Attachment Flashcards
(84 cards)
Define reciprocity and interactional synchrony
Reciprocity: A description of how two people interact. Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to eacch others signals and each elicits a response from the other.
Interactional synchrony: Caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way
What is attachment and how can it be displayed /recognised in behaviours
a close two-way emotional band between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security. It takes a few months to develop
Recognised / Displayed:
- Proximity: Stay physically close
- Separation distress: Signs of anxiety when they leave
- Secure based behaviour: Regular contact even when independent of them
What are 3 evaluations for Caregiver-infant interactions
+ Filmed observations: Recorded and analysed, good reliability and validity)
- Difficulty observing babies (Cannot be certain that interactions have special meaning, it is hard to interpret as movement could be random or a trigger)
- Developmental importance (Cannot be certain they are important ( Simply giving names to patterns doesn’t mean they are useful in understanding child development as it doesn’t say the purpose)
What are the 4 stages of attachment
Stage 1: Asocial stage - Behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is similar. Tend to prefer company of familiar people.
Stage 2: Indiscriminate - 2-7 months, clear preference for being with humans. Usually accept hugs and comfort from anyone. Do not show seperation or stranger anxiety
Stage 3: Specific - 7 months, start to display signs of attachment towards one person. Anxiety towards strangers and separation anxiety. Form a specific primary attachment figure. Baby’s mother is 65% of cases
Stage 4: Multiple attachments - Shortly after babies start to show attachment behaviour towards one person, they usually extend this behaviour to multiple attachments with others they spend time with. These are called secondary attachments.
List 3 evaluations of Schaffer’s stages of attachment
+ Good external validity - Participants behaved naturally while being observed as observations were made by parents
- Poor evidence for the asocial stage: Mothers may have had difficulty observing and reporting meaning babies may be quite social but due to flawed methods they appear to be social.
+ Real world application - Parents can use this to plan day care using the stages
What was Lorenz’s procedure for imprinting
He set up a classic experiment in which he randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs. Half the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment. The other half in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz
What were Lorenz’s findings
The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the control group, hatch in the presence of the mother, followed her. When the 2 groups were mixed up the control group continued to follow the mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz.
This is called imprinting whereby bird species that are mobil from birth attach to and follow the first thing moving object they see.
Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to tale place. Depending on the species it can be as brief as a few hours after birth but if imprinting does not occur within that time Lorenz found that chicks did not attach themselves to a mother figure.`
What is sexual imprinting and Lorenz’s investigation / findings
Lorenz investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult male preferences. He observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans.
in a case study Lorenz (1952) described a peacock that had been reared in the reptile house of a zoo would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises. Lorenz concluded that this meant the peacock had undergone sexual imprinting.
What was Harlow’s procedure in the importance of contact comfort
Harlow observed that new borns kept alone in a bare cage often died but they usually survived if given something soft like a cloth to cuddle.
He tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother. In one experiment he reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model mothers. In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother whereas in a second condition the milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother whereas in the second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered mother.
What were Harlow’s findings and what did they show
He found that baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother and still sought comfort from the cloth-covered mother even when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk.
This showed that ‘contact comfort’ was more important to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour.
What were Harlow’s findings on maternally deprived monkeys as adults
The researchers found severe consequences, monkeys reared with the plain-wire mothers only were the most dysfunctional. However, even those reared with a coth-covered mother did not develop normal social behaviour. These deprived monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys and they bred less often than is typical for monkeys, unskilled at mating.
When they became mothers, some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children, even killing them in some cases.
What did Harlow conclude
He concluded that there was a critical period for attachment formation - a mother figure had to be introduced to a young monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form. After this time attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible.
What are the evaluations of Lorenz’s research 1+ & 1-
+ Research support: A study by Regolin and Vallortiga (1995) supports Lorenz’s idea. They found chicks exposed to moving shape combinations imprinted on the original shape they saw most closely (following it). Confirming an innate imprinting mechanism in young animals.
- Generalisability to humans: A key limitation is applying Lorenz’s findings to humans however mammalian attachment is more complex and different to that of birds involving emotional bonds and two-way interactions between mothers and infants. This suggests Lorenz’s imprinting concept may not fully apply to human attachment.
Evaluate Harlow’s research 1+ & 1-
+ Real world value: Harlow’s findings have practical applications. They have helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand how a lack of early bonding can lead to poor developmental outcomes, allowing interventions. His research also informs the care of baby monkeys in zoo’s and breeding programs, making it both theoretically and practically valuable.
- Generalisability to humans: While rhesus monkeys are more similar to humans than Lorenz’s birds, human attachment behaviour is still more complex. This suggests that while Harlow’s findings are useful, they may not fully apply to humans.
What is classical conditioning in learning theory and what is the process of it
It involves learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way as we already respond to the other. In the case of attachment food serves as an unconditioned stimulus.. Being fed gives us pleasure - we don’t have to learn that, it is an unconditioned response.
A caregiver starts as a neutral stimulus, producing no response, however when the caregiver provides food over time they become associated with food (an unconditioned stimulus). The baby then sees this person with an expectation of food. The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus. Once conditioning has taken place the sight of the caregiver produces a conditioned response of pleasure.
This conditioned response is love, Eg - an attachment is formed and the caregiver becomes an attachment figure
What is operant conditioning and what is it in learning theory
it involves learning from the consequences of behaviour. If a behaviour produces a pleasant consequence, that behaviour is likely to be repeated again. The behaviour is said to be reinforced. If a behaviour produces an unpleasant consequence (punishment) it is less likely to be repeated.
It can explain why babies cry for comfort, crying leads to a response from a caregiver such as feeding, crying is then reinforced. The baby then directs crying for comfort towards the caregiver who responds with comforting ‘social suppressor’ behaviour. This reinforcement is a two way process where the baby continues to cry for care and the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops strengthening the attachment.
What is attachment as a second drive in learning theory
Learning theory draws on the concept of drive reduction. Hunger can be thought of as a primary drive - it’s an innate, biological motivator. We are motivated to eat in order to reduce the hunger drive.
Robert Sears et al (1957) suggested that as caregivers provide food the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is thus a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive.
Define critical period
CP: The time within which an attachment must form if it is to form at all. Lorenz and Harlow noted that attachment in birds and monkeys had critical periods. Bowlby extended the idea to humans proposing that human babies have a sensitive period after which it will be much more difficult to form an attachment.
Define the internal working model
Our mental representations of the world. Eg - the representation we have of our relationship to our primary attachment figure. This model affects our future relationship because it carries our perception of what relationships are like.
List and define the 3 types of attachment
Secure: Generally thought of as the most desirable attachment type, associated with psychologically healthy outcomes. In the strange situation this is shown by moderate stranger and separation anxiety and ease of comfort at reunion.
Insecure-avoidant: An attachment type characterised by low anxiety but weak attachment. In the strange situation this is shown by low stranger and separation anxiety and little response to reunion, maybe even an avoidance of the caregiver.
Insecure-resistant: An attachment type characterised by strong attachment and high anxiety. In the strange situation this is shown by high levels of stranger and separation anxiety and by resistance to being comforted at reunion.
What does the law of continuity state?
The more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better the quality of their attachment
This principle emphasizes the importance of stable caregiving.
What is the law of accumulated separation?
The effects of every separation from the mother add up, with zero separation being the safest dose
This principle suggests minimizing separations for optimal attachment.
What are social releasers according to Bowlby?
Innate ‘cute’ behaviours like smiling, cooing, and gripping
These behaviours encourage adult attention and attachment.
What is the purpose of social releasers?
To activate adult social interaction and encourage attachment
They play a crucial role in the reciprocal process of attachment formation.
