Attachment

Question 1

What is attachment

Answer 1

A reciprocal and emotional bond between an infant and its primary caregiver.
Two way process that endures overtime
Each seek closeness (proximity seeking)

Question 2

What are the 2 animal studies of attachment

Answer 2

Lorenz’s study- goose
Hallows study - monkeys

Question 3

What was the aim of lorenzs research

Answer 3

Explore imprinting and if behaviours re just to biological figures or other figures

Question 4

What is the procedure of Lorenzs research

Answer 4

Field experiment
Clutch of grey lag goose eggs spit into two groups
Group 1 - hatch naturally with biological mother
Group 2 - kept in incubator with a human mother
Test the strength of imprinting , put both groups together and observe behaviour
See if it’s reversible b6 reintroducing biological mother to group 2

Question 5

What was the findings of lorenzs study

Answer 5

Incubator chicks imprinted on lorenz and had an immediate and strong bond
Natural chicks imprinted on biological mother
Both groups mix still went back to original attachment

Critical period
12-17 hours after hatching for imprinting to occur
Those who didn’t imprint showed abnormal behaviour later in life

Irreversibility of imprinting
Largely irreversible
Attempts failed shows the strength and perminance of the bond

Effects on mating
Human imprinting lead to goose wanting to imprint on humans instead of other goose

Question 6

Conclusion of lorenzs study

Answer 6

Imprinting is an innate process that has a critical period and is a rapid automatic process.

Question 7

Strengths and limitations of lorenzs study

Answer 7

✅ research support from guiton - leghorn chucks exsposed to rubber gloves when being fed for the first few weeks of their life, resulted in them imprinting on the gloves, supports the critical period and animals will imprint on any moving thing that is present in the critical window.
❌ethical issues - manipulating natural environment, resulted in unnatural and abnormal behaviour (artificial mother) long term psychological harm , lack of protection from harm.
❌ lack of generalisability - not a human research study, humans are more complex and it oversimplifies human behaviour, humans take longer to form attachments ( over a year) not immediately .
❌imprinting is reversible- research from guiton - male chickens that were mating with the rubber gloves when exposed to other chickens they were bow toe gage in normal sexual activity with the other chickens.

Question 8

What was the aim of Harlow research

Answer 8

To determine the nature of attachment
To see weather monkeys form a stronger bond with a caregiver mother ( milk wire monkey ) or a comfort monkey ( cloth)

Question 9

Procedure of harlows exsperiment

Answer 9

16 monkeys separated from mothers and isolated in cages with wire and cloth monkeys
Several weeks they were observed and recorded the behaviour of monkeys on the amount of time spent with each mother .
Stress induced situations
Scary stimulus- mechanical moving object
Exploration of new environments - unfamiliar rooms with or without surrogate mothers

Question 10

Findings of harlows exsperiment

Answer 10

Monkeys spent 17-18 hours a day with the cloth mother
Monkeys spent 1-2 hours per day with the wire mother

Reaction to stress
All monkeys Ran to cloth mother and visibly calmed
only access to wire mother resulted in extreme distress
Both mothers present 90% of monkeys went to the cloth mother

New environments
Cloth mother present so worked as a secure base so they can explore then reurn for reassurance
Wire mother present exploration very minimal visible anxiety
No surrogate resulted in exsperiment distress

Long term effects
Deprived in comfort during infancy resulted in social defects when older, difficulty interacting, aggression , can’t care for own offspring

Question 11

Conclusion of harlows exsperiment

Answer 11

Emotional security > food
Care giving provides warmth comfort and a sense of security

Question 12

Harlows research strengths and limitations

Answer 12

✅ evidence of similar behaviour in humans - humans who had a lack of early emotional care showed long term emotional difficulty’s, rutters research , orphans.
✅real life application impact on childcare - childcare= physical needs , neglecting emotional needs, changed to fit emotional and physical needs, hallows reasearch improved childcare.
❌ ethical issues - welfare / treatment of the monkeys, exsposed to lots of stress. Protection from harm and humane treatment guidelines violated, reduces the acceptability and accountability of the research.
❌lack of generalisability - monkeys not humans less cognitively / emotionally intelligent, reduces external validity.

Question 13

What is the learning theory

Answer 13

All behaviour is learnt
Born as a blank slate - tabula Rosa

Question 14

What is cupboard love ?

Answer 14

Where infants form attachment to caregivers who provide food.
Primary drive for an infant = food
Results in
Secondary drive = attachment

Question 15

Flow diagram for classical conditioning attachment

Answer 15

Mum ➡️ no response
Milk / food ➡️ happy baby
Milk + food ➡️ happy baby
Mum ➡️ happy baby

Question 16

Operant conditioning in attachment and examples

Answer 16

Positive reinforcement ➡️ pleasant consequence ➡️ increase likelihood of repeating behaviour
Example: baby goes to mother for food - positive reward - repeats again and again = attachment

Negative reinforcement ➡️ pleasant consequence ➡️ increase likelihood of repeated behaviour
Example: baby hungry = unpleasant Mum = feeds = removes discomfort = attachment

Question 17

A03 evaluation learning theory

Answer 17

✅scientific research - behaviorist approach - skinner and Pavlov - lab experiments - increases validity. Infants learn to attach through reinforcement (food).
✅research support on humans - little Albert - learn though conditioning - fear through classical conditioning.
❌lacks generalisability - reliance mainly on animal studies- classical conditioning - dogs , operant conditioning - rats. Not as emotionless and cognitively intelligent as humans - reduces validity - reductionist.
❌hallows research shows that monkeys spent 17-18 hours a day with the cloth mother ( comfort) and 1-2 hours a day it’s the wire mother (food) so cannot fully explain attachment.

Question 18

What is the concept of a critical period

Answer 18

A biologically determined period of time during which characteristics develop . Unable to occur after this period.

Question 19

What is monotropy

Answer 19

Relationship between infant and primary attachment figure is of special significance in emotional development

Question 20

What are social releasers

Answer 20

A social behaviour or characteristic that elicits caregiving and leads to attachment

Question 21

Internal working model concepts

Answer 21

A mental model of the world which enables individuals to predicts and control their environments, regarding attachment.

Question 22

A03 bowlbys monotropic theory

Answer 22

✅research support - Lorenz - goslings formed attachment to the first moving thing they they saw after hatching, innate process. Supports bowlbys theory attachment has developed as an evolutionary process to aid survival.
✅social relesers - caregivers when ignoring social releasers baby’s become more distressed. Baby’s use them ass a way to gain caregivers attention.
❌opposing explanations for attachment - classical and operant conditioning - learning not innate.
❌biologically reductionist - reduces complex emotional, social and cognitive attachments - oversimplified.

Question 23

What was the aim of aimsworths research (strange situation)

Answer 23

See how infant (9-18 months) behave under conditions of mild stress or unusualness

Question 24

What was the procedure of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 24

106 middle class infants
8 intervals of 3 mins were observed through a one way mirror and cameras
Infants were observed in relation to separation, reunion and response to a stranger
Infants behaviour split into five behaviour category’s and rated on a scale of 1-7

Category’s:
Proximity and contact seeking
Contact maintaining behaviour
Proximity and contact avoiding behaviour
Contact and interaction resisting behaviour
Searching behaviour- looking for care over

Question 25

What was the findings of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 25

3 patterns of behaviour Secure attachment (type B) - proximity seeking to caregiver or secure base behaviour. Moderate separation and stranger anxiety behaviour are seen, reunion behaviour- comfort from caregiver. Insecure avoidant (type A) - not show proximity seeking or base behaviour , little to no reaction is seen to caregivers leaving and no stranger anxiety. Don’t seek caregiver o reunion- avoidance. Insecure resistant (type C) - increased levels of proximity seeking behaviour , high levels stranger anxiety, infant resist comfort when reunited with their caregivers .

Question 26

A03 of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 26

✅found almost perfect agreement in the strange situation they found 0.94 agreement (1.00 = perfect) makes investigation reliable. ✅done under controlled conditions so increases validity. ❌low ecological validity - artificial environment ❌low population validity - 100 middle class infants - not representative to the wider population.

Question 27

What research do we study in cultural variations in attachment

Answer 27

Van ijzendoorn