Attachment

Question 1

What’s an attachment?

Answer 1

It can be defined as a close two-way emotional bond formed between two individuals with each individual seeing the other as a necessity for their emotional security

Question 2

What are the behaviours that are displayed when attachment is formed?

Answer 2

1. Proximity: people try to stay physically close to those they are attached to
2. Separation distress: People show distress in the absence of their attachment figure
3. Secure- base attachment: People tend to make regular contact with their attachment figure even tho they are independent of them

Question 3

What is reciprocity?

Answer 3

It is a mutual turn-taking form of attachment where both the caregiver and the infant contribute to the interaction by responding to the others signal and cues

Question 4

What is an “Alert phase”?

Answer 4

It is when babies signal to their attachment figure that they are ready for interaction, with the mother picking up and responding to this signals ⅔ of the time

Question 5

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 5

Feldman (2007) defined it as a “temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour’.

Question 6

When does interactional synchrony take place?

Answer 6

It takes place when the caregiver and infant interact and respond in a way that their actions and emotions tend to mirror each other

Question 7

Research done on interactional synchrony.

Answer 7

Meltzoff and Moore(1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks old. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions. The child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers. An association was found between the expression the adults displayed and the actions of the babies. This suggests that the ability to observe and reciprocate through imitation is present from a very early age

Question 8

Another research done on interactional synchrony

Answer 8

Isabella et al(1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony and also the quality of mother-infant attachment. They found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality of mother-infant attachment

Question 9

Evaluations of the caregiver-infant attachment- Strengths

Answer 9

1. Many studies use multiple observers that were blind to the true aims of the experiment to provide inter-rater reliability
2. Observations of mother-infant interactions are generally well controlled procedures with both mother and infant being filmed from multiple angles. This ensures that very fine details can be recorded and later analysed.
3. Babies don’t know or care that they are being observed so their behaviour does not change in response to controlled observations- it eliminates demand characteristics which is always a problem with observed experiments and this provides the research with high validity

Question 10

Limitation of the caregiver-infant attachment

Answer 10

1. The findings in the caregiver-infant attachment depend on inferences which are considered unscientific. Inferences are assumptions about the infant’s internal mental state based on observed behaviour. However the inferences could be wrong, for example, researchers shouldn’t assume that imitation is deliberate, rather it could be an unconscious automatic reflex response

Question 11

Research done into the role of a father

Answer 11

Grossman(2002) carried out a longitudinal study to find a relationship between both parents behaviour and the quality of children’s attachment into their teens. The quality of infant attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to the quality of children’s attachment in adolescence. This suggests that the father’s attachment was less important.
However, the quality of the father’s play was related to the child’s attachment in adolescence. This suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment - one that’s more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing

Question 12

Research into fathers being a primary caregiver

Answer 12

Field(1978) filmed 4-month old babies in face-to-face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers smiled, imitated and held infants more than secondary caregiver fathers. This behaviour seems to be important in building attachment with infants. This shows that fathers too can be nurturing attachment figures if given the opportunity. This also shows that that level of responsiveness to the infant is what matters more not the gender of the caregiver

Question 13

Evaluations of the research done into fathers as primary caregiver- Limitations

Answer 13

1. There are inconsistent findings on the role of fathers as different researchers are interested in different research questions. Some psychologists are interested in understanding the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures with them finding that fathers have a distinct role to mothers. Other psychologists are interested in understanding the role of fathers as primary attachment figures and have found that fathers can take up the “maternal “ role. This is a problem because there is no concise answer to the question of what exactly the role of a father is

Question 14

Another limitation evaluation point

Answer 14

MacCallum and Golombok(2004) found that children living in single or same sex parent families developed no different to children who lived in two parent heterosexual households. This seems to suggest that the presence of a father is not important for healthy attachment in children, as long as the child has a secure bond with at least one caregiver

Question 15

Schaffer and Emerson’s research into the stages of attachment

Answer 15

It involves 60 babies -31 males and 29 females. All were from Glasgow and were skilled working-class families. The researcher visited the babies and their mothers during the first year and again at 18 months. The researchers also asked the mother about any kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday separations eg separation and stranger anxiety which was used to measure the infant’s attachment

Question 16

Findings from Schaffer and Emerson’s research

Answer 16

Between 25 and 32 weeks of age, about 50% of the babies showed separation anxiety towards one particular adult, usually the mother. By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and 30% of the babies displayed multiple attachments

Question 17

What were the 4 stages of attachment identified by Schaffer and Emerson?

Answer 17

1. Asocial stage (from the first few weeks/ 0-6 weeks)
2. Indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks-7 months)
3. Specific attachment (7-9 months)
4. Multiple attachments (9 months onwards)

Question 18

What is the Asocial stage?

Answer 18

This is when the child displays similar behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects. They also do not prefer any individual adult but they show some preference to familiar adults in that those individuals find it easier to calm them

Question 19

What is indiscriminate attachment?

Answer 19

This is when babies start to recognise the difference between human and inanimate objects, and familiar and unfamiliar adults and show more preference for familiar adults
They do not show separation or stranger anxiety yet

Question 20

What is a specific attachment?

Answer 20

This is when babies start to display separation and stranger anxiety. They show separation anxiety when they are separated from their primary attachment figure, usually the mother 65% of the time

Question 21

What is Multiple attachment?

Answer 21

It is when babies start to form attachment to other adults they regularly spend time with
Stranger anxiety also starts to reduce

Question 22

Evaluations of Schaeffer’s stages of attachment - Strengths

Answer 22

1. As infants and their families were observed in their own homes, the study has a high mundane realism. The experience for the infants was normal as strangers visiting the home and caregiver temporarily leaving the room are normal occurrences. This suggests that the behaviour recorded was valid
2. The study was longitudinal. This means the same children were observed and followed up regularly. This provides the study with high internal validity as there are no confounding variables from the participants

Question 23

Weaknesses of Schaeffer’s stages of attachment

Answer 23

1. The study lacks temporal validity as childrearing practices have likely changed significantly in the past 60 years
2. The sample in the study may not be generalisable as it only included a group of working class mothers in Glasgow, this culture is not representative of much of the UK or the rest of the world

Question 24

Animal studies of attachment - Lorenz’s imprinting Procedure

Answer 24

He divided goose eggs in half; one half was hatched by him in an incubator while the other half was hatched naturally with their biological mother

Question 25

Findings from Lorenz's research

Answer 25

The goslings who Lorenz had hatched imprinted on him and followed him everywhere while the gosling who hatched in a natural environment imprinted on the mother goose and followed her. Lorenz placed all of the goslings in a box and when they were released, the goslings who had imprinted on Lorenz found him and continued to follow him.

Question 26

Critical period found by Lorenz

Answer 26

Lorenz found that the goslings had a critical period of **32 hours** and if a gosling did not see any moving large object to imprint on in these hours, it lost the ability to imprint and didn't attach itself to any mother figure

Question 27

Harlow's research on contact comfort. What did he want to test?

Answer 27

Harlow wanted to test the "cupboard love" theory which states that babies only love their mothers because they feed them.

Question 28

Procedure of Harlow's research with Rhesus monkeys

Answer 28

Infant Rhesus monkeys were removed from their biological mothers and placed in a cage with two surrogate mothers- a "wired" mother and a "cloth" mother. In one condition, milk was dispensed by the "wired mother" while in the 2nd condition, milk was dispensed by the "cloth" mother

Question 29

Findings from Harlow's research

Answer 29

Irrespective of the mother that dispensed milk, the Rhesus monkeys went to the "cloth" mother to seek comfort and even when they were frightened. This showed that "contact comfort" was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour and this refutes the "cupboard love" theory.

Question 30

More findings from Harlow's research...

Answer 30

In follow up studies, Harlow found that the maternal deprivation his studies had caused resulted in permanent dysfunctional behaviour in the monkeys as adults, including difficulty in mating behaviour, increased aggression towards other monkeys and neglecting and sometimes killing their offsprings

Question 31

Critical period found by Harlow...

Answer 31

Harlow concluded that there was a critical period for this behaviour- a mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within **90 days** for an attachment to form. After this time, attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible

Question 32

Evaluations of the animal studies on attachment - Strengths

Answer 32

1. Harlow's findings on contact comfort has been highly influential on psychologists'understanding of human mother-infant attachment. 2. Knowledge gained from these studies was later developed by Bowlby as he argued that similar to Rhesus monkey's, infants crave comfort from their mothers attempting to form a monotropic relationship. If this fails, then Bowlby claims that human infants will grow into adults with poor socialisation similar to the monkeys without a cloth mother

Question 33

Weakness of the animal studies

Answer 33

1. Issue of generalisability: Although Harlow's monkeys are more similar to humans than Lorenz's geese, they are not humans. Psychologist disagree to the extent to which studies of non-human primates can be generalised to humans. This is because humans are psychologically more complex as they can make conscious decisions about social interactions to a much greater extent than monkeys. This suggests that findings from non-human primates cannot apply to humans

Question 34

Another weakness of animal studies into attachment....

Answer 34

Ethical issues: Harlow is criticised on ethical grounds for the harm causes to may intentionally orphaned primate infants and for causing high stress levels. However some psychologists argue that the long term benefits to millions of human infants resulting from Harlow's research justify the studies when considering a cost-benefit analysis

Question 35

Explanations of Attachment: Learning Theories

Answer 35

Dolland and Miller (1950) theory of cupboard love is based on the principles of learning theory that argues that infants become attached to their caregiver because they learn that their caregiver provides food.

Question 36

Process involved in classical conditioning

Answer 36

Before conditioning: NS(mother) - NR( no response) UCS( food)- UCR(pleasure) During conditioning: NS(mother) +UCS( food)= UCR(pleasure) After conditioning: NS(mother) =CS(mother)=CR(Pleasure)

Question 37

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 37

It involves learning to repeat behaviours depending on it's consequences

Question 38

Process of operant conditioning in attachment

Answer 38

Positive reinforcement: It is when a behaviour is made more likely due to the addition of a pleasant stimulus. Crying leads to a response from the caregiver and as long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced

Question 39

Another process involved in operant conditioning...

Answer 39

Negative reinforcement: it is when a behaviour is made more likely by removing an unpleasant stimulus. The parent's feeding behaviour is negatively reinforced as the crying stops- the removal of an unpleasant stimulus

Question 40

Attachment as a secondary drive....

Answer 40

Drives are the desire to complete an action. Primary drives are instinctive and innate eh hunger or sleep. Secondary drives are learnt and Sears et all suggested that as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them. Attachment is thus a secondary drive learned by association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive

Question 41

Evaluation of the learning theories as an explanation of attachment - Weaknesses

Answer 41

1. Counter evidence from animal research : A range of animal studies has shown that young animals do not attach (or imprint on) those who feed them. Harlow's monkeys attached to the "cloth mother" irrespective of which mother gave milk. Lorenz's geese imprinted before they were fed and maintained these attachments regardless of who fed them. In both cases, it is clear that attachment does not develop as a result of feeding.

Question 42

Explanations of attachment: Bowlby's theory