Attatchment

Question 1

What is the procedure of Lorenz’s research ?
What were the findings ?

Answer 1

. Goslings saw Lorenz when they hatched
. Newly hatched chicks attach to the first moving object they see (Imprinting)

Question 2

What is sexual imprinting ?

Answer 2

A form of learned mate preference for a trait that an individual has observed in its population

Question 3

What is the evaluation of Lorenz’s research ?

Answer 3

Generalisability = birds and mammals have different attachment systems - Lorenz’s results may not be relevant to humans

Some observations questioned = Gulton et all: birds imprinting on rubber gloves did later prefer their own species

Question 4

What was the procedure of Harlow’s research ?
What were the findings ?

Answer 4

. Baby monkeys given cloth or wire ‘mother’ with feeding bottle attached
. Monkeys clung to cloth surrogate rather than wire one, regardless of which dispensed milk

Question 5

What is the critical period ?

Answer 5

After 90 days attachment would not form

Question 6

What is the evaluation for Harlow’s research ?

Answer 6

. Theoretical value = demonstrated that attachment depends more on contact comfort than feeding

. Ethical issues = monkeys grew up socially dysfunctional

. Practical value = shows that all childrens needs need to be catered for, for long term development

Question 7

Describe the process of caregiver - infant interactions

Answer 7

Interactions = babies have frequent and important interactions with their caregiver

Reciprocity = mothers respond to infant altertness. From 3 months close attention between mother/infant

Question 8

What is the evaluation for caregiver - infant interactions ?

Answer 8

. Hard to know whats happening = observe simple gesture and expression, and assume infants intentions

. Controlled observations = capture fine detail

. Purpose of synchrony and reciprocity = Feldman: just observations, purpose not entirely understood

Question 9

What is the role of the father ?
How are fathers as primary caregivers ?

Answer 9

. Grossman: attachment to fathers less important but fathers may have a different role (play and simulation)

. Field: fathers as primary carers adopt attachment behaviour more typical of mothers

Question 10

What is the evaluation for role of the father ?

Answer 10

. Inconsistent findings = different research questions, overall picture unclear

. Children without fathers aren’t different = suggests the father role is not important

. Fathers are not primary attachments = may be due to traditional gender roles or biology differences

Question 11

What is Bowlbys’ theory ?
(monotropy, social releasers and the critical period, internal working model)

Answer 11

. monotropy = one particular attachment is different in quality and importance than others

. Social releasers and the critical period = innate cute behaviours in the first 2yrs

. Internal Working Model = mental representations of the primary attachment relationship are templates for future relationships

Question 12

What is the evaluation for Bowlbys theory ?

Answer 12

. Mixed evidence for monotropy = some babies form multiple attachments without a primary attachment

. Support for social releasers = when social releasers are ignored babies become upset

. Support for internal working model = quality of attachment is passed on through generations in families

Question 13

What is the learning theory ?

Answer 13

.Classical conditioning = caregiver (neutral stimulus) associated with food (unconditioned stimulus). Caregiver becomes conditioned stimulus

. Operant conditioning = crying behaviour reinforced positively for infant and negatively for caregiver

. Attachment becomes a secondary drive through association with hunger

Question 14

What is the evaluation for learning theory ?

Answer 14

. Animal studies = Lorenz and Harlow showed that feeding is not the key to attachment

. Human research = Shcaffer and Emerson - most primary attachment figures were the mother even when others did the most feeding

. Ignores other factors = cannot account for the importance of sensitivity and interactional synchrony

Question 15

What were the aims, method and findings of Schaffer and Emersons study ?

Answer 15

Aims = To investigate the age of attachment formation and who attachments are formed with

Method = mothers of 60 Glasgow babies reported monthly on separation anxiety

Findings = most babies showed attachment to a primary caregiver by 32 weeks and developed multiple attachments soon after this

Question 16

What is the evaluation for Schaffer and Emerson’s study ?

Answer 16

. Good external validity = Observations were in participants natural environment

. Longitudinal design = some participants were observed at each age, eliminating individual differences as a confound

. Limited sample characteristics = same area 50 years ago

Question 17

What were Schaffer’s stages of attachment ?

Answer 17

Asocial stage = little observable social behaviour

Indiscriminate attachment = more observable attachment behaviour, accept cuddles from any adult

Specific attachments = stranger anxiety and separation anxiety in regard to one particular adult

Question 18

What is the evaluation for Schaffer’s stages off attachment ?

Answer 18

Asocial stage = social behaviour is hard to observe in the first few weeks but this doesn’t mean the baby is ‘asocial’

Measuring multiple attachments = just because a child protests when an adult leaves doesn’t necessarily mean attachment

Question 19

What is Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation ?

Answer 19

.Separation vs Deprivation = physical separation only leads to deprivation when the child loses emotional care

. Critical Period = first 30 months are critical and deprivation in that time causes damage

Effects on development = emotional development; e.g: affectionless psychopathology

Question 20

What was the 44 thieves study (Bowlby) ?

Answer 20

44 prisoners - thieves
44 normal people - controlled group

many more affectionless psychopaths than controls had a prolonged separation

Question 21

What was Ainsworth’s strange situation ?

Answer 21

Measuring attachment quality

Question 22

What was the procedure of the strange situation ?

What were the findings ?

Answer 22

7 - stage controlled observation
Assessed proximity seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger and separation anxiety and response to reunion

Infants showed consistent patterns of attachment behaviour

Question 23

What are the 3 types of attachment in Ainsworth’s strange situation ?

Answer 23

Secure = enthusiastic greeting, generally content

Avoidant = avoids reunion, generally reduced responses

Resistant = resists reunion, generally more distressed

Question 24

What is the evaluation for Ainsworth’s strange situation ?

Answer 24

. Support for validity = attachment type predicts later social and personal behaviour, e.g: bullying

. Good reliability = different observers agree 90% + of the time on childrens attachment types

. Culture-bound: Attachment behaviour may have different meanings in different cultures so the SS may be measuring different things

Question 25

What was Rutters ERA study ? (Romanian orphan studies)

Answer 25

165 orphans adopted in Britain. Some of those adopted later show IQ and disinhibited attachment

Question 26

What was the Bucharest Early intervention project ?

Answer 26

Random allocation to institutional care of fostering. Secure attachment in 19% of institutional group vs 74% of controls

Question 27

What are the effects of institutionalisation ?
(Romanian orphan studies)

Answer 27

Disinhibited attachment and delay in intellectual development if insitutionalisation is prolonged

Question 28

What is the evaluation for Romanian orphan studies ?

Answer 28

. Real - life application = both institutional care and adoption practice have been improved using lessons from Romanian orphans

. Fewer extraneous variables = Romanian orphans have fewer negative influences before institutionalisation than e.g: war orphans

. Romanian orphanages not typical = conditions were so bad that results may not generalise to better instiutions

Question 29

What is Van Ijzendoorns study of cultural variations ?

What were the conclusions ?

Answer 29

. He compared rates of attachment type in 8 countries

. Appears that attachment is innate and universal and secure attachment is the norm - However, cultural practices affect rates of attachment types

Question 30

What is the evaluation for cultural variations ?

Answer 30

. High Reliability = Use of the SS as a procedure means that a comparison can be made across cultures

. Not representative = not an equal amount of studies in each country. Not all countries represented (Africa and South America)

. Applying SS procedures and behavioural categories is ethnocentric = cross-cultural research using the SS judges and categorises infant behaviour according to behavioural categories based on middle-class American infants

Question 31

What influence does early attachment have on relationships in later childhood ?

Answer 31

. Kerns = securely attached children have better relationships
. Myron - Wilson and Smith = securely attached children less likely to be involved in bullying

Question 32

What influence does early attachment have on relationships with romantic partners ?

Answer 32

. McCarthy = securely attached adults have better relationships with friends and partners
. Hazan and Shaver = secure responders had better and longer - lasting relationships, avoidant responders have fear of intimacy

Question 33

What is the evaluation for the influence of early attachment on later relationships ?

Answer 33

. Evidence is mixed = Zimmerman: found little relationship between quality of attachment and later attachment

. Low Validity = most studies assess infant attachment by retrospective self - report which lacks validity

. Association doesn’t mean causality = a 3rd factor like temperament might affect both infant attachment and later relationships