Attatchment

Question 1

What is reciprocity

Answer 1

Mothers respond to infant alertness

From 3 months close attention between mother and infant

Question 2

What is interactional synchrony

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Evaluate caregiver infant interactions

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What is the role of the father in attachment

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What is the most common parent infant attachment

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Talk about fathers as primary caregivers

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Evaluate attachment figures

Answer 7

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

Question 8

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

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Method of Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachments?

Answer 9

Mothers of 60 Glasgow babies reported monthly on separation anxiety

Question 10

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

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Evaluate Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What do babies have with their caregiver

Answer 12

Frequent and important interactions with their caregiver

Question 13

What are the four stages of attachment and explain them

Answer 13

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)

Question 14

Give an evaluation point for the asocial stage

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Evaluation points of the Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What are the procedure of Lorenz research

Answer 16

Gosling saw Lorenz when they hatched

Question 17

The finding of Lorenz research

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What is sexual imprinting

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Evaluate Lorenz research

Answer 19

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

Question 20

What are the procedures of Harlow monkeys research

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Name the findings of harrows monkey research

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What happened to maternally deprived monkeys in Harlow’s research

Answer 22

Grew up socially dysfunctional

Question 23

What’s the critical period in Harlow’s research

Answer 23

After 90 days attachment wouldn’t form

Question 24

Evaluate Harlow’s monkey research

Answer 24

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?

Question 25

Explain classical conditioning in the learning theory

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Explain operant conditioning in the learning theory

Answer 26

Crying behaviour reinforced positively for infant and negatively for caregiver

Question 27

Explain attachment as a secondary drive in the learning theory

Answer 27

Attachment becomes a secondary drive through association with hunger

Question 28

Evaluate the learning theory

Answer 28

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

Question 29

What is monotropy in Harlow's research

Answer 29

One particular attachment is different in quality and importance than others

Question 30

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

Answer 30

Innate cute behaviours in the first two years

Question 31

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

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Evaluate bowlbys theory of explanations of attachment

Answer 32

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

Question 33

What was Ainsworths procedure in the strange situation

Answer 33

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

Question 34

What were the findings from the strange situation

Answer 34

Infants showed consistent patterns of attachment behaviour

Question 35

What are the different types of attachment in the strange situation

Answer 35

Secure: enthusiastic greeting, generally content. Avoidant: avoids reunion, generally reduced responses Resistant: resists reunion, generally more distressed

Question 36

Evaluate Ainsworths strange situation

Answer 36

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

Question 37

What is the key study in cultural variations of attachment

Answer 37

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

Question 38

What other studies are to do with cultural variation

Answer 38

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

Question 39

What are some conclusions from cultural variation studies

Answer 39

It appears that attachment is innate and universal and secure attachment is the norm However cultural practices affect rates of attachment types

Question 40

Evaluate cultural variations in attachment

Answer 40

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

Question 41

Discuss the separation versus deprivation theory

Answer 41

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

Question 42

Discuss the critical period in maternal deprivation

Answer 42

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

Question 43

Discuss effects on development in maternal deprivation

Answer 43

Goldfarb: deprivation causes low IQ Bowlby: emotional development e.g affectionless psychopathy

Question 44

Discuss the 44 thieves study

Answer 44

Many more affectionless psychopaths had a prolonged separation

Question 45

Evaluate bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 45

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

Question 46

Discuss stutters ERA study of Romanian orphanages

Answer 46

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

Question 47

Discuss Bucharest early intervention project

Answer 47

Random allocation to institutional care or fostering | Secure attachment in 19% of institutional group versus 74% of controls

Question 48

What are the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 48

Disinhibited attachment and intellectual retardation if institutionalisation is prolonged

Question 49

Evaluate the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 49

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

Question 50

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

Answer 50

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

Question 51

Explain some research about relationships later in childhood

Answer 51

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

Question 52

Discuss some research found about relationships with romantic partners

Answer 52

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

Question 53

Discuss some parental relationships

Answer 53

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

Question 54

Evaluate influence of early attachments on later relationships

Answer 54

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