Attachment paper 1

Question 1

What are the two types of caregiver interactions

Answer 1

Attachment and reciprocity

Question 2

What does attachment mean

Answer 2

An emotional bond between two people

Question 3

What does reciprocity mean

Answer 3

When two people take turns to interact with one another

Question 4

What is interactional synchrony

Answer 4

When two people carry out the same action simultaneously

Question 5

Evaluation of caregiver interactions

Answer 5

• STRENGTH of reciprocity: tronik still face - mother and baby interact then mother stops interacting and baby is distressed
• STRENGTH of is: meltzoff and Moore - adults and babies respond quick enough to sustain communication
• STRENGTH of is: experiments on babies = no demand characteristics as the baby can’t guess the aims of the experiment
• STRENGTH of is: Isabella et al - high levels of synchrony = better quality mother-baby attachment

Question 6

Explain Schaffer’s research into primary attachments

Answer 6

Schaffer found that in only 3% of the time babies primary attachments are with the father, instead fathers were found to be secondary attachments

Question 7

What did Schaffer suggest was the role of the father

Answer 7

The role of the father is to develop infants quality of play and their stimulation

Question 8

What is the alternate argument to Schaffer’s explanation of the role of the father

Answer 8

That it is the level of responsiveness which triggers an attachment rather than the gender

Question 9

Evaluation of the role of the father

Answer 9

LIMITATION: difference in psychologists research - cannot answer what is the role of the father
LIMITATION: social stereotypes - role of the father to be playful is an outdated stereotype

Question 10

What are Schaffer’s four stages of attachment

Answer 10

Asocial stage, indiscriminate attachment, specific attachment, multiple attachment

Question 11

What is the asocial stage of attachment

Answer 11

When babies don’t know the difference between humans and objects

Question 12

What is the indiscriminate stage of attachment

Answer 12

Babies recognise and respond to humans

Question 13

What is the specific stage of attachment

Answer 13

Babies show anxiety when mother leaves/strangers are around

Question 14

What is the multiple stage of attachment

Answer 14

Babies can have multiple attachments

Question 15

Briefly explain the procedure of schaffers stage of attachment experiment

Answer 15

• 60 Scottish babies visited every month for a year and again at 18months.
• measured stranger and separation anxiety
• 25-32 week old babies = 50% show separation anxiety
• by 40 weeks 80% have specific attachments and 30% multiple attachments

Question 16

Evaluation of Schaffer’s stages of attachment

Answer 16

• LIMITATION: lacks population validity (only Scottish babies)
• STRENGTH: good external validity (babies observed in their home so it’s a real life setting)
• STRENGTH: no demand characteristics (babies won’t guess aim of the experiment)
• LIMITATION: bowlby states that before a child is 2 years of age they are only able to make one specific attachment as opposed to multiple

Question 17

What was dollard and miller’s explanation for why babies form attachments

Answer 17

Babies form attachments to those who feed them

Question 18

What does classical conditioning mean

Answer 18

Learning to associate two objects together with a response

Question 19

What does operant conditioning mean

Answer 19

Learning to repeat behaviour, or not, depending on its consequence

Question 20

What are the four attachment stages in the learning theory

Answer 20

1. Food (unconditioned stimulus) -> unconditioned response
2. Mother (neutral stimulus) -> neutral response
3. Mother (neutral+unconditioned stimulus)-> food -> happy baby (unconditioned response)
4. Mother -> (conditioned stimulus) -> happy baby (conditioned response)

Question 21

Evaluation of learning theory

Answer 21

1. LIMITATION: schaffer and Emerson - not who feeds you but who replies to your social releases
2. LIMITATION: animal studies show food is not what cause attachments
3. (Counter argument) STRENGTH: animal studies cannot be generalised to humans
4. LIMITATION: attachments depend on reciprocity and interaction all synchrony

Question 22

What was bowlbys theory of attachment

Answer 22

That we can only make one attachment until the age of 5 and this is usually with the mother

Question 23

What does monotropy mean

Answer 23

That we form one attachment and this is important for the child’s development

Question 24

What and when is the critical period

Answer 24

When an attachment has to be formed before the child reaches the age of 2

Question 25

What and when is the sensitive period

Answer 25

When the attachment has to be continued until the child has reached the age of 5

Question 26

What are social releases

Answer 26

Babies are born with innate behaviours which attracts adults to them

Question 27

What is the internal working model

Answer 27

Mental representations we carry with us of our primary caregiver which help with with our later relationships

Question 28

Evaluation of Bowlby's theory

Answer 28

1. LIMITATION: evidence is mixed - Schaffer found some babies form multiple primary attachments as opposed to one 2. STRENGTH: bailey et al - 99 mothers with poor attachments also had poor attachments with children (internal working model) 3. LIMITATION: lacks temporal validity

Question 29

Briefly outline the strange situation experiment

Answer 29

``` 100 middle class American babies monitored Mother baby and experimenter Mother and baby Mother baby and stranger Baby and stranger Mother and baby again Baby alone ```

Question 30

What is stranger anxiety

Answer 30

When babies show distress when approached by an unfamiliar person

Question 31

What is separation anxiety

Answer 31

When a baby is distressed when separated from its attachment figure

Question 32

Evaluation of strange situation

Answer 32

1. STRENGTH: no demand characteristics 2. LIMITATION: lacks population validity 3. LIMITATION: influence may be from babies temperament not their quality of attachment 4. STRENGTH: bick: good inter rater reliability 94% agree on attachment type

Question 33

What is a secure attachment

Answer 33

Children who explore happily, have moderate stranger and separation anxiety

Question 34

What is avoidant attachment

Answer 34

Babies who show little reaction when caregiver leaves them or returns to them

Question 35

What is a resistant attachment

Answer 35

Babies who show high stranger and separation anxiety but resist comfort when reunited with caregiver

Question 36

What does institutionalisation mean

Answer 36

Children brought up away from their family in a government facility

Question 37

Briefly outline rutter's experiment

Answer 37

3 groups of children 0-6months 6months-2years 2years+ 165 Romanian orphans adopted to Britain Physical, cognitive and emotional development tested Compared to British children adopted at the same time

Question 38

Results of rutters experiment

Answer 38

IQ highest for group 0-6months = 102, IQ of 2years+ = 17 | Children adopted after 6months showed disinhibited attachment (seeking attention)

Question 39

Evaluation of institutionalisation

Answer 39

1. STRENGTH: knowledge e.g. Key workers have been brought into institutes 2. STRENGTH: bucharest- 74% non institutionalised children = secure but 19% of institutionalised children secure in strange situation 3. LIMITATION: lacks population validity 4. STRENGTH: no confounding variables like war (British institutes in 40s)

Question 41

Briefly outline Lorenz experiment

Answer 41

- geese eggs split into two groups - group 1=hatched with mother group 2=hatched in an incubator - all geese then mixed - those from incubators followed Lorenz - imprinting critical period = a couple of hours

Question 42

Briefly outline harlows experiment

Answer 42

- monkeys left with model mothers - condition 1=wire model and food condition 2=soft model - monkeys proffered soft model and only went to wore for food - adults = monkeys angry and less sociable

Question 43

Evaluation of animal studies

Answer 43

1. LIMITATION: animal ethics 2. STRENGTH: practical application - comfort is needed for a good relationship 3. LIMITATION: generalisability

Question 44

Briefly outline van ijzendoorn's experiment

Answer 44

- looked at secure, resistant and avoidant across countries as well as within countries - 32 studies, 15 in the USA - data was meta analysed - great Britain = most secure, Germany= most avoidant, Israel = most resistant

Question 45

Evaluation of cultural differences

Answer 45

1. STRENGTH: large sample increases internal validity 2. LIMITATION (counter) large sample but 15/32 USA = cannot be generalised 3. LIMITATION: biased towards American culture as strange situation conducted in us

Question 46

Briefly outline later life relationships

Answer 46

- based on your internal working model - love quiz 620 responses - section 1 current relationships section 2 general love - secure = good romance - avoidant = jealous - resistant = clingy

Question 47

Evaluation of later life

Answer 47

1. LIMITATION: lacks population validity 2. LIMITATION: social desirability bias 3. STRENGTH: bailey - 99 mothers internal working model 4. LIMITATION: ltm begins at 3 so cannot remember all relationships