1
Q
Define attachment.
A
An affectional bond between two people that endures over time.
Each person seeks to maintain proximity
2
Q
What is secure base behaviour?
A
When a child seeks contact with the primary caregiver
3
Q
Name the two types of behaviour in caregiver- infant interactions.
A
Interactional synchrony, reciprocity
4
Q
Describe interactional synchrony.
A
The infant and caregiver carry out the same action simultaneously
5
Q
Describe reciprocity.
A
Responding to the action of one with a similar action
6
Q
How do we know when an attachment has formed?
A
When there is a desire to keep proximity to the primary caregiver, separation anxiety
7
Q
Name the 4 stages of attachment in order.
A
Asocial, indiscriminate, specific, multiple
8
Q
At what age does the asocial attachment stage begin?
A
A few weeks old
9
Q
Describe characteristics of the asocial stage.
A
Behaviour towards people and inanimate objects is similar
10
Q
What age will a child be in the indiscriminate stage?
A
2-7 months
11
Q
Describe characteristics of the indiscriminate stage.
A
Clear preference of being around other people, accepts affection from any person, recognises familiar people, does not express separation anxiety
12
Q
What age is a child in the specific stage?
A
From 7 months
13
Q
Describe the specific stage.
A
Anxiety towards strangers, forms an attachment to the primary caregiver which is the mother in 65% of cases
14
Q
What age is a child in the multiple attachment stage?
A
By the age of 1 year
15
Q
Describe characteristics of the multiple attachment stage.
A
Secondary attachments are formed with other people whom they spend their time with.
Schaffer and Emerson identified that 29% of babies had formed secondary attachments 1 month after they had formed specific attachments
16
Q
Describe the method of Schafer and Emerson’s research.
A
They used sample of 60 Glaswegian babies from working class families.
Researchers visited families every month for one year, and then later at 18 months.
Researchers asked mothers about the behaviours their babies showed in everyday separation situations.
17
Q
Explain the high external validity strength of Schaffer and Emersons method.
A
Most of the observations were made by the mothers in every day situations, which prevented the researcher having to be present which could make the baby anxious
18
Q
Explain the low generalisability weakness of Schafer and Emersons method.
A
Their sample was of working class Glaswegians, which means the results cannot be generalised to upper or middle class families, or to collectivist cultures.
19
Q
Describe the practical application strength of Schafer and Emersons method.
A
Their results can be applied to day care. This is because babies in the asocial and discriminate stages will be fine in day care with an unfamiliar adult, but in the specific and multiple stage this is not the case. So parents can plan when to start day care.
20
Q
What animal did Lorenz investigate?
A
Geese
21
Q
What is imprinting?
A
Where animals attach to the first moving object that they see
22
Q
Describe Lorenz’ control group of geese?
A
The goslings hatched with their mother
23
Q
Describe the experimental group of Lorenz’ geese.
A
The goslings hatched in an incubator and the first thing they saw was Lorenz
24
Q
Describe the results of Lorenz’s study.
A
The experimental group followed Lorenz, and the control group followed the goose mother
25
Explain how Lorenz used a box to illustrate imprinting.
He placed all of the goslings in a box, opened the box and the control group still followed the goose mother and the experimental group followed Lorenz
26
Outline the weakness of animal studies of Lorenz’s study
There is a lack of generalisability to humans because we have different cognitions
27
Explain Lorenz’s peacock and the tortoise study.
He looked at a peacock that had been raised in a zoo reptile house
The peacock showed courtship behaviour towards the tortoise, which suggests sexual imprinting, and that imprinting is permanent
28
Explain Guiton et als study in 1966.
A chicken sexually imprinted on a rubber glove
But later the chicken did learn to mate with other chickens, suggesting imprinting is reversible.
29
Explain the aims of Harlow’s study.
He wanted to explore whether contact comfort or food were more important in Rhesus monkeys
30
Describe the 2 conditions of Harlow’s study.
1) the wire mother offers milk, the towelling mother does not
2) the wire mother does not offer milk, the towelling mother does offer milk
31
What was the dependent variable of Harlow’s study?
The number of times that the monkeys goes to the mother
32
What were the results of Harlow’s study?
All monkeys preferred contact comfort over food
The monkeys with a wired mother showed signs of stress such as diarrhoea
33
What was the conclusion of Harlow’s study.
Monkeys have an innate drive for contact comfort, suggesting attachment forms through emotional needs for security rather than food.
34
Describe the extraneous variables weakness of Harlow’s study.
The wired monkeys did not have a monkey face, however the towelled ones did, making it difficult to compare the monkey’s behaviour
35
What is the main idea of why children attach to their caregiver according to learning theory?
The caregiver is the provider of food
36
What is classical conditioning in terms of attachment known as?
Cupboard love theory
37
What is Bowlby’s monotropic theory?
There is an emphasis on a child’s attachment to one parent (the mother). He rejected learning theory of attachment and believed that attachment is an innate system and gives a survival advantage.
38
Who was Bowlby influenced by?
Lorenz’s study of goslings and Harlows study of rhesus monkeys
39
What did bowlby believe about the primary caregiver and child?
The more time the child spends with the primary caregiver, the better
40
What is an AO3 point regarding Bowlby’s belief that the more time a child spends with the primary caregiver the better?
This idea is socially insensitive as it blames the mother for poor attachment in their child, and lacks temporal validity due to the theory being made in the 1950’s
41
What is the law of continuity?
The more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better quality of attachment
42
What is an example of the law of continuity in real life?
Nursery worker shift patterns
43
What is the law of accumulated separation?
The effects on a child from every separation from the mother add up
44
What are social releases?
A set of innate cute behaviours like smiling and cooing that encourage attention from adults as it activates their attachment system. This is a reciprocal process
45
What is the critical period?
The time period for attachment to form. Bowlby believed if after 2 1/2 years the attachment has not formed, that it never will, and viewed this as a sensitive period.
46
What is an AO3 point regarding the critical period?
His belief that if after 2 1/2 years the attachment has formed, it never will, ignores individual differences and is very deterministic
47
What is the internal working model?
A template for future relationships based upon the infants primary attachment
It acts as a blueprint and is used to form the foundation for future relationships
48
Describe the research support for monotropy being universal.
Ainsworth 1967 found that a Ganda tribe in Uganda formed one primary attachment even when raised by multiple caregivers
49
What is opposing research to Bowlby’s theory of monotropy?
Schafer and Emerson proposed that multiple attachments are formed by the age of one year, opposing the idea of monotropy
50
Describe the research support for the internal working model.
Heidi Bailey et al assessed attachments in 99 mothers. Researchers measured the attachment between the mothers and their own mothers, and then with their one year old babies. The findings were that mothers with poor attachment to their primary caregivers were more likely have poorly attached babies
51
Describe the research support for social releases.
Berry Brazelton et al observed that babies trigger interactions with adults using social releasers. Researchers asked primary caregivers to not react to their babies social releasers, they found that their babies became more distressed and eventually lay on the floor motionless, illustrating the role of social releasers in emotional development.
52
What is the purpose of the strange situation?
To observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a baby’s attachment to a caregiver
53
Describe the procedure of the strange situation.
It is a controlled observation with a two way mirror and/or cameras through which psychologists can observe the baby’s behaviour
54
Describe some behaviours used to judge attachment in the strange situation.
Proximity seeking behaviour
Stranger or Seperation anxiety
Exploration and secure base behaviour
55
What are the 3 types of attachment styles according to the strange situation?
Type A- insecure avoidant
Type B- secure
Type C- insecure resistant
56
Describe a Type A child.
Insecure avoidant. They explore freely but do not display proximity or secure base behaviour and make little effort to make contact with the caregiver when they return. 20-25% of British babies are classified as Type A.
57
Describe a Type B child.
Secure. They explore but maintain proximity and display secure base behaviour. They show seperation anxiety and stranger anxiety and accept and seek comfort when reunited with the caregiver. 60-75% of British babies are Type B.
58
Describe a Type C child.
Insecure resistant. They do not explore much and display severe seperation and stranger anxiety, and resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver. 3% of British babies are classified as Type C.
59
Outline the good predictive ability of the strange situation.
The strange situation and its outcomes can predict a number of outcomes of the babies later life. Type B babies tend to succeed more in school and in later life and are less involved in bullying. Type C babies or babies that do not fall into type A B C tend to have the worst outcomes. This suggests that the strange situation measures something meaningful.
60
What was the inter rater reliability of the strange situation?
94%
61
Describe how the strange situation may be culture bound.
It was developed in the UK and USA. A study in Japan by Takahashi found that a high proportion of babies displayed major seperation anxiety so a disproportionate amount were diagnosed as Type C.
62
Describe the aims of van ijzendoorns research into cultural variations of attachment.
They looked at the proportions of secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant children across countries and also differences within countries.
63
Describe the procedure of van ijzendoorns meta analysis.
Analysed the results from 32 studies of the strange situation; 15 were from the USA, 8 different countries.
64
Describe the findings from van ijzendoorns meta analysis.
In all countries, secure was the most common classification, however the proportion varied from 75% in Britain to 50% in China.
In individualist cultures, the proportions of insecure resistant children was similar to Ainsworth’s original sample, but the collectivist cultures had rates of 25%.
65
Describe the strengths of indigenous researchers on van ijzendoorns meta analysis.
- they understand cultural norms
-reduces the chances of behaviours being misunderstood
-less external bias
-improved validity
66
Describe the limitation of confounding variables on van ijzendoorns meta analysis.
Studies in different countries are not matched for methodology, so characteristics such as poverty and social class can confound results, as well as the age of participants and the size of rooms. These can distort the results as it may appear there is less proximity seeking behaviour in a smaller room.
67
Outline the difference between separation and deprivation.
Separation means the child is not in the presence of the PCG, however deprivation is when this seperation has an impact on the child’s development.
68
What are the two effects of maternal deprivation?
Emotional development and intellectual development
69
Describe the effect of maternal deprivation on intellectual development.
Those who face maternal deprivation will have a lower than average IQ, as outlined by Goldfarb who found lower IQs in children who had remained in institutions as opposed to foster care
70
Describe the effects maternal deprivation has on emotional development.
They are more likely to develop affectionless psychopathy, which is linked with criminality as these psychopaths lack remorse for their actions.
71
Describe the procedure of Bowlby’s 44 thieves experiment.
44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing were interviewed for sings of affectionless psychopathy and their families were interviewed for signs of maternal deprivation.
72
Describe the findings from Bowlby’s 44 thieves experiment.
14 of the 44 could be described as affectionless psychopaths, and 12 of these had prolonged Seperation from their mothers in the first two years of their lives. Bowlby concluded that prolonged early seperation/ deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy
73
Describe the flawed evidence of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation.
-Bowlby himself interviewed the families and knew which families he expected to display maternal deprivation
-interviews pose the problem of desirability bias
-Goldfarbs study was affected by confounding variables- trauma
74
Deprivation vs privation
Many psychologists believe that what Bowlby was defining as deprivation was in fact privation, as many of these infants had not formed an attachment with their mother, therefore could not lose this attachment.
75
Critical vs sensitive period- maternal deprivation AO3
Bowlby believed that if an attachment was not formed by the critical period then long term damage is inevitable. However there is contradictory research to this; the Kulchova twins, whom were deprived of maternal care but still went on to form strong attachments.
76
Describe Rutter et al’s research into Romanian orphans.
Investigated 165 Romanian orphans intellectual development at various ages after they had been adopted in the UK
77
Describe the findings of Rutter Et Al’s research
Mean IQ for those adopted before 6 months- 102
After 6 months and before 2 years- 86
Those who were adopted after 6 months had a disinhibited attachment style
78
Describe Zeanah et Al’s research into Romanian Orphans
The Bucharest intervention. She assessed the attachment style of 95 Romanian orphans who had spent 95% of their lives in care, measuring their attachment style by using the strange situation
79
Describe the findings of Zeanah ET Al’s research
The control group (50 children who had never lived in institutional care) had 74% securely attached, however only 19% of the orphans were securely attached and 44% were disinhibited
80
Describe the real world applications of the Romanian orphan studies
-improving care standards in institutions
- reducing the number of key workers per child so they can form an attachment
- discouraging parents from putting their children into institutions
-encouraging foster care or adoption
81
Describe how the Romanian orphan studies have less confounding variables
-most orphan studies at the time were from WW2, which meant confounding variables such as trauma had affected the results
-the children at the Romanian orphan studies were given up by loving families
82
Describe how the Romanian orphan studies lack adult data.
-most of the orphans are in their 20-30’s now
-little data on romantic relationships and their work lives
-if any individuals go off the radar then all data must be revoked.
83
Outline the data on the father from Schaffer and Emerson.
In only 3% of cases the father was the sole object of attachment
-75% of babies studied by Schaffer and emmerson formed an attachment with their father by the age of 18 months
84
Describe Grossman et Al’s results into the role of the father
-the quality of the baby’s attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence
-quality of the fathers play with babies was related to the quality of adolescent relationships
This suggests that father’s role is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with emotional development.
85
Describe the confusion over research questions of the role of the father.
Some researchers want to understand the role of the father as a primary caregiver, and others as a secondary caregiver, making it difficult to offer a simple answer as to the role of the father as it depends on the role being discussed
86
Describe the conflicting evidence regarding the role of the father
Grossman et al found an important role for the father in play for infants, which would suggest that those with single mothers or with two mothers would have distorted development
However McCallum and Golombok found that those with single mothers or two mothers do not develop differently
87
Describe the real world applications of understanding the role of the father
Reducing stress for parents. They may often worry about who should be the primary caregiver, if one parent should stay at home to form a better attachment etc. this research into the role of the father can help reassure parents that fathers are capable of being PCG and not having a father around does not affect a child’s development.
