Attachment Key Terms Flashcards
FPP4 Revision
Affectionless Psychopathy
Bowlby coined this term to describe those who don’t show remorse, guilt, shame or concern or affection for others.
Altricial
Helpless at birth or hatching, and requiring parental care as an infant.
Humans are altricial, meaning we must form bonds with adults who will protect & nurture us.
(Opposite of precocial)
Asocial Stage
Schaffer’s 1st Attachment Stage
0 - 6 weeks
Infant may respond to faces or voices, but no attachments are yet formed.
Attachment
Schaffer (1993): ‘A close emotional relationship between two persons, characterised by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity.’
(Usually describes infant & mother)
Collectivist Cultures
Concerned with group & community as opposed to self. Decisions often involved what is food for others.
(e.g. Japan)
Contact Comfort
Physical & emotional comfort an infant receives from proximity to mother.
Continuity Hypothesis
The idea that early relationships with caregivers predict later relationships in adulthood.
Critical Period
A time period where an attachment has to form/ characteristics are learnt, or they never will.
(Harlow proposed the idea for monkeys, and Bowlby later used the same principal for humans)
Disinhibited Attachment
When a child shows equal affection to strangers as they do to well-known people, seeking comfort & attention from anyone, without distinction.
Disorganised attachment
Insecure attachment, displaying inconsistent behavioural pattern, varying between secure & insecure.
Evolutionary Explanation
Explanation for behaviour such as attachment that views it as a way of increasing the chances of survival.
Imitation
Infant directly copies the caregiver’s expression.
Imprinting
Where offspring follow the first-object they see as soon as they have been born/hatched.
Indiscriminate Attachment
Schaffer’s 2nd Attachment Stage
2-7 months
Infant can distinguish between familiar & unfamiliar people, but without stranger anxiety
Individualistic Cultures
Concerned with themselves, usually countries that promote independence.
(e.g. USA, Germany)
Insecure-Avoidant Attachment
A term developed by Ainsworth in the Strange Situation to describe…
- Low stranger anxiety
- Low separation anxiety
- Little response to reunion with mother
Insecure-Resistant Attachment
A term developed by Ainsworth in the Strange Situation to describe…
- High stranger anxiety
- High separation anxiety
- Resistance to comfort at reunion with mother
Institutionalisation
The effects of growing up in an institution, such as a children’s home or orphanage
Interactional synchrony
A simultaneous interaction between infant & caregiver who seemingly act rhythmically and match each other’s actions & emotions in a coordinated manner.
(Like a dance)
Feldman: ‘Temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour’ & ‘symbolic exchanges between parent and child’
[Feldman (2007) said it serves a critical role in developmental outcomes in terms of self-regulation, symbol use and capacity for empathy]
Internal Working Model
Mental representation of our relationship with our primary caregiver which becomes a template for future relationships.
Learning Theory
Explanations that emphasise the role of learning in acquiring behaviours such as attachment
Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis
Separation from the mother figure in early childhood has can cause damage to a child’s emotional & intellectual development, even… AFFECTIONLESS PSYCHOPATHY
Monotropy (& Monotropic Theory)
A unique & close attachment to one person (the primary attachment figure)
Bowlby’s theory that attachment is an innate system that is biologically programmed from birth.
Multiple Attachments
Schaffer’s 4th Attachment Stage
10/11 months +
Formation of emotional bonds with more than one carer (usually family, e.g. siblings or grandparents)
