attachment Flashcards
(31 cards)
Define the term, ‘attachment’
An emotional bond between 2 people, it is a two-way process that endures over time - leads to certain behaviours like clinging and proximity-seeking —> function in protecting infant
Define the term, ‘caregiver.’
Any person who is providing care for a child, like parent/sibling and so on.
Briefly explain what is meant by the term, ‘interactional synchrony’ in caregiver-infant interactions.
- when two people interact they tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial and body movements
Briefly explain what is meant by the term ‘reciprocity’ in the context of caregiver-infant interactions
- responding to the action of another with a similar action, where the actions of one partner elicit a response from the other partner.
—> e.g: one person leans forwards and speaks dna then it is the other person turn - Brazelton suggests this basic rhythm it’s important precursor for later communications
Outline one study of infant-caregiver interactions (4 marks)
- meltzoff and Moore conducted first systematic study of interactional synchrony + found infants as young as 2 weeks old imitated specific facial + hand gestures
- study conducted using adult model who displayed one of 3 facial expressions/hand movements + child’s expression filmed on video
- same synchrony with infants only 3 days old - infants displayed behaviours would appear to rule out possibility that imitation behaviours learned
Explain one strength of research into caregiver-infant interactions
P: importance of this imitative behaviour is that it forms the basis for social development
E: meltzoff developed ‘like me’ hypothesis on his research on interactional synchrony. —> there’s a connection between what infant sees and their imitation of this
—> infants may also project their own internal experiences onto others performing similar acts.
E: as a result infants begin to acquire understanding of what other ppl thinking + feeling = ‘theory of mind’ vital for conducting social rs
L: strength of this research as it explains how children understand what others think/feel, thus able to conduct relationships
Explain one weakness of research into caregiver-infant interactions.
P: individual differences - an important feature of interactional synchrony is that there’s variation between infants
E: researchers found more strongly attached infant-caregiver pairs showed greater interactional synchrony.
E: others showed infants who demonstrate lots imitation from birth onwards have have better quality of rs at 3 months —> however not clear whether imitation is a cause or an effect of early synchrony
L: therefore shows there are significant individual differences but not indicate causes of these differences
Define the tern, ‘primary attachment figure.’
The person who has formed the closest bond with a child, demonstrated by the intensity of the relationship.
Separation anxiety
The distress shown by an infant when separated from his/her caregiver - not necessarily the child’s biological mother
Stranger anxiety
The distress shown by an infant when approached or picked up by someone who is unfamiliar
Define the term, ‘imprinting’
An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother which takes place during a specific time in development, probably the first few hours after hatching —> if not happen at this time, it probably wont happen
Describe the procedure of Lorenz’ study.
- took a clutch of gosling eggs + divided them into 2 groups - one group was left with natural mother while other eggs placed in incubator with Lorenz
- incubator eggs hatched the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz but soon started following him around + to test effect of imprinting, he marked the 2 groups and placed them together - both Lorenz + mother present
Describe what Lorenz found in his study
- goslings divided themselves up: one followed natural mother and other group followed Lorenz.
- loren’z brood showed no recognition of natural mother while other + Lorenz noted this process of imprinting restricted to definite period of young animal’s life ‘critical period’
- animals can imprint on a persistently present moving object seen within its first 2 days. - binds young animal to a caregiver in special rs
What did Lorenz’ research tell us about attachment?
- stated that there’s several features of imprinting - process is irreversible and long lasting
- early imprinting had an effect on later mate preferences, called sexual imprinting. - animals choose to mate with same kind of object which they were imprinted
Describe the method of harlow’s study
- created 2 wire mothers - one wire mother additionally wrapped in soft cloth
- 8 infant rhesus monkeys studies for 165 days - 4 wire monkeys = the milk bottle was on the cloth-covered mother and on the plain wire mother for other 4 monkeys
- observations also made of money’s infants responses when frightened
What was the results of harlow’s study
- all 8 monkeys spent most time with cloth-covered mother whether or not this mother had the feeding bottle.
- those monkeys fed from wire mothers spent short amount of time getting milk then returning to cloth covered mother
- when frightened, monkeys clung to cloth-covered mother for reassurance
- infants do not develop an attachment to the person who feeds them but to the person offering contact comfort ‘cupboard love’
Outline what Harlow study has shown about attachment
- consequences of their early attachment experiences = motherless monkeys, even those who did have contact comfort, develop abnormally.
- socially abnormal - froze/fled when approached by other monkeys + sexually abnormal = did not show normal mating behaviours and that there’s a critical period for these effects
- if motherless monkeys spent time with their monkey ‘peers’ they seemed to recover but if happened before they 3 months old
Explain one strength of lorenz’ study
P: numerous studies have replicated lorenz’s work and found similar findings showing this animal study into attachment has reliability.
E: For example, Guiton showed how leghorn chicks would become attached to yellow rubber gloved when used to feed them.
E: This highlights the view that young animals are not born with a preposition to imprint on a specific type of objects but objects that are moving within the time critical period of 2 days
L: These chicks would also try and mate with the gloved later in life supporting Lorenz’s findings that it affect sexual behaviour too in later life
Explain one weakness Lorenz’s research
P: other evidence suggests imprinting may not be irreversible or even biological and simply a learned response
E/E: Guiton later found that chickens who had imprinted themselves to yellow rubber gloves and tried to mate with them would later begin mating with other chickens with enough time w them
L: This suggests that imprinting may have a learned element too and it might not be completely biological in nature
Explain one strength of harlow’s research into animal attachment
Practical theory
- the insight into attachment from harlow’s research had important applications in a range of practical contexts
- e.g: helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse and so intervene to prevent it
- e: also vital in the care of captive monkeys; we now understand the importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and in breeding programmes in the wild.
Explain one weakness of harlow’s research into a animal attachment
P: raises serious ethical concerns in regards to the inhumane treatment of rhesus monkeys of which died as well as animals in general
E: monkeys experienced great distress from being seperated + subjected to intentional emotional harm through fear tactics to observe their behaviour.
E: also found long-lasting effects - negatively impacted them in later life as they struggled to form alter rs with peers.
L: deemed morally unethical that American animal liberation movement was born.
Counter: this research was gateway for us to better understand attachment behaviour in humans through a setup which is incomprehensible to do with humans
-> many would argue the benefits outweigh the costs due to the real world applications the study has provided in improving child care practices + animal care.
Explain the development of attachments using learning theory (4 marks)
- explain behaviour in terms of learning rather than any inborn tendencies
- classical conditioning: during infants early weeks - things become associated with food as they are present at the time when infant fed - mother, the chair they sit in
—> person who feeds the infant moves from being an NS to being a CS. Gives infant a feeling of pleasure (CR)
- operant conditioning: positive reinforcement: infants feel discomfort when hungry so desire food, a primary reinforcer, to remove this unwanted feeling.
- crying = gain caregivers attention and thus removed this feeling of discomfort = negative reinforcement - child displays proximity seeking + attachment behaviour with caregiver as they become secondary reinforcer + source of reward/food and remover of unwanted feelings
Explain one strength of the learning theory of attachment
P: research supporting the learning theory
E: researchers found evidence to support learning theory - through studying 60 babies over 18 months.
E: At 3 months: showed no preference but after 4 months preferences started to develop with special attachment from 7 months onward with separation anxiety displaced on separation from their primary caregivers
L this study found attachment likely to form with those who most sensitive and responsive to child’s needs thru feeding and attention as this would be most rewarding for them
Explain one weakness of the learning theory
P: main limitation of learning theory as an explanation for attachment is that it suggests that for is the key element in formation of attachment theory
E: strong evidence to show feeding has nothing to do with attachment - study conducted by Harlow showed infant rhesus monkeys most ‘attracted’ to wire mother that provided contact comfort, not food. + supported by Schaffer and Emerson
L: therefore suggests that the learning explanation is oversimplified and ignored other important factors such as contact comfort
