Attachment

What was the control group in Lorenz’s animal study ?

½ of the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment

What was the experimental group in Lorenz’s animal study ?

½ of the eggs were hatched in an incubator where the first object they saw was Lorenz

What does imprinting mean in the context of Lorenz’s animal study ?

Where bird species that are mobile from birth attach to and follow the first moving object that they see 

What did Lorenz discover about sexual imprinting ?

He observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans 

What did Harlow observe in his animal study ?

Newborn monkeys kept alone in a bare cage often died but that they usually survived if given something soft like a cloth to cuddle 

What were the 2 conditions in Harlow’s animal study ? 

• In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother

• In a second condition no milk was dispensed by a cloth covered mother

What were Harlow’s findings ?

The baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother and sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk

What did Harlow find was the outcome for maternally deprived monkeys in adulthood ?

• The monkeys reared with plain wire mothers only were the most dysfunctional 

• Even those reared with a cloth covered mother did not develop typical social behaviour 

• The deprived monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys, and they bred less often than is typical for monkeys, being unskilled at mating

• If they became mothers, some neglected their young and some attacked their young 

What is classical conditioning ?

A child learns to associate their carer with food, evoking pleasure and eventually forming an attachment

Classical conditioning

Learning by association

Operant conditioning

Learning by consequences

Positive reinforcement

Receiving a reward for a behaviour to encourage it to continue

Negative reinforcement

Occurs when something unpleasant is avoided

Punishment

An unpleasant consequence of behaviour which decreases the likelihood of a behaviour continuing

What is operant conditioning ?

• Can explain why babies cry for food 

• Crying leads to a response from the caregiver

• As long as the caregiver provides the desired response, crying is reinforced as it produces a pleasurable consequence 

• 2-way process

• The caregiver receives negative reinforcement because the crying stops 

• This interplay of mutual reinforcement strengthens an attachment

What did Schaffer & Emerson find that goes against what Learning Theory states ?

They found that babies tended to form their main attachment to their mother regardless of whether she was the one who usually fed them

Learning Theory views that babies are passive. How does other research disagree with this ?

• Shows that babies are an active partner in the interactions with their caregiver

• Mothers are very alert to their babies active signalling, meaning that babies aren’t the passive recipient

• This means that learning theory may not explain all aspects of attachment

Monotropy

• Bowlby placed great emphasis on a child’s attachment to one particular caregiver 

• He believed this attachment is different and more important than others 

What is the law of continuity ?

Stated that the more constant and predictable a child’s care, the better the quality of their attachment

What is the law of accumulated separation ?

Stated that the effects of every separation from the mother add up and ‘the safest dose is therefore a zero dose’ 

Monotropy vs multiple attachments

• Research suggests that infants tend to form multiple attachment relationships rather than just one 

• The quality of each of these multiple attachments is independent of the others 

• The quality of these attachments combined is a better predictor of later development

Social releasers

• Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set is innate, cute behaviours that encourage attention from adults 

• Their purpose is to activate adult social interaction and so make an adult attach to the baby 

The critical period

• Bowlby proposed that there is a critical period around 6 months where the infant attachment system is active 

• If an attachment is not formed in this time, a child will find it much harder to form one later 

Internal working model

• Serves as a model for what relationships are like

• A child whose first experience is of a loving relationship, will bring these qualities to future relationships 

• Affects the child’s later ability to be a parent 

• Explains why children from functional families tend to have similar families themselves 

Method of a Strange Situation

1. The mother and child are introduced to a room 

2. The parent sits while the infant plays 

3. A stranger enters and talks to the mother 

4. The mother leaves and the stranger offers the baby comfort

5. The mother returns, greets the baby, offers comfort and the stranger leaves 

6. The parent leaves the infant alone 

7. The stranger enters and offers comfort 

8. The parent returns, greets the infant and offers comfort

Proximity seeking behaviours

An infant with good attachment will stay fairly close to the caregiver

Exploration and secure base behaviour

Good attachment allows the child to explore

Stranger anxiety

One of the signs of becoming attached is anxiety when a stranger approaches

Separation anxiety

Another sign of attachment is protest at separation from the caregiver

Reunion behaviour

Psychologists are interested at how the child responds to the mother on reunion

Securely attached (TYPE B)

• Explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver

• Usually show moderate stranger and separation anxiety

• Require and accept comfort in the reunion stage 

• 60-75% of British babies 

Insecure-Avoidant (TYPE A)

• Explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure base behaviour 

• Show little or no reaction when the caregiver leaves and little stranger anxiety

• Make little effort to make contact when caregiver returns and may even avoid contact

• 20-25% of British babies 

Insecure-Resistant (TYPE C)

• Seek greater proximity and so explore less 

• Show high levels of stranger and separation anxiety

• Resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver 

• Around 3% of British babies 

Other attachment types 

• Researchers claimed there is a fourth category of attachment - a disorganised or Type D attachment, a mix of resistant and avoidant behaviours

• Type D babies are unusual and have generally experienced some form of severe neglect or abuse 

• Most will go on to develop psychological conditions by adulthood 

What was the aim of Van Ijzendoorn’s study ?

To look at proportions of secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant across a range of countries and also within countries

How did Van Ijzendoorn carry out his meta analysis ?

• The researchers found 32 studies of attachment from 8 countries

• 1990 children in total

• The results of these studies were then combined

Individualist culture 

• Western cultures 

• Personal success and independence are celebrated 

Collectivist culture

• Eastern cultures

• Dependence

• Family and focus on family success

What were Van Ijzendoorn’s findings ?

• Wide variation in attachment types

• Secure was most common in all countries

• Varied from 75% in Britain to 50% in China

• In individualist cultures rates of insecure resistant were similar to Ainsworth’s original sample

• In collectivist cultures rates were above 25%

How much greater was the variation between the results within the same country compared to between countries ?

150%

Confounding variable 

Another variable that has affected the results 

What took place in the Italian study of cultural variation ?

• Investigates whether proportions of babies of different attachment types still matched the results of previous studies

• Assessed 76 12 month olds

• Found 50% were secure and 36% insecure avoidant

• Lower rate of secure compared to other studies

What took place in the Korean study of cultural variation ?

• Compared attachment in Korea to other countries 

• Overall proportions were similar to that of most countries

• Were more insecure resistant than avoidant

• Similar to results found in Japan and so may be explained in terms of child rearing styles