Attachment Flashcards
(12 cards)
Recognise attachment through 3 behaviours:
- Proximity = staying physically close to the attachment figure
- Separation Distress = upset when attachment figure leaves
- Secure-base behaviour = leave attachment figure but regularly returning to them when playing
Caregiver-infant interaction
Trigger words
-Interactional synchrony:
when the mother and infant interact and mirror each other’s emotions and actions in a co-ordinated way
- Reciprocity:
one person responds to the other and elicit a response from them
Role of the father
Trigger words
- Secondary Attachment:
forming an attachment with another family member such as the father
Schaffer’s stages of attachment
Trigger words
- Asocial: 0-6 weeks
no attachment formed & similar behaviour towards inanimate objects and humans - Indiscriminate: 2-7 months
prefer familiar adults and shows the same behaviour to all = no stranger/separation anxiety - Discriminate: 7-11 months
shows stranger and separation anxiety when separated from primary attachment figure & the infant forms primary attachment - Multiple: 1 year
secondary attachments with other adults form - Separation anxiety:
child shows distress when adult leaves - Stranger anxiety:
child shows distress to unfamiliar adults
Animal studies of attachment: Lorenz’s geese & Harlow’s monkeys
Trigger words
Lorenz =
- Imprinting: when offspring follow the first-moving object
- Critical period: where imprinting needs to occur within 3 months to 2 1/2 years
- Sexual imprinting: occurs whereby the infants acquire a template of the desirable characteristics required in a mate
Harlow =
Contact comfort: infants need something soft like a cloth to cuddle
Dollard and Miller’s Learning theory of attachment
Trigger words
- Cupboard love:
importance of food in forming attachments as children learn to love whoever feeds them - Classical conditioning with food:
learning to associate two stimuli: food leads to pleasure - Operant conditioning for comfort:
babies cry for comfort which leads to a response from the caregiver to feed them so crying is reinforced - Negative reinforcement:
Caregiver receives this because the crying stops and they escape something unpleasant: crying - Primary drive:
an innate biological motivator e.g. hungar - Secondary drive:
association between caregiver and satisfaction of a primary drive
Bowlby’s Monotropic theory of attachment
Trigger words
- Monotropic:
a child’s attachment to one caregiver - Law of continuity:
constant child care leads to better quality of attachment - Law of accumulated separation:
the effects of every separation adds up - Social releasers:
babies are born with a set of innate ‘cute’ behaviours: smiling which encourages attention from adults and this activates the attachment with an adult=reciprocal system - Critical period:
3 months to 2 1/2 years when the formation of attachment is active & this is a sensitive period = if attachment isn’t formed in time, they will find it hard to form one later - Internal working model:
child forms a mental representation of the relationship with their primary attachment figure which gives them a template for what relationships are like
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Trigger words
- Proximity seeking:
well-attached infants stay close to caregiver - Exploration and secure-base behaviour:
child is confident to explore using the caregiver as a point of safety - Stranger anxiety: shown by well-attached infants
- Separation anxiety: shown by well-attached infants
- Reunion: well-attached infants are enthusiastic
- Secure attachment (type B):
secure base, moderate separation & stranger anxiety, requires and accepts comfort from caregiver on reunion - Insecure- avoidant attachment (type A):
child explore freely but doesn’t seek proximity, little/no separation & stranger anxiety, don’t require comfort at reunion - Insecure- resistant attachment (type C):
child explores less and seeks greater proximity. shows stranger and separation anxiety, resists comfort on reunion with caregiver
Cultural variations: Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg - meta analysis & Simonelli et an - Italian study
Trigger words
- Meta- analysis: gather data from multiple studies for one combined answer
- Individualist culture: self values: UK & USA
- Collectivist culture: group values: China, Japan
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory
Trigger words
- Maternal deprivation:
separation from mother figure in early childhood affects intellectual and emotional development - Separation:
child not physically in the presence of the primary attachment figure - Deprivation:
losing emotional care as a result of the separation & can be avoided if alternative emotional care is offered
Critical period of 2 1/2 years:
if child is separated from their mother during this time, psychological damage is inevitable
Intellectual development is affected:
deprivation causes mental retardation and abnormally low IQ
Emotional development is affected:
deprivation can lead to affectionless psychopathy (inability to experience guilt/strong emotion for others)
case study: 44 thieves study
Effects of instituationalisation & Romanian orphan studies: Rutter et al & Zeanah et al
Trigger words
- Disinhibited attachment:
child is equally affectionate towards people they know and strangers = this can lead to multiple caregivers - Damage to intellectual development:
institutionalised children show signs of mental retardation but doesn’t affects children adopted before age:6 months
Rutter et al: (english and romanian adoptee study)
frequency of disinhibited attachment: adopted after 6 months showed clinginess, attention-seeking but rare in children adopted before 6 months & supports there’s a sensitive period
Zeanah et al
65% classified with disorganised attachment & 19% were securely attached
Influence of early attachment on later relationships
Trigger words
- First attachment:
provides a template that affects future relationships - Good experience of attachment means good relationship expectations = bad experience means bad expectations
- Secure infants form better friendships
- Insecure-avoidant children are most likely the victims
- Insecure-resistant children are the bullies
- internal working models affects parenting
Hazen and Shaver: love quiz in newspaper:
56% respondents were securely attached = have good, longer-lasting romantic relationships
25% were insecure-avoidant = jealous and fear intimacy
19% insecure-resistant
