Attachment

An emotional bond between two people which is a two-way process that endures over time. It results in certain behaviours like clinging and proximity-seeking.

1 of 50

Reciprocity

A caregiver-infant interaction in which each respond to the action of the other with a similar action. Babies are born with a rhythm when interacting with an adult so in reciprocity, the infant and caregiver take turns like in a conversation.

2 of 50

Jaffe et al (1973) - Reciprocity

Showed that infants coordinated their actions with caregivers in a kind of conversation.

3 of 50

Brazelton (1979) - Reciprocity

Proposes that reciprocity is important for later communications. The regularity of an infant’s signals affects how much a caregiver can anticipate an infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately. This sensitivity is the basis for later behaviour.

4 of 50

Interactional synchrony

An infant-caregiver interaction in which the two people interacting mirror the other’s facial and body movements and emotions.

5 of 50

Murray and Trevarthen (1985) - Support for real imitation

Studied infants who interacted with their mothers via video link in real-time and out-of-sync. In the second condition, the babies became distressed, suggesting that the infants wanted to imitate their caregivers but couldn’t.

6 of 50

Piaget (1962) - Pseudo imitation

Explained imitation using operant conditioning i.e. the baby is being rewarded for certain behaviours by the mother’s positive response. They are not consciously choosing to match their mothers' behaviours.

7 of 50

Koepke et al (1983) - Failure to replicate

Failed to replicate Meltzoff and Moore’s findings. Meltzoff and Moore suggested this was because Koepke et al's study was less carefully controlled.

8 of 50

Stage 1: indiscriminate attachments

This is from 0-2 months. Near the end of this period, they start to prefer social stimuli, like a smiling face. Reciprocity and interactional synchrony help to establish relationships with others.

9 of 50

Stage 2: the beginnings of attachment

Around 4 months, infants become a lot more sociable and can tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar people. They do not yet have stranger anxiety.

10 of 50

Stage 3: discriminate attachment

Around 7 months, infants have a primary attachment figure and when they are separated from this person, they experience separation anxiety. They also begin to display stranger anxiety.

11 of 50

Schaffer and Emerson - discriminate attachment

Looked at quality vs. quantity in discriminate attachment. Found that the primary attachment figure isn't necessarily the person who spends the most time with the infant, but the person who interacts the most with the child. The a

12 of 50

Stage 4: multiple attachments

Soon after the main attachment is formed, the infant forms multiple attachments. Infants have separation anxiety in these relationships.

13 of 50

Schaffer and Emerson - multiple attachments

Found that one month after the infants first become attached, 29% had formed multiple attachments, after six months, this rose to 78%.

14 of 50

Cohn et al (2014) - Schaffer and Emerson's study has a biased sample

The no. of dads who choose to stay at home and look after their children has quadrupled over the past 25 years.

15 of 50

Geiger (1996) - The role of fathers as secondary attachments

Shown that fathers are more playful, physically active and are better at providing challenging situations for their children. Fathers are exciting playmates whereas mothers are more conventional.

16 of 50

Imprinting

An innate readiness to develop a strong attachment to the mother and happens during a critical period of development.

17 of 50

Guiton (1966) - Support for Lorenz's study and imprinting

Showed that leghorn chicks, who were exposed to yellow rubber gloves (used for feeding them), became imprinted upon the gloves. Later the chicks tried to imprint onto the gloves - early imprinting is linked to later sexual behaviour.

18 of 50

Hoffman (1996) - Dispute over the characteristics of imprinting

Originally, imprinting was having an object stamped irreversibly onto the nervous system but now it is seen as more of a ‘plastic and forgiving mechanism’.

19 of 50

Guiton (1966) - Dispute over the characteristics of imprinting

Could reverse the imprinting in chicks.

20 of 50

Learning theory

A group of explanations (classical and operant conditioning) which propose that certain behaviours are innate, like crying when you feel pain, but beyond these, behaviour is learned through experience.

21 of 50

Harlow (1959) - Contact comfort is more important than food

Showed that infant rhesus monkeys were most attached to the wire mother that provided contact comfort not food, going against the learning theory of attachment.

22 of 50

Sroufe et al (2005) - Continuity hypothesis

Followed participants from infancy to late adolescence. Found continuity between early attachment and later emotional/social behaviour. Strongly attached individuals were highest rated for social competence later in childhood.

23 of 50

Rutter et al - A sensitive period rather than a critical period

Bowlby claims it's not possible to develop attachments after 6 months. Rutter et al showed this is true to an extent but it is not impossible to form attachments after this period.

24 of 50

Kagan (1984 - An alternative explanation

Proposed the temperament hypothesis – an infant’s innate emotional personality (temperament) may explain attachment behaviour. Those with an ‘easy’ temperament tend to be strongly attached. Those who are ‘difficult’ tend to be insecurely attached.

25 of 50

Belsky and Rovine (1987) - Support for the temperament hypothesis

Found that infants between one to three days old with behavioural instability (a ‘difficult’ temperament) were more likely to develop an insecure attachment.

26 of 50

Secure attachment

Harmonious and cooperative interactions with their caregiver. Not likely to cry if their caregiver leaves the room; when distressed, they seek contact and are easily soothed. Shows moderate stranger anxiety; uses their caregiver as a secure base.

27 of 50

Insecure-avoidant attachment

Children who tend to avoid social interaction or intimacy with others. They are indifferent to separation from their caregiver and do not seek proximity at reunion. They are happy to explore with or without the presence of their caregiver.

28 of 50

Insecure-resistant attachment

Both seek and resist intimacy and social interaction. Become intensely distressed when separated from their caregiver and when they are left with a stranger. On reunion, they show conflicting behaviours; they both seek and reject.

29 of 50

Ainsworth et al (1978) - Observations had high reliability

Found observations in exploratory behaviour had high inter-observer reliability – there was a .94 agreement between raters.

30 of 50

The Circle of Security Project - Real-world application; intervention strategies can be developed for disordered patterns of attachment

Teaches caregivers to better understand their infants’ distress signals. There was an increase in securely attached infants (from 32% to 40%) and a decrease in the no. of caregivers classed as disordered (from 60% to 15%).

31 of 50

Main and Solomon (1986) - Another type of attachment

Analysed 200 Strange Situation videotapes and proposed the insecure-disorganised attachment – a lack of consistency in attachment e.g. they can show a strong attachment but subsequently avoid or look fearfully at their caregiver.

32 of 50

Van IJzendoorn et al (1999) - Support for another type of attachment

Meta-analysis of 80 US studies which showed 62% secure, 15% insecure-avoidant, 9% insecure-resistant and 15% insecure-disorganised.

33 of 50

Tronick et al (1992) - Cultural similarities; support for Van Ijzendoorn and Kronnenberg's main finding

Studied the Efe, an African tribe in which infants were looked after and breastfed by different women but they slept with their mother at night. The infants showed one primary attachment despite such different childrearing practices.

34 of 50

Grossman and Grossman (1991) - Cultural differences; Germany

Found that many German infants tended to be classed as insecure-avoidant. German culture encourages parents and their children to have personal space and so discourages proximity-seeking behaviour in the Strange Situation.

35 of 50

Takahashi (1990) - Cultural differences; Japan

Studied 60 infants using the Strange Situation. Found similar rates of secure attachment but hey showed no evidence of insecure-avoidant and high rates of insecure-resistant (32%). In Japan infants are rarely separated from their caregiver.

36 of 50

Van IJzendoorn and Kronnenberg - Similarities may not be innately determined

Suggest some cultural similarities in attachment can be explained by the effects of mass media. Cultural similarities may be due to our increasingly global culture.

37 of 50

Van IJzendoorn and Sagi (2001) - Nation rather than a culture

A study in Tokyo (an urban environment) found similar rates of attachment types with the US but Van IJzendoorn and Sagi studied a more rural sample in Japan and found higher rates of insecure-resistant attachments.

38 of 50

Rothbaum et al (2000) - Cultural bias

Argues that the theory, that research into attachment is based on, is rooted in American culture e.g. the continuity hypothesis doesn’t have the same meaning in American and Japanese culture.

39 of 50

Deprivation

The loss of emotional core normally provided by a primary caregiver.

40 of 50

Bifulco et al (1992) - Support for long-term effects

studied women who had experienced maternal separation and found that 25% later experienced depression or an anxiety disorder compared with 15% who had had no maternal separation.

41 of 50

Radke-Yarrow et al (1985) - Psychological and emotional separation as well as physical separation

Found that 55% of children whose mothers were severely depressed were insecurely attached compared with 29% of the non-depressed group.

42 of 50

Barrett (1997) - Individual differences; not all children are affected by emotional disruption in the same way

Reviewed studies on separation and concluded that securely attached infants can sometimes cope well, whereas insecurely attached children become distressed.

43 of 50

Institutionalisation

The effect of institutional care, specifically how time spent in an institution, like an orphanage, can affect the development of children.

44 of 50

Gardner (1972) - Effects of institutionalisation; physical underdevelopment

Showed that a lack of emotional care was the cause of deprivation dwarfism.

45 of 50

Quinton et al (1984) - Effects of institutionalisation; poor parenting

Compared 50 women who had been reared in an institution with 50 women reared at home and found that later, ex-institutional women had extreme difficulties acting as parents.

46 of 50

Rutter - Individual differences in institutionalised children

Some institutionalised children are not as strongly affected as others. Rutter suggests this is because some children received special attention in the institution may be because they smiled more so they would have early attachment experiences.

47 of 50

The role of the internal working model

Infants learn what relationships are and how partners in a relationship should behave towards each other. People form this mental model of relationships from their first attachment and therefore have expectations of future relationships.

48 of 50

Simpson et al (2007) - Reliance on retrospective classification; Support for Hazan and Shaver's findings

Studied people from infancy to early adulthood. They found that participants classed as securely attached in infancy were highly socially competent in childhood and were more expressive and emotionally attached to their partners in adulthood.

49 of 50

Fraley (2002) - Low correlations

Reviewed 27 samples where infants were assessed and later reassessed (from one month to 20 years later) and found correlations from .50 to .10. Suggested this was due to the instability of the insecure-anxious attachment.

50 of 50

Get Revising

Attachment

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Back

Card 3

Front

Back

Card 4

Front

Back

Card 5

Front

Back

Comments

Similar Psychology resources: