psychology - attachment

attachment

emotional relationship between 2 people in which each seeks closeness & feels more secure in presence of attachment figure

reciprocity

both infant and caregiver respond to each other's signals, and each elicits a response from the other

still face experiment

shows infants need to respond to their caregivers to form an attachment

interactional synchrony

a simultaneous interaction between infant and caregiver, where baby imitates caregiver’s actions in time with them

3 indicators for attachment are?

proximity

secure base behaviour

separation distress

AO3 for caregiver-infant interactions in humans

✅research support - Meltzoff and Moore studied interactional synchrony - (it aids in forming attachment)

✅experiment was recorded - can be analysed later, increases internal validity

❌lab study - low ecological validity - inhibits or exaggerates certain characteristics that wouldn’t occur irl

❌babies cant communicate their thoughts - research is based on interferences, not scientific

schaffer and emerson case study

they aimed to investigate formation of attachment in babies

they used 60 babies, from glasgow in working home families

schaffer’s stages of attachment

1. asocial (anyone) → 0 - 6 weeks

2. indiscriminate attachment (prefer familiar faces) → 6 weeks - 7 months

3. specific attachment (form attachment to primary caregiver, separation and stranger anxiety develop) → 7 to 9 months

4. multiple attachment (stranger anxiety decreases) → 9/10+ months

AO3 for Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment

✅field study - high mundane realism

✅longitudinal study - 18months - high internal validity

❌not generalisable - lacks temporal validity (1960s) and gynocentric (only working class Glasgow mothers)

❌ethnocentric - doesn’t take collectivist cultures into account, babies can form multiple attachments young , etic approach

AO1 for role of the father

• After 18months, 75% of infants formed an attachment with the father, showing separation anxiety ∴ father’s role is important

• roles → active play & primary caregiver which increases capacity for sensitive responsiveness → caregiver correctly interprets baby’s communication and is motivated to respond appropriately

AO3 for role of the father

✅real world application - advice can be given to same sex couples

✅reduce gender pay gaps by equalising maternity and paternity leave since both parental roles are equally important

❌observer bias - researcher might already have perceptions about how parents should behave

❌heteronormative

Outline Lorenz's Animal Study Experiment

• Lorenz divided up a clutch of goose eggs, where the control group hatched in front of the mother goose and the experimental group hatched in an incubator where Lorenz was the first living thing they saw. When there two groups were mixed they stuck with there original attachment figure.

Evaluate Lorenz’s findings

• critical period of 90minutes

• animals imprint on first moving object they see

• later in life, goslings displayed attraction to humans

Strengths of Lorenz’s experiment

• research support - chicks imprinted on moving shapes

• critical period findings can be applied to humans since Bowlby argued there are similar critical periods - high validity

Weaknesses of Lorenz’s study

• lacks generalisability to humans because human attachment is more complex (goes two ways)

Outline Harlow's Animal Study experiment

• tested ‘cupboard love’ theory that babies only form attachments to mothers because they feed them

• 16 baby rhesus monkeys were reared with two wire model mothers. In one condition milk was given to the plain wire mother whereas in the second it was given to the cloth covered mother.

• Harlow scared monkeys with mechanical teddy bear and found they went to cloth mother for comfort

Evaluate Harlow’s Findings

• contact comfort was more import in forming an attachment than food

• monkeys spent more time with cloth covered mother

• Long term - monkeys were dysfunctional due to maternal deprivation and displayed aggressive and antisocial behaviour and struggled to form attachments

What Are The Strengths Of Harlow’s Experiment ?

• scientific because it was controlled and done in lab

• Real world application - It has helped social workers understand risk factors in neglect and instead of just making sure people have shelter and food that they are also being treated with love and care.

Weaknesses of Harlow’s Experiment ?

• unethical - monkeys couldn’t withdraw; some died if they weren’t given blankets to cuddle and they were separated from their mothers at birth.

• low internal validity - wire mothers heads were different which could be a confounding variable

What is Social Learning Theory

• proposes that new behaviours can be acquired by observing and imitating others.

• Dollard and Miller proposed ‘cupboard love’ theory that babies only form attachments because they are fed by primary caregiver

State two explanations of attachment

• Social Learning theory (behavioural)

• Bowlby’s Theory (biological)

State two theories for the learning theory

• Classical Conditioning

• Operant Conditioning

Briefly explain classical conditioning

• Learning through association

Briefly explain operant conditioning

• Learning through consequences and reinforcement

Explain classical conditioning linking it to attachment

• Milk provided by the mother (NS) is an unconditioned stimulus which provides an unconditioned response in the baby of relief from hunger.

• The neutral stimulus is the mother, and through repetition of feeding the feeder becomes the conditioned stimulus. Therefore whenever the baby is hungry at just the sight of the feeder it will link the CS and the UCR together and become relieved.
  

Explain operant conditioning making it to attachment

• When the baby feels uncomfortable because it is hungry they experience a drive state.

• The food is the primary reinforcer and the child learns that the food is a reward. The feeder of the baby becomes the secondary reinforcer and the infant thus seeks to be near to this feeder as they are the source of reward and the attachment is formed.

AO3 for social learning theory explanation of attachment

✅face validity (when behaviour appears at first sight to represent what is being measured) - it makes sense that babies would cry when they learn they are rewarded each time

✅research support - Pavlov and Skinner for classical and operant conditioning

❌conflicting research - Harlow said ‘contact comfort’ is more important than cupboard love

❌environmentally reductionist - parents would say their relationship with their child is more complex than stimulus associations

What is monotropy ?

infants have an innate drive to form a unique attachment to their mother and stay in close proximity

Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment

• Adaptive → babies are more likely to survive as attachment provides food and safety

• Social releasers → e.g. smiling / crying ‘unlock’ caregiver’s innate tendency to care for baby

• Critical period → strong monotropic attachment needs to form within 30months of birth or baby suffers emotionally, socially and intellectually

• Monotropy → Law of continuous separation: effects of separation add up and Law of Continuity: constant care = better attachment

• Internal working model → monotropic attachment to mother forms this schema which is a blueprint for all future relationships

AO3 for Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory of Attachment

✅research support for IWM → attachment was measured with 99 mothers and their 1 year olds then with their mothers

✅real world application → physical contact now encouraged after birth due to Bowlby as it aids in a strong monotropic attachment

❌IWM is determinist → doesn’t take free will into account

❌unacceptable to feminists → suggests mothers who work negatively affect development of child (Law of Continuity and Accumulated Separation)

What is Ainsworth’s A Strange Situation

• an observation to investigate child attachment

• involves increasingly stressful experiences for the child - the reactions determine the attachment type

What was the procedure for A Strange Situation

• baby encouraged to explore

• a stranger comes in

• the caregiver leaves so the baby and stranger are left alone

• the caregiver returns and the stranger leaves

• the caregiver leaves so the baby is alone

• the stranger returns

• the baby is reunited with caregiver

  (basically mother leaving the room and stranger entering & behaviours that indicated attachment strength were measured)

How is a Strange Situation measured ?

• Proximity

• Reunion behaviour

• Exploration + secure base behaviour

• separation anxiety

• stranger anxiety

findings of Ainsworth’s strange situation

• 66% of infants were type b secure

• 34% were insecure, 22% being type a and 12% being type c

• suggests that a secure attachment develops due to a consistently sensitive responsive mother

Strengths of Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

• lab experiment - highly controlled, standardised

• predictive validity - outcome can predict babies’ future development

Weaknesses of A Strange Situation

• culture bound - experiment done in USA 🇺🇸 and UK 🇬🇧 so not representative of collectivist cultures.

• low ecological validity - mother knows her behaviour is being monitored so demand characteristics

describe type a attachment

• insecure avoidant

• infant doesn’t use caregiver as secure base

• low separation and stranger anxiety

• caregiver doesnt show sensitive responsiveness

describe type b attachment

• secure

• infant uses caregiver as safe base

• moderate separation and stranger anxiety

• caregiver shows consistent sensitive responsiveness

describe type c attachment

• insecure resistant

• very clingy

• high separation and stranger anxiety, caregiver shows inconsistent sensitive responsiveness

• upon reunion, infant is ambivalent - craving yet rejecting caregivers attention

collectivist culture meaning

emphasises family and work goals above individual needs and desires so people are interdependent

e.g Japan

individualistic culture meaning

emphasises personal indépendance and achievements, resulting in a sense of competition

meta analysis meaning

a researcher looks at a number of studies that have investigated the same topic in order to reach a general conclusion about a particular hypothesis

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg

conducted meta analysis of different strange situation from around the world and found secure attachment was always the most common

AO3 for Van Ijzendoorn’s meta analysis

✅meta analysis - large sample, increases internal validity

✅emic approach - Ijzendoorn used research from a German and Japanese team, increasing validity and decreasing misunderstandings

❌lacks temporal validity - in 2014, researcher found less secure attachment types and more avoidant

❌ethnocentric - imposed etic → uses a Strange Situation to determine attachment types on non-western cultures

Outline Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg’s Procedure

• Aim - to find out if there were differences between country’s attachment types

• procedure - meta analysis examined 32 studies where strange situation occurred. Studies were conducted in 8 countries.

• Secure was most common among all cultures

• Insecure Avoidant least common in collectivist cultures

• Insecure resistant least common in individualistic cultures

Outline Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

• states prolonged early separation from mother leads to affectionless psychopathy (no guilt, caring behaviour or empathy) and low intellectual development (low IQ) (Goldfarb)

• critical period of 2-2.5 years

Outline Aim & Procedure of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study

• Aim - examine links between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation

• Procedure - interviewed 44 juvenile thieves and their families, comparing them to a control group of non-offenders. He assessed their emotional responses and backgrounds to identify any history of maternal deprivation.

Findings of Bowlby’s 44 Thieves Study

The study found that 14 of the 44 thieves showed signs of affectionless psychopathy, and 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers during the critical period. This suggested a strong link between maternal deprivation and the development of affectionless psychopathy.

Outline Czech Twins Case Study

• It contradicts Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation by demonstrating that the twins, despite early maternal deprivation, developed normally and formed healthy relationships, suggesting that other factors can mitigate the effects of separation.

Strengths of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

• Real world application - Bowlby’s theory has influenced child care practices, emphasizing the importance of stable relationships and early emotional bonds. Before his theory, children were separated from their parents in hospitals but after it resulted in parents being allowed to stay with their children to avoid prolonged separation

Weaknesses of Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

• Over exaggeration of deprivation effects - he confused it with privation

• Biased - 44 thieves study, the interviews of families relied on self report data so they may have lied about the maternal deprivation the delinquents received

• Conflicting research - Czech twins were able to recover after maternal deprivation

What is institutionalisation

the effects of being in an institution

What are the effects of institutionalisation

• low IQ

• disinhibited attachment → a form of insecure attachment where children are equally friendly to ppl they know and ppl they dont