Attachment Psychology :)

What is attachment?

a two way emotional tie to a specific person. You see the other person as essential for your emotional security.

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What is interactional synchrony?

Primary caregiver and infants reflect the actions and emotions of each other in a co-ordinated way. This reinforces the attachment bond.

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what is the study for interactional synchrony? what happened?

Meltzoff and Moore: infants aged 2/3 weeks tended to mimic adult's specific facial expressions etc. proving that interactional synchrony is an innate ability to aid the form of attachments.

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what are the advs of Meltzoff and Moore?

no demand characteristics (babies), high validity (standardised procedure, easy to replicate, high control environment)

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What is reciprocity?

a 2 way interaction as the infant and primary caregiver respond to each other's signals and elicit a response from them which facilitates an attachment.

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what is the case for reciprocity? what happened?

Feldman and Eidelman- found that 2/3 of mums pick up on and respons to infant alertness, showing reciprocity. Also, from 3 months the interactions become more frequent and child and more pay attention to verbal signals and facial expressions.

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advs of Felman and Eidelman?

no demand characteristics (babies), high validity (high control environment, standardised procedure and easy to replicate)

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what are the different types of attachment behaviours?

secure base behaviour, separation distress, proximity.

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what is secure base behaviour?

explore environment but return to attachment figure for comfort.

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what is separation distress?

distressed when attachment figure leaves?

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what is proximity?

trying to be physically close to who they're attached to.

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who invented the stages of attachment?

Schaffer

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what are the stages of attachment?

asocial stage, indiscriminate attachment, specific attachment, multiple attachment

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what is the asocial stage?

baby recognises and begins to form bond with its carers, but behaviour to human and non human objects quite similar.

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what is indiscriminate attachment?

at 2/7 months babies show observable social behaviour, they show a preference to people rather than objects and recognise familiar adults but don't show stranger anxiety and accept comfort from anyone.

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what is specific attachment?

from 7 months, babies begin to show stranger and separation anxiety from a particular adult (not who they spend most time with but who interacts with them most).

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what is multiple attachment?

shortly after specific attachment, babies will extend attachment behaviour to multiple attachments with adults they regularly spend time with. these are called secondary attachments.

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what is the study for stages of attachment? what happened?

schaffer and emerson: babies from glasgow working class families were used for observation and interviews with mums to test separation anxiety. At 25-32 weeks, 50% showed separation anxiety. at 40 weeks, 80% specific attachment, 30% multiple.

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advs of schaffer and emerson?

high ecological validity (research in homes & everyday activities), internal validity (longitudinal design = some pps followed up through lives so variables such as pps temperament wont affect results), no demand characteristics (natural environment)

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disadvs of schaffer and emerson?

lacks validity (biased as mums may want to be seen favourable/ social desirability and so may not report negative experiences), lacks generalisability (only babies in one city and from one class)

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what are the studies/theories for multiple attachment?

rutter

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what was suggested in Bowlby's theory?

suggests we have one primary caregiver

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what was suggested in Rutter's theory?

saw all attachments as equally important.

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what happened in Carpenter's study?

presented infants with unfamiliar/familiar voices and faces. When voice and face didn't match the infant became distressed, when they matched the infant payed close attention. suggests that babies recognise and are attached to their mums at young age

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what is the traditional view about role of the father? how has this changed?

traditionally have minor role in parenting and main attachment is to mother, but society has changed as more women are working and a lot more men are single parents, so men have bigger part in parenting

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factors that affect relationship between father and child?

degree of sensitivity, attachment with parents, marital intimacy, supporting co-parenting

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what are the supporting studies for role of father?

field, lamb and schaffer and emerson.

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what happened in schaffer and emerson?

majority of babies attached to mum in 7 months, but at 18 months 75% had secondary attachment (Dad), determined that they protested when dad walked off.

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what happened in field?

filmed babies interaction with primary care giver mothers, primary caregiver fathers and secondary caregiver fathers. Found that primary carers spent more time smiling, imitating infants etc. which appeared to be more important in making attachment.

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what happened in lamb?

children prefer to interact with fathers when in positive emotional state and thus seeking stimulation but mums preferred when distressed & seeking comfort. Supports idea that fathers seen as playmate.

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what were the different types of animal studies on attachment?

harlow and lorenz

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what happened in lorenz?

tested imprinting. split eggs into 2 batches (incubator and natural) natural geese followed mother and incubator geese followed lorenz. same behaviour when geese were released from upturned box. bonds irreversible. imprinting = 4-25 hrs after birth.

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what did Lorenz's study prove?

imprinting is a form of attachment where close contact is kept with the first moving object they encounter.

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what were the advs of lorenz?

influenced bowlby's theory of attachment. suggested that there is a certain time frame in which an attachment is formed.

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what were the disadvs of lorenz's theory?

low in generalisability (monkeys not humans), researcher bias (lorenz did study himself, reduces validity), guitan et al: chickens imprinted on yellow glove & tried to mate w/ but later preferred mating w/ chickens - imprinting not permanent.

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what happened in Harlow?

tests learning theory. wire mother w/ no milk & towel mother w/ milk (vice versa) & only wire w/ milk, only towel w/milk. monitored time spent with each & time feeding, loud noise to test preference during stress, used larger cage to test exploration

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what were the results of harlow and conclusion?

preferred towel mum, despite milk or not. Only wire mum had diahorrea (stress). Only towel mum explored cage but returned for comfort. concluded that monkeys have innate need for comfort = attachment concerns emotional security more than food.

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advs of harlow?

high internal validity (high control = which stimuli monkeys exposed to). real life application: helped understanding of proper attachment in zoos. also influenced bowlby's maternal deprivation = disruptment of attachment causes serious harm

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disadvs of harlow?

unethical = monkeys suffered serious distress (loud noises and separation from mother), lacks generalisibility (monkeys not humans)

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what is the learning theory of attachment? suggested by who?

suggests that all behaviours have been learned from experience via association (Dollard and Miller)

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what did Dollard and Miller suggest?

children learn to love whoever feeds them/ need for food is basic idea behind attachment.

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what are the two types of conditioning in learning theory?

operant conditioning and classical conditioning.

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what is classical conditioning?

learning to associate 2 stimuli together.

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what is an unconditioned response?

a response that occurs naturally due to a given stimulus

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what is a conditioned response?

a response produced when a person has learnt to associate on stimulus with another.

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what is an unconditioned stimulus?

a stimulus that automatically triggers a response.

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what is a conditioned stimulus?

a previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus starts to trigger a conditioned response.

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what is an example of classical conditioning? (milk and mum)

before conditioning the milk (UCS) produces pleasure (UCR). during conditioning milk (UCS) associated with mum (NS) still gaining a pleasure (UCR). after conditioning, mum (NS) becomes conditioned stimulus & produces conditioned response (pleasure).

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what is operant conditioning?

learning to repeat behaviour or not, depending on the consequences.

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what is positive reinforcement?

when a behaviour is rewarded and so is likely to be repeated.

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what is negative reinforcement?

when a behaviour stops something unpleasant and so will be repeated.

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example of operant conditioning? (mum and milk)

baby cries and is fed (positive reinforcement, as they are rewarded with food). Also mum feeds baby and removes the unpleasant element of crying (negative reinforcement) so likely to repeat behaviour.

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what is an adv of learning theory?

although conditioning of food and caregiver seems unlikely, its possible that association between caregiver and provision of comfort may be what builds attachment.

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what are disadvs of learning theory?

schaffer & emerson - 39% cases mum not main carer, so feeding not primary explanation of attachment. Lorenz's theory: geese imprinted at first object, can't be explained by L.T. Harlow's study: monkeys attached to a soft mum not providing milk.

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What is bowlby's theory of monotropy?

children have 1 main attachment to primary caregiver and this bond more important than others.

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what was Bowlby's evolutionary explanation for attachment? where was this developed from?

developed from lorenz's and harlow's study. Attachment is an innate system to give survival advantage. impriting evolved bc ensured young animals stay close to primary caregiver providing protection.

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what was the two suggested principles of monotropy?

social releasers and sensitive period.

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what are social releasers?

babies born with innate "cute" behaviours e.g smiling that encourages attention from adults. Adults have an innate predisposition to attach and so a bond is formed between caregiver and infant.

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what is the sensitive period?

period of 2 years in which an attachment should be made, as it is when the child is most sensitive and it is likely that the child will find it difficult to form healthy relationships in future, but not impossible.

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what is the internal working model?

bowlby suggested that children form a mental representation w/ primary caregiver and this serves as model for what relationships are like. (e,g loving care giver = loving future relationships).

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advs of bowlby's theory?

real life application: visiting hours due to importance of attachment & limited bond in sensitive period. Brazelton et al: interactional synchrony mums/infants. if ignored, babies distressed & motionless. Importance of social releasers in attachment.

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disadvs of bowlby's theory?

socially sensitive (pressurises mums to work less as will seriously affect child). Schaffer and Emerson: proved children able to form multiple attachments, against monotropy.

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what was the strange situation experiment? who by?

Ainsworth. Controlled observation procedure in highly controlled environment with 2 way mirror so experimenters could observe infant's behaviour.

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types of attachment?

secure attachment, insecure resistant attachment, insecure avoidant attachment.

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what is secure attachment?

explored happily and regularly returned to caregiver. moderate stranger anxiety and separation behaviour. accepts comfort from caregiver in reunion stage.

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what is insecure avoidant attachment?

explore freely but don't return to caregiver. Show little reaction to caregiver leaving and don't require comfort at reunion stage. little stranger anxiety.

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what is insecure resistant attachment?

seek great proximity and explore less. huge stranger anxiety and separation distress but resist comfort when reunited.

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what are behaviours used to assess attachment?

proximity seeking, secure base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, response to reunion.

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stages of the strange situation and what each stage tests?

carer & baby (secure-base, prox.) stranger approach (stranger anx.) carer leave, stranger interacts (separation dis. stranger anx.), carer back, stranger leave (reunion resp.), baby alone (separation anx.) stranger (stranger anx) carer back (reunion)

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advs of strange situation?

high reli. (standard procedure, replicate) high valid. (proves predictive of later development, secure form healthy relations). high int. valid. (stranger features etc same so likely behaviours due to attachment type as no extraneous variables).

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disadvs of strange situation?

unethical (babies distressed.) lacks ecological validity (unnatural enviro. mums may respond in unnatural way bc social desirability, know observed), ethnocentric: Takashi found test doesn't work in Japan, bby rarely separated from mum, high anx.

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Which studies explored cultural variations in attachment?

Van Ijendoorn and Kroonenberg, Simonella et al, Jin et al.

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what happened in Van Ijendoorn and Kroonenberg?

conducted 32 studies of attachment across different countries, as well as within the countries to get an idea of variations of attachment within different cultures.

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what were the results?

in all countries secure attachment most common (varied from 75% in UK to 50% in China), insecure resistant least common (ranged from 3% in britain to 30% in Israel), Insecure avoidant (commonly found in Japan and least common in Germany).

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what happened in Jin et al?

Compared attachment types in Korea to other studies e.g Takashi. Majority insecure avoidant in Korea, same in Japan. Suggested that similar child rearing styles (as in Japan and Korea) affect attachment types.

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what happened in Simonella et al?

study in Italy to compare attachment types to previous studies. found 50% securely attached (lower than prev. studies), 36% were insecure avoidant, suggested increase in mums working and using childcare. Suggests cultural changes affect attachments.

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advs of cultural variation studies?

high internal validity: combining results of attachments makes v large smoke and reduces anomalous results. increases validity.

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disadvs of cultural variation studies?

Kagan et al: attachment more related to temperament than relationship w/ primary carer, so not assessing attachment but actual anxiety. if strange situation affected by other factors (temperament) lacks validity and so other studies using it will too

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What was Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation? what were the consequences?

disruption of the childs attachment with primary carer can have serious consequences, such as affectionless psychopathy and mental retardation.

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what is affection less psychopathy?

inability to feel guilty/emotion for others, prevented from forming healthy relationships.

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study supporting maternal deprivation theory?

44 Juvenile Thieves study.

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what happened in the 44 Juvenile Thieves Study?

examined link between affection less psychopathy and maternal deprivation. Sample of 44 thieves from child guidance clinic interviewed for affection less psychopathy and families interviewed to check maternal deprivation.

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what were the results of the 44 Juvenile Thieves study?

14/44 suffered affection less psychopathy, 17/44 suffered maternal deprivation, 12/14 of the affectionless psychopaths suffered maternal deprivation, 2/44 in control group had maternal deprivation but non were affectionless psychopaths.

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what did the 44 Juvenile Thieves study prove?

prolonged separation causes affectionless psychopathy

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disadvs of the study?

researcher bias: may have interpreted info to suit his preferred outcome, reduces validity. Lacks validity: self report data (info about maternal deprivation may not be accurate/social desirability)

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supporting studies for maternal deprivation? (mental retardation)

Goldfarb: orphaned children studied until age of 12, half were adopted by 4 months old and others remained orphans, fostered children have 1Q average of 96, whereas orphans had average IQ of 38. proves that poor emotional care can lead to lower IQ.

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supporting studies for matronal deprivation? (unhealthy relationships)

Robertson & Robertson: "John" originally good attachment w/ mum, but in care for 9 days when mum had baby, john went through 3 stages: protest, despair & detachment. negative affects still appaent. suggests maternal deprivation = serious affects.

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Attachment Psychology :)

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