Attachment Flashcards
1
Q
Define: Attachment
A
A special reciprocal bond between two people that doesn’t deteriorate over time.
2
Q
What are MACCOBY’s 4 INDICATORS OF ATTACHMENT (1980)?
A
- Seeking proximity in order to spend time together
- Distress upon separation
- Pleasure when reunited
- General orientation of behaviour towards the primary caregiver (awareness of where person is)
3
Q
Define: infancy
A
The period in a child’s life before speech begins.
MAIN FEATURES:
- Reliant on others (attachment is important)
- Communication is limited (eg to crying)
- Physically helpless
4
Q
State the communication stages of infants.
A
- 1-4 weeks: communication is baby-led and based on crying (used to signal a necessity to caregiver).
- 1 month: baby begins to communicate through smiling and starts to respond to caregivers behaviour by matching their actions.
- 5 months: baby shows clear cycle of attention and non-attention.
5
Q
What is the importance of caregiver-infant interactions?
A
Attachments between caregiver and infant are formed through two-way communications/interactions.
This helps to develop, strengthen and maintain the bond.
6
Q
What is interactional synchrony?
A
When infants move their body in tune with the rhythm of carers’ spoken language, or mirrors their actions to create an almost two-way vocal conversation.
7
Q
Give an example of interactional synchrony
A
Carer speaks and baby makes sounds/noises/movements using the same rhythm as carer.
8
Q
What is reciprocity?
A
When the infant responds to the action of the caregiver with a similar action, the actions of one individual elicit a response from the other partner.
Allows the carer to anticipate the child’s responses and respond appropriately.
9
Q
Give an example of reciprocity
A
Smiling by the parent results in smiling by the baby.
10
Q
Outline one study of infant-caregiver interactions
A
The study by Meltzoff and Moore was a controlled observation where they selected 4 different stimuli (3 different faces plus a hand gesture) and observed the behaviour of infants in response.
An independent observer watched video tapes of the infants behaviour in real time, slow motion, and frame by frame and then judged the infants movements using behavioural categories. Mouth opening/termination of mouth opening/tongue protrusion/termination of tongue protrusion.
11
Q
Evaluate the problems with testing infant interactions (Meltzoff and Moore)
A
- Lacks validity - Infants’ mouths are fairly in constant motion and the expressions that are tested occur frequently. This makes it difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitated behaviours. Lacks internal validity.
- Failure to replicate - E.g Koepe et al (1983) failed to replicate Meltzoff and Moore’s findings, and when mothers were videotaped infants still imitated.
- Behaviour may be intentional, infants do not just imitate anything they see, it is a special social response to other humans (operant conditioning, seeing caregiver smile is rewarding to them).
- Individual differences - the stronger the attachment, the greater the interactional synchrony.
12
Q
Explain the development of attachment (Schaffer and Emerson, 1964).
A
Longitudinal study using observations and interviews, conducted on 60 babies living in the working class area of Glasgow. The study lasted for a year, and then resumed again for another 18 months. Fathers were also shown to be the first joint attachment figure in 1/3 of the infants.
They researched the development of attachment and found 4 stages:
- Indiscriminate attachment
- Beginning of attachment
- Discriminate attachment
- Multiple attachments
13
Q
Define: Separation anxiety
A
Distress experienced by infants when separated from someone who they share an emotional attachment with (caregiver).
14
Q
Define: stranger anxiety
A
Distress that infants experience when exposed to people unfamiliar to them.
Symptoms may include: getting quiet and staring at the stranger, verbally protesting by cries or other vocalizations, and hiding behind a parent.
15
Q
Describe the characteristics of indiscriminate attachment
A
Age: birth - 2 months.
Infant produces similar responses to all objects (animate/inanimate). Towards the 2 month mark, infants prefer social stimuli e.g. Smiley face.
Reciprocity and interactional synchrony are key in establishing attachment.
16
Q
Describe the characteristics at the beginning of attachment
A
Age: 4 months - 7 months
Infant becomes more social and prefers human company. Infant begins to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people but doesn’t display stranger anxiety.
17
Q
Describe the characteristics of discriminate attachment
A
Age: 7 months - 1 year (approx.)
Infant forms attachment with primary attachment figure and displays both separation and stranger anxiety. 65% of infants are attached to their mother at this stage.
18
Q
Describe the characteristics of multiple attachments
A
Age: 1 year
Within 1 month of first attachment, 29% of infants attached themselves to someone else (secondary caregiver). Within 6 months this has risen to 78%.
19
Q
Evaluate the development of attachment
A
- High in ecological validity (happened in everyday environments - homes), able to generalise stages of attachment.
- Unreliable data (based on mothers self-report), social desirability
- May not apply to everyone as the study was not carried out across different cultures - cultural variation (collectivist/individualist).
- Also only 60 working class cases - lacks population validity. Also lacks temporal validity as social class features have changed and so has role of the father.
20
Q
How has the role of fatherhood changed over the past 50 years?
A
No longer the main breadwinners
Discipline less
More involved in child’s life (paternity leave, domestic work)
Offer more emotional support
21
Q
Outline the role of the father in the development of attachment
A
- Fathers are exciting playmates (Geiger 1996)
- Encourage toddlers to take risks/be brave during physical play.
- Secondary attachment figures.
- Not psychologically/physically equipped to be primary caregiver? (Due to biological and social factors, e.g. Lack of oestrogen)
- Single father families
22
Q
Outline the Brown et al study (2010) - fatherhood
A
Assessed attachment in families with infants aged 12-13 months. Found that high levels of supportive co-parenting were related to secure attachment types between infants and fathers.
23
Q
Outline the Hedy study (1999) - fatherhood
A
Found that fathers are less likely or aware of when their infants behaviour is changing (e.g. In distress). Perhaps shows that they are less suitable to be the primary caregiver.
24
Q
Outline the Bennier and Miljkotitch case study (2009) - fatherhood
A
Found that single parents’ father attachments with infants were similar to the fathers own.
25
Define: imprinting
A form of attachment where offspring follow the first large moving object, because there is an innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother. Usually takes place within the first few hours after birth/hatching.
26
Define: critical period
When imprinting/attachment is restricted to a very definite period of a young animals life.
27
Describe Harry Harlow's study of imprinting (1959)
8 rhesus monkeys were studied for 165 days.
Harlow created 2 wire mothers with different 'heads', with one mother wrapped additionally in soft cloth.
The monkeys were split equally into two groups and one milk bottle was placed on either the 'plain' mother or the cloth mother at separate times.
During that time measurements were made of the amount of time each infant spent with the two different mothers. Other observations were also made, e.g which mother it went to when frightened. Overall they found that all monkeys preferred the cloth mother (whether or not it had the milk).
Long lasting effects were that they grew up to be socially and sexually abnormal.
28
Describe Lorenz's study of imprinting (1935).
A clutch of gosling eggs were split into 2 groups and marked differently to distinct between the groups. One group was left to hatch with their natural mother and the other eggs were left to hatch in an incubator.
When the incubator eggs hatched the first living moving thing they saw was Lorenz and they soon started following him around, showing no recognition of their natural mother. The other group followed their natural mother.
The long lasting effect of this was that the process was irreversible, it also affected the mating of the birds (sexual imprinting).
29
Evaluate animal studies - Lorenz/Harlow
* Cannot generalise animal studies to human behaviour, as humans have conscious decision/free will which can govern behaviour.
* Useful pointer in understanding human behaviour - imprinting theory is reinforced by Bowlbys critical period concept and Harlow's research supports Schaffer and Emersons findings that infants are not most attached to the person who fed them.
* Ethical issues (no consent/distress/long lasting effects,irreversible/affects sexual imprinting).
* In Harlow's study the mothers also had different heads (confounding variable), therefore lacks internal validity.
30
Define: classical conditioning.
| Give an example study
Learning though association.
Pavlov (1972): studied the digestive system of dogs by measuring saliva. Suggested that dogs were associating the technician who bought the food in with food. Predicted that dogs can associate other things with food (e.g. A bell).
31
Define: operant conditioning.
| Give an example study.
Learning though reinforcements/consequences of behaviour (e.g. sanctions).
Skinner's boxes (1948).
Skinner places hungry rats in cages to explore their surroundings.
When the rat accidentally pressed a lever which supplied a pellet of food, it quickly learnt to repeat the behaviour to gain the reward (food).
32
Define: social learning.
| Give an example study.
Learning through imitation/observations.
Bandura et al (1961): Two groups of children observed aggressive or non-aggressive adult models who played with the bobo doll. The aggressive models displayed physically aggressive acts towards the doll such as striking it. Afterwards children were then taken to a room where among other toys there was a doll.
Children who observed the non-aggressive model exhibited virtually no aggression where as about one third of the children who observed that aggressive model repeated their actions.
The closest imitation was when the adult was the same sex as the child.
33
Define: Conditioned
A learned behaviour.
34
What is the law of effect?
Behaviour which is rewarding is more likely to be repeated whereas behaviour which has negative consequences is less likely to be repeated.
35
What is cupboard love theory?
Suggests that attachment is based on provision of food alone. Also known as operant conditioning.
36
How did the Dollard and Miller study (1950) apply operant conditioning to explain attachment?
When infants are hungry they feel discomfort and have a drive to reduce this feeling.
Being fed reduces discomfort and produces feelings of pleasure, the food acts as a primary reinforcer.
The person who supplies the reward becomes associated with the reward and so attachment is the result of babies seeking that person.
37
Evaluate the learning theory explanation of attachment
• we do learn through association and reinforcement, provides an adequate explanation of how attachment forms, some value to it.
* learning theory is widely based on food but there are other factors that contribute to attachment (reduction).
* original studies were carried out on animals (generalised to humans).
38
How did Hay and Vespo (1988) apply social learning theory to explain attachment?
Children observe their parents affectionate behaviour and model it. Parents would also deliberately instruct their children on how to behave in relationships and reward appropriate attachment behaviours, such as kisses or hugs.
39
According to Bowlby, why does attachment form?
Attachment behaviour evolved because it serves an important survival function - an infant who is not attached is less well protected. Caregivers must also be attached to their infants in order to ensure they are cared for and survive, to produce subsequent generations
40
What is monotropic theory?
The idea that each infant has an inborn tendency to make an initial attachment with one attachment figure.
41
What is maternal deprivation hypothesis?
The belief that continual disruption of attachment between infant and primary care giver could result in long-term cognitive, social and emotional difficulties.
42
Describe Bowlby's monotropic theory
* rejected the learning theory and argued that attachment is based on instinct.
* highly influenced by the work of Darwin on evolution.
* his theory is supported by Harlow's research and Lorenz's study of imprinting.
* put forward two theories: 1)maternal deprivation 2)monotropic attachment.
* Bowlby's theory of attachment has a number of parts which can be broken down into ASCMI.
43
What does the A in ASCMI stand for?
ADAPTIVE ATTACHMENT: attachments are adaptive making us more likely to survive. This is because if an infant has an attachment to caregiver they are kept safe, given food and kept warm.
44
What does the S in ASCMI stand for?
SOCIAL RELEASERS: babies have physical (baby-face) and behavioural (cooing) social releasers. Babies with social releasers are more likely to survive because they serve to draw parental attention, interest and proximity. Mothers also possess caregiving instincts which make them protective and caring until the child becomes mature.
45
What does the C in ASCMI stand for?
CRITICAL PERIOD: babies have to form the attachment with their caregiver during a critical period (no longer than birth to 3 years). If the attachment does not take place the infant would be damaged socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically for life.
46
What does the M in ASCMI stand for?
MONOTROPY: infants form one very special attachment with their mother, this special intense attachment is called monotropy. If the mother isn't available the infant could bond with another ever-present adult, mother-substitute.
47
What does the I in ASCMI stand for?
INTERNAL WORKING MODEL: through the monotropic attachment, the infant would form an internal working model. This is a special model for relationships, a template for future relationships. The child's future adult relationships will be based on his/her relationship with his/her mother this is known as continuity hypothesis.
48
What is the strange situation study?
Ainsworth and Bell (1970) aimed to produce a method for assessing quality of attachment. It places the infant in different situations to invoke comfort seeking and exploration behaviour, both indicators of the quality of attachment. It systemically studies and measures attachment.
49
Give the features of Ainsworth's strange situation study
* 100 middle-class American infants and their mothers.
* controlled observation - laboratory - of mother and child during a set of predetermined activities (8 stages).
* observed separation anxiety, infants willingness to explore, stranger anxiety and reunion behaviour.
50
Give the characteristics of an infant who is securely attached (in terms of strange situation)
Stranger anxiety: Moderate avoidance of stranger
Separation anxiety: Quiet/subdued when mother leaves, easy to soothe
Reunion: Child would be happy
Exploration: Child will willingly explore the room, using mother as a safe base.
51
Give the characteristics of an infant who is insecure avoidant (in terms of strange situation).
Stranger anxiety: Child was not afraid of Stranger
Separation anxiety: no concern when mother left
Reunion: child showed little interest/avoids mother
Exploration: child would happily explore the room
52
Give the characteristics of an infant who is insecure resistant (in terms of strange situation).
Stranger anxiety: Very high avoidance of stranger
Separation anxiety: Child displayed intense distress when mother left
Reunion: Child seeks and rejects mother
Exploration: Child would not explore the room
53
What was the conclusion of the strange situation study?
The study shows that there are significant individual differences between infants, however most American children are securely attached. Ainsworth concluded that these attachment styles were the result of early interactions with the mother.
54
What were the findings of the strange situation study?
Type A: insecure resistant - 12% of children in the study.
Type B: secure attachment - 66% of children in the study.
Type C: insecure avoidant - 22% of children in the study.
55
What was the procedure/8 stages of the strange situation study?
1. Observer takes mother and infant into room, places child on the floor.
2. Mother allows baby to explore stimulates play if necessary.
3. Stranger enters room and is silent, then talks with mother then approaches baby with a toy.
4. Mother leaves and stranger interacts with baby (who is playing) only if necessary.
5. Mother returns and greets and/or comforts baby and settles them in play, leaves saying "bye bye", stranger leaves.
6. Baby is left alone.
7. Stranger enters room and interacts with child.
8. Mother returns, greets and picks up baby, stranger leaves.
55
Define: primary attachment figure
The person who has formed the closest bond with the child, demonstrated by the intensity of the relationship.
56
Define the continuity hypothesis
The idea that emotionally secure infants go on to be emotionally secure, trusting and socially confident adults.
57
Evaluate the strange situation study
* Research has found that a fourth type of attachment has been overlooked: insecure-disorganised, type D, which shows a lack of consistent behaviour.
* Low internal validity (controlled environment, depends on which parent they were with)
* Generalisations: The findings of this study are restricted to its sample type, middle-class Americans.
* Ethics: infants found most of the situations distressing, informed consent?
* Observations had high reliability.
* Real-world application, day care.
* Efficient: could measure a lot of behaviours quite quickly and easily bring in lots of participants.
* Easy to replicate: method has been employed in studies worldwide especially in cross-cultures.
58
Define: Cultural variation
Differences in child rearing practices and attachment types between different cultural groupings.
59
Describe the procedure and findings of the cultural variations of attachment (Van Ijzendoorn)
Procedure: meta-analysis from 32 studies of attachment behaviour (strange situation) in 8 different countries. Wanted to see if there would be cultural differences.
Findings: Cultural differences in USA, China, Japan, Israel, Sweden, Netherlands, GB, West Germany. Secure attachment was most common, insecure avoidant was next (except Israel and Japan - collectivist at the time).
THERE IS 1.5 TIMES GREATER VARIATION WITHIN CULTURES THAN VARIATION BETWEEN CULTURES.
60
According to Grossmans' study, what is the most common type of attachment found in Japanese children?
Insecure resistant.
In Japan infants rarely experience a separation from their mothers which would explain why they were more distressed in the strange situation than their American counterparts.
61
According to Grossmans' study, what is the most common type of attachment found in German children?
Insecure avoidant.
| In German culture interpersonal distance between parents and children are encouraged.
62
Evaluate cultural variation study
* The reason for universal similarities in how attachments form (secure type) is because attachment is an innate mechanism.
* Conclusions/findings were based on countries rather than cultures - samples from each country were from different cultures (eg. Poorer families vs middle class Americans).
* Other influences in cultural differences - eg. Media portrays what secure attachments should look like.
* Lacks validity, attachment types are based on an American concept.
63
Outline Bowlby's 44 juvenile thieves case study
Aim: to provide evidence to support the maternal deprivation hypothesis.
Procedure: 88 children (44 thieves and 44 control group: not yet committed any crimes) were given unstructured interviews used to provide extremely rich and detailed responses. Boys completed an IQ test as well as a psychiatric assessment. Bowlby also interviewed them and their mothers using follow-up interviews or case conferences.
Findings: 32% of the 44 thieves were deemed affectionless psychopaths (lack of concern for others, lack of guilt and inability to form meaningful/lasting relationships). 86% of these experienced early separation. 20% of thieves were depressed and less than 5% were classed as normal - 17% of these experienced maternal deprivation. Of the control group, none were considered to be affectionless psychopaths, 30% were depressed and 20% were overly conscientious - of these 4% experienced separations during critical period.
Conclusion: maternal deprivation can have severe and potentially long-term effects on emotional developments, these effects can show up years later.
64
Outline Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation
The value of maternal care
Critical period
Long term consequences
44 juveniles case study
65
What is the PDD model? (Robertson and Bowlby 1952 - MDH)
Protest - immediate outward expression.
Despair - calmer behaviour, anger is felt inwardly.
Detachment - child treats everyone cautiously.
66
What are the effects of maternal deprivation?
```
Aggression
Depression
Delinquency
Intellectual retardation
Dwarfism
Dependency
Affectionless psychopathy
Social maladjustment
```
67
Define: Privation
When the attachment that should have developed never did.
68
Define: deprivation
When an attachment that has been previously formed is disrupted (eg. Due to separation for a prolonged time).
69
Define: Disinhibited attachment
When children do not distinguish between who they choose as attachment figures.
70
Outline the Genie case study
* Genie was socially and emotionally deprived for 13 years, the effects were a lack of social skills, poor health, lack of speech and language not developed properly.
* Scientists believed that if you miss out on attachment in a specific critical period, it won't come back after.
* At age 13 she was physically underdeveloped, she later learned language but her social and intellectual skills never fully developed.
72
Define: institutionalisation
Refers to the behaviour patterns of children who have been raised in institutions such as orphanages.
Children often show distinctive attachment behaviour which is characterised by clingy attention seeking behaviour and indiscriminate sociability to adults.
74
Outline the Hodges and Tizard study which investigated the effects of institutional upbringing on later attachments.
AIM: in title
PROCEDURE: longitudinal study which followed the development of 65 children who had been institutionalised from a few months old. By age 4, 24 children were adopted 15 returned to their natural home and the others stayed in the institution. The independent variable occurred naturally - what happened to the children aged four. Before this carers were discouraged from forming attachments with children, to encourage privation. Children were assessed for social and emotional competence at age 4, 8 and 16 and then compared to a control group who had been closely matched to each child but lived with their own families. Assessment comprised of interviewing children, their carers/teachers and a set of questionnaires.
FINDINGS: at age 4 none of the children had formed attachments but by age 8 those who were adopted had.
Those restored to their natural families showed no behavioural problems and attachments were weaker. Institutionalised children were more attention seeking from adults and showed some difficulties in social relationships. At age 16 adopted children still had good attachments, those restored to their natural home had good attachments, and the remaining institutionalised children experienced most instability and showed problems in later attachments.
CONC: Bowlby was correct to say that the critical period is important for attachment, but effects of privation can be reversed.
EVALUATION: interviews or questionnaires could be affected by social desirability leading to inaccuracy. Six of the 51 families discontinued with the study. Difficult to separate the effects of privation and effects of physical care from institutionalised children.
74
What are the effects of institutionalisation?
```
Physical underdevelopment (Gardner 1972 - lack of emotional care can cause this)
Intellectual underfunctioning
Disinhibited attachment
Leads to their own poor parenting (Quinton et al, women)
```
75
Outline the study by Hazan and Shaver on the influence of early attachments
AIM: to investigate the correlation between infant attachment type and future relationships.
PROCEDURE: used a love quiz which consisted of two components - a measure of attachment type, and a love experience questionnaire which assessed individuals belief about romantic love. Quiz was printed out on local newspaper and the readers were asked to send their responses (total of 620 from people aged 14 to 82). Responses were classified according to Mary Ainsworth's infant attachment styles.
FINDINGS: high correlation between the infant attachment types and the adult romantic love styles.
CONCLUSION: there is evidence to support the concept of the IWM having a lifelong effect. Not everyone stayed true to their infant attachment styles and that some people did change as they grew older.
EVALUATION: responses may not have been accurate as people were asked to recall memories of infant experiences.
76
What 4 behaviours are influenced by the IWM?
Childhood friendships
Poor parenting
Romantic relationships
Mental health
77
Outline Rutter et al's study on the effects of institutionalisation
* Longitudinal study; 165 Romanian institutionalised children.
* 111 - adopted prior to the age of 2, 54 - by the age of 4.
* (DV) The level of cognitive functioning, physical and social development were tested at intervals from ages 4, 6, 11 and 15. Parent and teacher interviews were used and the DV was compared to a control group of 52 British children who were adopted before 6 months.
* At the initial assessment 50% of Romanians were retarded in cognitive functioning and were underweight. At 4 years, those adopted before 6 months showed great improvements, those after 6 months showed disinhibited attachment types.
* Concluded that the negative effects of institutionalisation could be overcome by sensitive and nurturing care.
78
What is the internal working model?
A model of self and attachment partner based in their joint attachment history which generates expectations about current and future relationships, like a template.
79
Evaluate Rutter at al's study on the effects of institutionalisation (Romanian orphans)
* Cultural bias - Romanians were in a country with poorer education system, healthcare and a collapsed government regime.
* Individual differences - Some children not as affected as others.
* Longitudinal study - better results.
* Real world application - adopt children earlier on, improved quality of care for children.
80
How to evaluate studies
```
Generalisability
Reliability
Application
Validity
Ethics
```
81
What is the difference between the primary attachment figure and the caregiver?
PAF: who the child is most intensely attached to (eg. Mother)
CG: person who has a role in looking after a child (eg. Siblings)
