1
Q
Attachment definition
A
A close reciprocal emotional bond between two individuals which endures over time, in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.
2
Q
Reciprocity
A
Mutual exchange where both the caregiver and infant respond to each others signals, influencing each others behaviour. Brazelton et al. - a dance.
3
Q
Alert phases and active involvement
A
- Periodic signals to interact
- Mothers pick up and respond 2/3 times
- Feldman 3 months reciprocity increases in frequency
- Both babies and carers take an active role
4
Q
Interactional synchrony
A
- Same interaction simultaneously
- Temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour - Feldman
- Actions and emotions mirror each others
- Early stages for social development
- Meltzoff and Moore observed under 2 week olds and adults displayed 2 or 3 facial expressions and there was a correlation between adult behaviour and infant responce.
5
Q
Schaffer and Emerson’s study into the formation of early attachments
A
- 60 babies from skilled working class families
- Visited at home once per month for 1 year and then again at 18 months
- Asked mothers to protest in 7 separating situations
- 25-32 weeks, 50% showed separation anxiety towards their mothers
- By 40 weeks, 80% had a specific attachment and 30% started to form multiple
- Provides support for stages of attachment
6
Q
4 stages of attachment
A
- Stage 1 Asocial stage first few weeks
- Baby is recognising and forming bonds with carers
- Behaviour towards inanimate objects and humans is quite similar - Stage 2 indiscriminate attachment 2-7 months
- More social behaviour
- Preference for people - Stage 3 specific attachment from 7 months
- Stranger and separation anxiety
- Specific attachment with primary caregiver - Stage 4 multiple attachments by stage 1
- Attachment behaviour is expanded to familiar adults
- Formation of secondary attachments #
7
Q
Attachment to fathers
A
- Research suggests that fathers are less likely to become babies’ first attachment figure
- Schaffer and Emerson- only 3% of cases the father was the first source of attachment, 27% mothers and fathers joint attachment
- Fathers went on to become important attachment figures by 18 months
8
Q
Outline research that suggests fathers have a distinctive role
A
- Grossmann et al
- Longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their babies later attachments
- Quality of the baby’s attachment with the mothers was linked to childrens attachment in adolescence
- The quality of fathers play with their babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments
- Suggests that fathers have a role more to do with play and stimulation rather than nurture and emotional development
9
Q
Fathers as primary attachment figures
A
- A baby’s primary attachment has special emotional significance and forms the basis of later close emotional relationships
- Research shows that fathers CAN be the primary care-giver and when they are it would seem they take on the roles usually seen in mothers
- Field observed face to face interactions between infants and primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers, and secondary caregiver fathers
- Primary caregiver fathers spend more time like mothers, holding, smiling and imitating than secondary caregiver fathers
-Shows that the father can be more nurturing and that gender is not key, but rather a level of responsiveness
10
Q
Lorenz
A
- Aimed to examine imprinting in non-human animals (where the offspring follows and forms an attachment bond to the first large moving object they see after birth)
- Randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs half raised with father and half in an incubator
- After hatching the incubator group followed Lorenz, the control group followed the mother, even after mixing
- Suggests that imprinting is a form of attachment that is exhibited by birds that typically leave the nest early, whereby they imprint onto the first moving object they encounter after hatching
- Imprinting as little as a few hours
11
Q
Sexual imprinting with Harlow
A
- Lorenz also investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences
- Imprinting could often lead to courtship behaviour later being displayed
- Lorenz reported a case of a peacock being reared in the reptile house of a zoo
- Imprinted on a giant zoo tortoise and later the peacock only shows courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises
12
Q
Harlow
A
- Aimed to examine the extent to which contact comfort and the food influences attachment behaviour in baby rhesus monkeys
- 16 baby rhesus monkeys separated from their mothers and reared with 2 surrogate mothers (wire and cloth)
- 2 different conditions (wire dispensed milk, cloth dispensed milk)
- Found that the baby monkeys spent most of their time with the soft one regardless of where the milk was coming from and babies sought comfort from the mother when frightened
- This shows that contact comfort was of more importance to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour
13
Q
How did Harlow find out about the effect of maternal deprivation?
A
Monkeys deprived of a mother suffered severe consequences especially those reared with the wire mother
- Less sociable, neglected and sometimes killed their young
14
Q
Where is the emphasis in the learning theory of attachment?
A
- The caregiver as a provider of food
- feigned affection in order to obtain something
15
Q
Classical conditioning in attachment
A
- Learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way we already respond to the other
- US -> UR
Food -> Pleasure - NS = caregiver
Same person provides food -> Person becomes associated with food - NS -> CS
-CS -> CR
Caregiver = pleasure
16
Q
Operant conditioning in attachment
A
- Can explain why babies cry for comfort (attachment building)
- Crying leads to a response e.g. feeding
- If the correct response is provided, crying is reinforced
- Crying is then directed towards the caregiver for comfort
- Caregiver responds (social suppressor)
- Infant = positive reinforcement
- Caregiver = negative reinforcement
17
Q
Attachment as a secondary drive
A
Dollard and Millar offered an explanation of attachment based on operant conditioning and drive reduction theory
Drive (hunger) -> Drive reduction (eating)
Primary drive (hunger) -> Drive reduction (mum)
18
Q
Bowlby’s theory of an attachment is an evolutionary theory of attachment - what is it?
A
Bowlby rejected learning theory and looked to Harlow and Lorenz instead
19
Q
What is meant by monotropy?
A
Monotropy
- One particular caregiver
- Mother
- Attachment is different and more important
- More time spent the better
- Law of continuity = continued exposure, law of accumulated separation = builds up
Critical period
- Time during which the attachment must form
- 6 months to 2 years
20
Q
Social releasers
A
- Innate cute behaviours (physical and behavioural)
- Encourage attention from adults by activating the adult attachment system, make them feel love towards the infant
- Triggers the innate predisposition to become attachment
21
Q
Internal working model
A
- A mental representation of their attachment to their primary caregiver
- A model of what relationships are like
- A template for future relationships
- Loving and reliable caregiver = expects all relationships to be like this and will bring these qualities to future relationships
- Affects ability to parent = tend to replicate your first attachment
22
Q
The strange situation procedure
A
- Controlled observation
- Infants aged between 9-18 months were placed in a novel situation of mild stress, namely an unfamiliar room whereby they are left alone, left with a stranger, and reunited with their caregiver.
- Ainsworth observed how the infants behaved through a one way mirror during a set of eight different scenarios, each lasting approx. 3 mins
- Aim was to observe behaviours to assess the quality of a babys attachment to their caregiver
23
Q
Name all the behaviours used to judge attachments
A
Proximity seeking, exploration, secure base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, response to reunion
24
Q
All 7 of the stages in the strange situation
A
- The mother and infant enter the room. The mother sits on one of the chairs and reads a magazine. The child is placed on the floor and is free to explore the toys.
- The stranger enters the room and tries to interact.
- The mother leaves infant and stranger alone.
- The mother returns and stranger leaves.
- The mother departs again leaving the baby briefly alone in the room.
- The stranger reenters and offers to comfort and play with the baby.
- The mother returns and is reunited with the child
25
Name the types of attachments Ainsworth discovered and the percentage
Type A - Insecure avoidant - 22%
Type B - Secure attachment - 66%
Type c - Insecure resistant - 12%
26
Describe the behaviour of Insecure avoidant infants
- Explores
- Does not return to secure base
- Little or no stranger and separation anxiety
- Little reaction upon the mothers return and ignores her. Child does not seek proximity or show joy in reunion
27
Describe the behaviour of secure infants
- Explores happily
- Regularly goes back to their caregiver
- Moderate stranger and separation anxiety
- Require and accept comfort from the caregiver
28
Describe the behaviour of insecure resistant infants
- Doesn't explore much
- Seek greater proximity stays by primary caregiver
- Extreme stranger and separation anxiety
- Not easily comforted by mother - seeks but rejects attempts
29
Outline the meta analysis by Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg investigating cultural variations in attachment
- Aimed to investigate cross-cultural variations in attachment
- 32 studies from 8 different countries that had used SS
- Results of over 1990 infants
- Found that secure attachment was the most common (50-70%) followed by avoidant and resistant
- Resistant was the least common -> Japan and Israel showed higher levels in comparison to other cultures
- Insecure avoidance was most common in Germany and least common in Japan
- Variation within cultures was 150% greater than between e.g. USA : Type B, 49-90%
30
Conclusion of studies of attachment
- Secure attachments give best outcomes and is the healthiest so is the most common due to the global trend reflecting the US norm - supports Bowlby's idea that attachment is innate and universal
- Cultural changes can make dramatic differences in the patterns of attachment
31
Simonelli et al.
- Assessed 76 12 months using the SS. Do the proportions of attachment styles still matched those found in previous studies.
- 50% secure, 36% avoidant
- Lower in previous studies suggested to be due to the increasing numbers of mothers working long hours and using professional childcare
32
Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation
"If an infant is unable to develop a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with his/her mother (or mother substitute) before the age of 2.5 years then the child would have difficulty forming relationships with other people and be at risk of behavioural/emotional disorders"
33
What is the difference between separation and deprivation?
- Separation = not in presence of primary attachment figure, okay in small doses
- Deprivation = loss of emotional care, no adequate substitute care, not okay
34
The critical period for maternal deprivation
- The first 30 months
- Continued deprivation with an absence of adequate emotional care = inevitable psychological damage (continued risk up to 5)
35
The impact of maternal deprivation
Intellectual development
- Low IQ
- Adoption studies meant that low IQ in people who remained in institutions and therefore had lower standard of care
Emotional development
- Affectionless psychopathy
- The inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others and inability to form normal relationships linked to criminality
36
Bowlbys 44 thieves study
- Aimed to see if early separation from the primary caregiver (deprivation) was associated with behavioural disorders.
- 44 children referred for stealing were compared to a control group. All were assessed for affectionless psychopathy and parents were interviewed for prolonged separation.
- In the thieves group - 32% affectionless psychopaths and 86% experienced early separation, 68% not affectionless psychopaths and 17% early separation.
In the control group 0% affectionless psychopaths, 4% separation.
- These findings suggest a link between early separations and later social maladjustment.
37
Privation
Occurs when children have never formed an attachment. This is more likely to happen in institutions if there is poor emotional care although it can happen also outside.
38
Rutter et al. English and Romanian adoptee study aim and method
- Aimed to examine the long-term effects of institutionalisation in a longitudinal study, beginning in the early 1990s
- 165 children who had spent their early years in a Romanian orphanage formed an experimental group. 111 adopted before the age of two, while the remaining 54 adopted by the age of four. They were compared to a control group of 52 British children, who were adopted before they were six months old. The social, cognitive, and physical development of all infants was examined at regular intervals (age 4, 6, 11 and 15) and interviews were conducted with adoptive parents and teachers.
39
Rutter et al. English and Romanian adoptee study results and conclusion
- Results show that when the adoptees first arrived in the UK they were malnourished and showed signs of delayed intellectual development
Adoption age vs mean IQ at 11
> 6 months - 102
6 months to 2 years - 86
> 2 years - 77
- More results show that there is an impact on attachment because adoptees who were adopted after the age of 6 months showed signs of a disinhibited attachment style e.g. clingy, attention seeking.
- Concluded that institutionalisation can have severe long - term effects on development, especially if children are not provided with adequate emotional caregiving, i.e. adopted by 2 years.
40
Outline the Bucharest Early Intervention Project : Zeenah et al.
- Aimed to investigate the attachment type of children who had spent their life in institutions
- Attachment was assessed in 95 Romanian children aged 12-31 months compared to a control group of 50 children never in care
- Found that 19% of the experimental vs 74% of the control group were securely attached and that 44% of the experimental vs 20% of the control group had disinhibited attachment
- States that infants who spend their early years in institutional care, with the absence of primary attachment figure to provide consistent and sensitive emotional caregiving, are less likely to develop a secure attachment and thus experience a disinhibitded attachment
41
Describe how early attachments affect relationships in childhood
- Myron-Wilson and Smith
- Assessed attachment type and bullying involvement
- Secure infants form better friendships and are less likely to bully - Kems
- Insecurely attached children are more likely to be involved in bullying, with resistant children more likely to be the bullies and avoidant children more likely to be bullied
42
Relationships in adulthood with romantic partners
- Hazen and Shaver
- 620 replies to a love quiz in newspaper
- Section 1: Current or most important relationship
Section 2 : General love experiences
Section 3 : Attachment type
- 56% secure = good, long lasting
25% avoidant = jealousy and fear of intimacy
19% resistant = requires constant reassurance / fear of abandonment
43
Psych
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