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Flashcards in Attatchment Deck (54)
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1
Q

What is reciprocity

A

Mothers respond to infant alertness

From 3 months close attention between mother and infant

2
Q

What is interactional synchrony

A

Interactions become coordinated Isabella et al: quality of attachment related to synchrony

3
Q

Evaluate caregiver infant interactions

A

Hard to know what’s happening- observe simple gesture and expression and assume infants intentions

Controlled observations- capture fine detail of interactions

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

4
Q

What is the role of the father in attachment

A

Grossman et al: attachment to father less important but fathers may have different role- play and stimulation

5
Q

What is the most common parent infant attachment

A

Mother infant- other attachment figures like the father may also be important

6
Q

Talk about fathers as primary caregivers

A

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

7
Q

Evaluate attachment figures

A

Inconsistent findings- different research questions overall picture unclear

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

Fathers not primary attachments- may be due to traditional gender roles or biological differences

Socially sensitive research - working mothers

8
Q

What were the aims of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment

A

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

9
Q

Method of Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachments?

A

Mothers of 60 Glasgow babies reported monthly on separation anxiety

10
Q

What are the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment?

A

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

11
Q

Evaluate Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

A

Good external validity- observations were in participants natural environments

Longitudinal design- same participants were observed at each age, eliminating individual differences as a confound

Limited sample characteristics- all families were from same area and over 50 years ago so may lack generalisability

12
Q

What do babies have with their caregiver

A

Frequent and important interactions with their caregiver

13
Q

What are the four stages of attachment and explain them

A

Asocial stage- little observable social behaviour

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

Specific attachments- strange anxiety and separation anxiety in regard to one particular adult

Multiple attachments- attachment behaviour directed towards more than one adult (secondary attachments)

14
Q

Give an evaluation point for the asocial stage

A

Social behaviour is hard to observe in the first few weeks but this doesn’t mean the baby is ‘asocial’

15
Q

Evaluation points of the Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment

A

Conflicting evidence- van izendoorn et al: research in different contexts has found multiple attachments may appear first

Measuring multiple attachments- just because a child protests when an adult leaves does not necessarily mean attachment

Schaffer and Emerson used limited measures of attachment

16
Q

What are the procedure of Lorenz research

A

Gosling saw Lorenz when they hatched

17
Q

The finding of Lorenz research

A

Newly hatched chicks stretch to the first moving object they see (imprinting)

18
Q

What is sexual imprinting

A

Adult birds try to mate with whatever species of object they imprint on

19
Q

Evaluate Lorenz research

A

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

Some observations questioned- Guiton et al: birds imprinting on rubber gloves did later prefer their own species

20
Q

What are the procedures of Harlow monkeys research

A

Baby monkeys given cloth or wire ‘mother’ with feeding bottle attatched

21
Q

Name the findings of harrows monkey research

A

Monkeys clung to cloth surrogate rather than wire one, regardless of which dispensed milk

22
Q

What happened to maternally deprived monkeys in Harlow’s research

A

Grew up socially dysfunctional

23
Q

What’s the critical period in Harlow’s research

A

After 90 days attachment wouldn’t form

24
Q

Evaluate Harlow’s monkey research

A

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

Practical value- Howe- informs understanding of risks factor for child abuse

Ethical issues- suffering of the monkeys would be human like

Can Harlow’s findings be applied to humans?

25
Q

Explain classical conditioning in the learning theory

A

Caregiver (neutral stimulus) associated with food (unconditioned stimulus)

Caregiver becomes conditioned stimulus

26
Q

Explain operant conditioning in the learning theory

A

Crying behaviour reinforced positively for infant and negatively for caregiver

27
Q

Explain attachment as a secondary drive in the learning theory

A

Attachment becomes a secondary drive through association with hunger

28
Q

Evaluate the learning theory

A

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

Human research- Schaffer and Emerson: most primary attachment figures were the mother even when others did most feeding

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

Some elements of conditions could still be involved, newer learning theory explanation

29
Q

What is monotropy in Harlow’s research

A

One particular attachment is different in quality and importance than others

30
Q

What are the social releasers and the critical period in Harlow research

A

Innate cute behaviours in the first two years

31
Q

What’s the internal working model in Harlow’s research

A

Mental representations of the primary attachment relationship are templates for future relationships

32
Q

Evaluate bowlbys theory of explanations of attachment

A

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

Suess et al: other attachments may contribute as much as primary one

Support for social releasers- brazeleton et al: when social releasers ignored babies were upset

Support for internal working model- Bailey et al: quality of attachment is passed on through generations in families

Monotropy is a socially sensitive idea

Temperament may be as important as attachment

33
Q

What was Ainsworths procedure in the strange situation

A

7-stage controlled observation

Assessed proximity seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger and separation response to reunion

34
Q

What were the findings from the strange situation

A

Infants showed consistent patterns of attachment behaviour

35
Q

What are the different types of attachment in the strange situation

A

Secure: enthusiastic greeting, generally content.

Avoidant: avoids reunion, generally reduced responses

Resistant: resists reunion, generally more distressed

36
Q

Evaluate Ainsworths strange situation

A

Support for validity- attachment type predicts later social and personal behaviour e.g bullying

Good reliability- different observers agree 90% of the time on children’s attachment types

Culture bound- attachment behaviour may have different meanings in different cultures so the ss may be measuring different things

37
Q

What is the key study in cultural variations of attachment

A

Van Ijzendoorn

Compared rates of attachment type in 8 counties
Found more variation within than between countries

38
Q

What other studies are to do with cultural variation

A

Sinonella et al: Italian attachment rates have changed , may be due to changing practices

Jin et al: Korean attachment rates similar to Japan, could be due to similar child rearing styles

39
Q

What are some conclusions from cultural variation studies

A

It appears that attachment is innate and universal and secure attachment is the norm

However cultural practices affect rates of attachment types

40
Q

Evaluate cultural variations in attachment

A

Large samples- reduce the impact of anomalous results so improves internal validity

Samples unrepresentative of culture- countries do not equate to cultures nor to culturally specific methods of child rearing so can’t make generalisations

Method of assessment is biased- research using the SS imposed a USA test on other cultures

Lacks validity

41
Q

Discuss the separation versus deprivation theory

A

Physical separation only leads to deprivation when the child loses emotional care

42
Q

Discuss the critical period in maternal deprivation

A

The first 30 months are critical and deprivation in that time causes damage

43
Q

Discuss effects on development in maternal deprivation

A

Goldfarb: deprivation causes low IQ

Bowlby: emotional development e.g affectionless psychopathy

44
Q

Discuss the 44 thieves study

A

Many more affectionless psychopaths had a prolonged separation

45
Q

Evaluate bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

A

Evidence may be poor- orphans may have experienced other traumas
Bowlby may have been a biased observer

Counter evidence- Lewis: sample of 500, no link between early separation and later criminality

A sensitive period- Bowlby exaggerated the importance of critical period

Animal studies show effects of maternal deprivation on social development

Failure to distinguish deprivation from privation

46
Q

Discuss stutters ERA study of Romanian orphanages

A

165 orphans adopted in Britain

Some of those adopted later show low IQ and disinhibited attachment

47
Q

Discuss Bucharest early intervention project

A

Random allocation to institutional care or fostering

Secure attachment in 19% of institutional group versus 74% of controls

48
Q

What are the effects of institutionalisation

A

Disinhibited attachment and intellectual retardation if institutionalisation is prolonged

49
Q

Evaluate the effects of institutionalisation

A

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

Fewer extraneous variables- Romanian orphans had fewer negative influences before institutionalisation then e.g war orphans

Romanian orphanages not typical- conditions were so bad that results may not generalise to better institutions

Ethical issues- Bucharest

Practical applications to adoption and institutional care practice

50
Q

Discuss the internal working model in terms of influence on later relationships

A

Bowlbys idea that the primary attachment relationship provides a template for later relationships

51
Q

Explain some research about relationships later in childhood

A

Kerns: securely attached children have better friendships

Myron- Wilson and smith: securely attached children less likely to be involved in bullying

52
Q

Discuss some research found about relationships with romantic partners

A

McCarthy: securely attached adults have better relationships with friends and partners

Hazan and Shaver: secure responders had better and longer-lasting relationships, avoidant responders had fear of intimacy

53
Q

Discuss some parental relationships

A

Bailey et al: mothers attachment type matched that of their mothers and their babies

54
Q

Evaluate influence of early attachments on later relationships

A

Evidence is mixed- Zimmerman et al: 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 does not man causality- a third factor like temperament might affect both infant attachment and later relationships

The influence of attachment is probabilistic
Self report is conscious but working models are not