attract the caregivers attention according to monotropic theory mothers are biologically programmed to instinctively find these behaviours cute or distressing

Answer 16

First 30 months if not it will result in negative social, intellectual and emotional consequences

Answer 17

Provides a blueprint for future relationships the internal working model guides how to conduct future relationships

Answer 18

Inspired research such as Mary ainsworth and research can be applied to childcare

Answer 19

Alpha bias as it exaggerates the gender differences Bowlby argues the fathers role to provide resources while mothers look after babies

Answer 20

Proximity to mother,safe base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety,reunion response, sentive reponsiveness of mother to infant needs

Answer 21

Insecure avoidant, secure, insecure resistance

Answer 22

Type a Infants keep a distance from their mother not using her as a secure base but exploring freely the infant displays low stranger anxiety if their mother leaves the room they have low separation anxiety When mom returns theiyre indifferent mothers show little sensitive responsiveness

Answer 23

Type b Infants use their mothers as a safe base show moderate level of stranger anxiety, show seperation anxiety, caregiver show sensitise responsiveness

Answer 24

Don’t explore the environment and are clingy seeking closeness to mum Have high stranger and separation anxiety when mother returns they have mixed emiotns both crave and reject her attention mothers appear to be inconsistent with their sensitive responsiveness

Answer 25

106 infants and Mather pairs ppts in the original structured observations Conducted in a controlled lab setting each stage lasted 3 mins Two observers behind a one way mirror recorded infants response at each stage The stages assessed were: infants proximity, willingness to explore, mother as secure base, stranger anxiety, seperation anxiety, reunion response, sensitive responsiveness of mother

Answer 26

Episode 1:observer introduces mother and baby to the experimental room and leaves Episode 2:the baby explores freely the mother doesn’t interact Episode 3:stranger enters firsts minute stranger silent second minute stranger talks to mother third minutia stranger approaches baby Episode 4:first seperation episode stinger interacted with baby Episode 5:first reunion episode,mother comforts Episode 6:second seperation episode Episode 7:continuation of second seperation, stranger enters Episode 8: second reunion episode mum greets baby

Answer 27

65% secure type b 34% insecure 22% insecure avoidant type a 12% insecure resistant type c

Answer 28

Standardised procedures which allowed other researchers to replicate the study and compare results

Answer 29

Studied 40 women assessed with strange situation as infants it was found with adults with the most long lasting and secure adult friendships were securely attached in infancy

Answer 30

It may be culture bound test so not valid when applied to other cultures

Answer 31

The mothers know the aim so might show more sensitive reponisvenss

Answer 32

Conducted a large scale meta analysis of 2000 infants in 32 studies from 8 countries each study classified the attachment types of infants and mothers using the strange situation

Answer 33

General patterns: secure attachment was the most common type in all countries and generally insecure resistant was the least common type Avoidant was more common in individualistic western cultures and reisistant in collectivist non western Germany had the most insecure avoidant 35% Japan had the most insecure resistant 27%

Answer 34

Many of the countries represented only had one study included such a small sample isn’t representative of the country’s population

Answer 35

Using strange situation to assess attachments in non western countries may be an example of ethnocentrism

Answer 36

Argues if the child’s monotropic attachment is distrupted during the critical period such as through prolonged seperation from the mother this deprivation will result in negative and irreversible consequences affecting the infants social emotional and intellectual skills Critical period is 2 and a half years but risk of up to 5 years

Answer 37

Delinquency: due to distrupted social development behaviour is often outside acceptable norms such as petty crime Affectionless psychopathy during to distrupted emotional development children are unable to show caring behaviour to others or empathy for other peoples feelings and have little guilt for their harmful actions Low iq dur to distrupted intellectual development cognitive abilities are lower than peers

Answer 38

44 child thieves and a control group of 44 emotionally disturbed non thieves were interviewed to assess affectionaless psychopathy and parents were asked about maternal deprivation during the critical period It was found 14 thieves matched the criteria for affectionless psychopathy compared to none of the control group 12 of the theives had experienced prolonged seperation compared to only two of the control group

Answer 39

Positive changes to policies related to child welfare such as visiting time for mothers in hospitals, the ratio of carers at nursery school and the length of maternity leave

Answer 40

The orphan studies suggest children have a sensitive not critical period rutter and goldfarb all showed that deprivation effects can be reversed

Answer 41

When children are cared for by the state

Answer 42

As defined by bowlby deprivation isn’t receiving suitable emotional care from a primary attachment figure this can happen with frequent or extended absences of the primary caregiver Privation is more severe it is the total lack of care so there is no ability to form an attachment bond

Answer 43

The Romanian children were grouped into those adopted while under six months between 6 months and two years and those older than two years A control group if British adoptees who hadn’t experienced privation were included in the study each group. Were assessed at the ages of 4,6,11,15

Answer 44

At age 6: children adopted 6 months showed disinihbited attachment and overly friendly behaviour to strange adults. This was more common in those adopted after 2 years old At age 11: over half the children who showed disinhibited attachment at age 6 still displayed this behaviour. Children adopted after 6 months also showed significant delayed physical, emtital and intellectual development Children after 24 months had an average iq of 77 compared to those 102 adopted under 6m

Answer 45

Suggest that adoption within the first 6 months is important as the rate of recovery depends of age at adoption and the effects of privation in institutions are severe and long lasting however many children even adopted after 2 years show recovery suggesting the critical period is the sensitive period

Answer 46

The research has changed policies around adoption and care in orphanages and other institutional settings

Answer 47

The children weren’t randomly assigned for adoptions but were selected by the new parents in Romania it is possible this resulted in a bias with the more sociable children picked for adoption at a younger age

Answer 48

Compared 15 children had been brought up in children homes until beyond 3 and another group who had been fostered at around 6 months at 12 years old he found that the early fostering led to significtnlyt higher levels of mental ability and social skills this suggests the adverse effects of institutionalisation.

Answer 49

According to Bowlby infants develop a schema based on their attachment to their primary caregiver this schema acts as a template for how relationships work

Answer 50

Suggests an individuals future relationship will follow a pattern based on the IWM this pattern includes an inviduals childhood friendships adult partners and partnering relationship with their children

Answer 51

Adult relationship type is a continuation of their infant attachment style and can be classified using ainsworth attachment types

Answer 52

620 ppts responded to a newspaper love quiz questions included feelings on romance and categorised ppts adult relationship styles into secure, avoidant, and anxious The questionnaire also assessed childhood attachment type it was found that 56% had secure adult relationships 25% avoidant, 19% anxious and there was a correlation between adult and child attachment types securely attached adults belibed love was long lasting reported a happiness in their relationships and tended not to get divorcced

Answer 53

observed preschool children’s relationship with their mothers and fathers then later conducted a follow up assessment of social interactions when the child started nursery a strong attachment to the father was the best predictor of the ability to make friends in school suggesting an important role for fathers in socialisation

Answer 54

It’s impossible to establish a cause and effect relationship between early childhood attachment and later adult relationship styles there may be another variable such as poverty

Answer 55

Found that the quality of attachment with the father was less important in the attachment type of teenagers than quality of attachment with the mother Therefore fathers may be less important in long term emotional development

Answer 56

Learning theory Bowlbys montropic theory Critical period Internal working model

Answer 57

Simonella et al demonstrated that the proportion of securely attached children in Italy was only 50%, which was lower than expected and lower than the predictions formed across a variety of different cultures. The researchers suggested that these changes may be due to changing cultural and social expectations of mothers - more mothers are working and are choosing to use professional childcare to enable them to do so, thus decreasing the likelihood that their children will be able to form a secure attachment with a consistent primary caregiver.

Answer 58

Jin et al (2012) found that when the Strange Situation was used to assess 87 Korean infants aged 6 months old, the vast majority of insecurely attached children were actually classed as insecure resistant, as opposed to insecure avoidant. Therefore, since this pattern is similar to that of Japan, this suggests that similarities in child-rearing practices are influential in establishing patterns of attachment.

Answer 59

The study may lack ecological validity i.e. it did not measure what it intended to measure. The study attempted to measure cultural variations in attachment through studying different countries. However, multiple different cultures can exist within the same country, and this cultural variation was unlikely to be acknowledged. For example, Sagi and van Izjendoorn found that rural areas had an overrepresentation of insecure-resistant individuals, whereas urban areas had similar attachment patterns to the Western world. This therefore suggests that van Izjendoor and Kronenberg did not account for such differences and so are more likely to be studying differences between countries of attachment patterns, rather than culture.

Answer 60

The Strange Situation has been criticised as being culture-bound, in that the sample was biased (only used American children) and so the findings are unlikely to be generalised to other cultures, such as collectivist cultures. This is an example of imposed etic because Ainsworth assumed that the stages of attachment she developed could be universally applied to all children across all cultures, whereas this is unlikely to be the case.

Answer 61

The effects of the critical period may not be as concrete as Bowlby originally believed. For example, the case of two twins locked away in cupboards in Czechoslovakia for the first 7 years of their lives was reported by Koluchova. Despite the obvious trauma and maternal deprivation which occurred for an extended period of time, even exceeding the critical period, the researchers found that with appropriate fostering, the twins made a full psychological recovery. Therefore, the effects of maternal deprivation are not always so clear-cut.

Answer 62

Attachment disorder has recently been recognised as a distinct psychiatric condition and included in the DSM. It is essentially what psychologists like Sptiz and Bowlby and Rutter have been writing about for about 50 years: when some children experience disruptions of early attachments this affects their social and emotional development. Children with attachment disorder have: • No preferred attachment figure. • An inability to interact and relate to others that is evident before the age of five. • Experience of severe neglect or frequent change of caregivers These are two kinds of attachment disorders: Reactive or inhibited: shy and withdrawn, unable to cope with most social situations • Disinhibited attachment: over-friendly and attention seeking

Answer 63

Isabella et al. (1989) found that infants with secure attachments demonstrated interactional synchrony during the first year of life. Observed 30 mum and babes together High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mum baby attachment

Attachment Flashcards

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