attachment Flashcards
Explain classical conditioning, through the action of feeding a baby.
The baby associates mother (neutral stimulus) with the feeling of pleasure that stems from being fed (innate unconditional response.)
STEP ONE : Baby feels comforted by food.
STEP TWO : Whenever it is fed, the mother is present. The baby begins to associate the mother with pleasure.
STEP THREE : The mother becomes a conditioned stimulus, the baby begins to associate her with pleasure.
This means, the baby feels happier when the mother is near, forming an attachment.
Evaluate Lorenz’s Geese study.
Weakness : The findings of imprinting of geese, cannot be generalised to humans.
Strength : High internal validity.
What was the aim of Schaffer and Emersons study?
Who were the participants?
What was the method?
Aim : To identify stages of attachment.
Participants : 60 Glaswegian babies, from working class families, all studied from birth to 18 months.
Method : A longitudinal study using observations and interviews with mothers, infants were visited every month for the first year, and again at 18 months, and measured for seperation anxiety, and stranger anxiety.
What is seperation anxiety?
Signs of distress displayed by an infant, when left by their carer.
What is stranger anxiety?
Signs of distress displayed as a response when approached by a stranger.
Evaluate Bowbly’s monotropic theory.
Strength : Supporting evidence of the internal working model, found in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation.
Weakness : Monotropy is an example of socially sensitive reasearch, and may not be evident in all children.
Evaluate Harlow’s Monkeys.
Strength : Significant practical value, his research demonstrated the importance of attachment.
Weakness : Ethical issues, the monkeys used had extreme distress and lifelong suffering in adulthood.
What is attachment?
A strong reciprocated emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver.
What were the FINDINGS of Schaffer and Emersons study?
Parents who were more sensitive to the babies signals were more likely to form an attachment, as well as, the stages of attachment.
What are the Stages of Attachment?
ASOCIAL : 0-6 weeks
INDISCRIMINATE : 6 weeks - 6 months
SPECIFIC : 7 months +
MULTIPLE : 10/11 months +
What is meant by theasocial stage of attachment?
Babies show no indifference from human faces to inanimate objects, they have yet to form an attachment.
What is meant by the “indiscriminate” stage of attachment?
Babies develop a preference for humans over objects, no stranger/seperation anxiety.
What is meant by the “specific” stage of attachment?
Babies have one strong attachment, often to primary caregiver.
Develop stranger and seperation anxiety.
what is meant by the “multiple” stage of attachment
Infants develop a number of attachments.
What is reciprocity?
A child has to bond with the primary caregiver, and vice versa, in order for an attachment to form.
What is the Learning Theory of attachment?
Infants become attached to their caregivers because they learn to associate them with basic needs such as food, through operant and classical conditioning.
IS OPERANT CONDITIONING…
A: “Operant conditioning is when behavior is learned by passively associating two stimuli”
B: In operant conditioning, a behavior is only strengthened through punishment.
C: Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences.
C.
What is Bowbly’s Monotropic Theory?
HINT : ASC MI
ADAPTIVE : Attachments are an advantage of survival : Ensures children are fed and safe.
SOCIAL RELEASERS : Innate tendencies for adults to care for a child : Babies crying.
CRITICAL PERIOD : Atttachment must form in first 2.5 years or it never will. : If it isn’t formed, the child is often socially stunted.
MONOTROPY : A specifically intense attachment which is often stronger than any other.
INTERNAL WORKING MODEL : A mental schema for relationships, our perception of attachment.
????? : Innate tendencies for adults to care for a child : Babies crying.
Social releasers
??? : Atttachment must form in first 2.5 years or it never will. : If it isn’t formed, the child is often socially stunted.
Critical Period
??? : A specifically intense attachment which is often stronger than any other.
Monotropy.
What is interactional synchrony?
When an infant and primary caregiver become synchronised in their actions, such as both smiling.
Evaluate Schaffer and Emersons study.
WEAKNESS : Population validity, all the infants are from the same area.
STRENGTH : Naturalistic observation, the infants and mothers were observed at home.
What is the Role of the Father?
Schaffer and Emerson found that 75% of the infants in their study formed a secondary attachment to their father by 18 months, the father was seen as a source of play rather than food.
