Attachment

Question 1

CI interactions - reciprocity

Answer 1

turn-taking
Brazelton - a dance
responses from both
close attention to facial expressions

EV - observations don’t reveal purpose but is a well-controlled study

Question 2

CI interactions - interactional synchronicity

Answer 2

high synchrony = high attachment
Isabella et al assessed 20 mums and babies at 2 wees old (reaction to expressions was filmed)
mirroring micro behaviour
babies have alert phases

EV - socially sensitive but high value to society

Question 3

Stages of attachment

Answer 3

1. Asocial - behaviour to people and objects is similar. Happier in human company.
2. Indiscriminate - preference for familiar adults. No anxiety.
3. Specific - attachment with one person (the most responsive). Anxiety shown.
4. Multiple - secondary attachment. 29% have them soon after specific.

Question 4

Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 4

60 WC babies and mothers
visited 1x a month for a year then at 18 months
Diary kept by parents

50% showed stranger anxiety between 25 - 32 months
Attachment - with those who were most sensitive to social releasers

Question 5

Stages of attachment - evaluation

Answer 5

1. Schaffer - high external validity (natural behaviour) BUT self - report
2. A problem in studying asocial time - difficult to observe the behaviour
3. Carried out longitudinally - high internal validity (no confounding variables)
4. Evidence on timing conflicts - Bowlby says specific time before multiple (but some cultures show multiple from the beginning)

Question 6

Role of the father

Answer 6

Quality of play is important - related to attachment
Primary attachment - 3% of the time was the father; 27% was joint.
75% formed a secondary attachment with father
Level of response is most important - father can be nurturing too
Maternal attachment is related more to teen attachments

Question 7

Role of the father - evaluation

Answer 7

1. Research fails to provide a clear answer (could be biological or social)
2. Social biases prevent objective research

Question 8

Animal studies - Lorenz

Answer 8

Imprinting
Divided 12 goose eggs (half people; half goose)
Mixed goslings together - who do they follow?
Observed later courtship behaviour

Findings and conclusions
Critical period - few hours after birth
Sexual imprinting happens too
Incubator group - followed Lorenz

Question 9

Animal studies - Harlow

Answer 9

16 rhesus monkeys (followed into adulthood)
response to fear tested
2 conditions - cloth and wire mothers

Findings and conclusions
Preferred cloth mother (even w/o mother)
Sought comfort
As adults - very aggressive, low mating skill and neglected offspring

Question 10

Animal studies - evaluation

Answer 10

1. Practical applications - attachment figures in zoos
2. Ethical issues - rhesus monkeys are like humans
3. Support for imprinting - gloves
4. Extrapolations - birds and humans are very different

Question 11

Learning theory

Answer 11

Classical conditioning - association with stimuli

1. UCS (milk) —- UCR (pleasure)
2. UCS (milk) + NS (mum) —- UCR (pleasure)
3. CS (mum) —- CR (pleasure)

Question 12

Operant conditioning

Answer 12

Negative reinforcement - mother stops the crying and is an escape from unpleasant experience
Drive reduction - motivated to eat by hunger drive. Attachment is secondary drive, learned by association between caregiver and primary drive

Question 13

Learning theory - evaluation

Answer 13

1. Animal studies - against food as basis for attachment
2. Ignores other factors linked to attachment
3. Newer explanation based on SLT - love by modelling
4. Some elements of conditioning involved - problem is talk of food

Question 14

Monotropic theory

Answer 14

Attachment is innate - gives evolutionary advantage
Monotropy - 1 primary attachment (most important person)
Babies have social releasers - activates attachment and encourages attention
Time with mother is beneficial - law of accumulated separation and law of continuity
Internal working model - affects parenting and is a template for relationships

Question 15

Monotropic theory - evaluation

Answer 15

1. Clear evidence for social releasers - Brazleton
2. Socially sensitive - mothers are blamed and feel guilty
3. Support for internal working model - Bailey et al
4. Over emphasis on role of attachment - may be temperament too

Question 16

Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 16

Used to assess quality of attachment
procedure - 5 categories (proximity, exploration, separation, stranger and reunion.
7 episodes

Findings and conclusions
Secure (60-75%) - middle reaction
Avoidant (20-25%) - low reaction
Resistant (3%) - high reaction

Question 17

Ainsworth’s strange situation - evaluation

Answer 17

1. Good inter - rater reliability (94%)
2. Confounding variables - Ainsworth assumed quality of attachment
3. High predictive validity - attachment types predict school success
4. Culture bound - different meaning outside West (Takahashi mothers rarely separate)

Question 18

Cultural variations - Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Answer 18

Looked at proportion of attachment types in culture
32 studies (15 in USA)
1990 children
Meta - analysed (secure was most common)
Individualist culture - resistant is low (high in collectivist)

Question 19

Cultural variations - Simonelli et al

Answer 19

Women varied in education level
Used strange situation on 76, twelve month olds
50% secure, 36% avoidant because of increasing number of working mothers

Question 20

Cultural variations - evaluation

Answer 20

1. Meta analysis - very large sample has high internal validity
2. Strange situation - culturally biased
3. Confounding variables - temperament
4. Non - representative sample - looked in built up areas

Question 21

Maternal deprivation - 44 thieves

Answer 21

44 delinquent boys - interviewed for signs of psychopathy
Families - asked about prolonged separation
14 of 44 could be psychopathic (of which 12 had separations)
5 of remaining had separations
Continued care - necessary for normal development
Critical period of 30 months - separation for long time (deprivation)
- IQ suffers
- prevents normal emotional development

Question 22

Maternal deprivation - evaluation

Answer 22

1. Animal studies - demonstrated maternal deprivation (generalisability)
2. Investigator effects - Bowlby used leading questions (solved by double blind)
3. Practical applications - hospitals now have family rooms (prevents institutionalisation)
4. Extraneous variables - psychopathy could be caused by biology or experience of WW2

Question 23

Romanian orphans - effects of institutionalisation

Answer 23

Disinhibited attachment and low IQ

Question 24

Romanian orphans

Answer 24

165 orphans - can good care make up for early experiences
Development assessed at 4, 6, 11 and 15

Findings and conclusions

• Sensitive period for forming attachments (6 months)
• 1/2 showed mental retardation (recovery depended on age of adoption)
• < 6 months = 102 IQ, 6 months - 2 years = 86 IQ and >2 years = 77 IQ

Question 25

Romanian orphans - evaluation

Answer 25

1. Real life application - help with kids in care (key workers) 2. Lacks generalisability - Romanian orphanages were very bad 3. Fewer confounding variables - other orphan studies have pre - institution abuse 4. Confounding variables - caused by war, abandonment or poor nutrition (can't be sure of link)

Question 26

Early attachment - internal working model

Answer 26

Affects parenting secure children form friendships loving caregiver = functional relationships template for future relationships

Question 27

Early attachment - Hazan and Shaver

Answer 27

Assessed 3 aspects of relationships current/important relationships, general love experience and attachment type Findings and conclusions - 56% were secure, 25% were avoidant and 19% were resistant - reflected later relationships

Question 28

Early attachment - evaluation

Answer 28

1. Bailey et al - 99 babies (supports internal working model) 2. Studies rely on self - report (lowers validity) 3. Smith et al - attachment type translates to friendship 4. Free will vs. determinism - Zimmerman rejects IWM (good relationships can change effect)