Attachment and Social Relationships (Ch 14)

Question 1

Attachment theory was formulated by …

Answer 1

British psychiatrist John Bowlby

- elaborated by American developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth

Question 2

Bowlby defined attachment:

Answer 2

as a strong affectional tie that binds a person to an intimate companion

Question 3

How is attachment a behavioral system?

Answer 3

humans regulate their emotional distress when under threat and achieve security by seeking proximity to another person

Question 4

ethological concept of imprinting

Answer 4

• incorporated into attachment theory
• An innate form of learning in which the young will follow and become attached to a moving object (usually the mother) during a critical period early in life

Question 5

Imprinting according to recent research

Answer 5

• The “critical” period is more like a “sensitive” period
• Imprinting can be reversed
• Imprinting does not happen without the right interplay of biological and environmental factors

Question 6

What hormone promotes attachment?

Answer 6

oxytocin

Question 7

Attachment is a product of…

Answer 7

nature and nurture interacting over time

Question 8

Bonding

Answer 8

a more biologically-based process in which parent and infant form a connection in the first hours after birth when a mother is likely to be exhilarated and her newborn highly alert

Question 9

Bowlby proposed that through their interactions with caregivers, infants construct expectations about relationships in the form of …

Answer 9

internal working models

Question 10

internal working models

Answer 10

Cognitive representations of themselves and other people that guide the processing of social information and behavior in relationships

Question 11

Securely attached infants who have received responsive care will form internal working models suggesting that they are …

Answer 11

are lovable and that other people can be trusted to care for them

Question 12

Insecurely attached infants subjected to insensitive, neglectful, or abusive care may conclude that they are…

Answer 12

difficult to love, that other people are unreliable, or both

Question 13

social referencing

Answer 13

• approximately 1year
• monitor their companions’ emotional reactions in ambiguous situations
• and use this information to decide how they should feel and behave

Question 14

emotional regulation

Answer 14

The processes involved in initiating, maintaining, and altering emotional responses
- capacity develops over time

Question 15

Very young infants are able to reduce their negative arousal by …

Answer 15

turning from unpleasant stimuli or by sucking vigorously on a pacifier

Question 16

end of the first year, infants can also regulate their emotions by …

Answer 16

rocking themselves, moving away from upsetting events, or actively seeking attachment figures who will calm them

Question 17

as children gain the capacity for symbolic thought and language…

Answer 17

they become able to regulate their distress symbolically (for example, by repeating “Mommy coming soon”)

Question 18

By 18 to 24 months, toddlers cope by…

Answer 18

• trying to control the actions of people and objects (for example, by pushing the offending person or object away)
• playing with toys and otherwise distracting themselves
• They have been observed knitting their brows or compressing their lips in an attempt to suppress their anger or sadness

Question 19

synchronized routines

Answer 19

• Caregivers and infants develop synchronized routines in which they take turns responding to each other

Question 20

Parent-infant synchrony contributes to a …

Answer 20

secure attachment relationship and to later self-regulation and empathy

Question 21

The infant forms an attachment to the caregiver in the following phases:

Answer 21

1. Undiscriminating social responsiveness (birth to 2 or 3 months)
2. Discriminating social responsiveness (2 or 3 months to 6 or 7 months)
3. Active proximity seeking or true attachment (6 or 7 months to about 3 years
4. Goal-corrected partnership (3 years and older)

Question 22

Undiscriminating social responsiveness (birth to 2 or 3 months)

Answer 22

Infants respond to voices, faces, and other stimuli, especially humans
They do not yet show a clear preference for any one person

Question 23

Discriminating social responsiveness (2 or 3 months to 6 or 7 months)

Answer 23

Infants begin to express preferences for familiar companions, but they are still friendly toward strangers

Question 24

Active proximity seeking or true attachment (6 or 7 months to about 3 years)

Answer 24

Infants form their first clear attachments, most often to their mothers

Question 25

Goal-corrected partnership (3 years and older)

Answer 25

Children adjust their behavior in order to maintain proximity to the attachment figure

Question 26

Separation anxiety

Answer 26

Once attached to a parent - - Baby becomes fretful or wary when parent leaves - Peaks b/w 14-18 mos - Gradually becomes less frequent/intense

Question 27

Stranger anxiety

Answer 27

``` Once attached to a parent - Baby becomes fretful and way when approached by a stranger - Common b/w 8-10 mos - Cont thru first year - Declines in intensity over 2nd year ```

Question 28

Quality of attachment - 4 types

Answer 28

1. Secure 2. Resistant 3. Avoidant 4. Disorganized-disoriented

Question 29

Secure attachment

Answer 29

Securely attached infants have parents who are sensitive and responsive to their needs and emotional signals - 60-65% of babies - actively explores the room when alone with his mother because she serves as a secure base - upset by separation but greets his mother warmly and is comforted by her presence when she returns - When his mother is present, the securely attached child is outgoing with a stranger

Question 30

Resistant attachment (also called anxious/ambivalent attachment)

Answer 30

Often have parents who are inconsistent in caregiving - may react enthusiastically or indifferently and are frequently unresponsive - mothers who are depressed - 10 percent - does not venture off to play even when his mother is present, probably because she is not a secure base for exploration - becomes distressed when his mother departs - perhaps because he is uncertain whether she will return - When his mother returns - infant = ambivalent - wary of strangers, even when their mothers are present

Question 31

Avoidant attachment

Answer 31

Up to 15% of 1-year-olds - parents who tend to provide either too little or too much stimulation - They seem uninterested in exploring, show little apparent distress when separated from their mothers - avoid contact or seem indifferent when their mothers return - not particularly wary of strangers but sometimes avoid or ignore them, much as they avoid or ignore their mothers - distanced themselves from their parents

Question 32

Disorganized

Answer 32

- Up to 15% of infants (more in high-risk families) - 80% of infants who have been physically abused or maltreated - mothers - severely depressed or abuse alcohol and drugs - associated with later emotional problems - reunited with their mothers after a separation - they may act dazed and freeze or lie immobilized on the floor - OR they may seek contact but then abruptly move away as their mothers approach them, only to seek contact again - appear to have been unable to devise a consistent strategy for regulating negative emotions such as separation anxiety

Question 33

disinhibited attachment

Answer 33

Involves indiscriminate friendliness, lack of appropriate wariness of strangers, and difficulty participating in real, reciprocal social interactions - REACTIVE ATTACHMENT

Question 34

Infants who experienced routine care by someone other than their mothers were ...

Answer 34

NOT much different than infants cared for almost exclusively by their mothers in the various developmental outcomes studied

Question 35

Infants who received alternative forms of care (even 20+ hours per week) were ...

Answer 35

NO less securely attached to their mothers overall than infants who were tended by their mothers

Question 36

Play

Answer 36

generally is defined as activities that do not have an obvious or direct purpose or use

Question 37

Four types of play

Answer 37

1. Locomotor play (games of tag or ball) 2. Object play (stacking blocks, making crafts) 3. Social play (mutual imitation or playing board games) 4. Pretend play (enacting roles)

Question 38

the play years

Answer 38

The years from age 2 to age 5

Question 39

Between infancy and age 5, play undergoes two changes

Answer 39

1. More social | 2. More imaginative

Question 40

Parten developed a classification system for the play of preschool children from the least to the most social

Answer 40

- Unoccupied play - Solitary play - Onlooker play - Parallel play - Associative play - Cooperative play

Question 41

Unoccupied play

Answer 41

– children stand idly, look around, or engage in apparently aimless activities such as pacing

Question 42

Solitary play

Answer 42

children play alone, typically with objects, and appear to be highly involved in what they are doing

Question 43

Onlooker play

Answer 43

– children watch others play, take an active interest, perhaps talk with the players, but do not directly participate

Question 44

Parallel play

Answer 44

– children play next to one another, do much the same thing, but they interact little (for example, two girls might sit near each other in the sandbox but do not talk)

Question 45

Associative play

Answer 45

– children interact by swapping materials, conversing, or following each other’s lead, but they are not united by the same goal (for example, the two girls may share sandbox toys and comment on each other’s sand structures)

Question 46

Cooperative play

Answer 46

- children join forces to achieve a common goal; they act as a pair or group, dividing their labor and coordinating their activities in a meaningful way (for example, the two girls collaborate to make a sand castle)

Question 47

The first pretend play occurs around age

Answer 47

one

Question 48

Between the ages of 2 and 5, pretend play

Answer 48

increases in frequency and in sophistication

Question 49

social pretend play

Answer 49

Play in which children cooperate with caregivers or playmates to enact dramas

Question 50

Researchers study peer-group acceptance through

Answer 50

sociometric techniques

Question 51

sociometric techniques

Answer 51

Methods for determining who is liked and who is disliked in a group

Question 52

Rejected children may be characterized by the following..

Answer 52

High levels of aggression | Tendency to social isolation, submissiveness, over-sensitivity to teasing, seen as “easy to push around”

Question 53

Neglected children may be characterized as

Answer 53

Having reasonably good social skills Nonaggressive Tendency to be shy, withdrawn, and unassertive

Question 54

Controversial children often show

Answer 54

good social skills and leadership qualities, like popular children, but they are also viewed as aggressive bullies, like many rejected children

Question 55

cliques

Answer 55

small friendship groups, and have little to do with the other sex

Question 56

Crowd

Answer 56

- collection of several heterosexual cliques - central to arranging organized social activities, such as parties, and provides opportunities to get to know members of the other sex as friends and as potential romantic partners

Question 57

According to Brown (1999), adolescent relationships evolve through four phases:

Answer 57

1. Initiation phase 2. Status phase 3. Affection phase 4. Bonding phase

Question 58

Initiation phase

Answer 58

- in early adolescence, the focus is on the self | To see oneself as a person capable of relating to members of the other sex in a romantic way

Question 59

Status phase

Answer 59

– in mid-adolescence, having a romantic relationship with the “right kind” of partner is important for the status it brings in the larger peer group

Question 60

Affection phase

Answer 60

– in late adolescence, the focus is on the relationship | Romantic relationships become more personal, caring relationships

Question 61

Bonding phase

Answer 61

– in the transition to early adulthood, the emotional intimacy achieved in the affection phase is connected to a long-term commitment to create a lasting attachment bond

Question 62

social convoy

Answer 62

a social network and support system that accompanies us during our life - Provides social support in the form of aid, affection, and affirmation - In the beginning, our convoy consists of our parents - The convoy expands over the years as others (family, partners, colleagues) join it but then typically shrinks in later life

Question 63

According to Carstensen (1992), the shrinking social convoy of adulthood is explained by socioemotional selectivity theory

Answer 63

- A choice older adults make to better meet their emotional needs once they perceive the time left to them as short - The perception that one has little time left to live prompts older adults to put less emphasis on the goal of acquiring knowledge for future use and more emphasis on the goal of fulfilling current emotional needs

Question 64

Romantic relationships and Adults - Filter theories

Answer 64

suggest that mate selection is a process in which we progress through a series of filters leading us from all possible partners to one partner in particular

Question 65

According to researchers, the greatest influence on mate selection is ...

Answer 65

homogamy, or similarity

Question 66

Types of love

Answer 66

1. Intimacy 2. Passion 3. Commitment

Question 67

Consummate love

Answer 67

High levels of Passion Intimacy Decision/Commitment

Question 68

Companionate love

Answer 68

High intimacy and commitment | Not much passion

Question 69

Four attachment styles in adult relationships

Answer 69

1. Secure 2. Preoccupied 3. Dismissing 4. Fearful

Question 70

Secure attachment (adult relationship)

Answer 70

View of self: Positive View of other: Positive - Secure attachment hx - Healthy balance of attachment and autonomy - Freedom to explore

Question 71

Preoccupied attachment (adult relationship)

Answer 71

View of self: Negative View of others; Positive - Resistant attachment hx - Desperate for love to feel worthy as a person - Worry of abandonment - Express anger and danger openly AKA borderline

Question 72

Dismissing attachment (adult relationship)

Answer 72

View of self: Positive View of others: Negative - Avoidant attachment hx - Shut out emotions - Defend against hurt by avoiding intimacy, dismisses the importance of relationships - "Compulsively self-reliant" AKA Avoidant PD

Question 73

Fearful attachment (adult relationship)

Answer 73

View of self: Negative View of others: Negative - Disorg/Disoriented attachment hx - Need relationships but doubt own self-worth and fear intimacy - Lack a coherent strategy for meeting attachment needs

Question 74

Attachment styles can also be described in terms of two dimensions

Answer 74

Anxiety | Avoidance

Question 75

Anxiety

Answer 75

Dimension of attachment styles | – extent of concern about the availability and responsiveness of partners

Question 76

Avoidance

Answer 76

Dimension of attachment styles | – extent of discomfort being intimate with and depending on a partner