week 8 - attachment relationship

Question 1

Explain John Bowlby (1969)’s attachment theory.

Answer 1

Infants have an innate capacity to emit signal to which adults are biologically predisposed to respond. Infants create an internal working model of attachment - expectations about the primary caregiver will respond. Disruption of the primary attachment relationship will have negative long-term consequences.

Question 2

What are the four phases of attachment in Bowlby’s attachment theory?

Answer 2

0-1/2 months “pre-attachment” - indiscriminate social responsiveness - crying, smiling
2-6 months “attachment in making” discriminating sociability - turn-taking, sense of trust
7-18/24 months “attachment” - separation and stranger anxiety, mother is secure base
2 years onwards - goal-corrected partnerships - begins to consider parent’s needs, internal working model of attachment.

Question 3

What was the result of the “44 thieves” study (Bowlby, 1944)?

Answer 3

Based on clinical interviews, juvenile delinquents were more likely than a control group to have suffered maternal deprivation. Maternal deprivation was linked to “affectionless psychopathology”.

Question 4

What was the result of Bowlby’s follow-up studies on TB sanatoriums and hospitals?

Answer 4

Children who had stayed in sanatoriums before the age of 4 were more withdrawn, less able to concentrate, and more bad-tempered than control children.

Question 5

Explain “A Prospective Approach” (Bowlby, 1969).

Answer 5

Bowlby emphasised the need for prospective approaches to the study of attachment. Concluded the importance of a mother early on.

Question 6

What are longitudinal studies vs cross-sectional?

Answer 6

Longitudinal studies follow up on the same children at different points in their life, cross-sectional studies compare different age groups of children at one point in time.

Question 7

What kinds of attachment measures can be used at different points in the lifespan?

Answer 7

Infants and toddlers - strange situation, attachment q-sort (home observations.
Childhood - separation anxiety rest, attachment story completion task, structured parent or child interviews
Adults - adult attachment interview.

Question 8

What is the Minnesota Study (Sroufe et al., 1975 onwards)?

Answer 8

Began in 1975 with 250+ pregnant women in poverty, currently has 150 or so participants. Involves a wide range of assessments throughout the lifespan with a strong focus on relationships. Assessment including the strange situation with infants/toddlers, and measures of success later in life.

Question 9

What is the Pennsylvania Project (Belsky et al., 1984)?

Answer 9

Focused on the precursors of attachment security, included a range of measures from prenatal to 12/13 months.

Question 10

What are mediating variables?

Answer 10

explain how or why there is a relationship between two variables.

Question 11

What are moderating variables?

Answer 11

affect the strength of the relation between two variables.

Question 12

What is an example of a positive set of IWM (internal working models)?

Answer 12

Caregiver behaviours - positive, supportive, cooperative,
Infancy and childhood - self-worth, confidence to explore the world, belief in the helpfulness of others.
and beyond - model for good relationships, resilient to adverse events and willing to seek help.

Question 13

What is an example of a negative set of IWM?

Answer 13

caregiver behaviours - unresponsive, unavailable, distant
infancy and childhood - belief that others are unreliable and unpredictable, distrustful
and beyond - relationship difficulties, withdrawn or angry, struggles to seek help

Question 14

Genes related to which neurotransmitters are linked to attachment security?

Answer 14

dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.

Question 15

Explain child behaviour during strange situation and parent behaviour towards child at home in secure style attachment.

Answer 15

in strange situations child: uses parent as secure base, upset at separation, at reunion child seeks parent and is easily soothed.
at home parent is: responsive and sensitive, affectionate and expressive and inmates close contact,

Question 16

Explain child behaviour during strange situation and parent behaviour towards child at home in insecure-avoidant style attachment.

Answer 16

in strange situations child: explores readily, avoids/ignores parents, comforted by stranger.
at home parent is: insensitive, avoids close contact, rejecting, may be angry, irritable or impatient.

Question 17

Explain child behaviour during strange situation and parent behaviour towards child at home in insecure-resistant style attachment.

Answer 17

in strange situations child: clingy, wary of stranger, upset by separation, not easily soothed at reunion.
at home parent is: inconsistent or awkward in reacting to distress, seems overwhelmed.

Question 18

Explain child behaviour during strange situation and parent behaviour towards child at home in disorganised-disoriented style attachment.

Answer 18

in strange situations child: confused or contradictory behaviours, may appear dazed, may seem fearful of parent.
at home parent is: intrusive, emotionally unavailable, confusing or frightening, may be trance-like or abusive.

Question 19

Fathers may be particularly important in nurturing what?

Answer 19

Activation (prompting exploration play and discovery).

Question 20

What was the result of the meta-analysis on interventions in attachment by Letourneau et al. (2015)?

Answer 20

At-risk infants who took part in attachment interventions with their parents were three times more likely to be securely attached than the control groups. Most effective when infants are between 3 and 9 months old.

Question 21

Explain the attachment and behavioural catch-up intervention (ABC).

Answer 21

Designed by Dr. Mary Dozier for infants and toddlers who have experienced maltreatment or disrupted care. 10 weekly visits aimed to increase nurturing and responsiveness and decrease frightening behaviours.

Question 22

Explain the attachment parenting movement.

Answer 22

“The Baby Book” by William and Martha Sears - the “bible” of the attachment parenting movement. Including babywearing, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, responding with sensitivity, and consistent and loving care from a primary caregiver. Strongly opposed to “cry it out” and “controlled crying” sleep training. May cause stress on mother if taken to the extreme.

Question 23

What are some cultural variations in attachment style?

Answer 23

Secure attachment is the norm across nearly all cultures studied, insecure-avoidant attachment is high in Germany (individualistic cultures, belief in accommodating parental routines), and absent in some traditional cultures. insecure-resistant attachment high in places like Japan (mothers encourage high dependency).

Question 24

What are some cultural variations in childcare?

Answer 24

Alloparenting (i.e. by siblings/grandparents), fear of strangers can be non existent, father sometimes have central caregiving role.

Question 25

What are some differences on the concept of sensitivity between Cameroon and German mothers?

Answer 25

Cameroon - physical care, body contact, stimulation. German - face to face exchanges, positive emotional interactions.

Question 26

What is the traditional attachment theory?

Answer 26

Attachment is a universal human need that has the same features and emerges in broadly the same way across cultures.

Question 27

How is the attachment theory evolving?

Answer 27

Attachment as an evolved universal development task that looks different and develops differently across contexts / cultures.

Question 28

The circle of security intervention designed by Cooper, Hoffman, and Powell in the 1990s is intended to do what?

Answer 28

Improve parents sensitive responsiveness to their child.

Question 29

A one-year-old who seems fearful of their parent during the strange situation procedure and seems to freezer their behaviour and expression for short periods of time would be classified as having what kind of attachment style?

Answer 29

Disorganised / disoriented.

Question 30

Why does attachment style in infancy influence later development?

Answer 30

Children have an internal working model about relationships based on their early attachment relationships.

Question 31

How does sensitivity impact children’s attachment security?

Answer 31

Sensitivity explains a small amount of the variance in children’s attachment security.

Question 32

What is the current thinking about the relationship between genes and attachment style?

Answer 32

Genes affect an individual’s susceptibility to the caregiving environment which in turn affects attachment style.