Attachment

Question 1

What are the three signs of an attachment?

Answer 1

SEPARATION DISTRESS - (eg when the baby cries when the parent leaves the room).
PROXIMITY SEEKING - (eg when the baby reaches out to be held by the carer).
STRANGER ANXIETY - (ie when the baby is wary of strangers).

Question 2

What is reciprocity?

Answer 2

When babies and carers mutually respond to each other’s behaviour. It is as if the baby and carer are “taking turns”. They are responsive and sensitive to each other.

Question 3

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 3

This is the detailed mimicry and mirroring between carer and baby which forms the early basis of communication. This synchrony could be in terms of movement or vocal sounds.

Question 4

Who provided evidence on interactional synchrony?

Answer 4

MELTZOFF AND MOORE - showed how infants who were three 3 days old can imitate facial expressions. They asked adult models to display one of three facial expressions (eg tongue protrusion) in controlled conditions and videoed the child’s face.

Question 5

What is attachment?

Answer 5

A specific bond in which you feel a sense of comfort and security when with the other person. The other person can be used as a safe base from which to explore your world.

Question 6

Who found evidence that interactional synchrony is important in the development of attachments?

Answer 6

ISABELLA - observed 10 secure bonds, 10 resistant and 10 avoidant bonds. She found that the secure bond had more frequent IS and there was in increase in frequency between 1 and 9 months.

Question 7

Who found that babies are trying to communicate through interactional synchrony?

Answer 7

MURRAY AND TREVARTHEN - investigated 2 month olds. In one condition, the baby interacted with their mother on a screen, and in the other, the parents didn’t respond. If the baby was just copying, it would not matter is the mother responds or not. However, babies showed signs of distress when the mother didn’t respond.this supports the idea that they are trying to communicate. It also suggests that is the parent is poor at responding, the baby may have problems with their emotional development.

Question 8

Who investigated the stages in the development of attachment?

Answer 8

SCHAFFER AND EMERSON - longitudinal study of the first 2 years of 60 babies from mainly working class families in Glasgow. Each child was observed every 4 weeks until 1 year and then again at 18 months. They assessed whether the child was attached to an adult and how any adults they were attached to.data was collected by direct observation and records kept by the mother. The children were observed in their natural surroundings. In 95% of cases, the mother was the first joint object of attachment. In 39% of cases, the person who usually fed, bathed and changed them were NOT the primary attachment figure.

Question 9

What are the four stages of attachment?

Answer 9

PRE ATTACHMENT - shows little difference between people and objects, but show preference to human faces (0-2 months). INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT - baby shows little difference between familiar and unfamiliar faces, but prefers familiar faces (2-7 months).
DISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT - shows clear attachment to one or two people. The baby protests when separated and shows joy when this person returns and is wary of strangers (7-9 months)
MULTIPLE ATTACHMENT - starts to attach to more people. 87% were attached to more than one person by 18 months. They start to become less wary of strangers (9 months upwards).

Question 10

Evidence on the role of fathers.

Answer 10

😊-FIELD filmed 4 month olds interacting with mothers and fathers. If the father was the primary attachment figure, they spent more time interacting with the child. Therefore, the gender of the parent may not matter as much as the role they play in childcare and how sensitive they are to the child’s needs.
😔-GEIGER found that fathers engage in more exiting, physical games than mothers. There is also evidence that fathers are unable to detect low levels of distress.

Question 11

Who investigated the different types of attachment?

Answer 11

MARY AINSWORTH - observed children between 9-18 months in a strange situation. Their behaviour was observed when they’re with their carer, when briefly separated, when with a stranger and when the carer returns. Observational behaviours were made clear, so the observers knew what behaviours to look out for (reliable data collection). It was found that 66% were securely attached, 22% were avoidant and 12% were resistant.

Question 12

Who studied a meta analysis on cultural variations in attachment?

Answer 12

VAN IJZENDOORN AND KROONENBURG - studied 32 studies in 8 countries, using nearly 2000 children. Similarities were found in secure attachment, eg Great Britain had 75% secure and China had 50% secure, suggesting a secure attachment is innate (supporting bowley’s theory). There were variations in insecure attachment. For example, only 5% were avoidant in Japan, but 35% were avoidant in Germany. This suggests that differences in parenting influence attachment.

Question 13

Who investigated the difference of attachment types between the U.S. and Japan?

Answer 13

TAKAHASHI - tried to use exactly the same strange situation as Ainsworth and bell. They assessed 60 Middle class Japanese infants, all of whom were 1 and raised at home. It was found that 68% were secure, 0% were avoidant and 32% were resistant.

Question 14

What are the problems of the strange situation?

Answer 14

It is culturally biased. Eg, in Japan, it is considered rude to ignore an adult, so they may be taught from an early age not to show avoidant behaviour. This means that the strange situation procedure isn’t necessarily a valid way of assessing attachment in different cultures.

Question 15

What are internal working models?

Answer 15

Mental representations of the world and relationships which influence how we feel and behave. Sometimes these are called SCHEMA (a cognitive framework which mentally organises information about a concept).

Question 16

Who found evidence for the influence of early attachment on parenting?

Answer 16

QUINTON - compared 50 women raised in institutions and had poor early attachments with a control group of 50. Those raised in institutions had significantly more parenting problems than the control. However, 31% did go to being good parents.

Question 17

Who found evidence for the effect of early attachments on adult relationships?

Answer 17

HAZAN AND SHAVER - asked 200 men and 400 women to conduct a love quiz. This consisted on three areas-their internal working model; their childhood relationships and their current relationships. There was a positive correlation between attachment type in childhood and in adults. This study supports Bowlby’s continuous hypothesis.

Question 18

Who assessed temperament in newborns?

Answer 18

BELSKY AND ROVINE - those that showed ‘nervousness’ through trembling and shaking were less likely to be securely attached when they were older. This supports the idea that a baby’s own temperament may influence their attachments.

Question 19

What study investigated whether innate biological processes are involved in early attachment; what the critical period is for attachment and what effect early attachment would have on adult behaviour?

Answer 19

LORENZ - took half a batch of goslings and observed who they would follow when they had seen Lorenz when they first hatched. It was found that his half would follow him around and the others would follow the mother goose. This effected their later behaviour, because it affected their late sexual behaviour. Imprinting seemed to occur between 4 and 25 hours after hatching, after this time, it was hard for the goslings to form a bond.

Question 20

What is institutionalisation?

Answer 20

Institutionalisation is the negative effects of being in an institution (such as a children’s home or a prison) on behaviour or emotion. People may start to lose their sense of their own identity and conform to the norms and rules of the institution. If children are raised in institutions it may affect their physical (e.g. stunted growth) and emotional development (e.g. disinhibited attachment) and they may start to copy the disturbed behaviour of other children (e.g aggression).

Question 21

Who investigated the factors which influenced the development of attachments?

Answer 21

HARLOW AND ZIMMERMAN - used 16 newborn rhesus monkeys reared in isolation to view the behaviour of the newborns that grew up in a cage with a wire mother that had a bottle and a wire mother that was covered in soft towelling. It was found that the monkeys spent considerable more time with the towel mother, when scared went to the towel mother and when there was only the food mother, the monkey would cower in the cage. It was concluded that comfort is important in attachment formation.

Question 22

Who investigated the effects of monkeys raised in isolation?

Answer 22

HARLOW - found that these monkeys were very diturbed as adults. They hugged their bodies, rocked repeatedly and harmed themselves. They were fearful of other monkeys and agressive. If they did become parents, they were abusive (eg one mother chewed off its infants feet). The severity of their behaviour correlated with the length of time they spent in isolation. He also found that those who were in isolation for only 6 months could recover by the age of 3 years with gradual contact with other monkeys.

Question 23

What does the learning theory of attachment argue?

Answer 23

That all behaviour is learned through experience. This learning is formed though either classical or operant conditioning. Classical conditioning occurs when a response that would occur from one stimulus gets associated with another stimulus. Operant conditioning occurs when behaviour is strengthened or weakened by rewards or punishments. Evidence against this theory can be found by harlow’s results and Schaffer and emersons result (39% of children are attached to someone other than the carer that feeds them).

Question 24

What does Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment argue?

Answer 24

That attachments:

1. Are innately programmed (Lorenz and Meltzoff and Moore).
2. Have a critical period (Rutter, Harlow and Lorenz).
3. Continue to influence later relationships (Quinton, Hazan and Shaver and Myron Wilson and Smith).
4. Have one stronger bond over others - monotropy (Schaffer and Emerson and Geiger)

Question 25

What evidence is there for the influence of early attachments on childhood relationships?

Answer 25

MYRON WILSON AND SMITH - used questionnaires to assess attachment types in 196 children between 7-11 years securky attached children were least likely to be involved in bullying, resistant were most likely to be bullies and avoidant the victims.

Question 26

What is the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?

Answer 26

Disruption of the attachment bond with the mother (or substitute) leads to serious, permanent damage to emotional and intellectual development.

Question 27

What is separation?

Answer 27

Short term, temporary separation from an attachment figure (eg when a child is left in a nursery).

Question 28

What is disruption of attachment?

Answer 28

When an attachment has formed between the caregiver and the child, but it has been broken either temporarily or on a more permanent basis.

Question 29

What is privation?

Answer 29

When a child has been prevented from forming any kind of attachment in their early years.

Question 30

What is institutional care?

Answer 30

Residential, 24 hour, care in an orphanage, children’s home or with other children and paid members of staff.

Question 31

What are the negative effects of maternal deprivation?

Answer 31

PHYSICAL PROBLEMS - stunted growth
INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS - may be slower to learn to talk/read and may have a slower iq.
PERSONALITY PROBLEMS - eg affectionless psychopathy where the child lacks ability to care or have empathy. They also lack remorse and guilt for wrongdoing.
EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS - eg depression where the child lacks energy or interest in what’s around them.
RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS - eg disinhibited attachment and poor peer relationships.

Question 32

What are the three phases into distress?

Answer 32

PROTEST - when the child cries, screams, struggles, clings and appears to be bewildered, angry and afraid.
DESPAIR - eventually the child stops struggling and engaging with others. The child cannot be comforted and shows sign of self comfort (eg sucking its thumb).
DETACHMENT - the child started to respond in an unemotional or superficial way. They may not respond and reject (push away) parents.

Question 33

Who measured whether the negative effects of short term separations can be reduced?

Answer 33

ROBERTSON AND ROBERTSON - filmed 5 children who were in residential care for several weeks while their mothers were in hospital. 4 of the children were in their own home and had visited before the separation and were allowed to bring things from their home to maintain a caring environment, dad also visited and they were allowed to visit their mothers in hospital. These children showed signs of distress, but functioned well and did not reject their mother upon reunion. The fifth child (1.5 yrs old) was put in residential care for 9 days with busy nurses and an unfamiliar environment with the dad visiting. He functioned well for the first couple of days and tried to get attention of the nurses. He then sought comfort from a teddy, rejected flood or drink and stopped playing. He started to withdraw and sat with thumb in mouth. He screamed and struggled when mum picked him up. He also had outbursts of anger for months after. This suggests negative effects are not inevitable, contradicting bowly’s MDH, they can be minimised by good quality emotional care.

Question 34

Who studied the effects of divorce on young children in a longitudinal study?

Answer 34

HETHERINGTON ET AL - children were assessed just after divorce, 2 years after and 4 years after. They were living with their mum. Immediately after the children seemed to show negative consequences (less mature play, seeking attention and aggression). 2 and 4 years after, girls seemed no different from the control; boys were showing negative affects compared to controls, but less extreme than immediately. The boys were more aggressive and less socially skilled. This contradicts bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis, because disruption of attachment with the father may also have negative effects. It also suggests there are gender differences.

Question 35

Who investigated the long and short term effects of privation on emotional and physical development?

Answer 35

RUTTER - studied 165 Romanian children who had been in an institution from 1-2 weeks. The children received poor physical and emotional care due to the economic situation of the country. They were all adopted before 3.5 yrs old. They were compared with 52 children from the UK who were adopted before 6 months old. They were all assessed at 4, 6 and 11 on measures of social, emotional, cognitive and physical functioning. Romanians were more stunted in growth, underweight, had poorer cognitive skills. At 4, those adopted before 6 months had caught up in terms of physical, intellectual and emotional development. Those adopted after 6 months showed poorer emotional development. At 6 years, 26% had disinhibited attachment compared to 9% of those adopted early. Those adopted after 6 months also showed more attention seeking and overactivity problems. There was no evidence suggesting the Romanians had more behavioural of relationship problems.

Question 36

Who studied the effect of being raised in a children’s home with good quality physical care, but poorer emotional care?

Answer 36

TIZARD AND HODGES - Studied 65 children from 4 months to 4 years who received good physical care and intellectual stimulation, but staff turnover was high, so stable attachments were not made. They were compared to a control group who lived with their families, and were matched to children in the institutional group (eg in sibling number, home location etc.). They were assessed at 8 and 16 years and their parents, teachers and peers were asked for information. The attrition rate was high (35% had dropped out by 16 year follow up). They found that 95% of those, at 8 yrs, adopted had a secure attachment even after several years of privation, so institutionalisation is partially reversible. Both groups (adopted and with biological parents) showed poor peer relationships and attention seeking. This study contradicts bowlby’s critical period, but children still had ongoing problems, so this period could be considered sensitive.

Question 37

What were the two case studies that investigated severe social and emotional isolation and neglect?

Answer 37

GENIE - discovered at 13 and had suffered years of abuse being locked in a room and tied to a potty. She had little interaction and was beaten if made a noise. She was also malnourished and had almost no intellectual stimulation. Upon discovery, she was physically underdeveloped, could barely walk or feed herself. She had limited language and showed signs of self harm. Research into genie was intended to see what the negative affects were and whether they could be reversed. She was initially cared for in a hospital where she made good progress (learned words and developed relationships). There was much dispute of the best way to care for her, she stayed at her psychologist for 4 years, returned to her mum, and then back to another foster home. After that she was put in an adult home for those with disabilities. The results are that there were ongoing emotional, mental and behavioural problems.
CZECH TWINS - MZ twin boys were isolated from 18 months to 7 years in a small cellar or cupboard. When found, their physical development was affected (couldn’t walk) and they showed fear and little speech and their mental age was 3. They were put in a good foster home and developed attachments, relationships with peers and an average intelligence. This was maintained until they were 31 at their reassessment.