Attachment Flashcards
(46 cards)
Who studied interactional synchrony?
Meltzoff and Moore
Who studied the gradual development of attachments and the stages
Schaffer and Emerson- studied 60 working class Glasgow babies they visited regularly once a month and once again after 18 months. used observations and interviews to conduect their research. stranger anxiety and seperation anxiety were used as the behavioural categories which were looked for.
What were Schaffer and Emersons findings?
65% of babies their first attachement was their mother
What’s Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
maternal deprivation/seperation from the mother originally was thought to have no real long term effects as it was believed that food and physical care was sufficient. however an extensive enough separation can lead to the breaking of the attachment bond.
When did bowbly claim that maternal deprivation might have long-term effects
if it occurs during the critical period 2 and a half years of age and the effects might continue for another 5 years, if theirs no replacement/substitute mother available.
what were the long term effects that Bowlby hypothesised would occur if maternal deprivation takes place
He hypothesisied that there might be long term irreversible changes to the child’s social emotional and intellectual development.
intellectual- they are likely to have difficulties at school- have poor IQ ,reading skills
social- they will find it harder to form healthy relationships with others such as peers and romantic partners.Theyre less likely to display guilt or remorse as they will lack empathy- affectionless psychopathy
emotional-maternal deprivation will affect the ability of forming a healthy internal working model
Whats the main supporting evidence associated with bowbly maternal deprivation
Bowlby’s 44 juvenile thieves
What are the stages of attachements indentified by schaffer and emerson
asocial-0-6 weeks
indiscriminate- 6weeks to 6 months
specific- 7 months on
multiple- 10/11 months onwards
what else did schaffer and emerson find
they found that 65% of bababies formed their primary attachement with their mother
27% formed joint attachements to mother and father at the same time
3% formed their primary attachement to their father
for 40% of infants their primary attachement wasnt formed with the person who spend most time with them but instead attached to the caregiver who responds most sensitivelt to them.
what did scaheffer and emerson conclude
they concluded that play and communication was more important than feeding amnd changing in the formation of attachements.
attachements were most likely to form wit adults who respond most sensitively to the infants needs.
Whats a strength of schaffer and emersons study into the development of attachements
The use of naturalistic observations and interviews were a strength by Schaffer.This is because the findings of the processes of attachement formation were collected in a naturalistic setting of the infants homes and therefore its more likely that the babies responses to the caregiver were more accurate rather than being studied in an unfamiliar setting. and the mothers were asked about their infants responses to daily situiations which they had to describe in the diary- adds validity
Whats a limitation sof Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachement
Low temporal validity- A limitation of schaffer and emersons stages of attachement is that it may only reflect the attachements during the time in which the research was conducted 1960s which was a time were mothers were traditionally expected to stay at home and take care of the children whereas the father was out to work and threby have a lesser of a role as a parent. However since 1960’s parenting has changed thereby if the study was to be replicated in this modern society the findings may not be reflective of schaffer and emersons findings. The role of the father has changed= more fathers choose to take paternity leave= more infants may form jointed attachements to mother and father
Whats a problem with Schaffer and Emersons methadology
Self report method used by the mother to track and note the infants behaviours to specific events. Use of diary= unrealiable as the mother may be describing her infant more positively= demonstrating social desirability bias
Whats the role of the internal working model (Bowbly)
The internal working model argues that our relationship with our primary attachement figure forms a mental representation for all of our future relationships.
What are the different predicted behaviours from the different attachement types that the IWM argues
Insecure avoidant attachement= forms a negative working model. People tend to be self reliant,hostile,emotionally dettached,highly anxious when relying on different people. Avoid closeness and commitment
insecure resistant=negative working model- tend to be clingy in relationships, experience jealousy,argumentative,sometimes seek closeness,attention seeking,typically have short lived relationships due to self sabotage
secure attachement=healthy internal working model- people tend to feel comfortable with intamacy and autonomy and will seek functional relationships and will behave functionally in them. display cooperation and empathy
What did Youngbalde and Belsy support?
supporting evidence for iwm for childhood relationships such as siblings and friends- they found that 3-6 years olds who were securely attached got along better with the other children and were more likely to form close relationships than insecure children
Whats the Minesota child-parent study and what did it support
support the role of the internal working model especially childhood relationships- they found continity between early attachements and later social behaviour. Individuals who were securely attached in infancy scored the highest rate for social competenence later in childhood. these children tended to be less isolated more popular and more empathetic.
this can be explained in terms of the iwm as securely attached infants would have higher expectations that others are trusting and friendly which would make forming frienships easier
who supported the iwm modell and adulthood relationships?
Hazan and Shaver- focused on romantic adulthood relationships.
ppts performed a love quiz in order to examine whether their childhood attached was linked to love in adulthood. in total they analysed 620 responses.
when assesing the self report questionnaires it was found that their current attachement style (in their romantic life) was associated with their infant attachement type. 56% classified as secure
27% avoidant. 19% resistant
their was a positive correlation between attachement type and love experiences. adulst who were securely attached descrived their love experiences positively and their relationships were more enduring- average 10 years and less likely to divorce.
AO1 explanantion institutionalisation
Romanian orphans studied by Rutter et al. He made a longtidual natural experiment of a group of romanian orphans who were adopted by British families.The study included 165 romanians who spend their early lives in romanian institustions so sugffered the effects of institutionalisation.58 were adopted before they were 6 months old. 48 adopted between the ages of 2-4. All of the adoptees were assesed at regular intervals at 4 years old,6,11 and 18 to record their social,cognitive and and physical development. their progress was compared to adoptees in england which were adopted before 6 months.
whats a weakeness of research into the iwm
focus on methadology
Theirs issues with the methadology- findings are largely correlational and not experimental therefore a cause and relationship between eary attachements and later adult relationships can not be established
use of self report methods to recall early childhood relationships for the love quiz- social desirability bias + retrospective
Whats another weakeness of bowbly iwm
Deterministic- the implication of the claims (the continuinity hypothesis ) that our earlyexperiences of attachement will inevitably influence the later adult relationships is too deterministic. this is because it suggests that children who are insecurely attached in infancy are ‘doomed’ to experinece unsatisfactory adult relationships which are over emotional. however various relationships have shown that those who are insecurely attached are capable of forming healthy adult relationships
Whats some further supporting evidence fro iwm?
Harlow research into animal attachements-
Who proposed the learning theory for attachement
Dollard and Miller proposed that attachement can explained via the learning theory as it emphasises the importance of food as the basis of attachement formation- collolquially known as ‘cupboard love’ the learning theory argues that an attachement is learned via the processes of classical and operant conditioning
explain the learning theory as an explanation for ttachement
classical conditioning- an association between the mother and food is formed. In this explanation the stimulus of food (unconditioned stimulus) produces a response of pleasure in the baby (unconditioned responce) The caregiver providing the food who initially produces no response (neutral stimulus) overtime becomes associated with the food unconditioned stimulus. After repeated pairings eventualy the caregiver becomes an uncondioned
