psy 301 lect 10 KABOW!

Attachment theory

one approach to understanding the nature of close relationships

originally developed in the 1940s by John Bowlby

bowlby observed

infants would go to extraordinary lengths to prevent separation from their parents or to reestablish proximity to a missing parent

common to a wide variety of mammalian species and speculated that these responses to separation may serve an evolutionary function

infants lengths to prevent separation from their parents used to be interpreted as

manifestations of immature defense mechanisms that were operating to repress emotional pain

Bowlby and other theorists, for example, believed that there was something important about the responsiveness and contact provided by mothers. Other theorists, in contrast, argued that

young infants feel emotionally connected to their mothers because mothers satisfy more basic needs, such as the need for food (primary drives over nurture)

wire and cloth monkey experiment found

oung macaques spent a disproportionate amount of time with the cloth surrogate as opposed to the wire surrogate. Moreover, this was true even when the infants were fed by the wire surrogate rather than the cloth surrogate. This suggests that the strong emotional bond that infants form with their primary caregivers is rooted in something more than whether the caregiver provides food per se.

Drawing on evolutionary theory, Bowlby (1969) argued

behaviors are adaptive responses to separation from a primary attachment figure

primary attachment figure

a caregiver who provides support, protection, and care

Because human infants, like other mammalian infants, cannot feed or protect themselves

hey are dependent upon the care and protection of “older and wiser” adults for survival

over the course of evolutionary history, infants who were able to maintain proximity to an attachment figure would be

more likely to survive to a reproductive age

attachment behavioral system

A motivational system selected over the course of evolution to maintain proximity between a young child and his or her primary attachment figure.

In the case of the attachment system, Bowlby argued that the system

continuously monitors the accessibility of the primary attachment figure.

If the child perceives the attachment figure to be nearby, accessible, and attentive,

the child feels loved, secure, and confident and, behaviorally, is likely to explore his or her environment, play with others, and be sociable.

the child perceives the attachment figure to be inaccessible,

the child experiences anxiety and, behaviorally, is likely to exhibit attachment behaviors ranging from simple visual searching on the low extreme to active searching, following, and vocal signaling on the other

attachment behaviors

Behaviors and signals that attract the attention of a primary attachment figure and function to prevent separation from that individual or to reestablish proximity to that individual (e.g., crying, clinging).

attachment behaviors continue either until

the child is able to reestablish a desirable level of physical or psychological proximity to the attachment figure or until the child exhausts himself or herself

or gives up, as may happen in the context of a prolonged separation or loss.

the strange situation

A laboratory task that involves briefly separating and reuniting infants and their primary caregivers as a way of studying individual differences in attachment behavior.

secure

become upset when the parent leaves the room, but, when he or she returns, they actively seek the parent and are easily comforted by him or her.

implied by Bowlby’s normative theory

60 %

anxious-resistant

Other children (about 20% or less) are ill at ease initially and, upon separation, become extremely distressed. Importantly, when reunited with their parents, these children have a difficult time being soothed and often exhibit conflicting behaviors that suggest they want to be comforted, but that they also want to “punish” the parent for leaving

avoidant

children (about 20%) do not consistently behave as if they are stressed by the separation but, upon reunion, actively avoid seeking contact with their parent, sometimes turning their attention to play objects on the laboratory floor

three reasons Ainsworth’s work was important

one of the first empirical demonstrations of how attachment behavior is organized in unfamiliar contexts

first empirical taxonomy of individual differences in infant attachment patterns(at least three types of children exist: secure, anxious-resistant, anxious-avoidant)

demonstrated that these individual differences were correlated with infant–parent interactions in the home during the first year of life

attachment patterns

(also called “attachment styles” or “attachment orientations”) Individual differences in how securely (vs. insecurely) people think, feel, and behave in attachment relationships.

Children who appear secure in the strange situation,

tend to have parents who are responsive to their needs

Children who appear insecure in the strange situation (i.e., anxious-resistant or avoidant)

often have parents who are insensitive to their needs, or inconsistent or rejecting in the care they provide.

history of sensitive and responsive interactions between the caregiver and the child

one of the key determinants of attachment patterns

when the child is uncertain or stressed, the ability of the caregiver to provide support to the child is critical for his or her psychological development

It is assumed that such supportive interactions help the child learn to

regulate his or her emotions, give the child the confidence to explore the environment, and provide the child with a safe haven during stressful circumstances.

Grossmann and her colleagues found that children who were classified as secure in the strange situation at 12 months of age were more likely than children classified as insecure to have

mothers who provided responsive care to their children in the home environment.

Van den Boom (1994) developed an intervention that was designed to enhance maternal sensitive responsiveness

When the infants were 9 months of age, the mothers in the intervention group were rated as more responsive and attentive in their interaction with their infants compared to mothers in the control group. In addition, their infants were rated as more sociable, self-soothing, and more likely to explore the environment. At 12 months of age, children in the intervention group were more likely to be classified as secure than insecure in the strange situation.

children who are classified as secure in the strange situation are more likely to have

high functioning relationships with peers, to be evaluated favorably by teachers, and to persist with more diligence in challenging tasks.

insecure-avoidant children are more likely to be

construed as “bullies” or to have a difficult time building and maintaining friendships

According to Hazan and Shaver, the emotional bond that develops between adult romantic partners is

partly a function of the same motivational system—the attachment behavioral system—that gives rise to the emotional bond between infants and their caregivers

Hazan and Shaver noted that in both kinds of relationship

people (a) feel safe and secure when the other person is present;

(b) turn to the other person during times of sickness, distress, or fear;

(c) use the other person as a “secure base” from which to explore the world; and

(d) speak to one another in a unique language, often called “motherese” or “baby talk.”

From an attachment perspective, these innovations in communications technology are important because

they allow people to stay connected virtually to their attachment figures—regardless of the physical distance that might exist between them

Oldmeadow and colleagues found that the use of Facebook may serve attachment functions.

people were more likely to report using Facebook to connect with others when they were experiencing negative emotions. In addition, the researchers found that people who were more anxious in their attachment orientation were more likely to use Facebook frequently, but people who were more avoidant used Facebook less and were less open on the site.

Hazan and Shaver (1987) found that the distribution of the three patterns was similar to

observed in infancy. In other words, about 60% of adults classified themselves as secure (paragraph B), about 20% described themselves as avoidant (paragraph A), and about 20% described themselves as anxious-resistant .

concluded that the same kinds of individual differences that exist in infant attachment also exist in adulthood.

attachment? I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me.

secure

attachment? I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close, and often, others want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being.

avoidant

attachment? I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me or won’t want to stay with me. I want to get very close to my partner, and this sometimes scares people away.

anxious-resistant

Moreover, they found that people who described themselves as secure,

were more likely to report having had warm and trusting relationships with their parents when they were growing up.

were more likely to have positive views of romantic relationships.

When people are asked what kinds of psychological or behavioral qualities they are seeking in a romantic partner, a large majority of people indicate that they are seeking someone who is

kind, caring, trustworthy, and understanding—the kinds of attributes that characterize a “secure” caregiver

secure people more likely to end up with

secure partners—and, vice versa, insecure people are more likely to end up with insecure partners

attachment patterns of more than 83 heterosexual couples and found that, if the man was relatively secure,

the woman was also likely to be secure.

when people have the opportunity to interact with individuals who vary in security in a speed-dating context,

they express a greater interest in those who are higher in security than those who are more insecure

secure people are more likely to be attracted to other secure people

there is also some evidence that people’s attachment styles mutually shape one another in close relationships

if one person in a relationship experienced a change in security, his or her partner was likely to experience a change in the same direction

Research has consistently demonstrated that individuals who are relatively secure are more likely than insecure individuals to have

high functioning relationships—relationships that are more satisfying, more enduring, and less characterized by conflict.

insecure individuals were more likely than secure individuals to experience

breakup of their relationship

secure individuals are more likely to report

satisfying relationships and are more likely to provide support to their partners when their partners were feeling distressed

majority of research on this issue is

retrospective— relies on adults’ reports of what they recall about their childhood experiences

secure adults are more likely to describe their early childhood experiences with their parents as

being supportive, loving, and kind

in a sample of more than 700 individuals studied from infancy to adulthood that maternal sensitivity across development prospectively predicted

security at age 18

attachment security, assessed in infancy in the strange situation, predicted

predicted peer competence in grades 1 to 3, which, in turn, predicted the quality of friendship relationships at age 16, which, in turn, predicted the expression of positive and negative emotions in their adult romantic relationships at ages 20 to 23

Attachment theorists assume that the relationship between early experiences and subsequent outcomes is

probabilistic, not deterministic.

Having supportive and responsive experiences with caregivers early in life is assumed to

set the stage for positive social development. But that does not mean that attachment patterns are set in stone

even if an individual has far from optimal experiences in early life, attachment theory suggests

it is possible for that individual to develop well-functioning adult relationships through a number of corrective experiences—including relationships with siblings, other family members, teachers, and close friends.

Security is best viewed as a culmination of

a person’s attachment history rather than a reflection of his or her early experiences alone

Those early experiences are considered important not because they determine a person’s fate, but because

they provide the foundation for subsequent experiences.

cognitive development

involves a multitude of factors, both inherent and learned

development of thinking across the lifespan

about change

Defining thinking can be problematic, because

no clear boundaries separate thinking from other mental activities.

Thinking obviously involves the higher mental processes:

problem solving, reasoning, creating, conceptualizing, categorizing, remembering, planning, and so on.

However, thinking also involves

other mental processes that seem more basic and at which even toddlers are skilled—such as perceiving objects and events in the environment, acting skillfully on objects to obtain goals, and understanding and producing language.

other areas of human development that involve thinking are not usually associated with cognitive development, because thinking isn’t a prominent feature of them

personality and temperament.

DeVries’s cat dog mask study most 3-year-olds say

cat is now dog with dog’s bones and a dog’s stomach

DeVries’s cat dog mask study most 6-year-olds say

maynard is still a cat!

Stage theories

focus on whether children progress through qualitatively different stages of development

Piaget’s stage theory

Theory that development occurs through a sequence of discontinuous stages: the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

Sociocultural theories

emphasize how other people and the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the surrounding culture, influence children’s development.

Information processing theories

examine the mental processes that produce thinking at any one time and the transition processes that lead to growth in that thinking.

At the heart of all of these theories, and indeed of all research on cognitive development, are two main questions

(1) How do nature and nurture interact to produce cognitive development?

(2) Does cognitive development progress through qualitatively distinct stages?

The most basic question about child development is

how nature and nurture together shape development

nature

biological endowment, the genes we receive from our parents

nurture

environments, social as well as physical, that influence our development, everything from the womb in which we develop before birth to the homes in which we grow up, the schools we attend, and the many people with whom we interact.

every aspect of development is produced by

the interaction of genes and environment. At the most basic level, without genes, there would be no child, and without an environment to provide nurture, there also would be no child.

depth perception

the ability to actively perceive the distance from oneself to objects in the environment,

development of depth perception depends on

seeing patterned light and having normal brain activity in response to the patterned light, in infancy. If no patterned light is received, for example when a baby has severe cataracts or blindness that is not surgically corrected until later in development, depth perception remains abnormal even after the surgery.

Adding to the complexity of the nature-nurture interaction, children’s genes lead to

their eliciting different treatment from other people, which influences their cognitive development.

infants’ physical attractiveness and temperament are influenced considerably by their genetic inheritance, but it is also the case that parents provide

more sensitive and affectionate care to easygoing and attractive infants than to difficult and less attractive ones, which can contribute to the infants’ later cognitive development

Also contributing to the complex interplay of nature and nurture is the role of children in shaping their own cognitive development. From the first days out of the womb, children

actively choose to attend more to some things and less to others.

Children’s contributions to their own cognitive development

grow larger as they grow older

quantitative changes

Gradual, incremental change, as in the growth of a pine tree’s girth.

qualitative changes

Large, fundamental change, as when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly; stage theories such as Piaget’s posit that each stage reflects qualitative change relative to previous stages.

gradual and continuous development

Ways in which development occurs in a gradual incremental manner, rather than through sudden jumps.

sudden and discontinuous.development

not very gradual, involving rapid discontinuous changes, such as those in the life cycle of a ladybug, separated by longer periods of slow, gradual change.

The four stages that Piaget hypothesized

sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years),

the preoperational reasoning stage (2 to 6 or 7 years),

the concrete operational reasoning stage (6 or 7 to 11 or 12 years),

the formal operational reasoning stage (11 or 12 years and throughout the rest of life).

During the sensorimotor stage,

children’s thinking is largely realized through their perceptions of the world and their physical interactions with it. Their mental representations are very limited.

object permanence task

The Piagetian task in which infants below about 9 months of age fail to search for an object that is removed from their sight and, if not allowed to search immediately for the object, act as if they do not know that it continues to exist.

Piaget claimed that infants less than 9 months do not understand that objects continue to exist even when out of sight.

During the preoperational stage,

children can solve not only this simple problem (which they actually can solve after 9 months) but show a wide variety of other symbolic-representation capabilities, such as those involved in drawing and using language. However, such 2- to 7-year-olds tend to focus on a single dimension, even when solving problems would require them to consider multiple dimensions.

conservation problems

Problems pioneered by Piaget in which physical transformation of an object or set of objects changes a perceptually salient dimension but not the quantity that is being asked about.

if a glass of water is poured into a taller, thinner glass, children below age 7 generally say

there now is more water than before.

Children overcome this tendency to focus on a single dimension during

during the concrete operations stage

during the concrete operations stage

they still cannot think in systematic scientific ways, even when such thinking would be useful. Thus, if asked to find out which variables influence the period that a pendulum takes to complete its arc, and given weights that they can attach to strings in order to do experiments with the pendulum to find out, most children younger than age 12, perform biased experiments from which no conclusion can be drawn, and then conclude that whatever they originally believed is correct.

in the formal operations period

children attain the reasoning power of mature adults, which allows them to solve the pendulum problem and a wide range of other problems.

formal operations stage tends not to occur without

exposure to formal education in scientific reasoning, and appears to be largely or completely absent from some societies that do not provide this type of education.

Many more recent researchers have obtained findings indicating that cognitive development is considerably more

continuous than Piaget claimed.

Diamond (1985) found that on the object permanence task described above, infants show earlier knowledge if

the waiting period is shorter.

Similarly, children’s specific experiences can greatly influence

when developmental changes occur

under relatively facilitative circumstances, infants show early forms of object permanence by

3 or 4 months, and they gradually extend the range of times for which they can remember hidden objects as they grow older.

on Piaget’s original object permanence task, infants do quite quickly change toward the end of their first year from

not reaching for hidden toys to reaching for them, even after they’ve experienced a substantial delay before being allowed to reach.

Cognitive developmental research has shown that phonemic awareness is a crucial skill in

learning to read

phonemic awareness

awareness of the component sounds within words

To measure awareness of the component sounds within words, researchers ask children to decide whether two words rhyme, to decide whether the words start with the same sound, to identify the component sounds within words, and to indicate what would be left if a given sound were removed from a word. Kindergartners’ performance on these tasks is the strongest predictor of

reading achievement in third and fourth grade, even stronger than IQ or social class background. Moreover, teaching these skills to randomly chosen 4- and 5-year-olds results in their being better readers years later