Attachment Flashcards

(149 cards)

1
Q

What is attachment?

A

Attachment is a strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people. Takes a few months to develop.

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2
Q

According to Macoby (1980) what are the four characteristics of attachment?

A
  1. Seeking Proximity - the desire to be close to the person whom you are attached
  2. Separation Anxiety - the distress that results from being separated from that person
  3. Pleasure when Reunited - relief and observable joy when reunited with them
  4. General Orientation of Behaviours towards the Caregiver - the child’s awareness of where the person is and the reassurance they feel by them being close.
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3
Q

Who do babies have meaningful interactions with?

A

Babies have meaningful (intense and pleasurable) interactions with their carers and these are important for their social development, particularly caregiver-infant attachment.

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4
Q

What do babies have which signal that they are ready for interaction?

A

Babies have periodic alert phases which signal that they are ready for interaction
and their mothers respond 2/3rd of the time ( Feldman and Eidleman,2007)

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5
Q

What did Feldman define Interactional Synchrony?

A

Interactional synchrony can be defined as ‘the co- ordination of micro level behaviour’. It takes place when the infant and the mother interact in such a way that they will mirror their actions and emotions.

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6
Q

What are two people are said to be ‘synchronised ‘?

A

Two people are said to be synchronised when they carry out the same action simultaneously

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7
Q

What is Meltzof and Moore (1977) study?

A

They observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 12 - 21 day old babies. An adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions (sticking tongue out) or one of 3 distinct gestures (waving fingers) and the child’s response was filmed. An association was found between the expression/gesture and the action of the child.

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8
Q

What is the conclusion of Meltzof and Moore (1977) study?

A

Showed that babies as young as 2 weeks old displayed interactional synchrony supporting the idea that babies are alert and interact with their caregivers.

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9
Q

Why is Interactional Synchrony important?

A

It is important for the development of attachment since it provides the necessary
foundation for the mother and infant connection which can be built on in subsequent years.

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10
Q

Why is Interactional synchrony important: what is the method of Isabella’s study?

A

Isabella (1989) observed 20 mothers and infants together and assessed their degree of synchrony and the quality of mother- infant attachment.

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11
Q

What are the findings of Isabella’s study?

A

She found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother - infant attachment - emotional intensity of the relationship.

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12
Q

What are the results of Isabella’s study?

A

Interactional synchrony is important in development of attachment.

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13
Q

What is Reciprocity Interaction?

A

Reciprocity Interaction is when the infant and mother respond to each other signals and elicits a response from the other

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14
Q

When is Reciprocity Interaction frequently used?

A

It is found to be increasingly frequent from around 3 months and involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions.

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15
Q

How did Brazelton describe this interaction?

A

Brazelton described this interaction as a ‘dance’ - it is like a couple’s dance where each person responds to the other’s moves.

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16
Q

What does reciprocity imply?

A

This suggests that babies are active. This goes against the traditional views that
babies play a passive role in receiving care from an adult. Both mother and child can initiate interactions and seem to be taking turn in doing so.

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17
Q

What are strengths of research into interactional synchrony ?

A

However it is hard to know what is happening when observing infants. What is being observed is hand movements and changes in expression. It is difficult to say based on these observations whether the infant’s imitation of adult signals is conscious and deliberate. Since we can’t communicate with infants using
— we can’t be sure about what is taking place from their perspective. This means that we can’t be sure that certain behaviours seen in mother - infant interactions have any special meaning. Most research therefore has low internal validity.

These observations also do not tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity. All the research does is simply describe the behaviours that occur at the time.

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18
Q

What are weaknesses of research into interactional synchrony ?

A

However it is hard to know what is happening when observing infants. What is being observed is hand movements and changes in expression. It is difficult to say based on these observations whether the infant’s imitation of adult signals is conscious and deliberate. Since we can’t communicate with infants using
— we can’t be sure about what is taking place from their perspective. This means that we can’t be sure that certain behaviours seen in mother - infant interactions have any special meaning. Most research therefore has low internal validity.

These observations also do not tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity. All the research does is simply describe the behaviours that occur at the time.

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19
Q

What are weaknesses of research into interactional synchrony ?

A

It is difficult to draw conclusions about the role of caregiver- infant interactions in the development of attachment is that there may be extraneous factors such as culture, temperament, substitute care, life events may have a long term effect on attachment and cannot be controlled.

There also may be practical issues such as need for limited observation periods because of limited waking periods.

Another limitation of the research in mother- infant interactions is that it is a sensitive issue. This is because it suggests that children may be disadvantaged by certain child- rearing practices. Example: mothers who go back to work soon after the baby is born.

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20
Q

Development of attachment: what is the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?

A

Procedure:
Schaffer and Emerson conducted a longitudinal study on 60 Glasgow infants - 31 male and 29 female (5-23 weeks at the start of the study) from skilled working-class homes. The babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and then again at 18 months.
Separation anxiety was measured by asking the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in 7 everyday separations e.g. adult leaving the room. This was done to measure the infant’s attachment.
Stranger anxiety was assessed by the researchers through direct observations of the infants’ reaction when they approached him/her - children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.

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21
Q

Development of attachment: what is the results of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?

A

Results:
50% babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult between 25 and 32 weeks of age - usually the mother ( called specific attachment).
In 3% cases the father was the first sole object of attachment.
In 27% the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother.
By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments.
Reciprocity was found to be important in the development of attachment.

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22
Q

Development of attachment: what is the conclusion of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)?

A

Conclusions:
The results of the study indicated that attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was the most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (reciprocity) and this may not be who they spent the most time with. They called this ‘sensitive responsiveness. The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child but who plays and communicates with him or her.
The study also shows that a significant number of infants form multiple attachments.

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23
Q

What are the strengths of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

A

The study has good external validity because most observations were made by parents during ordinary activities at home which is the natural environment of the babies and reported to researchers. Behaviour of babies unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers, so it is likely to be natural behaviour.

Another strength of the research is that it was carried out longitudinally. This
means that the same children were followed up and observed regularly. A quicker alternative would have been to observe different children at each stage. This is called a longitudinal study. However longitudinal studies have better internal validity because they do not have the confounding variable of participant variables since the same children are being studied.

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24
Q

What is a weakness of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

A

The sample size of 60 babies and their carers were all from the same city and the same class from the same community, 50 years ago. Child rearing practices vary from culture to culture and from one historical period to another. These results may not generalise to other social and historical contexts.

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25
What are Schaffer’s stages of Development of Attachment?
1. Asocial stage (0 - 8 weeks) 2. Indiscriminate attachment (2 - 7 months) 3. Specific attachment (7 - 12 months) 4. Multiple attachments (by 1 year)
26
What is the Asocial Stage?
- behaviour between humans and non- human objects quite similar - recognise specific faces - happier in presence of humans than when alone - preference for familiar individuals - prefer faces to non- faces - smile at anyone
27
What is the Indiscriminate Attachment?
- recognise and prefer familiar people - smile more at familiar than unfamiliar faces - preference for people rather than inanimate objects - accept comfort from any adult
28
What is the Specific Attachment?
- primary attachment to one particular individual (the person who shows most sensitivity to their signals) - show stranger anxiety - show separation anxiety - use familiar adults as a secure base
29
What is the Multiple Attachment?
- form secondary attachments with familiar adults with whom they spend time e.g. father, grandparents
30
What is a weakness of the asocial stage?
There is a problem studying the asocial stage. They describe the first few weeks as asocial but interactions do take place. It may be that babies are quite social but because they are fairly immobile due to poor coordination, it is difficult to make judgements based on observations of their behaviour and they appear to be asocial.
31
What are the weaknesses Schaffer's stages?
The evidence on the timing of multiple attachments is conflicting. Even though some research states that all babies form attachments to a single main carer before they develop multiple attachments- there is conflicting research from collectivistic cultures where multiple attachments is the norm- because families work jointly in these cultures in everything. Schaffer's stages do not distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and playmates. There is a problem in the way multiple attachments is assessed. Research assumes that because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room, it means that the individual is an attachment figure. However children may be distressed when a playmate leaves the room, but they might not be attached to them.
32
Who did Schaffer and Emerson say the primary attachment is with?
Schaffer and Emerson showed that the primary attachment is much more likely to be made with the mother than the father.
33
What percentage of cases were the father the first sole object of attachment?
In only 3% cases the father was the first sole object of attachment and in 27% cases the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother.
34
What percentage of infants studied secondary attachment was formed with the father by 18 months?
In 75% of infants studied secondary attachment was formed with the father by 18 months (studied through anxiety).
35
What was the quality of the fathers' play with infants related to?
The quality of the fathers' play with infants was related to children's attachments - this suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment - more to do with stimulation than nurturing.
36
What is attachment with mothers most related to?
Attachment with mothers most related to attachment in adolescence
37
What is Grossman’s method of his study?
He carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents' behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children's attachment into their teens.
38
What is Grossman’s results of his study?
The quality of attachment with the mother was more important in attachment type of teenagers than the quality of attachment with the father.
39
What is Grossman’s conclusion of his study?
Fathers may be less important in the emotional development
40
Can fathers be primary caregivers?
Fathers can be primary caregivers. A researcher fllmed 4 month old babies and found that primary caregiver fathers, adopt behaviours more typical of mothers such as smiling, imitating and holding infants.
41
What is a weakness of the role of a father research?
Some psychologists have found that fathers behave differently to mothers and have a different role. Others have found that they can take on a maternal role. This is a limitation because it implies that researchers cannot CONTINUE
42
What is another weakness of the role of a father research?
Even though research evidence has found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had a distinct role in their children's development through play and stimulation. There is contradictory evidence that children growing up in single parent or same sex parent families don't develop differently from those in two parent families. This discredits the idea of fathers having distinct roles.
43
What are the factors affecting the amount of time that fathers spend interacting with children?
Amount of time that fathers spend interacting with, being accessible to, or being directly involved in the daily care of their children. This is influence by a number of factors: Traditional gender roles - women are seen as more caring, nurturing and fathers feel like they don’t need to act like that Economic factors - fathers may have to go to work and feel like they should act as the "breadwinner" Social policies - maternity and paternity leave Biological factors - female hormones such as oestrogen creates higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are predisposed to be the primary attachment figures
44
What are more weaknesses of the role of a father research?
These stereotypes about the father being playful, stricter may lead to unintentional observer bias. This makes the observations lack reliability/ validity. Research into the role of the father has economic implications.
45
What are animal studies?
They study telationships between infant animals and their mother. Their observations inform psychologists about mother infant attachments in humans.
46
Who are animal studies carried out by?
They are carried out by ethologists.
47
What are the Advantages of Animal Studies?
Practical: animats breed faster-so the results can be seen across more than one generation. Ethical: can put animals in situations that may be distressing such as deprivation-would be more unethical to do this to humans.
48
What are the Disadvantages of Animal Studies?
• Cannot extrapotate findings to attachment in human infants. • What applies to non human species may not apply to human infants- there is a difference in the complexity and nature of the bond. • Ethical- If we extrapolate findings from animals attachment to humans then should we also not assume that they would be affected by the distressing situations in the same way as human infants would be.
49
What is the method of Lorenz (1935) Imprinting study?
Lorenz randomly divided a clutch of 12 goose eggs in two halves: one half was left to hatch with the mother goose (the control group) the other half were hatched in an incubator, the first moving thing they saw was Lorenz. Lorenz mixed all the goslings together ( had marked them to indicate which group of egges they had hatched from to see who they would follow. He also observed the birds and their later courtship behaviour.
50
What is the results of Lorenz (1935) Imprinting study?
The control group followed their natural mother everywhere whereas the second group followed Lorenz.
51
What is the conclusion of Lorenz (1935) Imprinting study?
This phenomenon is called imprinting in which species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the 1st moving object they see.
52
What was Lorenz’s initial period?
Lorenz identified an initial period in which imprinting had to take place. If imprinting does not take place within that time, chicks did not attach themselves to the mother figure. Sexual imprinting also occurs whereby birds acquire a template of desirable characteristics in a mate.
53
What is a weakness of Lorenz’s study?
One weakness of Lorenz’s study is that it’s difficult to generalise findings to humans. Mammalian attachment is different to birds as we show more emotional attachment and may be able to form multiple attachments. Also gooslings are mobile as soon as they hatch but humans babies are not.
54
What is a strength of Lorenz’s study?
Lorenz concluded that imprinting had a permanent effect on mating behaviour. Guiton found that chicks imprinted on yellow washing up gloves would try and mate with them as adults. This is a strength because it provides evidence for imprinting by suggesting that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object in the critical periods. However Guiton (1966) found that though this was the case with chickens imprinted on yellow washing up gloves they eventually learnt to mate with their own species. This suggests that animals are born with an inmate mechanism to imprint in the critical period.
55
What is the aim of Harlow’s effects of privation study (1958)?
to test the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother
56
What is the method of Harlow’s effects of privation study (1958)?
16 rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and placed in cages with access to two surrogate mothers, one made of wire and one covered in soft terry towelling cloth. 1. In one condition - Eight of the monkeys could get milk from the wire mother 2. In the second condition Eight monkeys could get milk from the cloth mother The animals were studied for various length of time. The reactions of the monkeys to more frightening situations - e.g a noise making teddy bear were observed.
57
What is the results of Harlow’s effects of privation study (1958)?
It was found that baby monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother in preference to the wire one and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which dispensed milk. The infant would explore more when the cloth mother was present. Harlow also followed the monkeys adulthood to see if maternal deprivation had a permanent effect and found severe consequences: more aggressive, less sociable, less skilled in mating than other monkeys bred less often, neglected and sometimes maltreated their babies.
58
What is the conclusion of Harlow’s effects of privation study (1958)?
1. Shows that contact comfort was more important to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour. 2. There is a critical period for normal development. The mother figure had to be introduced within 90 days for an attachment to be formed- after which attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation is irreversible.
59
What is a weakness of Harlow’s study?
Although monkeys are more similar to humans than geese, they still aren’t humans. Human babies develop speech like communication and this may influence development of attachment so findings may not generalise to explain human attachment.
60
What is a strength of Harlow’s study?
The strength of Harlow's research is that it has practical applications. it has helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and intervene to prevent it. It has also helped understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programs in the wild.
61
What is an another weakness of Harlow’s study?
if we can generalise from rhesus monkeys to humans because they are similar to use then we should assume that their suffering was human like as well. Harlow was aware of the suffering he caused - he called the monkeys ‘wire monkeys’ Iron Maidens named after a medieval torturing device.
62
What is the Strange Situation and who was it developed by?
The Strange Situation is a procedure for assessing the quality of attachment between the infant and mother. It was developed by Mary Ainsworth et al (1978) and involves a series of an episodes where the child is left alone and adults come in and out of the room. The procedure lasts for 24 minutes in total (each stage lasted 3 mn.
63
What was the main aim of the study?
To observe key attachment behaviour and assess the quality of child's attachment to their caregiver
64
Who were the participants?
around 100 middle-class infants and their mothers were observed using a two way mirror in a purpose built laboratory playroom.
65
What type of observation methodology did she use?
controlled observation It was not the children's natural environment. Extraneous variables controlled, replicable, reliable Disadvantage- low external validity
66
What certain behaviours did Ainsworth use to judge the quality of attachment?
• Proximity seeking: physical closesness to the caregiver • Exploration and secure base behaviour- How much children wander and come back to check on the caregiver • Separation anxiety- how the infant reacts when the caregiver leaves • Stranger anxiety - response of the infant to a stranger. • this Response to reunion- response to the caregiver when they return
67
The Strange Situation procedure involved the child experiencing eight 'episodes.
1. The mother and infant go into an unfamiliar room. 2. The mother sits, and the infant is placed on the floor and is free to explore. 3. The stranger enters the room and tries to engage with the infant through play and talk. 4. The mother leaves the room. Now the infant is alone with the stranger. The stranger tries to comfort the infant if they get upset, and tries to play with them.
68
The Strange Situation procedure involved the child experiencing eight 'episodes.
5. The mother returns to the room and the stranger leaves. 6. The mother leaves the room and the infant is alone. 7. Instead of the mother returning to the room, the stranger returns and tries to comfort and play with the infant. 8. The mother re-enters the room and the stranger leaves.
69
What are the three different types of attachment that Ainsworth identified?
Secure - 66% Insecure Avoidant - 22% Insecure Resistant - 12%
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Mother present (proximity and exploration/secure base behaviour)
Secure: Children explore happily and regularly go back to the mother (secure base behaviour) Insecure Avoidant: Explore freely and do not show secure base behaviour Insecure Resistant: High secure base- seeks greater proximity than others and explores less freely
71
Mother leaves (separation anxiety)
Secure: Moderate separation anxiety Insecure Avoidant: No/ little reaction when the caregiver leaves Insecure Resistant: High anxiety/distress wh en the caregiver leaves
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Stranger enters (Stranger anxiety)
Secure: Moderate stranger anxiety Insecure Avoidant: No/ little reaction wh en the stranger enters Insecure Resistant: High anxiety/distress when the stranger enters
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Mother return (reunion behaviour)
Secure: Infant requires and accepts comform from the caregiver upon return Insecure Avoidant: Ignores the mother- does no require comfort Insecure Resistant: Hard to calm-resists comfort when the caregiver returns.
74
What is the conclusion of Ainsworth’s study?
Ainsworth (1978) suggested the 'caregiver sensitivity hypothesis' as an explanation for different attachment types. Ainsworth's maternal sensitivity hypothesis argues that a child's attachment style is dependent on the behavior their mother shows towards them.
75
What is a Strength of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?
It has been found that secure babies typically have greater success at school and more lasting romantic relationships. In contrast insecurely attached babies have adult mental health problems and is related to bullying. This shows that attachment types in the strange situation have predictive they can predict later development.
76
What is a another Strength of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?
Another strength is that the Strange Situation shows good inter-rater reliability. This means that different observers watching the same children generally agree on the attachment type - so the attachment type identified does not depend on who is observing them. (Bick found 94% agreement in the team). This may be because the Strange Situation takes place in a controlled environment using behaviourial categories.
77
What is a Weakness of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?
A limitation is that Strange situation may be a culture bound test, Attachment behaviour is not universal. There are cultural differences in attachment behaviour due to different experiences. Caregivers from different cultures behave differently. E.g. Japanese children will have high separation and stranger anxiety because they are rarely separated from the mother and not because they are insecure resistant. So the research may lack population validity because the findings cannot be generalised from the study of American infants to the wider population.
78
What is an another Weakness of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation?
Another limitation is that Ainsworth assumed that the quality of attachment influenced stranger and separation anxiety. However it can be argued that the temperament of the child may be a cofounding variable that may be influencing the behaviour in the strange situation and not the quality of attachment. Some infants form secure attachments because they are innately more friendly than other infants. This decreases the validity of the Strange Situation.
79
What is the fourth type of attachment that Main and Solomon added?
Main and Solomon added a fourth type of attachment - disorganised attachment which is a mix of avoidant and resistant behaviours. This undermines Ainsworth's idea of 3 attachment types and questions whether the Strange situation is a useful method to identify these types.
80
What is an another Weakness of the study and what is Ainsworth’s rebuttal?
The study lacks ecological This is because the study takes place in a controlled, artificial environment. This means we cannot be sure that the behaviour of the child is reflective of their normal, real life behaviour. Difficult to generalise to other situations. However, Ainsworth argues this point by saying that the strange situation is actually very similar to many situations a child encounters in their real life - such as being left with a baby sitter or at a nursery.
81
What is an another Weakness of the study and what is Ainsworth’s rebuttal?
Some critics argue the strange situation has ethical issues. This is because the research takes place in an unfamillar environment and the procedure will cause the child to experience distress. Therefore there are issues with protection from harm. However, Ainsworth argues against this criticism by stating again that the situations which occur in the research are no more distressing than those a child will experience in their everyday life.
82
What if a weakness in relation to the mothers?
The mothers might be exhibiting demand characteristics. They may have changed their behaviour because they might have tried to guess what the psychologist is looking for. This might make them more attentive to their babies than when they are not taking part in this research.
83
What is the aim of Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg study?
To investigate if attachment types (secure, insecure- avoidant and insecure- resistant) are universal (the same) across cultures, or culturally specific (vary considerably from place to place, due to traditions, the social environment, or beliefs about children). They also looked at differences within the same countries to get an idea of variations within a culture.
84
What is meant by the term culture?
Norms and values that exist within any group of people
85
What are cultural variations?
Differences in norms and values that exist between people in different groups
86
What is Meta- Analysis?
• Where the researcher looks at the findings from a number of different studies on a particular topic in order to reach a general conclusion. • 'Research about Research'
87
Van lizendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)
• Meta- analysis of 32 Strange Situation observations conducted in 8 different countries with 1990 children to measure the type of attachment in the children. • All had mother infant pairs ( not fathers) • 15/32 in America
88
What is Procedure of Van lizendoorn and Kroonenberg study?
- Classified infants into the 3 attachment types (A, B and C) - They also excluded any studies that looked at children with special needs (such as Down's syndrome), any study with less than 35 mother-baby pairs, any study using children older than 2 years
89
What was the Procedure of Van lizendoorn and Kroonenberg study?
There was a one and a half times greater variation within a culture than between a culture. For example: One of the Japanese samples was more similar to two of the US samples than to the other Japanese sample. The Israeli city sample was more like the US than it was to the Israeli kibbutzim sample.
90
What was the German children have a higher percentage of?
German children are reared showed a high percentage of avoidant attachments.
91
What do the Japanese children show and why?
Japanese children show similar patters of attachment to the Israeli children but for different reasons. Japanese children are very rarely left by their mothers. So the distress they show when she leaves is probably more due to shock than it is to insecure attachment. The distress they show when left alone with the stranger is also more likely to be due to absence of the mother.
92
What is another study of cultural variations?
Italian study - Simonelli etal ( 2014)
93
Simonelli etal ( 2014)
Aim: to see the proportion of babies with different attachment typesstill matches those in previous studies. Method/procedure- They assessed seventy six, 12 month olds using the Strange Situation. Findings: 50% secure attached, 36% insecure avoidant. The number of secure attached was lower. Conclusion: Suggests that cultural changes can make a difference to patterns of secure and insecure attachment types
94
What attachment seems to be the overall cultural norm?
Secure attachment seems to be the overall cultural norm supporting Bowlbys idea that attachment in innate
95
What did Bowlby consider?
Bowlby (1951) considered that continued emotional care from a mother or mother substitute is necessary for normal emotional and intellectual development (concept of single attachment- based on his theory of monotrophy).
96
What can separating from the mother lead to?
Separation (not being in the physical presence of) from the mother may lead to maternal deprivation (losing emotional care as a result of the separation). This could result in serious and long-lasting problems. Deprivation can be avoided if alternative emotional care is offered. So, separation does not always lead to deprivation.
97
What is the critical period?
This is the 'critical period hypothesis' because according to Bowlby, there is a critical period, before the age of 2.5 years, during which maternal deprivation will affect development and the effects will be permanent. (irreversible damage).
98
What could a lack of maternal care lead to?
Deprivation from maternal care for too long during critical period could lead to mental retardation and low IQ (effect on intellectual development). It may also lead to affectionless psychopathy- the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others (effect on emotional development). The child does not get the opportunity to develop an internal working model. This is associated with criminality.
99
Do brief separations have a long lasting effect?
Brief separations do not have any long lasting effects according to Bowlby, deprivation only occurs if the child is separated from the person he/she has made a primary attachment with for an extended period of time in the absence of substitute emotional care.
100
What is maternal deprivation?
According to the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis, breaking the maternal bond with the child during the early stages of its life is likely to have serious effects on its intellectual, social and emotional development.
101
What are the Effects of Maternal Deprivation?
• Aggression • Delinquency • Dwarfism • Intellectual retardation •Depression • Dependency • Affectionless Psychopathy • Social maladjustment.
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What did Bowlby state?
Bowlby stated "mother-love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental healthy as are vitamins and proteins for physical health" (1953).
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What was the Aim of Bowlbys 44 thieves study?
To investigate the long-term effects of maternal deprivation on people in order to see whether delinquents have suffered deprivation.
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What was the Procedure of Bowlbys 44 thieves study?
Procedure: an opportunity sample of 88 children was selected from the clinic where Bowlby worked. Of these, 44 were juvenile thieves and had been referred to him because of their stealing. Bowlby selected another group of 44 children to act as 'controls (individuals referred to the clinic because of emotional problems, but not yet committed any crimes).
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What was the Results of Bowlbys 44 thieves study?
Results: 14 affectionless thieves, of which 12 had prolonged early separations. More than half of the juvenile thieves had been separated from their mothers for longer than six months during their first five years.
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What was the Conclusion of Bowlbys 44 thieves study?
Bowlby concluded that maternal separation/ deprivation in the child's early life caused permanent emotional damage.
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What are the Effects on Development?
1) Intellectual development: Bowlby believed that if children were deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period they would suffer mental retardation, characterised by abnormally low IQ. 2) Emotional development: Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy as the inability to experience guilty or strong emotions for others. This is associated with criminality (they show no remorse for their actions) and prevents the person from developing normal relationships.
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1. The evidence for maternal deprivation hypothesis may be poor
• It was correlational (Bowlby found a relationship between early separation and delinquency/ affectionless psychopathy but we cannot definitively conclude that the separation was the cause. There may have been a third unidentified variable that accounted for the delinquency/ affectionless psychopathy. For example, the immediate cause of the separation (such as neglect or abuse). • The data was obtained through interviews (Bowlby carried out these interviews and assessments of affectionless psychopaths himself- this is a major design flaw and affects the reliability.)T links to interviewer bias and Bowlbys diagnosis of affectionless psychopathy might have been distorted by researcher confirmation bias.
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1. The evidence for maternal deprivation hypothesis may be poor
• The study used retrospective data (As Bowlby was asking the adolescent participants to recall separations that they had experienced years earlier, their responses would have been subject to inaccuracies/ distortions.) • Extraneous variables could have affected the outcome. (Anything that regularly caused separation could be a confounding variable, including ill health of the child or mother. So, for example, a child who was often ill would experience frequent separations and the illness might cause the social problems. The illness would be a confounding variable as it would be expected to systematically co-vary with separation from the mother).
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What is a Weakness of Bowlbys study?
Lewis partially replicated the 44 thieves study on a larger scale- 500 people. They found that prolonged maternal separation did not predict criminality or difficulty forming close relationships. This undermines Bowlby's theory - other factors may be responsible.
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Why did Bowlby use the term critical period?
Bowlby used the term critical period because he believed that prolonged separation inevitably caused damage if it occurred in that period. Later research has shown that the damage is not inevitable. Koluchova studied twin boys who had been locked in a cellar and had suffered extreme deprivation until the age of 7. When found the children had no language skills. When they were 9, they were fostered in a loving home. By the age of 9 their behaviour and intellect were normal. By the age of 20 they were described as of above average intelligence and had loving relationships with the members of the foster family. This shows that the period identified by Bowlby may not be critical but may be sensitive. There can be positive outcomes even after severe deprivation if the child has some social interaction and good aftercare. So he overemphasised the role of the critical period and monotropy.
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What did Rutted argue?
Rutter argued that another limitation is that Bowlby did not distinguish between deprivation (loss of primary attachment figure after attachment has developed) and privation (the failure to form any attachment at all). Many of the 44 thieves in Bowlby's study had moved from home to home during their childhood so may have never formed attachments in the first place. This could be the cause of their affectionless psychopathy rather than deprivation.
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What is one Strength of Bowlbys 44 thieves study?
One strength is that animal studies have demonstrated maternal deprivation. Levy et al have shown that separating baby rats from their mothers for as little as a day had a permanent effect on social development. However there is always some doubt over the extent to which animal studies like this can be generalised to human behaviour.
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What is Brief Separation?
where the child is not in the presence of the primary caregiver are not significant for development
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What is Maternal Deparation?
the loss of emotional care that is normally provided by a primary caregiver
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What is Privation?
Michael Rutter (1981) argued that if a child fails to develop an attachment this is privation
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How does the internal working model impact future relationships?
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What did Myron-Wilson and Smith find?
Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) found that securely attached infants are less likely to be involved in bullying whereas insecure-avoidant infants are most likely to be victims while insecure-resistant infants are most likely to be bullies (questionnaire to 196 children aged 7-11 from London)
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What type of attachment have the best quality friendships?
Securely attached infants go on to form the best quality friendships while insecurely attached infants later have friendship difficulties.
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What do parents tend to base their parenting style on?
Parents tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model so attachment styles tend to be passed on through generations of a family.
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What was the Aim of Hazan and Shaver’s “Love Quiz” study?
Aim: They were interested in Bowlby’s idea of the internal working model used as template for future relationships. Wanted to see if there was a correlation between the infant’s attachment type and romantic relationships.
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What was the Procedure of Hazan and Shaver’s “Love Quiz” study?
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What was the Findings of Hazan and Shaver’s “Love Quiz” study?
- 56% were securely attached- they were the most likely to have happy trusting long lasting romantic experiences - 25% insecure avoidant – fear intimacy - 19% insecure tended to feel jealous
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The evidence of continuity of attachment type is mixed. No correlation was found between infant and adolescent attachment type- this is a limitation because it does not establish cause and effect.
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Most studies do not use the strange situation but use interviews and questionnaires- years later. This is a problem because : -Assessments rely on self report methods such as interviews and questionnaires to assess the quality of relationships. These methods rely on the respondents being honest and having a realistic view of their relationships. This suggests that the validity of these methods is limited. -Another issue is that the assessment is retrospective. This relies on accurate recall of one’s early relationship to a primary attachment figure. The recall may be distorted due to memory decay/distortion
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The studies into relationship between early attachment and later relationships do not establish cause and effect. -They show a correlation between the two -There may be other other variables such as the child’s temperament that can influence both infant attachment and the quality of later relationships.
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Another problem is that the influence of early attachment on future relationships has been exaggerated. -This assumes that people are doomed to have bad relationships because they had attachment problems and this is not true. -This is a limitation because by exaggerating the influence we become determinist/ pessimistic about people’s futures.
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Internal working models are unconscious. We are not directly aware of their influence on us. -However we try and get evidence about them through self report methods such as interviews and questionnaires that require conscious understanding of relationships. -This is a limitation because they only provide indirect evidence about internal working models and this evidence may not be valid.
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Context on Romania
• Romania was a communist country until 1989. • Abortion and contraception were forbidden. • Increase in children = increase of abandoned children in orphanages. • Institutional neglect (physical/sexual abuse. Drugs to control behaviour). • 1980s saw an increase in poverty. • Orphanage conditions declined in an attempt to save money. In 1989, 100-170k children were raised in communist orphanages.
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What did utter criticise Bowlby for?
Rutter criticised Bowlby for not making the differentiation between Deprivation and Privation. Michael Rutter (1981) argued that if a child fails to develop an emotional bond this is privation, whereas deprivation refers to the loss of or damage to an attachment.
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What’s an Institution?
Place like an orphanage where children live for long, continuous periods of time.
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What’s Institutionalisation?
In attachment it is the term for effects of living in an institution and its impact on attachment and subsequent development.
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What are Orphan Studies?
Concern children whose parents have either died or abandoned them permanently.
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What are the Effects of Institutionalisation?
- Disinhibited Attachment - Mental Retardation - Delayed Physical Development - Delayed Language Development
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What is Disinhibited Attachment?
qually aftectionate as well as clingy, attentior seeking benaviour towards people they know well anc strangers that they have just met. Is adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period for attachment formation.
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What is Mental Retardation?
Intellectual development can be severely affected However intellectual development can be recovered if the child is adopted before they are 6 months old - age at which attachments form. (schaffer's stages)
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What are Delayed Physical Development & Delayed Language Development?
PD: Infants who lack emotional and psychological care may be physically underdeveloped (Dwarfism), caused by a decrease of growth hormone (Genie/Czech Twins) DL: e.g Genie
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What is the Aim of Rutter's ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee Study - 2011) study?
Aim: To see to what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions.
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What is the Method of Rutter's ERA study?
165 Romanian orphans (previously lived in institutions) adopted in Britain were compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted by the age of 6 months. The children were tested regularly for physical, social and cognitive development at the ages of 4, 6, 11, 15 to test to what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences.
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What were the Findings of Rutter's ERA study?
a) At the time of adoption, the Romanian children were behind the British children in all three aspects. Half showed signs of mental retardation and majority were malnourished. b) At age 11 recovery rates were related to their age of adoption: • Mean IQ of children adopted before 6 months was 102 - average IQ • The mean IQ or those adopted between 6 months and 2 years was 86 • The mean IQ of those adopted after 2 years was 77 • Differences remained at age 15 c) Frequency of ____ attachment was more in children adopted after 6 months.
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What were the Conclusion of Rutter's ERA study?
Institutionalisation has an impact on emotional and intellectual development and this is more long lasting supporting Bowlby's idea of a critical period.
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What was the Procedure of The Bucharest Early Intervention project (2005)?
The researchers used the strange situation to measure the attachment type in 95 children aged 12 - 31 months who had spent most of their lives in institutional care (90%). They were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never experienced institutional care. In addition carers were asked about unusual social behaviour including clinging, attention seeking behaviour directed inappropriately at all adults (disinhibited attachment)
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What were the Findings of The Bucharest Early Intervention project (2005)?
a) 19% of institutionalised group were securely attached vs 74% of the control group. b) 44% of the institutionalised group displayed disinhibited attachment as opposed to 20% of the control group.
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What was the Conclusion of The Bucharest Early Intervention project (2005)?
Institutionalisation has an impact on emotional and intellectual development and this is more long lasting supporting Bowlby's idea of a critical period. Institutionalisation has lead to long term effects on attachment such as disinhibited attachment types.
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What is one Strength of the Romanian Orphan Studies?
A strength is that the findings from these studies have enhanced our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation and have practical applications. Results from this study have led to improvements in the way children are cared for children's homes now avoid having a large number of caregivers for each child and instead have one or two key workers who play a central role. This helps avoid disinhibited attachments.
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What is another Strength of the Romanian Orphan Studies?
Strength is that there are fewer extraneous variables in the Romanian orphan studies as compared to earlier studies because most were abandoned at birth. This made it possible to study the effect of institutionalisation without the influence of confounding variables such as neglect, abuse or bereavement. This means that the findings have internal validity. This was not the case in earlier studies in which the children studied had experienced some loss or trauma before they were institutionalised.
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What is one Weakness of the Romanian Orphan Studies?
However a limitation of these studies is that Romanian orphanages had very poor standards of care, this implies that the findings of the study may be difficult to generalise to understanding the effects of better quality institutional care.
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What is another Weakness of the Romanian Orphan Studies?
Children were not randomly assigned to conditions, this may have led to participant variables that may have influenced the results. E.g those adopted early may have been more sociable.
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What is another Weakness of the Romanian Orphan Studies?
It is not possible to say whether children suffered short term or long term effects because the adopted orphans have only been followed into their mid teens. These children may still catch up in their intellectual and emotional as adults. Similarly early adopted/fostered children who appear to have no issues now may experience emotional problem as adults.