Attachment - P1 Flashcards

Question

What were the conclusions of Schaffer and Emerson 1964 experiment on the stages of attachment? (AO1)

Answer 1

- The specific attachments tended to be to the person who was most interactive and sensitive to baby signals and facial expressions (i.e. reciprocity). This was not necessarily the person the baby spent most time with.

Answer 2

One strength is that the study has external validity. - Most of the observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researchers. - The alternative would be to have observers present in their babies homes. This may have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious. - This means it is highly likely that the participants behave naturally while being observed.

Answer 3

- Mothers may have been biased in what they reported, e.g. they may not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety or may have misremembered it. - This means that even if babies behave naturally, their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded.

Answer 4

One limitation is poor evidence for the asocial stage. - Because of the stage of physical development, young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile. - This makes it difficult for mothers to accurately report signs of anxiety and attachment for this age group. - This means the babies might actually become social, but because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial.

Answer 5

Another strength is real world application to day care. - In the early stages (asocial and indiscriminate attachments) babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. - But if a child starts day care later, during the stage of specific attachments, care from an unfamiliar adult may cause distress and longer-term problems. - This means that Schaffer + Emerson’s stages can help parents making day care decisions.

Answer 6

A primary caregiver is the person who spends most time with the baby caring for its needs. A primary attachment figure is the person to whom the baby has the strongest attachment. Often the same person fulfils the two roles, but not always.

Answer 7

Schaffer + Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies become attached to their mother first. This happens around seven months. - In only 3% of cases, the father was the first sole object of attachment. - In 27% of cases, the father was the joint first object of attachment with the mother.

Answer 8

- In 75% of babies studied, an attachment was formed with the father by the age of 18 months. - This was indicated by the fact that babies protested when their father walked away, a sign of attachment.

Answer 9

- Grossmann et al. (2002) carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour + its relationship to the quality of children's attachment into their teens. - This research found that the quality of attachment with the father was less important for adolescent attachment than the quality of attachment with the mother. - Therefore, fathers may be less important in long term emotional development.

Answer 10

- Grossmann et al. also found that the quality of fathers' play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments. - This suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment, one that is more to do with play + stimulation + less to do with emotional care.

Answer 11

- Some evidence suggests that when fathers do take on the role of being the main caregiver, they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers. - Field (1978) filmed 4-month-old babies + found that primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating + holding babies rather than secondary caregiver fathers. - These behaviours are related to interactional synchrony + the formation of an emotional attachment (Isabella et al. 1989)

Answer 12

- Smiling, imitating + holding babies. Interactional synchrony or behaviours that are important in building a primary emotional attachment with a baby. - So the father can be the more emotional attachment figure. - The key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness, not the gender of the parent.

Answer 13

One limitation is confusion over research questions. - Some psychologists want to understand the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures. But others are more concerned with fathers as a primary attachment figure - The former have tended to see fathers as behaving differently from others + having a distinct role. The latter have found that fathers can take on a ‘maternal’ role. - This means psychologists cannot easily answer the simple question: what is the role of the father.

Answer 14

One limitation is conflicting evidence from different methodologies. - Grossmann et al. (2002) suggests fathers have a distinct role in children's development involving play + stimulation. - However, McCallum + Golombok (2004) found that children without a father do not develop differently. - This means the question of whether fathers have a distinctive role remains unanswered.

Answer 15

- Findings may not be in conflict. Fathers may typically take on particular roles in two parent heterosexual families. Other family structures adapt to not having fathers. - This means that findings may be clear after all - there may be a distinctive role for fathers when present, but families adapt to not having one.

Answer 16

One strength is using findings in parenting advice. - Mothers may feel pressured to stay at home + fathers to focus on work. This may not be the best solution for all families. - Research on the flexibility of the role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents. - This means that parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced on parenting decisions made easier.

Answer 17

Konrad Lorenz randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs: - 1/2 were hatched with the Mother Goose in their natural environment. - The other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz. Mixed all goslings together to see whom they would follow. Lorenz also observed birds on their later courtship behaviour.

Answer 18

Incubator group followed. Lorenz, the control group followed the mother.

Answer 19

Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place e.g. a few hours after hatching. If imprinting did not occur within that time, chicks did not attach themselves to the mother figure. Sexual imprinting also occurs whereby the birds acquire a template of the desirable characteristics required in a mate.

Answer 20

Harry Harlow reared 16 rhesus monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’. - Condition 1 - Milk was dispensed by the plain-wire ‘mother’. - Condition 2 - Milk was dispensed by the cloth-wire ‘mother’. The monkeys’ preferences were measured. - To measure attachment-like behaviour, Harlow observed how the monkeys reacted when placed in frightening situations. - Harlow + his colleagues also continued to study the monkeys who had been deprived of their ‘real’ mother into adulthood.

Answer 21

- Baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother, regardless of which dispensed milk. - This suggests that contact comfort was of more important than food when it came to attachment behaviour. - The monkeys sought comfort from the cloth-covered mother when frightened.

Answer 22

As adults, the monkeys who had been deprived of their real mothers suffered severe consequences. They were more aggressive, less sociable + less skilled in mating than other monkeys.

Answer 23

One strength is support for the concept of imprinting. - Regolin + Vallortigara (1995) exposed chicks to simple shape-combinations that moved, before exposing them to difficult shape combinations - When shown a range of moving shapes, the chicks followed the simples shapes in preference to the other shapes - This suggests that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object.

Answer 24

One limitation is generalising from birds to humans. - The mammalian attachment system is quite different from imprinting in birds. - For example, mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to their young. - This means that it may not be appropriate to generalise Lorenz's ideas about imprinting to humans.

Answer 25

- The concept of imprinting can explain some human behaviour. - For example, ‘baby duck syndrome’ in which computer users become attached to their first operating system. - Means that imprinting is a meaningful process in humans as well as birds.

Answer 26

One strength is that Harlow's research has real-world value. - It has helped social workers understand risk factors in child abuse and thus intervened to prevent it (Howe 1988). - We also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes. - This means that Harlow's research has benefited both animals and humans.

Answer 27

One limitation is generalising from monkeys to humans. - Monkeys are clearly more similar to humans than Lorenz's geese, and all mammals share some similarities in their attachment systems. - However, they are not human and in some ways the human mind and behaviour are much more complex. - This means that it may not be appropriate to generalise Harlow's findings to humans

Answer 28

- Harlow's procedures caused severe long-term distress to his monkey participants, though the research led to useful applications. - However, his findings and conclusions have important theoretical and practical applications. - This suggests that, in spite of its benefits, Harlow's research perhaps should not have been carried out.

Answer 29

- Learning theory (Dollard + Miller - 1950) - Monotropic theory (Bowlby 1958,1969)

Answer 30

It is a set of theories from the behaviourist approach to psychology that emphasised the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour. Explanations for the learning of behaviour include classical and operant conditioning. - Dollard and Miller (1950)

Answer 31

This is sometimes called the ‘cupboard love’ explanation because it emphasises the importance of food in attachment formation. Children learn to love whoever feeds them.

Answer 32

Classical conditioning involves learning to associate 2 stimuli. In attachment: - UCS (food) leads to UCR (a feeling of pleasure). This response is not learned, so it is an unconditioned response (unlearned)

Answer 33

- A caregiver, e.g. mother, starts as a NS (something that produces no response) - food alone originally produced pleasure, (UCR) - However, when the caregiver provides food (the UCS), over time he/she becomes associated with ‘food’. So the neutral stimulus becomes a CS. - Once conditioning has taken place, the site of a caregiver produces a CR of pleasure. According to a learning theorist, the conditioned pleasure response is the basis of love. - Now an attachment has been formed and the caregiver becomes an attachment figure.

Answer 34

- Operant conditioning explains why babies cry for comfort (an important building block for attachment). - Crying leads to a response from the caregiver (e.g. feeding). As long as the caregiver provides the correct response, crying is reinforced because it produces a pleasurable consequence.

Answer 35

- At the same time as the baby is reinforced for crying, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops (negative reinforcement is escaping from something unpleasant which is reinforcing). - This interplay of positive/negative reinforcement strengthens an attachment.

Answer 36

- Hunger is a primary drive, an innate biological motivator. Waited to eat to reduce the hunger drive. - Attachment is a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive. Sears et al. (1957) suggested that, as caregivers provide food, the primary drive of hunger becomes generalised to them.

Answer 37

One limitation of learning theory is counter evidence from animal studies. - Lorenz's geese imprinted on the fast moving object they saw. Harlow's monkeys attached to a soft surrogate in preference to a wire, one with milk. - In both these animal studies, imprinting/attachment did not develop as a result of feeding. - This shows that factors other than feeding are important in attachment formation.

Answer 38

Another limitation is counter evidence from human studies. - Schaffer + Emerson 1964 showed that for many babies, their main attachment was not to the person who fed them. - Also Isabella et al. 1989 found that interactional synchrony (unrelated to feeding) predicted attachment quality. - Again, suggests that other factors are more important in attachment formation and feeding.

Answer 39

One strength is that some elements of conditioning could still be involved. - It seems unlikely that association with food is central to attachment. However, conditioning may still play some role in attachment. - For example, a baby's choice of primary attachment figure may be determined by the fact that a caregiver becomes associated with warmth and comfort. - This means that conditioning could still be important in choice of attachment figures, though not the process of attachment formation.

Answer 40

- However, this point of view ignores the fact that babies take a very active role in the interactions that produce attachment. For example, they initiate interactions (Feldman + Eidelman 2007). - This suggests that learning theory may be inappropriate in explaining any aspect of attachment.

Answer 41

- Attachment is innate (natural), like imprinting - Bowlby gave an evolutionary explanation that attachment is an innate system that gives a survival advantage. - Imprinting and attachment evolved because they ensure young animals stay close to their caregivers and this protects them from hazards.

Answer 42

- Monotropic = having a primary attachment figure. - Bolwby’s theory is described as monotropic because of the emphasis on the child's attachment to one caregiver (‘Mono’ = one and ‘Tropic’ = leaning towards) - This attachment is different from others and more important.

Answer 43

- Bolwby believed that the more time a baby spent with this primary attachment figure/mother figure (not necessarily the biological mother, or indeed a female) the better. There are two main reasons: >Law of continuity - The more constant a child’s care, the better the quality of attachment. >Law of accumulated Separation - The effects of every separation add up. So ‘the safest dose is therefore a zero dose’.

Answer 44

- Bolwby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate cute behaviours, e.g. smiling, cooing, gripping, that can encourage attention from adults. - The purpose of these social releases is to activate adult social interaction, i.e. making an adult attach to the baby, Bolwby recognised that attachment is a reciprocal system.

Answer 45

- Bolwby proposed that there is a critical period of about two years when the infant attached system is active. In fact, he viewed this as more of a sensitive period. - A child is maximally sensitive at six months, and this may extend up to the age of two years. If an attachment has not formed in this time, a child will find it much harder to form one later.

Answer 46

- Bolwby argued that the child formed a mental representation (internal working model) of the relationship with their primary attachment figure. This internal working model serves as a ‘template’ for what relationships are like. - A child whose first experience is a loving relationship with a reliable caregiver will tend to form an expectation that all relationships are loving and reliable. However, a child whose first relationship involves poor treatment may expect such treatment from others. - The internal working model may also affect the child’s later ability to be a parent themselves.

Answer 47

One limitation is that the concept of monotropy lacks validity. - The relationship with the primary attachment figure may simply be stronger than the other attachments, rather than different in quality as Bolwby believed. - Other family members may well develop attachments with the baby that have the same qualities, such as comfort and a secure base from which to explore. - This means that Bolwby may have been wrong to suggest that there is a unique quality to a child's primary attachment.

Answer 48

One strength is evidence supporting the role of social releases. - Brazelton et al. (1975) instructed primary attachment figures to ignore their babies’ social releasers - Babies who were previously shown to be normally responsive initially showed some distress, but eventually some curled up and lay motionless. - This shows the idea that social releases play an important role in attachment development.

Answer 49

Another strength is support for the idea of the internal working model. - The idea of the internal working model predicts that patterns of attachment will be passed from one generation to the next. - Bailey et al. (2007) studied 99 mothers. Those with poor attachment to their own parents were more likely to have one year olds who were poorly attached. - This supports Bowlby's idea of an internal working model of attachment as it is being passed through families.

Answer 50

- There are other influences on social development. For example, a baby’s genetically-influenced personality is important in the development of social behaviour, including their later parenting style. - This suggests that Bolwby over emphasised the importance of the internal working model in development.

Answer 51

- Ainsworth and Bell (1970) developed The Strange Situation as a method to assess the quality of a baby's attachment to a caregiver. - It is a controlled observation procedure in a lab (a controlled environment) with a two-way mirror through which psychologists can observe a baby's behaviour.

Answer 52

1. Proximity-seeking: well attached baby stays close to caregiver. 2. Exploration and Secure-base behaviour: Good attachment makes a baby confident to explore using the caregiver as a point of safety. 3. Stranger anxiety: displayed by well-attached babies. 4. Separation anxiety: displayed by well-attached babies. 5. Response to reunion with the caregiver after separation for a short period of time: well-attached babies are enthusiastic.

Answer 53

The procedure has seven ‘episodes’, each lasting 3 minutes. 1. Baby is encouraged to explore by caregiver. 2. Stranger enters and talks to caregiver, approaches baby. 3. Caregiver leaves. 4. Caregiver returns stranger leaves. 5. Caregiver leaves baby alone. 6. Stranger returns. 7. Caregiver returns.

Answer 54

Ainsworth and Bell found distinct patterns in the way babies behaved. They identified 3 main types of attachment: - Secure attachment (Type B; 60 - 75%; of British toddlers). - Insecure-avoidant attachment (Type A; 20 - 25% of British toddlers). - Insecure-resistant Attachment (Type C; 3% of British toddlers).

Answer 55

> Secure attachment (Type B 60 - 75%; of British toddlers). - Baby happy to explore but seeks proximity to caregiver (secure base) - Shows moderate separation anxiety and stranger anxiety. - Requires and accepts comfort from caregiver on reunion. > Insecure-avoidant attachment (Type A; 20 - 25% of British toddlers). - Baby explores freely but does not seek proximity (no secure base). - Shows little/no separation and stranger anxiety. - Avoids contact at the reunion stage. > Insecure-resistant Attachment (Type C; 3% of British toddlers). - Baby explores less, seeks greater proximity. - Shows considerable stranger and separation anxiety. - Resists comfort when reunited with caregiver.

Answer 56

One strength is the strange situation has good predictive validity. - And type predicts later development. For example, secured babies typically have greater success at school (McCormack et al. 2016) - In contrast, insecure resistant attachment is associated with the worst outcomes, e.g. bullying (Kokkinos 2007), and adult mental health problems (Ward et al. 2006) - This is evidence for the validity of the concept because it can explain (predict) future outcomes.

Answer 57

- Although the strange situation measures something that predicts later development, it may be measuring genetic differences in anxiety (Kagan 1982). - This means the strange situation may not actually measure attachment.

Answer 58

Another strength is the strange situation has good inter-rater reliability. - Different observers watching the same babies generally agree on attachment type. Bick et al. (2012) found 94% agreement in one team. - this may be because the strange situation takes place under controlled conditions and because the behavioural categories are easy to observe. - This means that we can be confident that the type of attachment of a baby identified in the strange situation does not just depend on who is observing them.

Answer 59

One limitation is that the strange situation may be a culture bound test. - The strange situation test might not have the same meaning in countries outside Europe and the US where it was created. - Cultural differences in children's experiences mean they respond differently. e.g. Japanese baby show anxiety because they are not used to being left by caregiver (Takahashi 1986) - This means it is difficult to know what the strange situation is measuring in some countries/cultures.

Answer 60

- Main + Solomon (1986) identified a 4th category of attachment - disorganised (type D) a mix of resistant and avoidant behaviours. - However, Type D babies are unusual and have generally experienced some severe form of neglect or abuse associated with later psychological disorders. - This means that Ainsworth's classification is inadequate as a description of normal variations in attachment.

Answer 61

- The researchers looked at the proportions of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachment across a range of countries. - They also looked at the differences within the same countries to get an idea of variations within a culture.

Answer 62

- They found 32 studies of attachment where the Strange Situation had been used. These were conducted in eight countries, 15 in the US. overall the studies yielded results for 1,990 children - The data was meta-analysed, results being combined and weighed for sample size.

Answer 63

- Secure attachment was the most common classification in all countries, but ranged from 50% in China to 75% in Britain.

Answer 64

- In individualistic cultures, rates of insecure-resistant attachment were similar to Ainsworth's original sample (all under 14%) but this was not true for the collectivist samples from China, Japan and Israel, where rates were above 25% (and where rates of insecure-avoidant attachment were reduced). - This suggests that there were cultural differences in the distribution of insecure attachment. - Variations between results of studies within the same country were actually 150% greater than those between countries. - In the US, one study found 46% securely attached compared to one sample as high as 90%.

Answer 65

Simonelli et al. (2014) assessed 76 babies aged 12 months in Italy using the strange situation to see whether the proportion of attachment types still matched previous studies in Italy.

Answer 66

Simonelli et al. found that 50% were secure, with 36% insecure-avoidant. This lower rate of secure attachment may be because increasingly mothers work long hours and use more childcare. This shows that cultural changes can affect patterns of attachment.

Answer 67

Jin et al. (2012) compared the attachment types of 87 Korean babies to proportions in other countries.

Answer 68

Jin et al. found similar patterns of secure and insecure attachment to other studies. However, within insecure categories, there were differences - only one baby was avoidant. This pattern is similar to Japan and may be because both countries have similar child-rearing practices

Answer 69

One strength of the studies is the use of indigenous researchers. - Indigenous researchers are those from the same cultural background as the participants. e.g. Grossmann et al. 1981 Germans working with German participants. - Using indigenous researchers aids communication between researchers and participants and helps prevent misunderstandings. e.g. of instructions. - There is an excellent chance that researchers and participants communicated successfully, increasing the validity of the study.

Answer 70

- This has not been true of all cross-cultural attachment research, e.g. Americans Morelli + Tronick 1991 investigated the Efe in Zaire - This means that some cross-cultural attachment research may have communication errors and hence lacks validity.

Answer 71

One limitation is the impact of confounding variables. - Studies conducted in different countries may not be matched for sample characteristics. e.g. studies in different countries may use children of different ages and social classes. - Environmental variables may also differ e.g. using smaller rooms, which might encourage babies to explore more. - This means that studies assessing attachment types carried out in different countries may tell us little about cultural differences in attachment.

Answer 72

Another limitation is imposing a test designed in one culture (an imposed etic) - Using a test (the strange situation) in a different cultural context from the one for which it was designed may be meaningless. - The strange situation was designed in the US, where lack of affection at reunion represents insecure attachment. In Germany, It would be seen as a sign of independence. - This means that it may be meaningless to compare attachment behaviour across countries.

Answer 73

It is the emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother or mother-substitute. - Bowlby proposed that continuous care from a mother is essential for normal psychological development, and that prolonged separation from this adult causes serious damage to emotional and intellectual development

Answer 74

- Emotional maternal care from my mother or mother substitute is necessary for normal emotional and intellectual development.

Answer 75

- Bowlby believed that mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as our vitamins and proteins for physical health.

Answer 76

- Separation means the child not being physically in the presence of the primary attachment figure. - Deprivation means losing emotional care as a result of the separation. Deprivation can be avoided if alternative emotional care is offered. Thus, separation does not always cause deprivation.

Answer 77

- If a child is separated from their mother without substitute emotional care for an extended time during the first 2 1/2 years, then psychological damage is inevitable. There is a continuing risk up to the age of 5.

Answer 78

- If a child is deprived of maternal care for too long during the critical period, this may lead to mental retardation. Goldfarb (1947) found lower IQs in children from institutions compared to foster children.

Answer 79

- Lack of emotional care may also lead to affectionless psychopathy - the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others. This prevents the person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality.

Answer 80

- The sample in this study was 44 delinquent teenagers accused of stealing. - All ‘thieves’ were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy, characterised by a lack of affection, guilt and empathy. - Families were also interviewed to establish any prolonged separations from mothers.

Answer 81

- 14 of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths. Twelve of these had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives. - In contrast, only five with the remaining 30 ‘thieves’ (control group) had experienced separations. This suggests prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy.

Answer 82

One limitation is that sources of evidence for maternal deprivation are flawed. - The 44 thieves study is flawed because it was open to bias - Bowlby himself assessed both deprivation and psychopathy knowing what he hoped to find. - Also, Goldfarb's (1943) study of wartime orphans is flawed because he used traumatised participants who lacked good aftercare. This introduced confounding variables. - Means that Bowlby originally had no solid evidence on which to base his theory of maternal deprivation.

Answer 83

- There is some evidence from newer studies to support the theory of maternal deprivation. For example, Levy et al. 2003 found that separating baby rats for one day had a permanent effect on their social development. - This means that there is now some evidence for the theory of maternal deprivation after all.

Answer 84

Another limitation is Bowlby confused deprivation and privation. - Rutter (1981) made the distinction between deprivation (separation from an attachment figure) and privation (failure to form attachment) - privation has more serious effects. - the children Bowlby studied (e.g. the 44 thieves) and the others he based his ideas on (e.g. goldfarb's wartime orphans) may have been prived rather than deprived. - This means that Bowlby probably exaggerated the effects of deprivation on development.

Answer 85

A further limitation is the critical period is more of a sensitive period. - Koluchova (1976) conducted a case study of Czech twin boys isolated from age 18 months (locked in a cupboard). Later, they were looked after by two loving adults and appeared to recover fully. - Shows that severe deprivation can have positive outcomes, provided that the child has some social interaction and good aftercare. - This means that the period identified by Bowlby may be a sensitive one, but it cannot be critical.

Answer 86

- The researchers have followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans who experienced very poor conditions before being adopted in the UK. - This longitudinal study has tested the extent to which good care can make up for poor early experiences in institutions. Physical, cognitive and emotional development has been assessed at 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25 years - he also followed a control group of 52 adopted children from the UK

Answer 87

Half of the orphans showed delayed intellectual development when they came to the UK. At age 11, recovery rates were related to their age at adoption. - Those adopted before six months had a mean IQ of 102. - Those adopted after two years had a mean IQ of 77. These differences continue to be apparent at age 16 (Beckett et al. 2010)

Answer 88

Frequency of disinhibition Attachment related to the age at adoption. - Apparent in children adopted after they were six months old: clinginess, attention, seeking and indiscriminate affection to strangers. - Rare in children adopted before the age of 6 months. - These findings support Bowlby's view that there is a sensitive period in the development of attachments - a failure to form an attachment before the age of 6 months and after the age of two years appears to have long-lasting effects.

Answer 89

- The researchers used the strange situation to assess attachment in 95 Romanian children aged 12 to 31 months, who had spent most of their lives in institutional care. - They were compared to a control group of 50 children who had never experienced institutional care.

Answer 90

- Only 19% of the Institutionalised Group were securely attached (74% of the controls) - 44% of the institutionalised group had characteristics of disinhibited attachment (20% of the controls)

Answer 91

- Disinhibited attachment. Such children tend to be equally friendly and affectionate towards people they know well, or total strangers. This may be an adaptation to multiple caregivers. - Damage to Intellectual development. Institutionalised children often show signs of intellectual disability. This effect is not as pronounced if the children are adopted before six months of age.

Answer 92

One strength of the Romanian orphans study is real-world application. - Results from this research have led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions. - Children's homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child. They have one or two key workers who play a central role. - This means children in institutional care have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided.

Answer 93

Another strength is fewer confounding variables than other research. - There were many studies before the remaining orphans became available to study. These often involve children who experienced loss or trauma before they were institutionalised. - Abuse and bereavement meant it was hard to observe the effects of institutionalisation in isolation. The children were affected by multiple factors functioning as confounding variables. - This means we can be fairly sure that differences in institutionally-cared-for children are the result of this type of care (high internal validity)

Answer 94

- Romanian orphan studies may have new confounding variables because quality of care was so poor, making it hard to separate effects of institutional care from those of poor institutional care. - This means that internal validity might not be better than in previous studies after all.

Answer 95

One limitation is the lack of data on adult development. - It is too soon to say for certain whether children suffered permanent effects, because we only have data on their development as far as their early 20s. - Be some time before we have information about some key research questions (e.g. orphans’ ability to form and maintain romantic and parenting relationships) - This means the Romanian orphan studies have not yet yielded their most important findings. Some children may ‘catch up’

Answer 96

- The quality of a child's first attachment is crucial because it provides a template that will affect the nature of their future relationships. This is due to the influence of the internal working model created by that first attachment.

Answer 97

- A child whose first experience as a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure assumes this is how all relationships are meant to be. They will then seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them.

Answer 98

- A child with bad experiences of their first attachment will bring these experiences to bear on later relationships. This may mean they struggle to form relationships in the 1st place or they do not behave appropriately in them.

Answer 99

- Securely attached babies tend to form the best quality childhood friendships (Kerns, 1944) - Securely attached children are less likely to be involved in bullying, whereas insecure-avoidant children and most likely to be victims and insecure-resistant are most likely to be bullies (Myron-Wilson and Smith, 1988)

Answer 100

- People base their parenting style on their internal working model. Bailey et al. (2007) found the majority of mothers had the same attachment classification to their babies as they had to their own mothers. - Hazan and Shaver found a link between attachment type and quality of adult romantic relationships

Answer 101

- The researchers analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ printed in an American local newspaper. - The quiz assessed 3 different aspects of a relationship (1) current and most important relationship, (2) general love experiences + (3) attachment type.

Answer 102

The Respondents attachment type was reflected in their romantic relationships: - Secure respondents were the most likely to have good and longer lasting romantic relationships. - Avoidant respondents tended to be jealous, and fear intimacy.

Answer 103

One strength is strong research support - there are many studies showing a link between infant attachment type and later development, including bullying, success in romantic relationships and parenting - A review by Fearon and Roisman (2017) concluded that infant attachment influenced development in many ways. Disorganised attachment was most predictive e.g. of later mental disorder - This means that insecure attachment appears to convey a disadvantage for children's development

Answer 104

- Not all evidence supports the link between infant attachment and later development. For example the Regensburg longitudinal study (Becker-Stoll et al. 2008) found no evidence of continuity of attachment type from age 1 to 16 years - this means it is not clear how strongly attachment influences later development

Answer 105

One limitation is validity issues with retrospective studies - Most studies assess participants’ attachment type (not in infancy) using questionnaires for interviews. These rely on honest reviews - A further problem is that these studies assess attachment in late childhood or adulthood and assume that it has remained the same since infancy - This means that the measures of attachment may not be valid

Answer 106

Another limitation is possible confounding variables - Some studies do make assessments of infant attachment and follow up children, assessing their later development - However, these studies may be affected by confounding variables. For example parenting parenting style and personality might be affect both attachment and later development - This means that we can never be entirely sure that it is infant attachment and not some other factor that is influencing later development

Attachment - P1 Flashcards

(130 cards)