attachment: part two Flashcards
(26 cards)
Outline how Lorenz studied attachment: (4)
- eggs randomly divided
- half were hatched with mother present (natural environment)
- half hatched in an incubator with Lorenz present
- behaviour of all goslings recorded
Outline how Harlow studied attachment: (6`)
- in a controlled environment, infant monkeys were reared with two mother surrogates
- plain wire mother which dispensed food
- cloth covered mother with no food
- time spent with each mother recorded
- details of fear conditions
- long-term effects recorded - sociability snd mating affected
Lorenz imprinting study: findings and conclusion (3)
- incubator group followed Lorenz
- control group followed mother goose
- Lorenz identified critical period where imprinting must happen or chick will never attach to a mother figure
- sexual imprinting occurs when birds acquire needed ‘desirable characteristics’ in a mate
Harlow imprinting study: findings and conclusion (4)
- baby monkey preferred soft mum than wire one - regardless of which dispensed food
- suggests contact and comfort more important than food when it came to attachment behaviour
- monkeys sought comfort from soft mum when scared
- long-term effects - sociability snd mating affected
What the definition of ‘learning theory’
- set of theories from behaviorist approach to psychology
- reinforces idea that all behavior is learned through experiences rather than innate
What are the 2 types of conditioning that are associated with learning theory? Who identified them?
- Classical conditioning - learning through association
- Operant conditioning - learning through reinforcements
- Identified by Dollard and Miller
What is classical conditioning? (1 point, 4 key steps)
- Classical conditioning is based on a process of association:
1. US (need for food) -> UR (pleasure
2. NS (caregiver) -> no response
3. US + NS (food and caregiver) -> UR (pleasure)
4. CS (caregiver) -> CR (pleasure)
What is operant conditioning? (2 points, 3 key steps)
- operant conditioning is based on a process of reinforcement:
- Used to explain why babies cry for comfort (important building block for attachment)
1. when crying leads to a positive response from caregiver (e.g food) crying gets positive reinforcement had pleasurable response
2. when baby cries, caregiver gets negative reinforcement (escaping something unpleasant) when crying stops - reinforcement
3. two-way/reciprocal system strengthens an attachment
State 2 limitations of Dollard and Miller’s Learning theory in terms of research:
- contradicting research: Harlow - monkeys attached to soft mother than wire one with milk - suggests attachment doesn’t form due to feeding - generalisabale?
- Schaffer and Emerson - many babies primary attachment wasn’t the person who fed them - more important factors in attachments
State a limitation of Dollard and Miller’s Learning theory in terms of practical application:
- practical application - ignores other factors linked with attachment - e.g research shows that reciprocity/interactional synchrony plays a key role
Outline Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory (6m)
Monotropy, social releases, critical period, internal working model
- evolutionary perspective to attachment - believed attachments were innate and gives a survival advantage
- emphasis on a child’s attachment to one particular caregiver that is different and more important than others - monotropy
- babies born with set of ‘social releasers’ - cute behaviours that encourage attention from adults
- critical period - 2 years - sensitive period - if attachment not made in this time - much harder to form one later
- internal working model - child’s mental representations of their relationship with their primary caregiver - model for future relationaships
What is Ainsworth’s ‘The Strange Situation’?
The Strange Situation is a controlled observation used a method to assess the quality of a child’s attachment to a caregiver
The Strange Situation: 5 categories used to judge attachment quality
- proximity-seeking - secure will stay close
- secure-base behaviour - secure will explore - caregiver point of safety
- stranger anxiety - shown by secure
- separation anxiety - shown by secure
- reunion behaviour - secure will be enthusiastic
The Strange Situation: 7 episodes
Each ep lasted 3 minutes:
- child encouraged to explore by CG
- stranger enters + talks to CG
- CG leaves
- CG returns, stranger leaves
- CG leaves - baby alone
- stranger returns
- caregiver returns
The Strange Situation: Findings (3)
- Secure-attachment 70% of British toddlers
- Insecure-avoidant 15%
- Insecure- resistant 15%
Insecure-avoidant attachment
SEPARATION ANXIETY: No sign of distress when the the mother leaves
ST ANXIETY: The infant is okay with the stranger and plays normally when the stranger is present
REUNION BEHAVIOUR: The Infant shows little interest when the mother returns
OTHER: The mother and stranger are able to comfort the infant equally well
Insecure-resistant attachment
SEP ANXIETY: Intense distress when the mother leaves
ST ANXIETY: The infant avoids the stranger - shows fear of the stranger
REUNION BE: The infant approaches the mother, but resists contact, may even push her away
OTHER: cries more and explores less than the other two types
secure attachment
SEP ANXIETY: Distressed when mother leaves
ST ANXIETY: Avoidant of stranger when alone, but friendly when the mother is present
REUNION: Positive and happy when mother returns
OTHER: Uses the mother as a safe base to explore their environment
Evaluate the Strange Situation as a method for researching cross-cultural variation (3 key points)
(if it was an 8m - only use 2)
- High inter-rater reliability - controlled observation, set behavioural categories (e.g stranger anxiety) + standardised procedures - results aren’t affected by observer bias
- Low validity - temperament may be a confounding variable - doesn’t consider child’s genetic persona - many showed secure - matches with Bowlby?
- Low external-validity - euro-centric procedure - pluralist cultures - babies may show little stranger anxiety - BUT secure was most popular?
State the two studies into cultural variations of attachment
- van ljzendoorn and kroonenberg - meta-analysis
- simonelli et al - Italian study
Van ljendoorn and kroonenberg: Procedure (3)
- researchers looked at the proportions of attachment types across a range of countries and variations within a culture
- 32 studies of attachment where the Strange Situaion had been used - conducted in 8 countries (15 in the USA)
- studies yielded results for over 1990 children - meta-analysed
Van ljendoorn and kroonenberg: which was the most common attachment type?
Secure attachment was the most common in all countries - 50% in China and 70% in Britain
Van ljendoorn and kroonenberg: describe the variations between individualists and collectivist cultures? (3)
- individualist cultures - rates of insecure-resistant attachment similar to Ainsworth’s findings (15%)
- collectivist (china, japan..) - rates were above 25% + rates of insecure-avoidant attachment reduced
- suggests that there were cultural differences in the distribution of insecure attachment
Van ljendoorn and kroonenberg: what did they find about variations between the same country?
- variations within the country were 150% greater than between countries
- USA - one study found 46% securely attached compare to one sample as high as 90%
