Attachment Flashcards

Question

Stages of attachment weakness - Carpenter (1975)

Answer 1

- Presented infants with familiar and unfamiliar voices and faces - Found that two week old babies looked at a face longest when it was the mother's accompanied by her voice - They were distressed when it was the mother's face with a different voice - Suggests babies can recognise and are attracted to their mothers from an early age

Answer 2

- Men now have a much bigger role in parenting than before - Bowlby believed that children have one primary attachment figure - usually the mother but it could be the father - Many researchers have seen the fathers role as less of a caregiver and more of a playmate - There is some evidence to suggest when fathers do take on the role of the main caregiver, they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers

Answer 3

- Found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mother first (around 7 months) - A few weeks or months after, they formed secondary attachments to other family members, including the father - In 75% of infants, an attachment was formed with the father by 18 months - this was shown as the infants protested when their fathers walked away

Answer 4

degree of sensitivity - more secure attachments found when fathers show more sensitivity to children's needs marital intimacy - the degree of intimacy a father has within his relationship affects the type of attachment he will have with his children supportive co-parenting - the amount of support a father gives to his partner in helping to care for their children

Answer 5

- this could be the result of traditional gender roles - women are expected to be more caring and nurturing - it could be that female hormones create higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figure - breast feeding

Answer 6

- found that fathers as secondary attachment figures had an important role in their children's development - he found the quality of the father's play was related to the quality of adolescent attachments - this suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment - play rather than nurturing

Answer 7

- children who grow up without fathers have often been seen to do less well at school and have higher levels of risk taking and aggression - this suggests that fathers can help prevent negative developmental outcomes - however, most studies have focused on single mothers from poor socio-economic backgrounds - it may therefore be social factors related to poverty that produce these outcomes, not the absence of a father

Answer 8

- supportive fathers provide mothers with time away from children - this can help reduce stress and ultimately improve the quality of a mother's relationship with her children

Answer 9

- some researchers are interested in understanding the role fathers have as secondary attachment figures - other researchers are concerned with the father as a primary attachment figure - this is a problem because psychologists cannot simply answer 'what is the role of the father?'

Answer 10

- Lorenz and Harlow - animal studied are carried out for either ethical or practical reasons - researchers have been interested in the relationship between infant animals and their mothers - their observations informed psychologists' understanding of mother-infant attachment in humans

Answer 11

to investigate the mechanisms of imprinting where the youngsters follow and form an attachment to the first large moving object that they meet

Answer 12

- Lorenz (1935) split goose eggs into two batches - one batch was hatched naturally by the mother (control group) and the other batch was hatched in an incubator (experimental group) with Lorenz making sure he was the first moving object that they encountered - Lorenz recorded their behaviour - he then placed each batch under an upturned box and recorded their behaviour once the box was removed

Answer 13

- immediately after birth, the naturally hatched goslings followed their mother, while the incubated goslings followed Lorenz - when the box was removed, the naturally hatched goslings went straight to their mother, while the incubated goslings went to Lorenz, showing no bond with their mother - Lorenz also noted how imprinting would only occur within a set time period (between 4 and 25 hours after hatching)

Answer 14

a form of attachment where bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving object they see

Answer 15

- the period in which imprinting needs to take place - between 4 and 25 hours

Answer 16

Lorenz observed that birds which imprinted on a human would often, as adult birds, attempt to mate with humans

Answer 17

- the human attachment system is different from birds - therefore, the findings can't be generalised to humans

Answer 18

- found that chickens that imprinted on washing up gloves would try to mate with them as adults - however, they eventually learned to mate with other chickens - this suggests that the impact of imprinting on mating behaviour isn't permanent

Answer 19

- other researchers have suggested that the critical period wasn't as fixed as Lorenz suggested - ducklings that were kept in isolation were able to imprint after the suggested critical period - others have also suggested that imprinting is reversible

Answer 20

to test learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in baby monkeys given a wire surrogate mother producing milk with those given a soft towelling mother producing no milk

Answer 21

- two types of surrogate mothers were constructed - a wire mother and a towelled mother - sixteen baby monkeys were used, four in each of four conditions: a wire mother producing milk and a towelled mother producing no milk, a wire mother producing no milk and a towelled mother producing milk, a wire mother producing milk, a towelled mother producing milk - the amount of time spend with each mother was recorded - monkeys were frightened with a loud noise to test for mother preference during stress - a larger cage was also used to test the monkey's degree of exploration

Answer 22

- monkeys preferred contact with the towelled mother, regardless of whether she produced milk - monkeys with only a wire mother had diarrhoea - when frightened by a loud noise, monkeys clung to the towelled mother - in the large cage conditions, monkeys with a towelled mother explored more and visited their mother more often

Answer 23

- rhesus monkeys have an innate need for contact comfort - suggests attachment concerns emotional security more than food

Answer 24

- a mother figure had to be introduced to an infant monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form - after this time, attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation was irreversible

Answer 25

- Harlow followed the monkeys who has been deprived of a mother into adulthood - the monkeys reared with wire mothers were the most dysfunctional - even those reared with a soft toy didn't develop normal behaviour - more aggressive, less sociable, bred less often, unskilled at mating - as mothers, some of the deprived monkeys neglected, attacked, and even killed their children

Answer 26

- Harlow's findings have had a profound effect on psychologists' understanding of human mother-infant attachment - Harlow showed that attachment doesn't develop as a result of being fed, but from contact comfort - Harlow also showed us the importance of early relationships for later social development

Answer 27

- helped social workers understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse, and has allowed intervention to help it - these findings are also important in the care of captive monkeys

Answer 28

- although monkeys are more similar to humans than geese, they're not human - there may be other factors involved in the attachments of humans

Answer 29

- the monkeys suffered as a result of Harlow's procedures - Harlow was well aware of the suffering he caused - he referred to the wire mothers as 'iron maidens' after a medieval torture device

Answer 30

- aim was to be able to observe key attachment behaviours as a means of assessing the quality of a child's attachment to a caregiver - assessed 106 infants aged 9-18 months - every aspect of behaviour was observed and videotaped - testing room was unfamiliar - every 15 seconds, the category of behaviour displayed was recorded and scored on intensity (1-7)

Answer 31

- controlled observation (laboratory) with a two-way mirror - designed to measure the security of attachment a child displays towards a caregiver

Answer 32

- proximity seeking - exploration and secure-base behaviour - stranger anxiety - separation anxiety - response at reunion

Answer 33

- 8 episodes lasting 3 minutes each - each episode had different people present, varying between the mother, infant, stranger, and observer - each episode had a different situation e.g. in episode 4, the mother leaves the child and stranger together

Answer 34

- Ainsworth identified three main types of attachment - these were insecure avoidant (Type A), securely attached (Type B), and insecure resistant (Type C)

Answer 35

- high levels of independence - children explore freely but don't seek proximity or show secure-base behaviour - low levels of separation anxiety - low levels of stranger anxiety - very little response at reunion - 20-25% of toddlers are classed as insecure-avoidant

Answer 36

- the most desirable attachment type - proximity and secure base behaviour - explore happily but regularly go back to the caregiver - show moderate stranger and separation anxiety - joy at reunion - caregivers are sensitive to infant's needs - 60-75% of British toddlers are classed as secure

Answer 37

- children seek greater proximity than others and so explore less - show high stranger and separation anxiety - resist comfort when reunited with caregiver - 3% of British toddlers are classed as insecure-resistant

Answer 38

- sensitive responsiveness is the major factor determining the quality of attachments - sensitive mothers correctly interpret infants' signals and respond appropriately to their needs - sensitive mothers tend to have securely-attached babies - insensitive mothers tend to have insecurely-attached babies

Answer 39

- attachment type is strongly predictive of later development - babies assessed as securely attached typically have more success at school and more successful friendships/relationships - insecure-resistant attachment is associated with bullying and mental health issues - therefore, this concept can explain subsequent outcomes

Answer 40

- controlled conditions - behavioural categories are easy to observe Bick et al (2012) - looked at inter-rater reliability in a team of trained strange situation observers - found agreement on attachment type for 94% of tested babies

Answer 41

- findings may not apply to countries outside Western Europe and the USA - cultural differences in childhood experience means that children are likely to respond differently to the strange situation - caregivers from different cultures may behave differently - the strange situation contains elements unfamiliar to some cultures e.g. being left with strangers Takahashi (1990) - Japanese mothers are rarely separated from their babies and therefore there are high levels of separation anxiety - at the reunion stage, Japanese mothers rushed to their babies and scooped them up - this meant that the child's response was hard to observe

Answer 42

- the strange situation is laboratory based with a script and is therefore artificial - this is far removed from everyday situations - the situation also focuses too much on the behaviour of infants, and not enough on the behaviour of mothers

Answer 43

- the strange situation deliberately stresses infants to see their reactions - it has therefore been labelled unethical - however, it could be seen as justifiable, as the stress caused is no greater than that of everyday experiences

Answer 44

- found that children acted differently in the strange situation depending on which parent they were with - children might be insecurely attached to their mothers but securely attached to their fathers - this illustrates that attachment types are linked to individual relationships with carers, not characteristics of children - therefore, it may be invalid

Answer 45

- Main and Solomon (1986) pointed out that a minority of children display atypical attachments that don't fall under types A, B, or C - this atypical attachment is commonly known as 'disorganised attachment' - disorganised children display an odd mix of resistant and avoidant behaviour - this questions the validity of Ainsworth's work

Answer 46

- if different patterns of attachment type are found cross-culturally, it would mean that infants' attachment types aren't biological, but learned through exposure to different child-rearing styles - in Britain, we view insecure-avoidant attachment negatively as it's associated with weak attachments to people - in Germany, it's valued as it's associated with being independent - in Germany, more infants are classed as being insecure-avoidant

Answer 47

- conducted a meta-analysis to look at the proportions of attachment types across a range of countries - they also looked at the differences within the same countries to measure variation within a culture

Answer 48

- researchers analysed 32 studies of attachment where the strange situation had been used to investigate the proportions of infants with different attachment types - the 32 studies were conducted in 8 countries - overall, the 32 studies gathered results for 1990 children - the data for these studies was meta-analysed

Answer 49

- in all countries, secure attachment was the most common type - however, the proportion varied from 75% in Britain to 50% in China - insecure-resistant was the least common type - however, the proportions ranged from 3% in Britain to around 30% in Israel - insecure-avoidant attachments were observed most commonly in Germany and least commonly in Japan

Answer 50

- secure attachment seems to be the norm in a wide range of countries - this supports Bowlby's idea that attachment is innate and universal - the research also clearly shows that cultural practices have an influence on attachment type

Answer 51

- the meta-analysis studied 1900 babies and their primary attachment figures - large samples increase internal validity by reducing the impact of anomalous results caused by bad methodology or unusual participants

Answer 52

- the study claimed to study cultural variation, however the comparisons were between countries, not cultures - within any country, there are multiple different cultures, each with different child-rearing practices - for example, one sample might over-represent people living in poverty - the particular cultural characteristics and caregiving styles need to be specified

Answer 53

- cross-cultural psychology includes the ideas of etic and emic - etic means cultural universals, and emic means cultural uniqueness - the strange situation was designed by an American researcher (Ainsworth) based on a British theory (Bowlby) - therefore, there's a question of whether these theories and assessments can be applied to other cultures - this is called imposed etic - for example, the idea that a lack of separation anxiety indicates an insecure attachment - in Germany, this behaviour may be seen as independence rather than avoidance

Answer 54

- the test itself may be culture-bound - the strange situation contains elements unfamiliar to some cultures - the greater amounts of insecure-resistant attachment in Japan may result from stress due to infants' unfamiliarity of being left with strangers - temperament may also be more influential on behaviour than attachment - the strange situation lacks ecological validity due to its artificial nature

Answer 55

- behaviour is acquired through experience - association and consequences - sometimes called a 'cupboard love' approach - children learn to love whoever feeds them

Answer 56

- learning through association - attachments are learned through the stimulus of food (UCS) - food naturally produces pleasure (UCR) - food (UCS) is constantly paired with the caregiver (NS), resulting in pleasure (UCS) - the infant learns to associate pleasure (CR) solely with the caregiver (CS), even without the presence of food

Answer 57

- learning through consequences - operant conditioning can explain why babies cry for comfort - crying leads to a positive response from the caregiver (feeding) - this behaviour is therefore positively reinforced - the baby is more likely to cry to reduce the unpleasant feeling of hunger - this behaviour is therefore negatively reinforced - the caregiver also receives negative reinforcement as the crying stops

Answer 58

- Schaffer and Emerson's study showed that many babies developed a primary attachment to their biological mother even though other carers did most of the feeding - this shows that feeding isn't the key element to attachment - there is therefore no UCS involved - attachment is more complex and emotional

Answer 59

- research into infant-caregiver interaction suggests that the quality of attachment is associated with factors such as reciprocity and interactional synchrony - studies have also shown that the best quality attachments are with sensitive carers that pick up infant signals and respond appropriately

Answer 60

- explains complex behaviours in a simple way - doesn't consider cognitive processes or the emotional nature of attachments

Answer 61

- argued that in their first year, babies are fed 2000 times, generally by the main carer - this creates an opportunity for the carer to become associated with the removal of the unpleasant feeling of hunger (negative reinforcement) - supports the idea that attachments are learned through operant conditioning

Answer 62

- argued that babies only need food occasionally, but constantly require emotional security and closeness - suggests that food isn't the main reason for the formation of attachments

Answer 63

- Bowlby rejected learning theory as an explanation for attachment - instead, he looked at the work of Lorenz and Harlow - he proposed an evolutionary explanation - attachment was an innate system that gave a survival advantage - through evolution, infants became genetically programmed to behave towards their mothers in ways that increased their survival chances

Answer 64

- emphasis on a child's attachment to one particular caregiver - he believed that this attachment is different and more important - he believed that the more time spent with this mother figure, the better

Answer 65

The Law of Continuity - the more constant and predictable a child's care, the better the quality of their attachment The Law of Accumulated Separation - the effects of every separation from the mother adds up

Answer 66

- through evolution, infants become genetically programmed to behave towards their mothers in ways that increase their survival chances - these social releasers include crying, looking, smiling, vocalising, following, and clinging - mothers and babies have innate predisposition to become attached - social releasers trigger that response in caregivers - Bowlby recognised that attachment was a reciprocal process - overall, Bowlby saw attachment functioning as a control system to maintain proximity to the mother

Answer 67

- the time within which an attachment must form if it's to form at all - approximately up to 2.5-3 years - Lorenz and Harlow noted that attachment in birds and monkeys had critical periods

Answer 68

- the first attachment forms a blueprint for future relationships, like a schema - they carry our perception of what relationships are like so will be important in affecting a child's future relationships - the internal working model affects the child's later ability to be a parent themselves

Answer 69

- Bowlby believed that babies generally formed one attachment to their primary caregiver, and that this attachment was special and different - only after this attachment could multiple attachments be formed - however, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that most babies did attach to one person first, but a significant minority were also able to form multiple attachments at the same time - it's unclear whether there's something unique about the first attachment

Answer 70

- studied the attachments infants had with people like fathers, grandparents, and siblings - found that infants had different attachments for different purposes rather than attachments being a hierarchy - e.g. infants go to fathers for play, but mothers for comfort - this goes against Bowlby's idea of monotropy

Answer 71

- assessed 99 mothers with one year old babies on the quality of their attachment to their own mothers by interviewing them - the researchers also assessed the attachment of the babies to the mothers by observation - it was found that the mothers who reported poor attachments to their own parents were more likely to have poor attachments to their children - this supports the internal working model

Answer 72

- monotropy has major implications for the lifestyle choices mothers make when their children are young - the law of accumulated separation states that having substantial time apart from a primary attachment figure risks having a poor quality attachment - this increases pressure on mothers - they're set up to take the blame for anything that goes wrong for the child in later life - it also pushes the mother into particular choices e.g. not returning to work after the child is born, which can have economic implications - Bowlby's theory has been used by right-wing political figures as scientific proof that women should be at home mothering children instead of working

Answer 73

- suggests that a child having their first relationship with their primary attachment figure forms a mental representation of this relationship - acts as a template for future relationships - therefore, the quality of the child's first attachment is crucial

Answer 74

- securely attached infants tend to form the best quality childhood friendships - insecurely attached infants have friendship difficulties Smith (1998) assessed attachment type and bullying involvement in 196 children aged 7-11, and found: - insecure-avoidant infants are most likely to be victims of bullying - insecure-resistant infants are most likely to be bullies

Answer 75

McCarthy (1999) studied 40 adult women who had been assessed as infants to establish their early attachment type, and found that: - securely attached infants had the best friendships and relationships - insecure-resistant infants had problems maintaining friendships - insecure-avoidant infants struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships

Answer 76

- internal working models affect the child's ability to parent their own children - attachment type therefore tends to be passed on through generations Bailey et al (2007) - assessed 99 mothers with one year old babies on the quality of their attachment to their own mothers by interviewing them - the researchers also assessed the attachment of the babies to the mothers through observation - it was found that the mothers who reported poor attachments to their own parents were more likely to have poor attachments to their children

Answer 77

- in addition to Smith (1998) and McCarthy (1999) - conducted a classic study of the association between attachment and adult relationships - analysed 620 replies to a 'love quiz' in an American local newspaper - the quiz assessed current/most important relationship, general love experiences e.g. numbers of partners, and attachment type - they found that securely attached (56%) were most likely to have longer lasting relationships, insecure-avoidant (25%) tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy, and insecure-resistant (19%) were most vulnerable to loneliness

Answer 78

Zimmerman (2000) - assessed infant attachment type and adolescent attachment to parents - there was little relationship between quality of infant and adolescent attachments - this rejects the theory of internal working models

Answer 79

- infant-parent attachment is assessed by interviews or questionnaires - it's also not assessed in infancy but years later - assessment relies on self-report techniques where validity is limited - they depend on participants being honest and having a realistic view of their own relationships - relies on accurate recollections of early relationships

Answer 80

- a third environmental factor such as parenting style might affect attachment and the child's ability to form relationships - the child's temperament may also have an influence

Answer 81

- people aren't doomed to always have bad relationships just because they had attachment issues - other factors are likely to be influential too - the internal working model is therefore deterministic and pessimistic

Answer 82

- suggests that constant presence of nurture from a mother or mother-substitute is essential for normal psychological development of babies - disruption of the attachment bond, even short term, can result is serious and permanent damage to a child's emotional, social, and intellectual development

Answer 83

- if there's prolonged separation before 2.5 years, this could affect psychological development - psychological damage is inevitable

Answer 84

- brief, temporary separation e.g. day care - separation only becomes an issue for development if the child is deprived - Bowlby described the distress caused in a PDD model

Answer 85

Protest - immediate reaction to separation (crying, screaming, clinging to mother) Despair - calmer, more apathetic behaviour, anger and fear still felt, little response to offers of comfort, child may comfort themselves Detachment - child responds to others again but treats everyone warily, rejection of caregiver on return is common and a sign of anger

Answer 86

- lengthy or permanent separations from attachment figures e.g. divorce, death - delayed intellectual development - low IQ - lack of emotional well-being, social development, self-concept, stress, and depression - affectionless psychopathy

Answer 87

- children who have never formed an attachment bond - more likely to lead to lasting damage - some individuals fully recover, whilst others make little to no improvement - relatively rare - case studies - some of the problems include language issues, hostility towards adults, physical underdevelopment, low IQ, and learning difficulties

Answer 88

- found greater behavioural problems in samples of adolescents separated briefly from attachment figures before 5 years of age through hospitalisation, in comparison to adolescents who weren't hospitalised - supports Bowlby's prediction of long-term damage

Answer 89

- Bowlby drew on a number of sources of evidence for maternal deprivation e.g. children orphaned during WW2 - other factors such as trauma and poor after-care may have caused later development difficulties rather than separation - not just maternal care that was deprived - case studies are dependent on retrospective memories that may be selective and incorrect

Answer 90

- individual differences when reacting to short-term separation are important - e.g. securely attached children and more mature children cope better with separation - only some children experience distress

Answer 91

- research into long-term deprivation has allowed psychologists to create strategies to help children cope with divorce - some American states have a legal requirement for divorcing parents to attend an education programme which teaches them to understand and avoid the difficulties associated with disrupted attachments

Answer 92

- case study support - reported on Genie, a girl denied human interaction - she was beaten and strapped into a potty seat until discovered at age 13 - she couldn't stand up or speak, and spent most of her time spitting - she received years of therapy - she developed some language abilities and improved her IQ from 38 to 74 - at 18, she returned to the care of her mother - she stayed for a few months before moving to six other foster homes where she was further abused - Genie deteriorated physically and mentally, and went to live in a home for people with learning disabilities - this may support Bowlby's theory - however, there may be other factors, such as physical abuse, creating the negative outcomes, not just the lack of attachment figure - it's also problematic to generalise from unique case studies

Answer 93

- used to investigate the effects of maternal deprivation - former Romanian president required women to have five children - many Romanian parents couldn't afford to keep their children, and therefore they ended up in orphanages with extremely poor conditions - many of the children were adopted, some by British parents

Answer 94

- followed a group of 165 Romanian orphans adopted in Britain - wanted to test to what extent good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions - physical, cognitive, and emotional development was assessed at ages 4, 6, 11, and 15 years - a group of 52 British children adopted around the same time served as a control group

Answer 95

- when they first arrived in the UK, half of the adoptees showed signs of delayed intellectual development - the majority were severely malnourished - at age 11, the adopted children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of adoption - 'disinhibited attachment' - attachment style with symptoms of attention seeking, clinginess, social behaviour directed indiscriminately towards all adults, both familiar and unfamiliar - children adopted after 6 months old showed signs of disinhibited attachment

Answer 96

- delayed intellectual development - shown by low IQ - problems with emotional development - shown by tantrums - lack of internal working model - shown by difficulty interacting with peers and forming close relationships - quasi-autism - shown by problems understanding the meaning of social contexts, may display obsessive behaviour

Answer 97

- led to improvements in the way that children are cared for in institutions e.g. orphanages now avoid having a large number of caregivers for each child - they have one key worker - therefore, disinhibited attachment is avoided

Answer 98

- it's possible that the conditions were so bad that the results can't be applied to understanding the impact of better institutional care or any other situation where children experience deprivation - there were extremely low levels of intellectual stimulation - lack of generalisability

Answer 99

- children weren't randomly assigned to conditions - the researchers didn't interfere with the adoption process - this means that children adopted earlier may have been more sociable - this is a confounding variable as the children adopted early would have been a certain type of people

Answer 100

- followed the orphans into their teens - some lasting effects of early experience have been found - both long-term and short-term effects can therefore be seen

Attachment Flashcards

(124 cards)