PSYA1 Revision

What is an attachment?

An attachment is a two-way close emotional bond between two people such as a caregiver and their child.

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What does innate mean in regards to attachment?

Babies want looking after so it is likely that they have an innate tendency to form an attachment with someone who will provide this security.

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What did Lorenz do? A02

Lorenz demonstrated that animals aren't born with a ready-made image of their parents. He took gosling eggs and divided them into two groups, one group were left with their mother and the other were put into an incubator. When born they followed him.

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What is the sensitive period? A02

It is a window of opportunity when imprinting should take place.

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What did Sheper find? A02

Found that not one of the 3000 Israeli marriage records he studied was between individuals who had been raised together on the same communal farm (westermack effect).

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What did Westermack state? A02

Noted that if children spend considerable time together before the age of six, they avoid forming sexual relationships with that individual.

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What four behaviour types did Maccoby suggests that shows attachment to someone? A02

Seeking proximity, Distressed at separation, Pleasure on reunion and Oriented towards one person.

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What is social learning theory in attachment?

Suggests all behaviour is learned rather than inborn, when children are born they are like blank canvases and everything they become can be explained in the experiences they have.

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What do behaviourists suggest?

They believe that all behaviour (including attachment) is learned through either classical or operant conditioning.

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What is classical conditioning?

Involves learning through association, Pavlov's dog best describes it as the dog became to associate the sound of the door opening with food.

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What is classical conditioning in attachment?

Food (UCS) naturally produces a sense of pleasure (UCR), the person who feeds (CS) the infant becomes associated with the food. The feeder eventually produces the pleasure associated with food as food now becomes a conditioned response (CR).

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What is a operant conditioning

Suggests learning occurs when we are rewarded for doing something good (rewards can be praise) each time you do something it results in a pleasant consequence which makes it more likely you'll do it again (reward + punishment)

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What did Dollard + Miller suggest?

That a hungry infant feel uncomfortable and creates a drive to reduce hunger and when the infant is fed, the drive is reduced and food becomes the primary reinforcer as the behaviour is designed to avoid discomfort. The person who gives food is 2nd.

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What is a strength of LT? A02

That it provides an adequate explanation of how attachments are formed.

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Why might food not be the main reinforcer? A02

It may be that attention and responsiveness of the caregiver may be the main reinforcer in attachments.

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Why is food the main weakness? A02

Harlow created two wire mothers, one had a feeding bottle attached and the other was wrapped in soft cloth (offered no food) according to SLT the monkey should've gone to food but it didn't thus suggests comfort is important.

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What is the main weakness of Harlow's study? A02

The study was done on animals so it may not apply to humans so the findings may be invalid.

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What did Schaffer + Emerson find? A02

They observed 60 babies from working-class homes and found infants that were not attached to the person who fed them but to the most responsive and who interacted the most which goes against SLT.

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What is a further weakness of SLT? A02

It is based on studies on non-human animals so behaviourists explanations may lack validity as it is oversimplified and cannot be generalised.

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What is Bowlby's view on attachment?

Attachment is adaptive and innate, it is a behavioural system that has evolved over time because of its survival value. Children have an innate drive to become attached due to long term benefits.

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What did Bowlby suggest about the sensitive period?

There is likely to be a window of opportunity for development of attachment (2/4 of a child's first year) but as time goes on it becomes increasingly more difficult to form an attachment.

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What did Bowlby suggest about the secure base?

Attachment is important for protection thus acts as a secure base where a child can go and explore but return when feel threatened.

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What did Bowlby suggest about monotropy + hierarchy?

Infants form a number of attachments but one of these are of special importance, this primary attachment is called monotropy but infants also have other attachments that form a hierarchy.

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What did Bowlby suggest about the internal working model?

Attachment starts between caregiver and infant, this may be of trust or uncertainty which creates expectations of what all relationships will be like.

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What did Bowlby suggest about the internal working model?

The view that there is a link between early attachment relationship and later emotional behaviour, people who are secure attached will continue to be so in adulthood.

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Imprinting in non-human animals A02

This is supported by Lorenz's findings with the goslings.

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Sensitive period A02

Research suggests that once the sensitive period has passed, it is difficult to form attachments. Hodges + Tizard found 50 children who had no attachment later had trouble with peers.

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Monotony A02

Tronick found that most infants had many attachments. However, infants maintained one main attachment, it wasn't the person that fed them but who spent the most time with them which suggests that it is the quality of care-giving.

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Continuity hypothesis A02

Sroufe followed infants from infancy to adolescence and found continuity between early attachment and later emotional/social behaviour. People who were classified as secure in infancy were rated highest for social competence.

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Multiple attachments A02

Secondary attachments may be just as important as primary as siblings can help with how to negotiate with peers.

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Alternative explanation A02

Continuity in development can be explained without using Bowlby's theory. An innately trusting or friendly person could be the prime factor in forming close relationships (temperament hypothesis)

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Who created the strange situation and what were their aims?

Ainsworth + Bell created the strange situation to be able to test the nature of attachments. The aim was to see how infants behave in situations of mild distress created by the presence of a stranger.

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What did the strange situation test?

It test stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.

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What were the procedures in the strange situation?

It consisted of 8 episodes each designed to highlight certain behaviours which was done every 15 seconds as observes took notes and rated on a scale of 1-7.

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What happened during the strange situation?

The exploratory behaviours decreased in all the infants, proximity -seeking and contact-maintaining behaviours intensified during separation of caregiver and when the caregiver arrived.

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What were the three behaviour types that were found?

Secure attachment 66%, Insecure Resistant 12% and Insecure Avoidant 22%

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What does secure attachment mean?

Refers to those who have cooperative interaction with their caregiver, they cry if their caregiver leaves but are easily soothed. Also, they are comfortable with social interaction and use their caregiver as a secure base.

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What does insecure resistant mean?

Characterised by those who both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction, on reunion they show conflicting behaviours of both for and against contact.

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What does insecure avoidant mean?

Children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with others, they show little response on separation and on reunion.

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How does validity effect the strange situation? A02

The strange situation aims to test attachment types but it is mainly testing quality of relationship. Main + Weston found that children behave differently depending which parent they are with. Which suggests their classification isn't valid.

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What other study did Main do? A02

Main tested a group of children then retested them at age 9 using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAT) finding that attachment types seemed to be highly influenced by the mothers. Supporting Bowlby's theory of monortopy.

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How reliable is the strange situation? A02

The strange situation has been assessed using inter-rater reliability by a panel of experienced judges and they found almost perfect agreement when rating the behaviour.

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What ethical issues are there with the strange situation? A02

The intention of the strange situation is to cause mild distress which may not be acceptable to do to children so a big limitation of this study is harm which is supported by 90% of the studies having to be stopped in ep. 6 in Japan.

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What has a number of longitudinal studies showed about the link between early attachment experience and later emotional behaviour? A02

Glaser found secure attachment is associated with positive outcomes, avoidance is associated with negative and aggressive effects and resistant is associated with anxiety and social withdrawal.

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Who did a meta-analysis on cultural variations in attachments?

Van Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg created a meta-analysis involving 8 countries about attachment behaviour.

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Why did Van Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg do the meta- analysis?

They were interested to see whether there were evidence that inter-cultural differences exist as well as finding it whether intra-cultural differences in the same culture.

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What did they find?

They found that differences were small and that secure attachment was the most common classification in every country and insecure avoidant was the second most common excluding Israel and Japan. This support the idea that secure attachment is ‘best’.

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What did attachment types in the US show?

66% (secure), 22% (avoidant) and 12% (resistant). Mothers spend a great deal with their child in close contact.

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What did attachment types in Germany show?

57% (secure), 35% (avoidant) and 8% (resistant). Germans have greater interpersonal distances between parent and caregiver so they don't receive proximity-seeking behaviours.

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What did attachment types in Israel show?

64% (secure), 7% (avoidant) 29% (resistant) Children are raised communally on a kibbutz.

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What did attachment types in Japan show?

65% (secure), 5% (avoidant) and 30% (resistant). Children are rarely separated from their mothers so the strange situation was very stressful.

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What did Tronik find in regards to cross-cultural similarities?

Tronik studied an African tribe where the infants were looked after and breastfed by different women but despite such differences in childrearing infants still showed one primary attachment for their mother.

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What did Fox find in regards to cross-cultural similarities?

Fox studied children raised on a kibbutz who spent most of their time being cared for in a communal home. The infants appeared to be equally attached to both caregivers except on reunion behaviour, they showed a primary attachment to their mother.

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What did Grossman + Grossman find in regards to cross-cultural differences?

They found that German infants tended to be classified as insecurely attached which may be due to their difference in childrearing practices as the German culture keeps interpersonal distances so they don't seek in proximity-seeking behaviours.

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What did Takahasi find in regards to cross-cultural differences?

Takahasi studied Japanese infants and found similarities to those found by ainsworth, they showed evidence of insecure avoidant but high rates of insecure resistant and 90% of the studies had to be stopped due to distress.

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What did conclusions suggest about the cultural variations in attachment?

Despite the fact that there are cultural variations in care arrangements, the strongest attachment was still found to be with the mother.

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What did Rothbaum argue about cultural variations? A02

He argued that attachment research is not relevant to other cultures because it is rooted in American culture.

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Why might results not be justified? A02

A problem is the sensitivity hypothesis, Bowlby promoted the view that secure attachment is related to caregiver's responsiveness but Rothbaum argued this only reflects western ideas of independence as in Japan sensitivity means something else.

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Why might validity be question in the meta-analysis? A02

It suggests secure attachment is the norm as it is best healthy and social development but this may not be the best measure of attachment as it doesn't apply to all cultures.

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Why else might validity be questioned? A02

Takahasi's study in japan showed no evidence of insecure attachment although all studies were stopped which supports that it lacks validity as you are looking for two different things (attachment and independence).

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What is another limitation of the meta-analysis? A02

The study is an imposetic as you are looking at two different things that have been designed in one culture and tested iu

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What did Van Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg find about cross-cultural similarities? A02

They found that the similarities may be explained by the effects of mass media (tv + books) which spread ideas about parenting so that children all around the worlds are exposed to similar influences.

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What did Spitz + Wolf find in the disruption of attachment?

Found that people who had been separated from their families and placed in an institution became severely depressed after a few months.

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What did Skeels + Dye find in the disruption of attachment?

found that similar children lack intelligence and suffered from intellectual problems.

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What happened to Laura?

She was separated from her mother when she want into hospital for an 8 night stay, however, her parents visited occasionally, and she showed periods and calm and distressed and begged to go home.

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What happened to Jane, Kate, Thomas and Lucy?

All under the age of 3, placed into foster care while their mothers were in the hospital, they received high substitute emotional care but they felt distressed and didn't sleep well but they visited their mothers so they were calm.

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What happened to John?

He was under 3 and placed in an institution for an 9 day stay while his mother had a baby. There was friendly but busy nurses and he behaved fairly normal but seeked attention and on reunion he wouldn't stay away from his mother. Still had outbursts.

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What did Robertson find? A02

Showed that there is a difference between physical and emotional care.

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What did Skeels + Dye find? A02

Some children who showed IQ deficits were transferred to a home for the mentally retarded and they were later tested and their scored had improved due to good emotional care.

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What did a Swedish study find? A02

studied over 600 adopted children at the same age of 11% and 26% were deemed as 'problem children' but when tested again they were fine which suggests negative effects can be reversed.

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Why might these studied have high validity? A02

The studies that were used were all real life so they weren't artificial studies which means they can be generalised a lot easier. It has RWA as it has led to hospitals changing visiting times.

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What happened to Genie?

Was locked in her room by her father until she was 13, when found she couldn't walk or talk and she never recovered socially as she showed disinterest in others due to privation and the age she was found at meant she passed the sensitive period.

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What happened to the Czech twins?

Spent their first 7 years locked up, when found they couldn't talk but their older sister looked after them and at 14 they had normal intelligence levels and by 20 they had above normal. Due to having each other + young they were able to recover a

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What did Hodges + Tizard find in their institutional study which aimed to investigate the effects of early privation on social + emotional development.

Natural, longitudinal study on children who were less than 4mnths old and placed in an institution so no attachment was formed. Assess at ages 8 + 16 and they were either adopted or restored in their normal families.

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What happened in the study by Hodges + Tizard?

The adopted children were likely to form healthy attachments and restored children were likely to return to the same circumstances. The adopted children were very much wanted by their new families so they were able to recover.

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What effect did early privation have on the children in the study?

Early privation had a negative effect on the ability to form relationships even when given good subsequent emotional care which supports Bowlby's view of the sensitive period.

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What did Rutter find in his study of Romanian orphans who were assessed at ages 4, 6 and 11?

Those adopted by British families before the ages of 6 months showed normal development compared to UK children but, those after 6 months showed disinhibted attachment and had problems with peers.

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What does Rutter's study suggest?

Suggests that long term consequences may be less severe than once thought. However, if they don't form attachments then consequences are likely to be severe.

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What are the characteristics of attachment disorder?

Attachment has been recognised as an psychiatric disorder and has been included in the DSM and children who have it no preferred caregiver, experience of severe neglect and frequent change of caregiver.

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What did Quinton find about poor parenting?

Compared a group of 50 women who had been raised in an institution and 50 women who hadn't. It was found that in their 20s those who were raised in an institution had problems with peers.

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Why were the Czech twins able to recover? A02

Due to them being kept together they were able to form attachments with each other which helped them form attachments with others.

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What is a problem with longitudinal studies? A02

After time people tend to drop out (attrition) which results in a biased study.

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What is a criticism of Rutter's study? A02

Infants who don't form any attachments within the sensitive period are unable to recover. However, 1/3 of the orphans all recovered well which suggests privation alone cannot explain negative outcomes it must be multiple risk factors.

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What is a criticism of Hodges + Tizard's study? A02

We cannot be certain the children in the study failed to form an attachment. The study assumed that in early life none of them formed an attachment which suggests that later problems could have been due to feelings of rejection.

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What is daycare?

A form of temporary care given by a non-relative or someone who the child knows well and usually outside the family home.

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What is social development?

Is the aspect of the child's growth concerned with the development of sociability and where the child learns to relate to others.

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What are the positive effects of peer relations?

Day care exposes children to their peers thus, permits them time to develop social strategies such as the ability to negotiate and to make friends.

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What did field find about the positive effects of day care?

Found that the amount of time spent in day care was positively correlated with the number of friends they had once they went to school.

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What did clark-stewart find about the positive effects of day care?

Found that children who attended day care could negotiate better with peers.

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What did Creps find about the possitive effects of day care?

Found that children who started day care before the ages of 6 months were more sociable than those who started later.

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What did brown + harris found about the positive effects of social developments?

Found that many depressed women claimed their mood was due to isolation of being at home with their child which may be a particular problem for isolated females in urban cultures.

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What did Clark-stewart find about the positive effects of social development?

Studied children and found that those in day care were consistently more advanced in their social development than those who stayed at home. The advances were such things as being more independent and obedient.

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What did Sroufe find in the negative effects of peer relations?

Found that there is evidence that children in day care are less likely to be securely attached for example Rovine + Belsky assessed attachment and infants who were having 20hrs+ a week were insecurely attached than children who stayed at home.

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What did Violeta + Russell find about negative effects of social development?

They conducted a meta-analysis on the findings from 88 studies concluding that regular day care for more than 20 hours per week had a negative effects on social development.

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What did Belsky find in increased aggression?

He looked over the same child at the same child at the end of their primary education and still found a link between day care experiences and increased aggression.

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What dud Melhuish find in increased aggression?

Found evidence that high levels of day care in the first two years may develop the risk of having anti-social behaviours.

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What did Prodromidis find? A02

Suggested that people who spend more time in day are are more aggressive, he studied Swedish first borns and found that childcare were not associated with aggression.

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What is an issue with correlations in peer relations? A02

We cannot say that experiences in day care cause later sociability, we can only say there is a link between the two as it might be other factors involved as to why they are more sociable.

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What did Clark-stewart find? A02

Concluded that, while day care programmes had some direct effects on development, they clearly were not operating alone.

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What did Gregg find? A02

Analysed data from the Avon longitudinal study of parents + children which followed 14, 000 children born in the UK and concluded that for the majority of children maternal employment in the first three years appears to have no adverse on effects

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What did Friendman find? A02

Pointed out that the results related to aggression can be stated differently, the study found that 83% of the children who spent 10-30 hours in day care show higher levels of aggression. But Friedman claims that this study tells us little.

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It is suggested that separation form caregiver cause negative effects in day care but if there is suitable substitute care then there are no effects. A02

Robertson demonstrated that where the child ratio is poor and there is a high turnover in staff, children will be looked after by a series of familiar strangers who cannot act as a secondary attachment.

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What did the NICHD report? A02

That low quality care was associated with poor social development even when high quality care was provided, it is unlikely that day care staff provide the commitment and interests that parents provide.

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The NICHD study found that children whose mothers lacked responsiveness did less well in day care. But, what did Egeland + Hiester find? A02

They found that insecurely attached children did best in day care whereas securely attached children were the ones who became more aggressive but this may be because the fact that insecurely attached children needed compensatory care.

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What did Robertson find?

Found that negative effects of emotional disruption can be avoided if substitute care was provided. This research has led to arrangements for parents with children in hospital.

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Why has Bowlby's research led to adoption protocols?

Before if mothers were to give up their baby for adoption they were encouraged to nurse the baby for a significant amount of time so the sensitive period was already passed but now babies are adopted within the first week of birth.

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What is the circle of security?

It is important to remember that emotional deprivation or privation may occur even when no separation has occurred such as having an abusive parent. The circle of security helped caregivers to learn how to respond to their child's needs.

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What does the Soho family centre believe?

That child carers must function as secondary attachment who support and complement the primary attachment. In order to do this, could be improving quality of day care.

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What have psychologists have identified the following key characteristics of high-quality day care: A02

Low staff to child ratio, minimal staff turnover, sensitive emotional care and qualified staff.

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What is low child-to-staff ratio? A02

As the NICHD study found that it's day care staff that could provide sensitive care only if the ratios were as low as 3:1.

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What is minimal staff turnover? A02

Schaffer identified consistency of care as one of the most important factor in good outcomes because when staff come and go, children either fail to form an attachment or suffer anxiety when the staff leaves.

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What is sensitive emotional care? A02

The NICHD study found that about 23% of infant caregivers give 'highly' infant care which is really low considering 50% give moderate.

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What is qualified staff? A02

Sylva reported from EPPE that quality was associated with the qualification level of the day care staff, the higher the qualifications the higher the quality of care.

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