Attachment Flashcards
Define international synchrony
Intersectional synchrony is when a mother and infant reflect each others emotions and actions in a coordinated way.
Identify Schaffer’s stages of attachment
1) Asocial
2) Indiscriminate
3)Specific
4) Multiple
Describe various roles of the father which research has shown us
1) Grossman (2002) found that fathers have more of a play and stimulation role.
2) Tiffany Field (1978) found fathers can be primary caregivers and adopt the behaviours of mothers.
Define an internal working model and explain it’s importance
An internal working model is the mental representation a child has of how the relationship with their primary caregiver is. Bowlby believes these have powerful on future relationships as internal working models serves as models for other relationships. Children will later form relationships similar to an in line with their internal working models.
Give a limitation of research into internal working models
There is a theoretical problem with research related to internal working models. Internal working models are unconscious yet the methods used to study them- self-report methods - are conscious. Therefore the self-report technique cannot be a good method to assess them.
What method is used to measure attachment types in children?
Ainsworth’s strange situation.
What are the behaviours that Ainsworth uses to judge attachment?
1) Proximity-seeking
2) Exploration & secure-base behaviour
3) Stranger anxiety
4) Seperation anxiety
5) Response to reunion
List the episodes to the strange situation
1) Child and mother enter unfamiliar playroom
2) Child is encouraged to explore
3) Stranger comes in, talks to caregiver, and tries to interact with child.
4) Mother leaves child and stranger together.
5) Mother returns and stranger leaves.
6) Mother leaves
7) Stranger returns
8) Mother returns and is reunited with child.
List three attachment types
1) Secure attachment (Type B)
2) Insecure-avoidant (Type A)
3) Insecure-resistant (Type C)
What personality will an insecure-resistant child tend to develop?
A controlling an argumentative personality.
What can we conclude from Harlow’s research?
Monkeys have an innate, unlearned need for contact and comfort, suggesting that attachment concerns emotional security more than food. Contact comfort is associated with lower levels of stress and a willingness to explore.
Describe the two laws of Bowlby’s monotropic theory
1) Law of continuity- the more constant and predictable the relationship is with the mother, the stronger the attachment.
2) Law of accumulated separation- for there to be no future problems and the attachment to be secure and healthy, there should be no separation between the mother and infant.
Define imprinting
Imprinting is when a young animal eventually comes to recognise another animal or person or thing as a parent.
Give two examples of cultural variations studies into attachments
1) Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg (1988) did a meta-analysis of 32 studies in 8 countries which looked into proportions of attachment types.
2)Simonella et al (2014)- Italian study where the strange situation was used to measure attachment in seventy, 6-12 month-old babies
Define maternal deprivation
Describes the emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and his or her mother.
Give a limitation of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
Bowlby failed to properly distinguish between deprivation and privation. Rutter (1981) attempts to distinguish between the two saying that privation is the failure to form an attachment in the first place whereas deprivation is the loss of an attachment after it has formed. Rutter argues that privation is more likely to lead to long-term damage rather than deprivation, as Bowlby’s theory states
Give three effects of institutionalisation
1) Poor peer interactions
2) Disinhibited attachment
3) Mental retardation
Define social releasers
Social releasers are a set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours (e.g. smiling, cooing and gripping) which children elicit to activate an adult’s attachment system.
Outline the learning theory explanation of attachment.
Through classical conditioning, attachment can start through a child learning to associate a mother with food which brings pleasure to the child. Through operant conditioning this association can be strengthened. By positive reinforcement- when a baby cries the mother feels the baby so this reinforces the crying behaviour in the child. Also by negative reinforcement from the mother’s side as the baby stops crying when the mother feeds it, the mother continues to feed the baby to prevent it crying
