Psychology a level - attachment

the entire topic with key terms, studies and evaluation

define internal working model

a template for future relationships as proposed by Bowlby

name and explain the APF for 3 studies relating to the influence of early attachment on later relationships

Myron-Wilson and Smith

A - asses link between attachment type and bullying

P - questionnaire of 196 children aged 7-11

F - secure the least likely to be involved, IA most likely to be bullied

Hazan and Shaver

A - asses link between romantic relationships and attachment type

P - 620 replies to a love quiz with 3 sections assessing current relationships, attachment type and general feelings about love

F - 56% secure. secure had better and longer lasting relationships

Bailey et al

A - asses link between attachment type to your baby and to your own mother

P - 99 mothers and their own mothers interviewed and SS carried out

F - every mother had the same attachment type to their baby as they did their mother

a strength and counterpoint of research into the influence of early attachments on later life

research support

HOWEVER contradictory research too: longitudinal study showed no evidence of continuity between 1 and 16 year olds, Czech twins case study

two limitations of research into influence of early attachment on later life

validity issues with retrospective studies

confounding variables e.g. genes

define maternal separation

when the child is not in the presence of the mother

define maternal deprivation

extended separation from mother where baby lacks emotional care, causing harm

define Bowlby’s critical period in terms of maternal deprivation

the 2.5 years which are critical for psychological development. continuing risk until the age of 5

how is intellectual development affected by MD

Golfarb found a lower average IQ in institutionalized children than in those who were fostered

how is emotional development affected by MD

Bowlby identified affectionless psychopathy, the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion, as the result of MD

APFC for 44 thieves study

A - find link between MD and affectionless psychopathy

P - 44 teenage thieves interviewed and their families also interviewed. control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed teens also used

F - 14/44 thieves AP. 12/14 had been MDed. 5/remaining30thieves had also been MDed. 2/44 control group MDed

C - MD causes AP

4 limitations of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory

flawed evidence

confusion between deprivation and privation

critical period more of a sensitive period

conflicting evidence as a study of 500 people found no link between MD and AP

name and APF for 2 Romanian orphan studies

Rutter et al

A - investigate impact of institutionalisation on development

P - followed 165 adopted Romanian orphans and assessed their development at 4,6,11,15 and 22-25 years old. control group of 52 UK adoptees

F - 50% RO’s showed signs of undernourishment and delayed intellectual development. by age 11, rate of recovery linked to age of adoption. IQ of those adopted before 6 months = 102, 6 months - 2 years = 86, after 2 years = 77. children adopted after 6 months showed signs of disinhibited attachment

Zeanah et al

A - investigate effects of institutionalisation

P - assessed attachment in 95 Romanian orphans aged 12-31 months who had spent most their lives in an institution. control group of 50 non-institutionalized children. attachment type measured using SS and interview of carers

F - 74% control group secure. 19% institutionalised secure. less than 20% control group disinhibited. 44% institutionalised disinhibited

two strengths of Romanian orphan studies

real world application, few confounding variables e.g. compared with wwii studies

two limitations of Romanian orphan studies

lack of adult data

social sensitivity

APFC for Ainsworth’s ‘strange situation’

A - observe key attachment behaviour as a means of assessing attachment quality

P - controlled observation in a lab. behaviours looked for involved: proximity seeking, exploration and secure-base behaviour, stranger and separation anxiety, reunion behaviour. involved 7 episodes which were 3 minutes long

F - 3 distinct patterns in which babies behaved

C - Type A (Insecure avoidant) Type B (secure) and Type C (insecure resistant) attachment types identified. 60-75% UK babies type B. 20-25% type A.

2 strengths of Ainsworth’s strange situation

predictive validity

inter-rater reliability as 94% of cases were agreed on by observers

2 limitations of the strange situation

culture-bound

type D found by a later study

2 studies about cultural variations in attachment and their APFC

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonberg

A - look at attachment type patterns in different countries and also asses intra-cultural variations within the countries

P - 32 studies across 8 countries involving 1990 children. Attachment type determined using SS. Each study meta-analysed, weighting each one for its sample size

F - secure always most common. Highest of 75% in UK, lowest of 50% in China. Intracultural variation 150% higher than intercultural

C - different cultures e.g. collectivist vs individualist impact attachment type patterns

Simonelli et al

A - see if attachment patterns have changed with time

P - 76 12 months old babies measured using SS In Italy

F - 60% secure, 36% IA

C - change because more women work in the modern day and more people use childcare. Attachment patterns not static

A strength of research into cultural variations in attachment

Use of indigenous researchers allows an emic approach

3 limitations of research into cultural variations in attachment

Confounding variables e.g. social class, experimental conditions

Imposed etic

competing explanations e.g. Bowlby’s idea of universal attachment, influence of media consumption

APFC for Lorenz’ gosling study

A - investigate attachment in Goslings

P - randomly divided a cluster of goose eggs. Half hatched in front of him in an incubator and the other half in front of their mother in a natural environment

F - the incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere; as the control group did their mother, even when the two groups were mixed. This phenomenon is called imprinting. Birds are likely to courts individuals similar to those they imprinted on

C - critical period of 4-25 hours for imprinting. Identified imprinting and later sexual imprinting

Evaluation of Lorenz’ gosling study

Strength - Later study done on chicks with moving shapes found similar evidence for imprinting

Limitation - extrapolation issues: imprinting is a 1-way system, but attachment is a 2-way system in humans

APFC of Harlow’s monkey study

A - investigate the importance of a maternal figure for the development of baby rhesus monkeys. also observe whether baby monkeys prioritised food or comfort

P - reared 16 baby monkeys with one wire mother and one cloth mother. in one condition the wire mother dispensed milk, in the other one the cloth one did. a mechanical teddy bear used to scare the monkeys

F - all monkeys spent the most time with cloth mother, turning to her for comfort in moments of fear. later in life, maternally deprived monkeys acted antisocially and neglected their young

C - sensitive response and security of caregiver is a higher priority than food. found a 90 day critical period

Evaluation of Harlow’s monkey study

Strength - real world application in social work and zoos

Limitation - unethical due to the long term psychological damage

3 studies into the role of the father and APF

Grossman

A - investigate link between parents behaviour on children’s attachment quality in teens

P - longitudinal study

F - only attachment to mother had an impact. quality of fathers play had an impact, suggesting the fathers role is play and stimulation

2010 study

A - investigate hormone levels in mothers vs fathers

P - oxytocin levels measured in mothers and fathers

F - after interacting with their infants for 10 minutes, parent’s oxytocin levels are the same

Field

A - investigate the roles of mothers, fathers, SCG’s and PCG’s in a babies attachment

P - filmed 4-month olds face-to-face interactions with PCG mums, PCG dads and SCG dads

F - PCG’s spent the most time imitating, smiling at and holding their babies.

C - fathers ARE emotionally responsive enough to be PCG’s

2 strengths and 2 limitations of research into the role of the father

Strengths - Real world application, 2010 study uses scientific method

Limitations - Bias due to stereotypes, conflicting evidence

define stages of attachment

qualitative differences in infant behaviours are limited to specific ages, with all babies going through them in the same order

define multiple attachments

after one strong attachment is formed, babies start to attach to 2 or more people

2 strengths of Emerson and Schaffer’s research

good external validity

real-world application

2 limitations of Emerson and Schaffer’s research

Unrepresentative sample

poor evidence of asocial stage: later study found 2-week old babies could recognise their mother’s smell

APFC for Schaffer and Emerson’s research

A - investigate stages of attachment in babies

P - 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow observed longitudinally. researchers visited every month for first year and then again at 18 months. mothers were also interviewed and kept journals

F - 65% mums PCG’s, 3% dads PCG’s. identified 4 distinct stages

C - stages in order are: asocial (first few weeks), indiscriminate (2-7 months), discriminate (7-9 months), multiple (over 9 months)

define attachment

a strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people; characterised by a desire to maintain proximity

define reciprocity

a two-way process. when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them: turn taking

define interactional synchrony

“the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour” - Feldman

describe the APFC of 2 studies into infant-caregiver interaction

Tronick

A - to investigate whether infants value reciprocity

P - placed mum and baby face-to-face and had mum switch between engaged and blank face. children aged between 6 months - 2 years had their reactions recorded and studied

F - babies would try regain mums attention, sometimes resorting to violence and eventually giving up. connections were quickly rebuilt and perhaps even stronger

C - its okay for mums to leave infants, but reciprocity is important when mum is around

Isabella et al

A - investigate importance of interactional synchrony

P - observed 30 mother-infant dyads. quality of attachment also assessed using a double-blind observer

F - high levels of synchrony found in dyads with high quality relationships and attachment

C - synchrony important for good quality attachments

2 strengths for research into infant-caregiver interaction

filmed observation

predictive validity

2 limitations of research into infant-caregiver interaction

socially sensitive

arguably unethical

define monotropic

one attachment that is the most important

define critical period in terms of Bowlby’s monotropic theory

time within which an attachment must form. critical period of 6 months, sensitive of 2 years

define social releasers

innate “cute” behaviours that encourage attention from adults e.g. smiling and cooing

define the evolutionary explanation

Bowlby’s theory that attachment is an innate system that gives a survival advantage

2 strengths of Bowlby’s monotropic theory

social releasers triggering adult interaction similarly observed by Brazelton et al

internal working model supported by Bailey et al mothers and babies attachment patterns research

2 limitations of Bowlby’s monotropic theory

Validity: Schaffer and Emerson suggested different time periods for attachment

cultural variations suggests attachment is not universal

give two characteristics of attachment, as propose by Maccoby

seeking proximity, pleasure when reunited

2 studies showing Ainsworth’s types of attachment have good predictive validity

Myron-Wilson and Smith found type B children were the least likely to be involved in bullying

Ward et al found type B babies have better mental health in adulthood while type C or type D have the worst

what was the rate of type C attachment in individualist cultures in VI & K’s research

all under 14%

what was the rate of type C attachment in collectivist cultures in VI & K’s research

all above 25%

how many of the 32 studies in VI & K’s research were done in the USA

15

how does the Czech Twins case study contradict Bowlby’s Maternal Deprivation

formed no attachment to a caregiver as infants, only rescued at age 7 but by 14 their development was normal