PAPER 1- TOPIC 3 ATTACHMENT ✅

Question 1

Define attachment

Answer 1

a close two way emotional bond, where both individuals see the other as important for them to be emotionally secure

Question 2

Define imprinting

Answer 2

where mobile bird species attach to and follow the first moving object they see, at birth

Question 3

Lorenz’s imprinting study

Answer 3

• randomly divided large clutch of goose eggs
• half of goose eggs to hatch with with mother goose (control group)
• half to hatch in incubator and the first moving object they see is Lorenz (experimental group)

Question 4

findings of Lorenz’s imprinting study

Answer 4

• control group followed mother goose
• experimental group followed Lorenz
• continued to both follow the same moving object when groups were mixed

Question 5

define critical period in relation to Lorenz’s study

Answer 5

Lorenz found there was a period of time where imprinting needs to take place, otherwise chicks won’t attach themselves to a mother figure

• could be up to a few hours after hatching depending on species of bird

Question 6

describe Lorenz’s sexual imprinting study and findings

Answer 6

found that when a newborn peacock, reared in reptile house at zoo, first observed a giant tortoise, as an adult the peacock aimed its courtings at tortoises

-found this whatever object birds were imprinted to would be the subject of their courtship (observed this occurred even from birds onto humans)

Question 7

describe Harlow’s study on attachment

Answer 7

testing idea mother wasn’t based on feeding, and that soft objects can serve some of the fucntions of a mother

reared 16 monkeys with 2 wire mothers (a plain wire mother and a cloth covered wire mother)

• in one condition, the plain wire mother dispensed the milk
• in the other condition, the cloth covered mother dispensed the milk

Question 8

Findings of Harlow’s study on attachment

Answer 8

• found all 16 monkeys spent most time with cloth mother, regardless of which mother had the feeding bottle
• all monkeys sought comfort from cloth mother regardless of where the bottle was, when scared by a mechanical bear
• shows that contact comfort is more important to rhesus monkeys than food, in attachment

Question 9

Harlow’s follow up research study on these monkey as adults

Answer 9

These monkeys had maternal deprivation
•the group who had the wire mother with the feeding bottle were the most dysfunctional, but those with the cloth mother did also develop abnormal behaviour
• struggled forming mating relationships, more aggressive, less social, neglected, attacked and some killed their children

Question 10

Suggested critical period for monkeys based on Harlow

Answer 10

90 days otherwise monkey will form no attachment

• damage done by early maternal deprivation is irreversible

Question 11

Strength and weakness of Lorenz study

Answer 11

•research support

• Regolin et al showed newborn chicks moving shape and then a different shape was moved infront of it
• chicks followed the original shape most closely

•generalisability
- mammalian attachment system is more complex than birds (in mammals it is two way)

Question 12

Strength and weakness of Harlow’s study

Answer 12

•application

• social workers and psychologists can understand that a lack of bonding with attachment figure can alter a child’s development
• workers can intervene and prevent poor outcomes

•ethical issues

• monkeys had severe long term effects
• lasted into their own parenting (killed and attacked their own babies)
• humans are supposed to have similar genes to monkeys however these behaviours are not seen in humans

Question 13

Describe Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation

Answer 13

controlled observation (2 way mirror) designed to test attachment
• 7 stages, each 3 minutes long

• baby with mother, free to explore in unfamiliar playroom
• stranger enters and tries to interact with baby
• mother leaves, baby alone with stranger
• mother returns to comfort baby while stranger leaves
• mother leaves, baby is alone
• stranger enters and approaches child
• mother returns, reunited with baby

Question 14

Behaviours used to judge attachment

Answer 14

• proximity seeking - distance to which baby will stay to mother (close in securely attached)
• exploration and secure base - level to which baby feels comfortable exploring and using mother as point of contact to return to
• separation anxiety - secure protests
• stranger anxiety - high in secure
• reunion response - secure greets

Question 15

Findings of Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Answer 15

identified three main types of attachment based on distinct patterns

• secure : moderate stranger and separation anxiety

• freely explore and often return to mother
• greet mother upon reunion

• insecure avoidant : little effect of separation and reunion

• little stranger anxiety
• freely explore but no secure base behaviour or proximity
• 𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 or make little effort to contact mother upon reunion

• insecure resistant : high separation and stranger anxiety

• seek great proximity and don’t explore
• 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁 comfort and stays distressed when reunited
• greater proximity seeking (no exploration)

Question 16

% of babies that were insecure avoidant (type … )

Answer 16

20-25%

Type A

(A)voidant type (A)

Question 17

% of babies that were securely attached (type …)

Answer 17

60-75%

Type B

BS BULLSHIT
type B Secure

Question 18

% of babies that were insecure resistant (type….)

Answer 18

3%

Type C

Question 19

Describe Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg study

what were they trying to study and the procedure

Answer 19

Studied the proportion of each attachment type 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 and 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 different cultures
-meta analysed 32 Strange Situations for assessing attachment of around 2,000 children

Question 20

define a meta analysis

Answer 20

combination of research and findings from several studies on the same topic
- findings are weighted for its sample size

Question 21

define cultural variation

Answer 21

the differences in norms and values that exist between people of different cultural groups

Question 22

Findings of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s meta analysis

Answer 22

•most common attachment type was secure, like Ainsworth
—> although varied (Britain 75% , China 50%)

• least common attachment type was insecure resistant, like Ainsworth
• individualist cultures rates of insecure-resistant was same as Ainsworth’s study but not collectivist cultures (China, Japan, Israel) where rates were above 25% (3% in Ainsworth)
• insecure avoidant was most common in Germany
• variation within cultures was 150% greater than variation between cultures

Question 23

Describe 2 other studies of Cultural Variation

Answer 23

Italian study - 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶

• used strange situation
• found 50% secure, 36% insecure avoidant (much higher)
• suggested due to increase in Italian mothers working long hours, so more use professional childcare
• –> cultural changes alter patterns in attachment type

Korean study - 𝗟𝗶𝗻
used strange situation
- found secure and insecure ratios were similar to most countries
- but most insecure, were insecure resistant (like Japan) due to rare separation in these cultures (similar child rearing style)

Question 24

conclusions that can be drawn from studies on cultural variations in attachment

Answer 24

• secure attachment is norm in wider range of culture - supports Bowlby idea that attachment is innate and universal
• although culture practices do influence attachment type…..
  —> (similar child rearing in Japan and Korea led to increased resistant than in Ainsworth SS)
  —> (cultural trend in Italy of more working mothers led to increased avoidant)
  …… variation within cultures is 150% greater than inbetween cultures

Question 25

define maternal deprivation

Answer 25

Bowlby - if baby is separated from primary caregiver for a prolonged period of time, without substitute care, there will be emotional and intellectual developmental consequences - suggested continual care is essential for normal emotional and intellectual development

Question 26

Bowlby’s proposed distinction between separation and deprivation

Answer 26

- separation means the child not being in presence of primary attachment figure - this only becomes harmful to child’s development if separation is prolonged and the child is deprived of emotional care (if separations are brief and substitute care is provided it’s not harmful)

Question 27

Describe Bowlby’s proposed critical period

Answer 27

- first 2 1/2 years as critical period for psychological development - if a child is separated from its mother without substitute care for prolonged period of time (and is deprived of emotional care), during this period. psychological damage is inevitable - continued risk til age 5

Question 28

Describe the effects of maternal deprivation on development

Answer 28

• intellectual development - mental retardation occurs (shown by abnormally low IQ) avg is 100 - occurs if deprived of maternal care for prolonged time in critical period - a delay in the development of IQ • emotional development - lead to affectionless psychopathy (inability to experience guilt or strong emotions towards others or build relationships) - associated with criminality (lack remorse, cant interpret victims emotions)

Question 29

Describe a study on intellectual development

Answer 29

GOLDFARB - followed 30 orphans til they were 12 - half were fostered, half remained in institution -found that those who remained in institution, without adequate substitute care, had a lower average IQ than those who were fostered at 4 months

Question 30

Describe a study on the effect on emotional development of maternal deprivation

Answer 30

•Bowlbys 44 thieves study - interviewed 44 teenage thieves for signs of affectionless psychopathy (lack of remorse, guilt or inability experiencing strong emotion) - interviewed their families to establish whether they had prolonged early separation from mother - found that 14 were affectionless psychopaths and 12 of these 14 had prolonged early separations - out of other 30, 5 experienced maternal deprivation - only 2 of the (non criminal but emotionally disturbed) control group had early prolonged separations

Question 31

Define institutionalisation

Answer 31

the effects of living in an institution (hospital or orphanage that children live in for continuous periods of time), on a child's attachment and subsequent development

Question 32

situation the led to the opportunity of Romanian adoptee studies

Answer 32

in 1990s Romania, the president ordered all woman to have 5 children, many couldn't afford to keep them all so they ended up in high, poorly run institutions - after revolution, many were adopted to Britain

Question 33

Describe the research procedure of a study looking into the effect of institutionalisation

Answer 33

•Rutter’s English and Romanian Adoptee study - followed 165 Romanian orphans who had been in poorly run institutions and were adopted in Britain - assessed their physical, cognitive and emotional development at ages 4,6,11,15 and around 24 years old - compared the results to a a control group of 52 adoptees from the UK

Question 34

Describe the findings of a study assessing the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 34

RUTTER - found the more time spent in institution before adoption the lower average IQ they had (102 if younger than 6 months when adopted, 86 if older than 6 months) - these differences remained at age 16 (Beckett) - found the children who spent more time in an institution before adoption (more than 6 months) showed signs of disinhibited attachment - ----> indiscriminate behaviour (same to all people, regardless of whether familiar or not) -----> attention seeking and clinginess (those adopted after 6 months didn't show signs of this)

Question 35

Describe research into the effects of institutionalisation on attachment

Answer 35

Zeanah et al • compared 95 Romanian children who spent 90% of life in institutionalisation to control of 50 children who never lived in institution * used strange situation to measure attachment type * also asked carers about clingy or attention seeking behaviour

Question 36

Describe findings of research into the effects of institutionalisation on attachment

Answer 36

Zeanah et al •found 20% of institutional group were securely attached (control group was 75%) •disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institution group and 20% of control group

Question 37

Effects of institutionalisation

Answer 37

•Intellectual disability (abnormally low IQ) AKA mental retardation - most arrived in UK with it, but only those adopted before 6 months could catch up with control (most by age 4) - 6 months is age that attachments form •Disinhibited attachment (Rutter suggests its a adaptation to living with multiple carers during sensitive period, so can’t form secure attachment) - indiscriminate behaviour (equally friendly and affectionate to all, regardless of whether they are familiar or not) - clingy - attention seeking - no stranger anxiety (usually high) • quasi-autistic symptoms (impaired language and social skills)

Question 38

Strengths of Romanian orphan studies into the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 38

Lack of confounding variables - parents couldn’t afford them there was no trauma involved in their relationship - so any finding is to do with negative experiences in institution Key worker - real application - assign a child one key worker at nursery or day care so they can form an attachment and prevent disinhibited attachment (substitute care in critical period)

Question 39

Weaknesses of Romanian orphan studies into the effects of institutionalisation

Answer 39

•coming to England the babies may find it hard to adapt so it may not actually be measuring their attachment but actually their ability to adapt to new situations and people -low internal validity •socially sensitive study - shows that late adopted children typically have worse development outcomes - may mean parents avoid adopting a child who is past the ‘sensitive period’ as they may worry attachment won’t form

Question 40

What aspects of early attachment influence later relationships

Answer 40

Internal working model attachment type

Question 41

How the internal working model influences later relationships - what relationships does it affect

Answer 41

mental representation of the world, specifically the relationship someone has to their primary attachment figure - the serves as a template for what the child expect future child and adult relationships to be like, suggested by Bowlby - affects parenting, romantic and childhood relationships

Question 42

how the internal working model influences later adult relationships

Answer 42

ADULT RELATIONSHIPS -if first relationship experience is loving, and reliable, the baby will assume all relationships are like this and will bring this positive experiences to later functional relationships and behave functionally in them -if first relationship experience is negative, baby will bring these negative experiences to later relationships so they may struggle to form functional relationships and behave functionally in them

Question 43

study showing how the internal working model, interacts with attachment type and, influences later romantic relationships as an adult

Answer 43

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS - Hazan and Shaver analysed 620 replies to the Love quiz - assessed respondents current relationship, general love experiences and assessed their attachment - also asked them about their attitudes about love (to test internal working model

Question 44

findings of Hazan and Shaver Love Quiz

Answer 44

- found those who were secure (saw mother as caring) had longer lasting, more romantic relationships - insecure avoidant (saw mum as cold and rejecting) were found to fear intimacy - also found that the internal working model of love tended to be positive in securely attached ----> therefore patterns of attachment behaviour are found in romantic relationships due to internal working model

Question 45

how the internal working model influences parenting relationships as an adult

Answer 45

PARENTING RELATIONSHIPS - people base their parenting style on their internal working model of how they were parented - ---> therefore attachment passes through generations - Bailey et al used strange situation on mother-baby attachment and also assessed mother-own mother attachment - found majority of mothers had same attachment type to their baby as their own mother

Question 46

How the internal working model links with attachment type in influencing the quality of childhood relationships

Answer 46

Kerns found - secure formed best quality friendships - insecure struggle forming relationships Myron-Wilson and Smith questionnaire on 7-11 year olds, assessing attachment and bullying found: - insecure avoidant more likely to be bullied (AVOID fights) - insecure resistant more likely to be a bully (cried all time in SS, take rage out on others) (RESIST & FIGHT) - secure unlikely to be involved

Question 47

Strengths of influence of early attachment on later relationships

Answer 47

•real world application - using Hazan and Shavers research of how each attachment style view relationships this can be used in couple therapy to show what each partner expects in the relationship - this can then be worked on between them •research support - there has been metanalyses (e.g. by Fearon) completed that showed that early attachment does consistently predict later attachment - shows that secure attachment as a baby does convey advantages to future development while disorganised attachment appears to seriously advantage children (research has shown leads to mental health)

Question 48

Weaknesses of the influence of early attachment on later relationships

Answer 48

•lack of validity in method of Hazan and Shaver - used self report techniques and also asked adults to assess their own attachment as a child - possible social desirability bias - inaccuracy as adult may not remember and instead recall their schema of other relationships to assume what it must have been like •there is an association between the attachment type of mother and baby and the mother and her mother, but the cause (being internal working model) is not necessarily effect -may be other variables that influenced the attachment type other than their internal working model (e.g. genetics)

Question 49

Two explanations of attachment

Answer 49

- Learning theory | - Bowlby’s monotropic theory

Question 50

# define learning theory of attachment who coined it

Answer 50

- theory that emphasises the role of learning (through conditioning) and the importance of attachment figure as provider of food, in how attachments form - also known as 'cupboard love' as suggests babies only bond to ensure they are fed (Dollard and Miller)

Question 51

outline how conditioning works in the learning theory

Answer 51

classical conditioning- how attachment is formed operant conditioning- how attachment is maintained (suggest we are born with tabula rasa (blank slate) and all behaviour is learned, not innate)

Question 52

Describe how attachment forms through classical conditioning

Answer 52

- unconditioned stimulus (the food) creates an unconditioned repsonse (pleasure) is associated with the neutral stimulus (the mother- originally produces no response) as she keeps providing food, therefore causing a conditioned response of pleasure when the baby sees the now conditioned stimulus of the mother (as she is associated with the food) - the mother then becomes an attachment figure, as conditioned response formed is love and attachment forms

Question 53

Describe how attachment is maintained through operant conditioning

Answer 53

Two way process •Positive reinforcement - baby cries and mother comforts him with social suppressor behaviour. Baby learns to direct crying to caregiver in future as the response was positive (comfort) •Negative reinforcement - when baby is crying, the caregiver receives negative reinforcement as the crying stops when she comforts baby so she is more likely to comfort baby to avoid negative consequence The mutual reinforcement strengthens attachment

Question 54

Describe how attachment is a secondary drive

Answer 54

idea of ‘drive reduction’ - primary drive (innate motivator) is hunger and survival - we are motivated to eat to reduce hunger - mother becomes associated to primary drive as she provides food - baby associates satisfaction of hunger (primary drive) with mother and so their attachment becomes a learned secondary drive

Question 55

Strengths of the learning theory of attachment

Answer 55

•Counter evidence from Harlow and Lorenz is using animals - human attachment system is two way (as seen by mutual reinforcement) - human behaviour incorporates higher power thinking and emotion •Some conditioning may be involved in attachment - association with food being central to attachment seems unlikely - a baby may associate a feeling of warmth and comfort with the presence of a particular parent which can lead to attachments being formed - so learning theory still is useful in understanding development of attachments

Question 56

Weaknesses of the learning theory of attachment

Answer 56

•Counter evidence from animal studies - Lorenz geese imprinted on first moving object it saw regardless of food - Harlow’s monkeys attached more with the cloth mother over the wire mother regardless of who provided the food •Schaffer and Emerson’s contradictory research - found babies didn’t necessarily attach to the person who fed them the most - but actually to the person who showed the most sensitivity and reciprocity to the babies signals and social releases

Question 57

Describe Bowlby’s monotropic theory

Answer 57

EVOLUTIONARY THEORY - suggests attachment is innate and has a survival advantage - emphasis of child's attachment on one primary caregiver - this attachment is different and more significant for child's development than any others - more time spent with primary caregiver, the better (law of continuity and accumulated separation) -also proposed idea of social releasers, a critical period and the internal working model

Question 58

Define the laws of continuity and accumulated separation

Answer 58

two principles Bowlby used to show that the more time spent with primary caregiver, the better • Law of continuity- the more constant and predictable a child’s care is, the better quality the attachment • Law of accumulated separation- effects of every separation of the baby from the mother adds up, "safest dose is zero dose"

Question 59

Describe Bowlby’s proposal of social releasers and critical period

Answer 59

- set of innate behaviours that activate adult social interaction and their attachment system, to make adults attach to the baby - e.g. laughing, smiling, cooing - adults also have innate behaviours to response to the social releasers - reciprocal process (adult and baby both wired to form attachment, & gradually build baby caregiver relationship)

Question 60

Describe Bowlby’s proposal of critical period

Answer 60

- child is maximally sensitive to attachment at 6 months (sensitive period) and this extends up to 2 years (critical period) - if no attachment in this time, a child will find it much harder to form one later on

Question 61

Describe Bowlby’s proposal of the internal working model

Answer 61

-a child’s mental representation of the attachment they have with their primary attachment figure - serves as a model for what the child expects future relationships to be like - -- if loving relationship with primary caregiver then expect all relationships to be loving and reliable and will bring these qualities to future relationships - -- if relationship involves poor treatment, child expects to be treated that way in future relationships and will treat others this way (tend to form poor relationships)

Question 62

Describe Bowlby’s proposal of the internal working model influence on parenting

Answer 62

- people base their parenting behaviour on their experiences of being parented based on their internal working model - explains why those from functional families tend to form their own functional family in adulthood

Question 63

Strengths of Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment

Answer 63

•Research support of the internal working model - -Bailey et al used strange situation on mother-baby attachment and also interviewed mother to assess mother-own mother attachment - found most mothers had same attachment type to their baby as their own mother • Rutter et al - Romanian orphans from institutions were adopted into Britain - found that even when adopted, they struggled to form new good quality attachments, especially if they were adopted after the age of 6 months- which was Bowlby’s proposed maximum sensitive period - they mainly formed disinhibited attachments

Question 64

Weaknesses of Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment

Answer 64

•Schaffer and Emerson contradictory research - found that although most babies formed one attachment at first, the majority of babies formed multiple attachments around the age of 1 - although the primary attachment does have strong influence on later behaviour it may just be because it is stronger, not better quality than the others - concept of monotropy lacks validity •Czech Twins research - were abused by their mother and fostered at 7 years old - able to form attachments even though they hadn’t formed any attachments at 7 years old - suggests critical period is more flexible than Bowlby suggested