Attatchment

Question 1

What is attachment? (2)

Answer 1

An emotional two way bond between people that last over time. It leads to behaviors such as proximity-seeking and clinging.

Question 2

What is a caregiver? (1)

Answer 2

A person providing care for a child such as a mother, farther, sibling etc.

Question 3

What is interactional synchrony? (2)

Answer 3

When two people mirror another’s facial or body movements and emotions. It is synchrony as the two move in a pattern together.

Question 4

What is reciprocity? (2)

Answer 4

Responding to an action with a similar action, where the actions elicit a response from the partner. The responses are not identical as in interactional synchrony.

Question 5

Give an example of a study into reciprocity (3)

Answer 5

1970s research showed infant and caregiver interactions were coordinated like a conversation. The baby followed a rhythm of taking turns like a conversation. This is an example of reciprocity.

Question 6

Why is the conversation like rhythm in caregiver interactions important, according to Brazelton? (3)

Answer 6

It was a precursor to later interactions.
It rhythm allowed the caregiver to anticipate and respond to the infants behavior. This lays the groundwork for an attachment between the caregiver and the baby.

Question 7

Give the procedure of a study into interactional syncronisation (6)

Answer 7

Meltzoff and Moore chose 4 stimuli (3 face and 1 hand gesture where the fingers moved in s sequence) and observed infant response to this.
A dummy was placed in the babies mouth during this action to prevent any response and after removed.
The observer watched videos of the infants reaction in real time, slow motion and frame by frame.
Independent observers, who did not know what the infant had seen, looked out for tongue protrusions and the returning of the tongue to the mouth and the opening and closing of the mouth.
They scored the tapes twice so intra and inter observer reliability could be calculated, the scores were all higher than 0.92.

Question 8

What arguments are there to suggest the imitation in caregiver interactions is real? (3)

Answer 8

Piaget said true imitation began at the start of the 1st year and that anything before this was response training.
She argued the child was just repeating an action that they felt was being rewarded.
For example, a caregiver sticks out its tongue and so does an infant causing the caregiver to smile, a reward. The child will repeat this behavior next time.
This is not consciously matched movement .

Question 9

What arguments are there to suggest the imitation in caregiver interactions is real?

Answer 9

Muary and Trevarthen- 2 month old saw mother on real time video camera. Then a tape of the mother was played so they were not responding to the infant, causing the infants distress and to turn away.
This shows they are trying to elicit a response, not showing a reward behavior, and that they are active in the the mother-infant relationship. It suggests that behaviors are innate not learned.

Question 10

Why are there problems testing infant behavior? (evaluate)

Answer 10

It is hard to test infant behavior. They are in constant motion so it hard to tell if an action is a response or a general action.
To overcome this Meltzoff and Moore then decided to to film infants and ask observers to to judge there behavior The observer didn’t know what was being imitated increasing the internal validity.

Question 11

Give examples of how studies on caregiver interactions are hard to replicate (evaluate)

Answer 11

Koope et al did not replicate but it is arguably due to lack of control.
Marian replicated it and found infants couldn’t tell between video and real time mother, suggesting they are not responding to their actions.

Question 12

How was it tested weather response from infants in caregiver interactions was intentional? (evaluate)

Answer 12

It was found that infants 5-12 weeks made little response with objects stimulating tongue and mouth movements. Therefore, the response is a specific social reaction to humans.

Question 13

How is individual differences important to interactional syncrony? (evaluate)

Answer 13

Research shows more strongly attached infants show more interactional syncrony. This shows a close relationship between strength of relationship and syncrony.
Infants who show show a lot of imitation from birth seem to have better a relationship quality at 3 months, although it is not know if this is a cause or effect of early syncrony.

Question 14

What is the value of research into caregiver interactions? (evaluate)

Answer 14

Meltzoff’s ‘like me’ hypothesis. There is a connection between what infant sees and their imitation of this, second they associate their own acts and mental states and third they project their experiences onto those performing similar acts. It allows them to understand how people think and feel, allowing them social relationships.

Question 15

What is a multiple attachment?

Answer 15

Having more than one attachment figure

Question 16

What is a primary attachment figure?

Answer 16

The person with the closet, most intense relationship with the child. Normally a mother but can be others like a sibling or father.

Question 17

What is separation anxiety?

Answer 17

Distress shown when a child is separated from its caregiver

Question 18

What is stranger anxiety?

Answer 18

Distress shown when an infant is approached or picked up by a stranger

Question 19

What was the aim of Schaffer and Emerson’s study in 1964 on attachment?

Answer 19

To investigate the development of attachments

Question 20

What was the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s study in 1964 on attachment?

Answer 20

Participants: 60 infants from working class homes in Glasgow aged 5-23 weeks
Duration: infants studied for a year
Procedure: Mothers visited every 4 weeks where they reported infant's response to 7 situations of separation. They described the intensity if the cry which was rated on a 4 point scale. They reported who the cry was directed at. Stranger anxiety was measured by the infant's reaction to the experimenter each visit.

Question 21

Describe the four stages of attachment.

Answer 21

1. Indiscriminate Attachment, birth - 2 months
   Same response to animate and inanimate objects but prefer social stimuli toward the end of this period. Reciprocity and International Synchronization play a role in their relationships.
2. Beginning of Attachment, 4 months
   General sociability. Prefer socializing with humans. Can tell between those who are familiar and not. No stranger anxiety and mostly comforted by anyone.
3. Discriminant Attachment, 7 months
   Show stranger anxiety and are happy to be reunited with primary attachment figure, which they have formed. Show stranger anxiety, reinforces idea of primary caregiver.
   PC is who responds best to infants signals and interacts with them, not who spends the most time with them. Poorly attached infant’s mother’s did not interact with them.
   65%- PC mother, 30% PC mother + other, 27% PC mother + father, 3% PC father
4. Multiple Attachments
   More attachments made after their PA depending an amount of consistent relationships. 1 month after being attached 29% had secondary attachments. 6 months 78% had secondary attachments. 1/3 had 5 or more of these.

Question 22

How could Schaffer and Emerson’s attachment study have been biased and produced unreliable data? (evaluate)

Answer 22

Unreliable data- based on mother's report of infant. Some may be less sensitive to cries of infant so may not report them. Creates systematic bias challenging validity.
Biased sample- based only on working class socio-economic group so applies to only them. Care has changed since 1960s, women go to work and more men stay home at children. The study if done today would probably produce different results.

Question 23

Give an argument for and against the idea that all attachments are equivalent (evaluate)

Answer 23

Bowlby- one special attachment and all others are subsidiary but important as a emotional safety net and fulfill other needs. eg siblings for help with peers
Rutter- all attachments equal and interrogated to form infants attachment type.

Question 24

How could culture affect Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 24

Individualist culture such as the US and UK focus primarily on the need of the immediate family.
Collectivist cultures focus on needs of group and share things such as childcare so there may be more multiple attachments.
When comparing these two cultures, children in a family based sleeping arrangement were two times more likely to have a close attachment with their mother than children in Kibbutzim, a collectivist culture, who spent time, both day and night, in a children’s home. This suggest the stages of attachment apply only to individualist cultures.

Question 25

What is one problem with Shcaffer and Emerson’s model being a stage theory?

Answer 25

They suggest development is inflexible.
For example, it says primary attachment come first then multiple attachments but this may not be true in some situations and cultures. This could classify some families as abnormal.

Question 26

Why are fathers less likely to be primary attachment figure?

Answer 26

They spend less time with infants (but there is little relationship between amount of time and closeness)
Not psychologically able to offer same relationship as not as emotionally sensitive as women. This could be because estrogen makes women’s goals more inter personally related.
Influence of sex stereotypes
Less sensitive to infant cries (no psychological difference when men and women shown videos of crying infant)

Question 27

What evidence is there that men can be primary caregivers?

Answer 27

They form secure relationships in single parent families

In two parent family’s they can share the role of primary caregiver (Frank et al)

Question 28

What is the role of the father as a secondary caregiver?

Answer 28

Playful, active and challenge their children more. Mothers tend to read to their children whereas fathers play with them (Greiger)
Lack of sensibility fosters problem solving skills and better communication and cognitive skills (White and Woolett)

Question 29

What was the aim and procedure for Lorenz’s study on imprinting?

Answer 29

Aim: to understand attachments between mother and infant, specifically in Geese.
Procedure: He randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs. Half were hatched in their natural environment with their mother. The other half in an incubator and the first moving object they saw was Lorenz.

Question 30

What were the findings of Lorenz’s experiment on imprinting?

Answer 30

The incubator group followed Lorenz but the others followed their mother. This happened even when the groups were mixed up. The birds had imprinted on Lorenz. He found that if this did not happen within a critical period (sometimes a few hours after birth) they would not attach to a mother figure.

Question 31

What is imprinting?

Answer 31

A phenomenon whereby birds mobile from birth attach to the first moving object they see.

Question 32

What did Lorenz observe about sexual imprinting?

Answer 32

A bird that imprinted on a human would later show courtship behavior toward them. This happened in the case of a peacock raised in a reptile house and would only show courtship behavior to giant tortoises, he had undergone sexual imprinting.

Question 33

What was the aim and procedure of Harlow’s study?

Answer 33

Aim: to show that attachment was not based on the feeding bond between mother and child
Procedure: Harlow made two mother’s one wire and one covered in cloth. For 4 monkeys the milk was on the cloth mother and for the other four on the wire. They were studied for 165 days to see how much time they spent with each mother and observe them when scared by a mechanical teddy bear.

Question 34

What were the findings of Harlow’s study?

Answer 34

All of the monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother. Monkeys who fed on the wire mother quickly returned to the cloth one. When scared they went to the cloth mother and kept one foot on it when playing with new things. This suggests people attach to who comforts them not who feeds them.

Question 35

Evaluate Lorenz’s study on attachment.

Answer 35

Guiton’s research supports the concept of imprinting. His leghorn chicks became attached to rubber gloves for feeding them in. They later tried to mate with them. This shows that animals are not predisposition to imprint on a specific object but on anything moving. It also links early imprinting with to reproductive behavior.

The concept of imprinting was perceived as to rigid and that the object became stamped on the nervous system. Guiton found he could reverse his Chick’s glove imprinting and they later could mate normally with chickens. Now imprinting is viewed a s most other learning; rapid and easy to reverse.

Question 36

Evaluate Harlow’s study.

Answer 36

Since the heads of the mothers were different it varied systematically with the independent variable. The monkeys could have preferred the cloth monkey because of its head which would question the experiments internal validity.

Some generalise the behavior of monkeys to humans. We are extremely different as humans make conscious decisions. However, humans can mirror this behavior such as Schaffer and Emerson’s study that suggests infants are not attached to the person who feeds them. O they can be an indicator but must be checked with human research.

The ethics of his study are questioned as he caused lasting emotional harm to the monkeys but it has also improved care of children and improved science.

Question 37

What is learning theory?

Answer 37

Theories which explain behavior by learning in forming attachment rather than through innate behaviors.

Question 38

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 38

When a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus, so that it takes on the properties of the stimulus to make a conditioned response.

Question 39

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 39

Learning through positive reinforcement, which encourages someone to repeat behaviours.