Attachment Flashcards
(121 cards)
1
Q
Brief outline of Caregiver-Infant interactions?
A
- Early age, babies have meaningful interactions with their carers.
- It’s believed these interactions have important functions for the child’s social development, in particular for the development of caregiver-infant attachment.
2
Q
Intro - What is reciprocity?
A
- From birth, babies and mothers spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction.
- Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ and signal for interaction.
- 2 thirds of the time, mothers pick up on this and respond.
- From 3 months, this interaction becomes increasingly frequent, close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions.
- Reciprocal interactions are when each person responds to the other and elicits a response.
3
Q
Intro - Traditional view and how it’s changed?
A
Traditional view has seen the baby take a passive role, however it seems that the baby takes an active role. Both mother and baby can initiate interaction as a ‘dance’.
4
Q
Intro - A03 (Validity)?
A
- Advantage - high internal validity, especially when compared to observational research with subjects aware they’re being observed. E.g. Babies don’t change behaviour due to knowing they’re under observation.
- Additionally, observations well-controlled , with both mother and infant filmed from multiple angles.
- Advantage as it ensures detailed recordings on behaviour can be later analysed.
5
Q
KEY STUDY - Schaffer and Emerson - Method?
7 points
A
1) 60 babies, 31 male and 29 female.
2) All from Glasgow
3) Majority from skilled working-class families.
4) Babies and mothers visited at home every month for the first year, then again at 18 months.
5) Mothers asked questions about the kind of protests their babies showed in 7 everyday separations e.g.adult leaving room (separation anxiety).
6) Designed to measure infant’s attachment.
7) Also assessed stranger anxiety.
6
Q
KEY STUDY - Schaffer and Emerson - A03, Advantage (external validity)? (4 points)
A
1) Advantage - Carried out in families own homes. 2) Most observation done by parents during ordinary activities and later reported.
3) Behaviour of babies unlikely to be affected by researcher presence.
4) Excellent chance of natural behaviours, high external validity.
7
Q
KEY STUDY - Schaffer and Emerson - A03, Strength (longitudinal)? (3 points)
A
1) Strength - carried out longitudinally, meaning same children could be used.
2) Advantage over quicker cross-sectional design, which would have observed different children, as there’s no confounding individual differences between PPTs.
3) Suggests findings are valid as there’s no individual differences.
8
Q
KEY STUDY - Schaffer and Emerson - A03, Advantage/limitation (sample size/social class)?
(4 points)
A
1) Advantage, large sample size of 60 babies means large volume of data
2) However, all families from the same district and social class in the same city over 50 years ago.
3) Limitation as it’s difficult to generalise findings, as child-rearing varies from one culture to another and one historical period to another.
4) Results don’t generalise well to other social and historical contexts.
9
Q
Stages of Attachment - 4 stages of attachment development?
A
1 - Asocial stage
2 - Indiscriminate attachment
3 - Specific attachment
4 - Multiple attachments
10
Q
Stages of Attachment - Outline the Asocial stage
4 points
A
Asocial stage (first few weeks)
1) Not really an asocial stage as the baby is recognising and forming bonds with its carers.
2) However, behaviour to non-human objects quite similar.
3) Show preference for familiar adults, those adults find it easier to calm them.
4) Happier in presence of other humans.
11
Q
Stages of Attachment - Outline the Indiscriminate attachment stage (5 points)
A
Indiscriminate attachment stage
1) 2-7 months babies display more observable social behaviour.
2) Show preference for people rather than objects.
3) Recognise and prefer familiar adults.
4) Usually accept comfort from any adult, and don’t usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety.
5) Attachment indiscriminate, not different towards anyone.
12
Q
Stages of Attachment - Outline the Specific attachment stage (3 points)
A
Specific attachment stage
1) From 7 months, begin to show stranger anxiety and separation anxiety (biological mother in 65% of cases).
2) Formed a specific attachment with adult, who is termed the primary attachment figure.
3) Primary attachment figure the adult who offers the most interaction and has the most skill responding to babies signals.
13
Q
Stages of Attachment - Outline the Multiple attachments stage (4 points)
A
Multiple attachments stage
1) Shortly after formation of specific attachment, attachment behaviour usually extends to multiple adults (with whom they regularly spend time).
2) Called secondary attachments.
3) In Schaffer and Emerson’s study, 29% had secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachment.
4) Formed by the age of 1.
14
Q
Stages of Attachment - A03 (Limited behaviour)?
3 points
A
Methodological problem
1) Babies have poor co-ordination and are pretty much immobile in first few weeks.
2) Difficult to make judgements based on observations of limited behaviour.
3) Therefore, we can’t be confident that child’s feelings and cognitions aren’t highly social, as we’re limited in methods to assess such sociability.
15
Q
Stages of Attachment - A03 (Conflicting evidence)?
4 points
A
Limitation
1) Conflicting evidence on when multiple attachments develop.
2) Bowlby indicates most babies form attachment to specific carer before being capable of developing multiple attachments.
3) However, other psychologists, particularly those who work in cultural contexts where multiple caregivers are the norm, believe babies form multiple attachments from the onset. (Van Ijzendoorn et al, 1993)
4) Makes it difficult to argue Schaffer’s stages are universal across all cultures, questioning its cross-cultural validity.
16
Q
Stages of Attachment - A03 (How multiple attachment is assessed)?
(4 points)
A
Problem
1) Problem with how multiple attachment is assessed.
2) Schaffer suggests valid measure of true attachment figure is if the baby becomes distressed when an individual leaves the room.
3) However, Bowlby (1969) pointed out the distressed response children have when a playmate leaves the room, but this does not signify attachment.
4) Doesn’t leave us with a way to distinguish between behaviour towards secondary attachment figures and playmates.
17
Q
Attachment figures - What are the 3 aspects?
A
1) Parent-infant attachment
2) The role of the father
3) Fathers as primary carers
18
Q
Attachment figures - Parent-infant attachment outline?
4 points
A
1) Traditionally thought in terms of mother-infant attachment.
2) Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found majority of babies became attached to mother first, after 7 months, and within a few weeks/months formed secondary attachments.
3) 75% of infants formed an attachment with the father by 18 months
4) Determined by infant protest when father walked away.
19
Q
Attachment figures - The role of the Father outline?
4 points
A
1) Grossman (2002) - longitudinal study on parents’ behaviour and its relationship with the quality of children’s attachment into their teens.
2) Quality of infant attachment with mothers, not fathers, related to attachment into adolescence.
3) Suggests father is less important.
4) However, the quality of father’s play related to attachment into adolescence, suggesting the father has a different role in attachment (more to do with play and stimulation than nurturing)
20
Q
Attachment figures - Fathers as primary carers outline?
5 points
A
1) Evidence to suggests when fathers take role of main care-giver they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers.
2) Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary care giver mothers, secondary care givers fathers and primary care giver fathers.
3) Primary care giver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding the infant than secondary care giver fathers.
4) Seems that fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure.
5) The key to the attachment relationship in the level of responsiveness, not the gender of the parent.
21
Q
Attachment figures - A03 (role of the father)?
4 points
A
Problem
1) Different researchers interested in different research questions comparisons have created confusion on the distinct role the father plays in the attachment process.
2) Some psychologists interested in role of fathers as secondary attachment figures, others interested in role as primary attachment figure.
3) Former sees fathers as having different role from mothers, the latter sees fathers as being capable of taking ‘maternal’ role.
4) Role of father remains unclear.
22
Q
Attachment figures - A03 (single and same sex parent families)?
(3 points)
A
Problem
1) Role and importance of father as secondary attachment figure unclear
2) Grossman’s findings suggest secondary role of father important in child development, however other studies have found children in single and same sex parent families don’t develop differently.
3) Therefore, the role of the father and its importance remains unclear.
23
Q
Attachment figures - A03 (Traditional gender roles?)
2 points
A
Problem
1) It’s unclear whether Fathers tend not to become the primary attachment figure as they are simply following traditional gender roles.
2) However, it could be that female hormones (e.g. oestrogen) create higher levels of nurturing, meaning women are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figure.
24
Q
Name the two animal studies of attachment…
A
1) Lorenz’s goose experiment
2) Harlow’s monkey study
25
Animal Studies of Attachment - Lorenz, outline the A01
| 5 points
1) Randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs, half hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment, half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.
2) Incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere, whereas the control group followed their mother.
3) Even after marking the two different groups and mixing them up, they immediately divided themselves to follow their different 'mothers'.
4) This became known as imprinting, where bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving object they see.
5) Lorenz identified a critical period, depending on the species of bird, that can be as brief as a few hours. (If imprinting doe not occur in this time, the chicks did not attach to a Mother figure)
26
Animal Studies of Attachment - Lorenz, 2 key features of imprinting?
1) Critical period - Imprinting only possible a few hours after hatching.
2) Irreversible - The bird will remain imprinted to same creature for entire lifetime.
27
Why is the use of 'critical period' criticised?
Imprinting is less likely to occur outside this time frame, however it is still possible, just not as easily. Suggested that 'sensitive period' would more accurately describe this time period
28
Animal Studies of Attachment - Lorenz - A03 (Generalising)
| 4 points
Problem
1) Problem generalising findings on birds to human behaviour, as it seems mammalian attachment system is different to that of birds.
2) Means conclusive findings of Lorenz can't be generalised, meaning low ecological validity.
3) For example, mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to young and are able to form attachments at any time.
4) Means it is not appropriate to generalise Lorenz's ideas to humans.
29
Animal Studies of Attachment - Lorenz - A03 (Guiton - chicken mating)?
(3 points)
Problem
1) Researchers have questioned Lorenz's conclusions, e.g. that imprinting has a permanent effect on mating behaviour.
2) Guiton et al (1966) - Found that chickens imprinted on washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults, but with experience eventually learned to prefer other chickens.
3) Suggests influence of imprinting on mating behaviour is not as permanent as Lorenz believed.
30
Animal Studies of Attachment - Harlow's Monkey Study (1958) - Aim?
Harlow called his research project 'The Orgins of Love'. He sought to demonstrate that mother love/comfort was not based on the feeding bond between mother and infant, as predicted by learning theory.
31
Animal Studies of Attachment - Harlow's Monkey Study (1958) - Procedure? (7 points)
1) Studied 8 new-born rhesus monkeys for 165 days.
2) Separated from mother at birth and reared in cages in isolation until they were 8 months old.
3) 2 surrogate mothers placed in each cage, 1 made of wire and the other made of a wooden block covered with cloth.
4) Harlow attempted to show that attachment develops as a result of 'tactile comfort', suggesting an innate need to touch and cling to something for emotional comfort.
5) The mothers had a heating element attached to provide warmth, and an attachment to hold a feeding bottle to supply milk.
6) Each baby placed in the cage with both surrogate mothers, 4 had the bottle attached to the wire mother and the other 4 had the bottle attached to the cloth mother.
7) Harlow measured the amount of time the babies spent clinging to each mother and the amount of time they would cry for when either mother was removed.
32
Animal Studies of Attachment - Harlow's Monkey Study (1958) - Findings/conclusion?
Found clear preference for the cloth mother. When the feeding bottle was attached to the wire mother, the infant monkeys would visit the wire monkey, feed, and then return to the cloth monkey immediately.
According to learning theory, the young monkeys should have become attached to the lactating mother who offered reduction of the hunger drive.
However, the monkeys spent the most time with the cloth mother and would cling to it., especially when frightened.
On average, they spent 18 hours a day cuddling with the cloth mother and 2 hours with the wire mother.
This shows that contact comfort is more important to the baby monkeys than the food, undermining the learning theory explanation of attachment.
33
Animal Studies of Attachment - Harlow's Monkey Study (1958) - Maternally deprived monkeys as adults?
Harlow also followed the monkeys that had been deprived of a real mother into adulthood to see if this early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect.
Severe consequences were found, with the monkeys reared with a wire monkey the most dysfunctional, however monkeys reared with the cloth mother didn't develop normal social behaviour. They were aggressive and less sociable that other monkeys, and bred less often than is typical. As mothers, some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children, even killing them in some cases.
34
Animal Studies of Attachment - Harlow's Monkey Study (1958) - Maternally deprived monkeys as adults, Conclusion?
Harlow concluded there was a critical period for this behaviour. A mother had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form. After this time, attachment was impossible and the damage of early deprivation became irreversible.
35
Harlow's Monkey Study (1958) - A03 (ethical concerns)? (6 points)
1) Unnecessarily cruel, raising serious ethical concerns.
2) Example, clear that monkeys in this study suffered emotional harm from being raised in isolation.
3) Evident when placed with a normal monkey, they sat huddled in a corner in a state of persistent fear and depression.
4) Also, created state of anxiety in females that had implications once they became parents.
5) They became so neurotic that they smashed their infant's face into the floor and rubbed it back and forth.
6) Suggests Harlow's study was ethically inappropriate and alternative methods should have been used, despite the importance of the findings.
36
Harlow's Monkey Study (1958) - A03 (Benefits outweigh costs)?
(4 points)
1) Some argue the benefits of Harlow's research outweigh the costs, the costs being the rights of the monkeys to avoid pain and suffering.
2) Harlow showed attachment doesn't develop as a result of being fed but by contact comfort, which has practical benefits when combined with Bowlby's theory of monotropy, which was inspired by Harlow's research.
3) Has led to improvements in emotional care in hospitals, children's homes and day care centres.
4) These real world benefits offer external validity to Harlow's research.
37
Harlow's Monkey Study (1958) - A03 (NHA to Humans)?
| 4 points
1) Problem with generalisation from NHA to Humans
2) Some of the apparent genetic similarities across species are still problematic i.e. they are less sophisticated.
3) Toates (2012) - Argues that a small difference in DNA (1.2% difference) can make a huge difference, such as the size of the human brain being 3x that of a chimpanzee.
4) Therefore, we can't assume the same behavioural characteristics are shared between human babies and Harlow's macaques.
38
Brief outline of the 'Learning Theory Explanation of Attachment'?
Based upon the idea that attachments are learnt through conditioning and reinforcement. The concept that attachments may be based on instincts or some special relationship between a mother and child are considered false or inconsequential.
39
Name the 2 types of conditioning involved in the Learning Theory...
1) Classical conditioning
| 2) Operant conditioning
40
What is Classical conditioning? (5 points)
1) Suggests attachment takes place though association.
2) Unconditioned stimulus of food produces unconditioned response of pleasure.
3) Person who feeds the child (neutral stimulus) becomes associated with the UCS (food), producing the UCR (pleasure).
4) Repetition of this process means the association remains with that person, even when they have no food.
5) They've been conditioned to respond to this person with pleasure.
41
What is Operant conditioning? (4 points)
1) Dollard and Miller (1959) proposed that attachment between PCG and child is die to a drive reduction approach.
2) This means the drive to reduce discomfort stemming from lack of food, as the provision of food reduces this state and is therefore rewarding.
3) As the PCG provides this pleasure, they become associated with with reducing discomfort and becomes the secondary reinforce.
4) Attachment then takes place as the child seeks the same pleasure response.
42
Learning Theory Explanation of Attachment - A03 (Harlow monkey study) ? (3 points)
1) Weakness - emphasis on the role of food
2) Contradicting evidence from Harlow (1959), found from monkey study that when distressed they would seek comfort and security from cloth monkey rather than wire monkey that could supply food.
3) Findings contradict learning explanation.
43
Learning Theory Explanation of Attachment - A03 (reductionist)? (4 points)
1) Problem - reductionist
2) Issue as it reduces complexities of attachment process to overly simple ideas, such as stimulus response approach, and then uses it as a building block to explain complex behaviour.
3) Kagan - supports criticism, highlights important role personality can play in how a PCG responds to the needs of the child. Some children are 'difficult', making attachment process challenging for PCG.
4) Challenges simplistic + reductionist nature of learning explanation of attachment.
44
Learning Theory Explanation of Attachment - A03 (Schaffer and Emerson, 1964 - support/criticism)?
(4 points)
1) Support from Schaffer and Emerson (1964) - Supported role of reinforcement and assertion as explanations of attachment after observing 60 babies and finding most created attachment to person that was most responsive with highest frequency of interactions.
2) Supports role for reinforcement and association processes.
3) However - Contradictory evidence, fewer than 1/2 the infants formed attachment to person that fed or changed them. Most formed attachment to biological mother, even though other carers did most of the feeding.
4) Supports the innateness of attachment rather than learning processes like drive reduction.
45
Bowlby's Theory of Monotropy - Brief outline?
Evolutionary theory means that the behaviour shown by the infant and the primary care-giver reflect our innate drive for survival and reproduction.
46
What are the 3 components of Bowlby's Theory of Monotropy?
1) Monotropy
2) The Critical Period and Social Releasers
3) Internal Working Model
47
What is monotropy?
The child has one caregiver i.e primary (PCG) - referred to as monotropy.
48
Components of Monotropy? (7 points)
1) Bowlby placed emphasis on a child's attachment to 1 particular care giver, and that this attachment is different and more important.
2) Suggested 'mother' most likely to take this role, but it didn't need to be the biological mother.
3) 2 principles
A) - Law of continuity stated that the more constant and predictable a child's care, the better the quality of their attachment.
B) - Law of accumulated separation stated that the effects of every separation from monotropy figure add up, therefore zero separation is ideal for secure attachments.
4) Attachments act as secure base where child can explore the world and return when feeling threatened. Develops cognitive skills + independence of child.
5) Bowlby believed sensitive repetitiveness was the key e.g. baby becomes most attached with person who responds most sensitively to the child's social releases. They become PCG.
6) Secondary CG's help the child develop social skills.
7) Monotropy characterised by a hierarchy of relationships with PCG at top.
49
Outline Critical period and Social Releasers... (8 points)
1) Formation of attachment dependent on interaction between both innate drives from the infant and care-giver.
2) For the infant, attachment is the innate behavioural system, ensuring their protection and survival.
3) For the adult, care-giving is the innate drive, ensuring their young survive and their genes are successfully passed on.
4) Both adaptive behaviours, increasing likelihood of survival and reproduction.
5) Therefore, both mother and baby have innate predisposition to become attached and social releasers from the child elicit caregiving.
6) Social releasers activate the adult attachment system, making the adult feel love towards the baby.
7) Bowlby - realised this was a reciprocal process.
8) Initially proposed a critical period of 2 years when the infant attachment system is active, however he later claimed it was instead a 'sensitive period'. Attachment after 2 years becomes increasingly difficult.
50
3 examples of social releasers?
Smiling, crying and the baby's face.
51
Outline the Internal Working Model... (4 points)
1) PCG-infant attachment forms template/schema for future relationships. Bowlby called this 'the internal working model', an expectation of what all relationships will be like.
2) Means there is consistency between early emotional experiences and later adult relationships, referred to as the continuity hypothesis.
3) A child's 1st experience of a loving relationship with a reliable caregiver sets an expectation that all relationships are the same. The child takes the schema into adulthood, offering these qualities and expect them from others.
4) Importantly, poor attachment styles have negative influence on the future parenting of that child - explains why children from functional families have similar families themselves.
52
Bowlby's Theory of Monotropy - A03 (Sroufe et al 1999 + 2005 parent-child study)?
(3 points)
1) Support for internal working model/continuity hypothesis/critical period - Sroufe et al (1999) and his 200 minnesota parent-child study.
2) PPTs infancy to late adolescence, found children w/ secure attachments with PCG found socialising easier, rated higher on social competence scale and were more empathetic than insecure children.
3) Supports Bowlby's explanation, showing correlation between security of attachment and social competence/self confidence in later adolescence.
53
Bowlby's Theory of Monotropy - A03 (Institutionalised women)?
(4 points)
1) Empirical evidence for internal working model + critical period.
2) Quinton and Rutter (1988) - study on institutionalised women, found women who spent most of their lives institutionalised from an early age, were less sensitive and supportive in adult relationships, as predicted by Bowlby's Monotropic theory.
3) Absence of secure attachment meant women didn't have template/schema of how to act sensitively with other people and their own children.
4) Supports theory of internal working model and critical/sensitive period and how they can affect future relationships.
54
Bowlby's Theory of Monotropy - A03 (Exceptions?)
| 3 points
1) Problem - can't account for children with insecure/no attachment history in critical period, but manage to cope and have good adult relationships.
2) Supporting research of criticism from Matheson + Hamilton (1994). Found paternal relationships not always positively correlated to friendships.
3) Questions validity of theory of monotropy, internal WM and critical period.
55
Bowlby's Theory of Monotropy - A03 (socially sensitive implications)?
(6 points)
1) Socially sensitive implications for monotropy, internal working model and critical period, raising ethical problems for PCG - mainly mother.
2) Implies women who decide to pursue a career during critical period are causing emotional and cognitive problems for the child's future relationships - both child and adult.
3) Feminists critical - arguing law of accumulated separation place huge burden on women and their lifestyle choices.
4) Suggested Bowlby's research could then be used as a form of social control on women and their role in family and workplace, legitimising social inequality.
5) Raises serious ethical issues with wider social implications.
6) Bowlby - in his defence - hoped this would have the opposite effect, elevating role and status of PCG in society.
56
Ainsworth strange situation - Aim?
To assess how infants between 9 and 18 months of age behave under conditions of mild stress and also novelty.
57
Ainsworth strange situation - Procedure?
- Controlled observational study, using behavioural categories as measure of attachment styles.
- Data collected by video recorder or one way mirror.
- Observed infants behaviour every 15 seconds to minimise investigator bias.
- 5 Behavioural categories used.
- Each item scored for intensity, 1-7
- 7 episodes lasted for 3 minutes, with each episode designed to examine the behavioural categories.
58
Ainsworth strange situation - What were the 5 behavioural categories tested?
1) Proximity and contact-seeking behaviours
2) Exploration and secure-base behaviours
3) Stranger anxiety
4) Separation anxiety
5) Response to reunion with CG
59
Ainsworth strange situation - Findings?
Combination of several studies - 106 middle class infants observed using the strange situation.
Ainsworth noted 3 main patterns of behaviour - consistent clusters of behaviour whcih added to 3 different types of attachment. Initially referred to as types A,B and C.
60
Ainsworth strange situation - Conclusion?
Parental sensitivity is the key factor in attachment development.
61
Ainsworth strange situation - What were the 7 episodes?
1) Child encouraged to explore.
2) Stranger enters room and try's to interact with the infant, testing stranger anxiety.
3) CG leaves the room, leaving child and stranger, testing separation and stranger anxiety.
4) CG returns and stranger leaves, testing reunion behaviour.
5) CG leaves child alone, testing separation anxiety.
6) Stranger returns, testing stranger anxiety.
7) CG returns, testing reunion behaviour
62
Ainsworth strange situation - 3 types of attachment?
1) Secure attachment
2) Insecure avoidant
3) Insecure resistant
63
Ainsworth strange situation - Secure attachment response to 7 episodes?
1) Explores freely using PCG as a secure base.
2) Some stranger anxiety, clear preference for PCG over stranger.
3) Some distress, stranger anxiety + separation anxiety.
4) Greets PCG enthusiastically + easily soothed.
5) Some distress + some separation anxiety.
6) Some stranger anxiety.
7) Greets PCG enthusiastically + easily soothed.
64
Ainsworth strange situation - Insecure avoidant response to 7 episodes?
1) Happy to explore with or without PCG.
2) No indication of stranger anxiety, little preference for PCG over stranger, avoids both.
3) Little concern when PCG leaves, low separation anxiety + no indication of stranger anxiety.
4) Little pleasure when PCG returns, ignores/indifferent.
5) Little concern when PCG leaves, low separation anxiety.
6) No indication of stranger anxiety.
7) Little pleasure when PCG returns, ignores/indifferent.
65
Ainsworth strange situation - Insecure resistant response to 7 episodes?
1) Doesn't explore with confidence, remains close to PCG (insecure even in PCG's presence).
2) High stranger anxiety.
3) Very distracted when PCG leaves, high stranger anxiety + high separation anxiety.
4) Clings to PCG, angry and anxious, ambivalent behaviour e.g. hitting parent whilst clinging.
5) Very distracted when PCG leaves, high separation anxiety.
6) High stranger anxiety.
7) Clings to PCG, angry and anxious, ambivalent behavour e.g. hitting parent whilst clinging.
66
Ainsworth strange situation - A03 (4th attachment type)?
| 4 points
1) Main and Soloman identified a criticism, arguing she failed to account for a 4th catergory of attachment style, disorganised.
2) Characterised by a lack of consistent patterns of behaviour, no strategy for dealing with separation.
3) Limitation supported by Van Ijzendoorn (1999), found from meta-analysis that 15% US children were insecure-disorganised, not recognised by Ainsworth's research.
4) Questions validity of the measures used in Ainsworth's original study.
67
Ainsworth strange situation - A03 (defined behavioural categories)
(3 points)
1) Methodological support for strengths of strange situation as a measure of attachment styles, identified by Bick (2012).
2) Found due to clearly defined behavioural categories that inter-rater reliability was high, 94%.
3) Suggests Ainsworth's operationalisation of attachment process clearly and objectively measurable, allowing reliability and validity issues to be assessed with scientific method.
68
Ainsworth strange situation - A03 (validity - lab setting)
| 4 points
1) Problems with validity.
2) Sensitivity measured in lab, which is an artificial setting for PCG and child, meaning reactions may not be natural.
3) Supported by Bronfenbrenner (1979) who pointed out infants attachments behaviours are typically stronger in the lab than at home, indicating lab setting influences attachment behaviour.
4) Therefore, low validity when measuring secure attachments.
69
Ainsworth strange situation - A03 (ethical problems)
| 4 points
1) Ethical problems with using strange situation to measure attachment.
2) Psychological harm within mother and especially child, far beyond those predicted by Ainsworth.
3) Found in episode 6 that 20% children were described as crying desperately.
4) Suggests ethical problem exists within Ainsworth's design and more ethically appropriate methods for measuring secure and insecure attachments should be found.
70
Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn - Aim?
Meta-analysis from 32 studies of attachment behaviour where strange situation had been used to investigate proportion of infants with different attachment types. Altogether, over 2000 strange situation classifications in 8 countries.
71
Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn - Findings? (5 points)
1 - Varaition within cultures found to be small
2 - Secure attachment the most common in every country, although proportion varied, 75% in Britain and 50% in China.
3 - Insecure-avoidant next most common everywhere but Israel and Japan (both collectivist at the time)
4 - Insecure-resistant the least common, but proportions varied, 3% in Britain and 30% in Israel.
5 - Found greater variation within a culture, 1.5 x greater than variations between countries/cultures. E.g. USA, one study found only 46% securely attached compared to other sample that recorded 90% securely attached.
72
Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn - Findings, German and Japanese infants?
(4 + 3 points)
1 - German infants, different pattern of attachment than other groups.
2 - 40% securely attached, 49% anxious and avoidant, and remaining 11% anxious and resistant.
3 - In German infants behaviours corresponding to 'secure-attachments' appear to German parents as signs of a 'spoiled baby'.
4 - Demonstration of cultural differences in child-rearing practices resulting in different attachment types.
1 - Japanese infants, no evidence of insecure-avoidant attachment and high rates of insecure-resistant (32%).
2 - Particularly distressed being left alone, extreme response so bad that for 90% of infants the study was stopped here.
3 - Explained by different childcare practises, Japanese infants rarely experience separation from PCG, explaining why they're more distressed, making them appear to be insecurely attached.
73
Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn - Conclusion? (5 points)
1) Global pattern similar to USA - secure attachment appears the norm.
2) Supports idea that secure attachment best for healthy social and emotional development.
3) Also supports Bowlby's claims that attachment is a universal, innate, biological process.
4) Sensitivity hypothesis an important aspect of the process, as responsiveness of PCG determines development of secure attachment.
5) Appears that sensitivity is an innate characteristic helping to produce secure attachments found in most countries.
74
Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn - Procedure?
1 - Varaition within cultures found to be small
2 - Secure attachment the most common in every country, although proportion varied, 75% in Britain and 50% in China.
3 - Insecure-avoidant next most common everywhere but Israel and Japan (both collectivist at the time)
4 - Insecure-resistant the least common, but proportions varied, 3% in Britain and 30% in Israel.
5 - Found greater variation within a culture, 1.5 x greater than variations between countries/cultures. E.g. USA, one study found only 46% securely attached compared to other sample that recorded 90% securely attached.
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Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn - Simonella et al (2014)?
(5 points)
1) Simonella et al - study in Italy to see if proportions of babies of different attachment types still matches those in previous studies.
2) Assessed 76x 12 month olds using strange situation.
3) Found 50% secure, 36% insecure avoidant. Lower rate of secure attachment than in many studies.
4) Suggests this is because increasing number of mothers of very young children work long hours and use professional childcare.
5) Suggest cultural changes make dramatic difference to patterns of secure and insecure attachment.
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Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn - A03 (sample size) ?
(3 points)
1) Advantage - high internal validity due to sample size.
2) Comparing 2000 infants and primary attachment figures is a significant advantage over smaller scale studies, which an be affected by anomalous results.
3) Gives conclusions validity.
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Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn - A03 (Misleading conclusions) ?
(5 points)
1) Problem - conclusions drawn misleading, claiming cultural variations between countries regarding attachment styles were minimal, when in fact they had been comparing countries and not cultures or sub cultures.
2) Example - meaningful comparison would be similar group from each country i.e poor, urban, middle class. One sample may not be representative of population.
3) Indeed, Van Ijzendoorn and Sagi (2001) supports these concerns.
4) They found attachment type in urban Tokyo setting very similar to that found in Western studies, whereas rural ample found over-representation of insecure-resistant.
5) Van Ijzendoorn himself conceded that one must be cautious assuming individual sample is representative of a country.
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Cultural Variations in Attachment, Including Van Ijzendoorn -A03 (Strange situation - imposed Etic?)
(4 points)
1) Criticism of meta-analysis, measures of attachment used i.e. the strange situation, as it is an Etic of attachment based on western assumptions on how secure attachment may be defined.
2)Cultural uniqueness of a country/culture regarding attachment styles ignored, imposed Etic takes place.
3_ E.g. strange situation developed by American based on British ideas from Bowlby with no understanding of these cultures and their views on child-rearing and roles.
4) Questions generalisability of conclusions as strange situation has not been adapted for the cultures it was used in.
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Maternal Deprivation - What did Bowlby theorise happens if PCG-infant attachment is broken in critical period?
Theorised if attachment between an infant and PCG is broken within the critical period of 30 days, it will lead to long term cognitive, social and emotional difficulties.
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Name 3 ways attachment could be broken... (separation)
1) Frequent separation
2) Prolonged separation
3) Permanent separation
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Give an example of the long term cognitive damage maternal deprivation could cause...
1) Mental retardation
| 2) Abnormally low IQ
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What characterised a lack of emotional development?
| What could this lead to?
A lack of emotional development was characterised by affectionless psychopathy, which Bowlby identified as an inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others.
This prevents the person forming normal relationships and is associated with criminality.
Mental health problems can also develop, e.g. depression
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Why does MD focus on the need for a continuous relationship?
Because relationships which are discontinuous during the critical period can become unstable and unpredictable, disrupting the relationship and therefore leading to detachment.
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What was the critical period?
Bowlby identified the first 2 1/2 years as critical, with continuing risk up until the age of 5. Later referred to this period as 'sensitive', as contradictory findings on the irreversibility of M.D. and if a permanent mother-substitute carer is provided then the effects of M.D. can be minimised or eradicated.
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Who is the M.D. relationship with?
Doesn't have to be with the child's mother, can be with any PCG, though Bowlby stresses there should only be 1 PCG for healthy emotional development. This is known as Monotropy.
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Definition of 'Separation'?
Separation simply means the child is not in the presence of the PCG. Becomes an issue if they are deprived, i.e. lose an element of care. Brief separation is not significant for development, but extended separation can lead to deprivation.
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Bowlby's theory of Maternal Deprivation - A03 (empirical support)?
Empirical support - research from Bifulco et al (1992) - studied 249 women who had experienced separation from mothers due to maternal death or prolonged separation of over a year. Found 25% were to suffer from depression and anxiety disorders compared to 15% of control group with no experience of separation.
Also found the mental health issue were much greater in those whose loss occurred before 6. Conclusions support critical period and M.D.
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Bowlby's theory of Maternal Deprivation - A03 (Individual Differences) ?
Effects of separation not uniform - Individual differences regarding types of attachment children experienced before long term separation has been shown to influence likelihood of emotional + cognitive problems in later childhood/adulthood.
Barrett (1997) - Argue problem w/ M.D. theory is that it doesn't account for effects of separation on previously securely attached children compared to insecurely attached children. Found from a review of various studies that securely attached children cope reasonably well with separation.
Bowlby accepted this criticism from his study on children who had experienced separation due to suffering T.B.
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Bowlby's theory of Maternal Deprivation - A03 (counter-study, Bohman 1980)
Bohman (1980) questions predictive validity of M.D. Concluded study of 600 11 year old children over a 10 year period, that those seen as problem children (26%) had no difficulty forming relationships when compared to 'normal' children.
Study opposes MDH, challenging idea that early disruption causes life-long emotional/relationship problems.
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Bowlby's theory of Maternal Deprivation - A03 (too simplistic)
Problem - too simplistic
research findings by Lewis and others suggest the children in institutions are deprived in many ways, not just from PCG.
Means psychopathy could be caused by other kinds of deprivation, not just solely MDH.
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Bowlby's theory of Maternal Deprivation - A03 (real life social changes)
Significant strength - care in hospital for children improved.
Application of psychological research to public policy has reduced traumatic experience of separation for young children:
-Providing substitute care when primary carer absent
- Increasing frequency + length of visiting provision when long hospital stays expected
- Improving staff-child ratio in day care centres
These are major social changes, all possible due to work of Bowlby and Robertson's research into the effects of MD.
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Maternal Deprivation: Romanian Orphans - Effects of Institutionalisation - Rutter's ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study - Procedure? (4 points)
Procedure
1) Rutter et al (2011) - followed 165 Romanian orphans who were adopted in Britain.
2) Wanted to test what extent good care could make up for poor early institutional experiences.
3) Physical, cognitive and emotional development assessed at ages 4,6,11 and 15 years.
4) Control group - 52 British children adopted at same time.
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Maternal Deprivation: Romanian Orphans - Effects of Institutionalisation - Rutter's ERA - Findings? ( points)
1) When they first arrived, half showed signs of mental retardation and majority severely undernourished.
2) At 11, different rates of recovery linked to age of adoption.
3) Mean IQ before age of 6 months was 102, compared to 86 for those adopted between 6 months and 2 years, and 77 for those after 2 years - differences remained at age of 16.
4) Attachment appeared different whether the adoption was before or after 6 months.
5) Children after 6 months showed 'disinhibited behaviour'. Before 6 months did not exhibit these signs.
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Symptoms of disinhibited behaviour?
Attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults, familiar and unfamiliar.
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Effects of institutionalisation - Outline?
- Disinhibited attachment - Equally friendly + affectionate towards people they know and strangers. Unusual as most 1-2 yr olds show high stranger anxiety. Rutter argues - This occurs when children have to live with multiple CGs during sensitive period. In poor quality institutions ( Romania) a child may have 50 carers, none of which they see often enough to form an attachment.
- Mental retardation - Most children showed signs of retardation upon arrival in Britain. Most of those adopted before 6 months able to control it before age of 4. Like emotional development, damage to intellectual development as a result of institutionalisation can be recovered provided adoption before 6 months.
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Effects of Institutionalisation - Bucharest Early Intervention Project - Procedure?
Procedure - Zeanah et al (2005) assessed attachment of 95 children aged 12-31 months who epent most of their lives in institutional care (90% on average).
Compared to control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution. Their attachment type was measured using the strange situation.
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Effects of Institutionalisation - Bucharest Early Intervention Project - Findings?
- Control group = 74% securely attached in strange situation
- Institutional group = 19% securely attached, with 65% classified as disorganised.
- Description of disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of the institutionalised children, and less than 20% of the control.
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Effects of Institutionalisation - Rutter - A03 (standards of care)?
Problem - conditions of institution significantly worse than most other institutions. Poor standards of care, limited levels of intellectual stimulation.
Problem as the unusual situational variables make it difficult to generalise to those who've experienced a more positive environment.
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Effects of Institutionalisation - Rutter - A03 (Natural experiment)
Problem - natural experiment, Rutter couldn't randomly assign the children to the various conditions. Children in condition resulting in early adoption may have been due to sociability.
Therefore, sociability becomes a potential confounding variable, questioning validity of the conclusions.
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Effects of Institutionalisation - Rutter - A03 (Real world application)?
Advantage - Proven valuable in improving conditions + management of institutions.
Langton (2006) - highlights benefits, pointing to key workers who play central role in child's care. Allows children opportunity to develop regular attachments and avoid disinhibited attachment.
Suggests valid real world application.
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Effects of Institutionalisation - Rutter - A03 (Special attention)?
Problem - not all experiences of institutional life the same, some Romanian children may have experienced special attention, maybe bcos they smiled more or due to their temperament. Children w/ easy personality may have made carers more responsive to their needs.
Problem as some children will have been more affected than others due to how the carers responded to them. Makes generalisation difficult.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships, including role of the internal working model - Internal working model, influence on all future relationships - What does it act as? (4 points)
- Internal working model acts as
1) A template for what behaviour is appropriate,
2) what to expect from the other person in terms of how available and reliable they are likely to be 3) what emotional experience we can expect
4) how emotional distress is likely to be dealt with.
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Internal working model, influence on all future relationships - Two experimental attitudes?
Quality of attachment affects future relationships, supported experimentally with 2 attitudes:
1) Attitude about ourselves = self-esteem
2) Attitudes about others = interpersonal trust
Develop based on interactions with PCG, if they lead us to believe we are highly valued, and these attitudes become dependable and reliable, then we will develop high self-esteem and interpersonal trust, forming the basis of a secure attachment.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood - Outline?
1) Attachment type in infancy associated with quality of peer relationships in childhood.
2) Securely attached infants tend to have best quality friendships, insecurely attached have friendship difficulties.
3) Bullying behaviour is a good example
4) Smith (1998) - assessed attachment type and bullying in 196 children aged 7-11 from London using questionnaires. Securely attached unlikely to be involved in bullying, insecure avoidant most likely to be victims and insecure resistant most likely to bully.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood - What is an attachment disorder?
In some cases, if children fail to bond with CG, they may develop an attachment disorder. Reactive attachment disorder is characterised by the non-development if a child's social abilities and can be caused by number of factors.
Children with reactive attachment disorder may either display indiscriminate social relationships, or show a lack of responsiveness towards almost everyone (lack of trust).
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Relationships in adulthood with romantic partners - Outline?
1) Feeney concluded that insecurely attached people from early childhood tend to have a greater level of anxiety associated with later adult relationships. Residual from relationship w/ PCG.
2) Anxiety leads to destructive patterns of communication, reducing satisfaction and making intimate relationships harder.
3) Security of attachment in childhood - associated with levels of emotional trust and disclosure.
4) Hazan and Shaver (1987) examined association between attachment and adult relationships, analysed 620 replies to a 'love quiz' printed in an American newspaper. Found 56% were securely attached and most likely to have long-lasting secure romantic relationships. The avoidant relationships, 25%, tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy. Suggests pattern of behaviour developed in infancy is refelcted in adult relationships.
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Relationships in adulthood as a parent?
Bailey (2007) - investigated attachment of 99 mothers to their babies and to their own mothers, found from observations and interviews with the mothers and their children that those with poor attachments with their own mothers also formed poor relationships to their own children.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relations - A03 (Adult relationships)
Support for I.W.M from Morrison et al (1997) - asked college students in the US, 151 males and 217 female, to complete questionnaires describing their current or most recent intimate relationship.
- Also completed attachment style inventory to assess attachment style.
- Students with avoidant or ambivalent attachment styles described more hostility in their intimate adult relationships than students with secure style.
- Those with greater attachment security described more interdependence in relationships, supported predictive validity of Bowlby's I.W.M.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relations - A03 (Childhood relationships - Little relationship)?
Criticism - Zimmerman (2000) found very little relationship between quality of infant care and adolescent attachments.
- Matheson and Hamilton (1994) - Critical of role given to I.W.M, Suggesting no clear relationship between early parent-child relationships and child-peer relationships.
- Means early attachment a child has doesn't impact later childhood relationships.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relations - A03 (Childhood relationships - Causal nature of conclusions)?
Contradictory evidence - Questions causal nature of conclusions drawn on early attachments, comes from effects of divorce.
- Found divorce had extremely negative impact on children's adult relationships, however found to be consistent no matter the early attachment type of the child (i.e secure/insecure).
- Suggests other key experiences may be more important in determining success in later relationships, than simply considering development of I.W.M in early attachment with PCG.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relations - A03 (BOTH - Methodological - correlational analysis)?
Methodological problem - Use of correlational analysis
- Problem because we can't be confident that poor attachment styles in infancy cause problems with later childhood and adult relationships.
- Fraley (2002) - Problems emerge with his review of studies, found overall that correlations between early attachment experiences and quality of adult relationships very low, questioning strength of association and therefore the likely probable causal relationship.
- Suggests we shouldn't adopt deterministic view of poor early attachments resulting in poor childhood or adult relationships.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relations - A03 (BOTH -Ethical problems)?
Ethical problems when assessing influence of I.W.M on childhood + adult relationships.
- Socially sensitive area of study, potentially negative effects on both CG's and adults, who may be labelled as having insecure early attachment style.
- I.W.M implies parents almost entirely to blame for quality of children's relationships, causing psychological harm.
- Similarly, children with disruptive early attachments may feel adult relationships destined to be poor quality, again causing psychological harm.
- Therefore, we must be cautious drawing conclusions in this area.
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Influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relations - A03 (BOTH - Retrospective data)?
Methodological problem - When examining research into effects of early attachments and later relationships.
- Majority of studies involve adults, asking about current relationships, and then retrospective data on early childhood experiences.
- Some may not be able to recall their early attachments accurately or give valid, non-demand characteristic responses.
- Questions the validity and reliability of findings in this area.
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Economic implications of child development and attachment research - Outline?
Bowlby's research has had significant positive implications for the economy. Importance of sensitivity from PCG on early emotional attachments has improved childcare for both children with their mothers and those in care.
-UNICEF have indicated this has had continuing influence on developmental policies in ensuring the healthy development of children to becoming productive members of society and this improving the economy.
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Practical and Policy implications of attachment research - 3 factors? - Outline?
1) Caring for children in hospital - Applied to situations where children experience physical separation from primary attachment figures. Applies to visiting hours/arrangements where easy access given to parents, nurses allocated as substitute carers.
2) Adoption - Past, mothers giving a baby up for adoption encouraged to nurse child for a long time, by time of adoption, sensitive period may have passed, increasing difficulty in forming secure attachments. Today, most babies adopted within week of birth.
3) Improving quality of parenting - Especially where mother-infant relationship is not thriving. Parents encouraged to be sensitive to child's needs and respond when appropriate - Helping parents become aware of social releasers and what they signal. E.G. Circle of security project.
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Intro - What is interactional synchrony?
Can be defined as 'the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour' (Feldman, 2007). When the actions and emotions of mother and infant mirrors the other.
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Intro - Isabella et al (1989)?
- Observed 30 mothers and infants and assessed degree of synchrony.
- Also assessed the quality of mother-infant attachment.
- Found high levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother-infant attachment
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Intro - A03? (Gratier, 2003)
- Supports care-giver interaction.
- States many studies have found same patterns of observations, suggesting conclusions are reliable.
- However - interpretations remain subjective, meanings inferred e.g. hand movements or expressions.
- Difficult to know what is happening from perspective of infant.
- Means we cannot know for certain that behaviours shown in mother-infant interactions have a special meaning.
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Intro - A03 (Feldman, 2012)?
Problem - Feldman (2012) argues that synchrony (and reciprocity) simply describes behaviours that occur at the same time. Doesn't tell us their purpose.
However, some evidence that reciprocal interaction and synchrony are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment as well as in stress responses, empathy, language and moral development.
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KEY STUDY - Schaffer and Emerson - Aim?
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) aimed to investigate the formation of early attachment, in particular the age at which they developed, their emotional intensity and to whom they were directed.
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KEY STUDY - Schaffer and Emerson - Findings? (4 points)
1) Between 25 and 32 weeks, 50% showed signs of separation anxiety to specific caregiver. (Usually mother) (Specific attachment)
2) Tended to be towards caregiver that was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions.
3) Not necessarily caregiver with whom baby spent the most time.
4) By 40 weeks, 80% had a specific attachment, and 30% displayed multiple attachements.
