attachment

Question 1

what is attachment

Answer 1

a close two way emotional bond between two individuals, seeing the other person as essential for emotional security

Question 2

define reciprocity

Answer 2

where the caregiver and baby respond to each others signals and elicit responses from each other
-described a a dance by Brazelton

Question 3

define turn taking, alert phases and active involvement

Answer 3

• turn taking - taking turns to respond to each others signals
• alert phases - babies signalling for an interaction mother pick this up 2/3 of the time, it depends on external factors (Feldman and Eidelman 2007)
• active involvement - babies and caregiver both take an active role, either party initiates interactions

Question 4

what is interactional synchrony

Answer 4

when a caregiver and infant mirror actions and emotions
- Meltzoff and Moore observed at 2 weeks ( facial expressions mirrored )
- Isabella et al assessed quality of mother-baby attachment ( high synchrony, better quality attachment )

Question 5

what are the caregiver-infant interactions evaluations

Answer 5

STRENGTHS:
-filmed observation increases inter-rater reliability and validity
LIMITATIONS:
-hard to interpret baby’s behaviour
-no developmental importance, doesn’t tell us the purpose of the behaviours HOWEVER Isabella’s research shows interactional synchrony can create good quality attachments

Question 6

what are the ages for Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachment

Answer 6

asocial: 0-2 months
indiscriminate: 2 months - 7 months
specific: 7 months - 1 year
multiple: 1 year +

Question 7

describe the asocial stage of attachment

Answer 7

• attachment to humans and objects is similar but prefer people

Question 8

describe indiscriminate stage of attachment

Answer 8

• display more social behaviours
• clear preference to humans
• recognise company of familiar people but accept comfort from anyone
• don’t really show separation and stranger anxiety when caregivers leave their presence

Question 9

describe the specific stage of attachment

Answer 9

• show attachment towards 1 person
• show separation and stranger anxiety towards strangers and when separated
• person of attachment is the primary attachment figure, not who spends the most time with the baby but who’s most receptive to baby signals ( mother in 65% cases )

Question 10

describe the multiple stage of attachment

Answer 10

• can show stranger and separation anxiety with multiple people ( secondary attachments )
• 29% children formed secondary attachment within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment

Question 11

describe the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s research

Answer 11

60 working class Glasgowegian babies were visited every month for the first year, then at 18 months.
-researchers asked mothers about baby behaviour (separation and stranger anxiety)

Question 12

describe Schaffer and Emerson’s research findings

Answer 12

they identified four distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour

Question 13

what are the evaluations for Schaffer’s stages of attachment

Answer 13

STRENGTHS:
-good external validity as babies were studied at home in a natural condition HOWEVER mothers may have been biased in their reports
-practical application in parents use of day care (problematic in the specific attachment phase)
LIMITATIONS:
-poor evidence for the asocial stage as its hard to observe young infants

Question 14

explain attachment to fathers

Answer 14

-most babies first attach to mothers at 7 months, and fathers 3%. in 27% there was a join first attachment
-75% of babies form attachment with father by 18 months, determined by separation anxiety

Question 15

explain the distinctive role of fathers

Answer 15

-Grossman carried out a longitudinal study where attachments were studied until teens looking at parents behaviour and relationship to child.
-research to suggest fathers role is not as important as mothers HOWEVER found quality of fathers play with babies related to quality of adolescence attachments ( more play and stimulation than emotional development )

Question 16

explain fathers as primary attachment figures

Answer 16

-a babies primary attachment forms basis of later emotional relationships
-Tiffany Field filmed 4 month old babies interactions with caregivers. primary caregiver fathers spent more time showing reciprocity and interactional synchrony than secondary
-shows fathers have the potential to be more emotion-focused primary caregivers

Question 17

evaluate the role of the father

Answer 17

STRENGTHS:
-unanswered question on what the role of the father is, causes confusion and depends on the specific role
-real world application as reassuring advice given to families, eg reassuring homosexual ones that fathers are capable of being primary attachment figures
LIMITATIONS:
-conflicting evidence eg Grossman says role of father is important so youd expect to see a difference in children in homosexual famileis whereas McCallum and Golombok say children don’t develop differently in homosexual families HOWEVER they could’ve just adapted to not having a father figure

Question 18

explain the procedure and findings of Lorenz’s study

Answer 18

• observed imprinting in geese
• randomly divided clutch of goose eggs
• half eggs hatched with mother (control) and half hatched with Lorenz as the first moving object they saw
  FINDINGS:
• control group followed mother around and experimental group followed Lorenz
  -Lorenz identified a critical period for imprinting of a few hours after hatching, and if it doesn’t happen, chicks didn’t attach to a mother figure

Question 19

explain sexual imprinting

Answer 19

-Lorenz observed a peacock reared in the reptile house of a zoo and saw a tortoise as the first moving objet after imprinting
-as an adult, the peacock displayed courtship behaviour to the tortoise ( sexual imprinting )

Question 20

explain the procedure and findings of Harlow’s study

Answer 20

• 16 baby Rhesus monkeys were in a cage with a wire monkey with food and a clothed monkey without food and observed
• monkeys spent most time with the cloth monkey and when frightened by a noisy machine went to it
• found a critical period of 90 days for the monkeys, and after this, attachment cannot be made and damage is irreversible

Question 21

explain what long term research Harlow did

Answer 21

• monkeys observed as adults to be dysfunctional, unable to develop normal social behaviour, aggressive and unskilled at mating
• when they became mothers, the offspring were neglected and some even killed by the mothers

Question 22

evaluate the animal studies of attachment

Answer 22

STRENGTHS:
-Lorenz backed by research support, Regolin and Vallortigara moved shapes in front of chicks and they followed the original shape more, supporting idea of an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object
-Harlows research has real life application to social workers and zoos and wild breeding programmes, giving the research validity and practical value
LIMITATIONS:
-both animal studies cannot be generalised to human attachment behaviours as mammalian attachment systems are far more complex

Question 23

state the 3 main concepts of the learning theory

Answer 23

• classical conditioning
• operant conditioning
• attachment is the secondary drive as suggested by Robert Sears and hunger as the primary, innate and biological drive

Question 24

explain how classical conditioning works in the learning theory

Answer 24

• food as unconditional stimulus that elicits the unconditioned response of pleasure when fed
• paired with mother as neutral stimulus
• mother becomes conditioned stimulus that elicits conditioned response of pleasure via association
• attachment forms

Question 25

explain how operant conditioning works in the learning theory

Answer 25

- baby cries and mother cares for it so baby cries for comfort - mother is negatively reinforced to stop 'punishment' of crying by caring for baby as a reward - attachment forms

Question 26

evaluate the learning theory as an explanation for attachment

Answer 26

STRENGTHS: - although food may be not the central reason for attachment, conditioning still may play a part in it, so the theory is still useful HOWEVER it sees conditioning as a passive role but we know its an active one ( Feldman and Eidelman ) LIMITATIONS: - counter evidence from animal studies, animals in Lorenz's imprint on first moving object , not based on food + in Harlow's contact comfort > food - counter evidence from human studies, Isabella et al found interactional synchrony increased quality of attachment ( not related to feeding )

Question 27

what does ASCMI stand for in bowlbys monotropic theory of attachment

Answer 27

A - adaptive S - social releasers C - critical period M - monotropy I - internal working model

Question 28

explain monotropy

Answer 28

Bowlby says that babies form a special, more important bond with one primary caregiver, and the principles are: -law of continuity states the more consistent and predictable a child's care, the better quality of attachment -law of accumulated separation states

Question 29

explain social releasers and the critical period

Answer 29

social releasers are innate 'cute' behaviours that active adult social interaction Bowlby said there's a critical period of 6 months where a baby attachment system is active , and there's a sensitive period of up to 2 years. if the attachment is not formed during this time, it'll be harder to later on

Question 30

explain the internal working model

Answer 30

a child's relationship with their primary attachment figure forms as a basis for all later relationships, and even their own parenting style as people tend to base their parenting behaviour on how they were parented

Question 31

evaluate Bowlby's monotropic theory as an explanation of attachment

Answer 31

STRENGTHS: - support for social releasors, Brazelton et al observed babies trigger interactions w/ adults using social releasors + still face experiment shows babies get distressed when social releasers aren't picked up - support for internal working model , Bailey et al studied 99 mothers + their babies and found parents w/ poor attachments to their primary attachment figure = poorly attached babies HOWEVER people think genetics + anxiety can affect social behaviour + parenting LIMITATONS: - validity on monotropy challenged,Schaffer and Emerson found babies form multiple attachments + the primary attachment is not necessarily different, but stronger

Question 32

briefly describe the procedure of the strange situation and the behaviours observed

Answer 32

Mary Ainsworth and Silvia Bell. Aim was to observe attachment behaviours by assessing quality of attachment to caregiver. - controlled observation in a room w/ 2 way mirror and cameras behaviours observed include stranger and separation anxiety, response on reunion, proximity seeking and exploration and secure base behaviour

Question 33

state the 7 episodes of the strange situation procedure and what behaviour they test for

Answer 33

1- baby is encouraged to explore (exploration and secure base behaviour) 2- stranger comes in, approaching baby (stranger anxiety) 3- caregiver leaves (separation and stranger anxiety) 4- caregiver returns, stranger leaves (response on reunion and exploration/secure base) 5- caregiver leaves baby alone (separation anxiety) 6- stranger returns (stranger anxiety) 7- caregiver returns and reunited w/ baby (response on reunion)

Question 34

what were the findings of the strange situation experiment

Answer 34

Ainsworth found distinct patterns in the way babies behaved and found 3 main attachment types

Question 35

describe secure attachment ( type B )

Answer 35

- baby explores happily but regularly checks on caregiver - usually show moderate stranger and separation anxiety - require and accept comfort from caregiver on reunion

Question 36

describe the insecure-avoidant attachment ( type A )

Answer 36

- baby explores, rarely checking on caregiver - usually show little to no signs of stranger or separation anxiety - show no reaction when caregiver returns, maybe even avoiding contact

Question 37

describe the insecure-resistant ( type C ) attachment type

Answer 37

- baby seeks lots of proximity, explores left - shows very high signs of stranger and separation anxiety - on reunion with caregiver, may seek comfort at first but then resist

Question 38

evaluate the types of attachment

Answer 38

STRENGTHS: - good predictive validity as type B babies often go on to have healthy relationships, unlike other types, or no type at all HOWEVER Kagan believed genetically influenced anxiety can account for variations in attachment - good inter rater reliability as a group of psychologists agreed on 97% of cases, increasing the validity LIMITATIONS: - the experiment may be culture bound as it was done in Europe and US, cultures like Japan may affect results as mother-infant separation is rare so most babies were classed as type A

Question 39

describe the procedure of van ijzendoorn and kroonenbergs research

Answer 39

- looked at cultural variation of attachment - meta analysis of 32 strange situation studies of 18 countries, 15 being the US

Question 40

describe the findings of van ijzendoorn and kroonenbergs research

Answer 40

- secure was the most common across cultures - japan and israel had more resistant than avoidant - china had lowest type b (50%) - lots more intra-cultural variation (1.5x more)

Question 41

describe the Korean study on cultural variations of attachment

Answer 41

- Jin et al used strange situation to test 87 babies - most were secure, but then lots were resistant and only 1 avoidant similar to japan in van ijzendoorn and kroonenbergs research as they have similar child rearing practices

Question 42

what are the final conclusions of the studies into cultural variations in attachment

Answer 42

- secure attachment seems to be most common across all cultures, supporting Bowlby’s idea that attachment is innate and universal - but studies clearly show that different cultural practices in child rearing have an influence on attachment type

Question 43

evaluate cultural variations in attachment

Answer 43

STRENGTHS: -using indigenous psychologists for the studies reduces issues with bias and language barriers, increasing validity of data collected HOWEVER Morelli and Tronick studied outside of their culture so bias and cross cultural contamination could’ve occurred LIMITATIONS: - lots of counfounding variables like economy, social class, even size or room or availability of toys that may differ findings, making them less reliable - imposed etic as strange situation was done in europe/US so may mean something different in other cultures and so comparing them is useless

Question 44

explain Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 44

- he said that prolonged separation can lead to deprivation - critical period of 2 1/2 years and if attachment isn't made then, psychological damage is irreversible - intellectual development is affected, low IQ and higher rate of criminality - emotional development is hindered, more likely to develop affection less psychopathy where they can't feel guilt or remorse for their actions

Question 45

explain Bowlby's 44 thieves study

Answer 45

- studied link between maternal deprivation and affection less psychopathy - 44 criminal teens studied and compared to a control of 44 non-thieves but emotionally disturbed - 14/44 thieves detected as affection less psychopaths, 12 of which experienced prolonged separation from mother in the first 2yrs - only 5 of the 30 thieves left experienced prolonged separation - it was concluded that early maternal deprivation leads to affection less psychopathy

Question 46

evaluate Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 46

LIMITATIONS: - flawed evidence as in Bowlby's study he conducted the interviews so he may've shown experimenter bias and in Goldfarb's study, results may be due to war trauma not institutional care HOWEVER Levy et all rat study shows that just one day of maternal separation can cause affect on development - confusion over the terms privation or deprivation, as studies like Goldfarb's may have focused on privation instead of deprivation - Bowlby's idea of the critical period is proven wrong by the Czech Twins who suffered abuse and neglect, however after receiving good care they recovered fully, so maybe the term sensitive period should be used instead

Question 47

explain the procedure of the Rutter et al ERA study

Answer 47

- 165 Romanian orphans studied to investigate if good care could make up for bad experiences in institutions - physical, cognitive + emotional development assessed at 4,6,11,15 and 22-25 - 52 British adopted children served as a control group

Question 48

explain the findings of the Rutter et al ERA study

Answer 48

- at arrival, physical malnutrition and delayed intellectual development - at 11, showed rates of recovery in relation to adoption time - mean IQ of those adopted before six months was 102, 86 for 6 months to 2 years and 77 for after 6 months - those adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment, eg attention seeking and clinginess unlike those adopted before 6 months

Question 49

describe the procedure and findings of the Zeanah et al BEI study

Answer 49

- assessed 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months , 90% of which spent most of their time in institutional care - compared to control group of 50 kids who hadn't - attachment type assessed with the strange situation experiment - found that 74% of control group + 19% of institutional group were type B - disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutional group but less than 20% in control group

Question 50

what are the 2 main effects of institutionalisation

Answer 50

- disinhibited attachment, being over affectionate to strangers. Rutter says it's an adaption to living with multiple caregivers - intellectual disability but can be recovered if adopted before 6 months

Question 51

evaluate romanian orphan studies: institutionalisation

Answer 51

STRENGTHS: - real world application to care systems, ensuring that children have 'key workers' not multiple attachments to reduce risk of disinhibited attachment - few confounding varies unlike Goldfarb's where bereavement could've affected results, but Romanian kids were from loving families who couldn't afford children HOWEVER they lacked intellectual stimulation and received horrible care which is rare LIMITATIONS: - lack of adult data as we don't have data on whether mental health problems lasted a lifetime or if they recovered after the study, and we could've seen the relationship with their children but this would take long as it would be a longitudinal study

Question 52

how do early attachments influence later relationships

Answer 52

- our internal working model says that our relationship with the primary caregiver serves as a template for all future relationships - the quality of the primary attachment will affect the nature of relationships

Question 53

how do our early attachments influence relationships in childhood

Answer 53

- attachment type is associated with quality of peer relationships in childhood - securely attached babies have longer quality childhood attachments, whereas insecurely attached babies will have friendship difficulties - Wilson and Smith used a questionnaire on 196 kids aged 7- 11 from London insecure resistant were more likely to be bullying and insecure avoidant would be the ones being bullied, secure would not be involved

Question 54

describe Havan and Shavers love quiz

Answer 54

- created the love quiz to asses love experiences and current relationships, 56% were securely attached, 25% insecure resistant and 19% insecure avoidant - secure were most likely to have good long lasting romantic relationships, avoidant feared intimacy and insecure trusted too easily

Question 55

describe McCarthy;s study into relationships in adulthood

Answer 55

-studied 40 adult women who had attachment types assessed as children - those securely attached had best adult friendships + romantic relationships - those described as insecure resistant had problems maintaining friendships - those classed as insecure avoidant struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships

Question 56

how can early attachments influence parenting in adulthood

Answer 56

- internal working model can influence parenting style and attachment type tends to be generational - Bailey et al's research supports this as most of 99 mothers had the same attachment type as both their own mothers and their children

Question 57

evaluate the influence of early attachments on later relationships

Answer 57

STRENGTHS: - research support, eg internal working model from Bowlby's attachment theory and Bailey et al, increasing validity HOWEVER Becker-Stoll et al studied 43 individuals from 1 year and at 16 there was no evidence of continuity of attachment type LIMITATIONS: - validity issues with retrospective studies, eg the love quiz by Havan and Shaver focus on past experiences which may be hard to remember or they may focus on the bad memories, reducing reliability of the study - confounding variables as genetically influenced personalities can affect parenting style or later development, so we can never be sure if it's early attachment and not other factors influencing later development