3.1.3 Attachment

Attachment definition

An emotional bond between 2 people that endures over time and it leads to certain specific behaviours e.g. separation anxiety / proximity seeking.

Types of attachment

Proximity seeking

- infants try stay physically close to people they're attached to

Separation anxiety

- upset when attachment figure leaves them

Secure-base attachment

- even when independent, infant makes regular contact with attachment figure.

Study investigating infants imitation adult's facial and hand gestures

Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

Procedure

- infants aged between 12-21 days of age

- using a controlled observation, an adult model displayed one of four facial expressions/hand gesture

- child has dummy in mouth to prevent a facial response

- following display from the adult model, dummy was removed and the child's expressions were observed

- expressions were videoed then scored by observers (who did not know what the expressions were)

4 expressions:

lip protrusion

mouth opening

tongue protrusion

passive face

observers were made to rank from most likely to least likely what expression they thought they were showing.

Investigation infant imitation (results)

There was a clear association between the infants' behaviour and that of the adult model i.e. the infants showed a clear ability to imitate the expression of the adult model (interactional synchrony)

Later research by M&M (1983) found the same findings in three-day old infants

Investigation infant imitation (conclusion)

These findings suggest that interactional synchrony is an innate ability. It is thought interactional synchrony may help attachment / a bond develop between the infant and the caregiver.

Meltzoff and Moore strengths

observations well-controlled - can capture a lot of detail that can later be analysed

- frame by frame

babies don't change their behaviour when being watched; thus increases validity

Research highlights important behaviour that help early attachment - caregivers need to respond effectively to infant.

- they could help improve the quality of interactions and therefore improve caregiver-infant attachments.

Meltzoff and Moore criticisms

Not easy to test infant behaviour; babies change expressions often so difficult to tell if it is specific imitation or not. This makes research unreliable as babies have limited alert periods.

- cannot ask why infants carried out an expression so we have to rely on inference. (drawing a logical conclusion)

Findings have not been replicated - suggests research is unreliable ; low external reliability

(not consistent)

Culture Bias - cannot apply findings to other cultures

- these interactions don't happen in other cultures but children still develop attachments

- suggests interactions are not necessarily important in attachment.

Why is it difficult to draw a conclusion about the role of caregiver-infant interactions in the development of attachment ?

Cannot show a 'cause and effect' relationship because it is ETHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to manipulate the quality of interactions

Extraneous factors e.g. home environment may have a long term effect of attachment and cannot be controlled.

Caregiver-infant interactions: Reciprocity

- both infant and mother respond to each other's signals and each elicits a response from the other.

- both caregiver and infant can initiate interactions and draw out responses from another (like a conversation)

e.g. smiling and smiling back, pointing then looking etc.

Research: analysed frame-by-frame video recordings of infants movements and found that infants moved in a way that responds to the caregivers speech to form a turn-taking conversation. (no name, general research).

Caregiver-infant interactions: Interactional synchrony

- infant and caregiver tend to imitate what the other is doing eg face and body movements (+emotions) like sticking tongues out.

- different to reciprocity: movements are very similar

- when caregiver and infant reflect both actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated way.

IMPORTANT for the development of the mother-infant attachment;

Isabella et al (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed their degree of synchrony.

- found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment

(secure attachment)

Stages of Attachment (experiment) - Procedure

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Procedure

- 60 infants (5-23 weeks old)

- all from working class families in Glasgow

- studied till they were 1 years old (longitudinal)

- mothers + babies were visited every 4 weeks

- observations conducted + interviews w/ mothers carried out

attachment measured in 2 ways:

1) separation anxiety - everyday situations eg leaving the room

2) stranger anxiety - response to unfamiliar adults

Stages of Attachment - Results

gathered there were 4 stages of attachment

Stages of attachment definitions

Pre-attachment phase (0-3 months)

- infants produce similar responses to all objects whether they are human or non-human

- usually show a greater preference to humans (or anything with a face)

- more content around people; reciprocity and interactional synchrony is important in the development of the infant's relationships with others.

Indiscriminate attachment phase (3-7 months)

- clear preference for people

- smile more at known people

-no separation or stranger anxiety

- allow strangers to hold and touch them

Discriminate attachment phase

- separation and stranger anxiety is strongly displayed

- feel joy when reunited with primary attachment figure

- quality over quantity

Multiple attachment phase

- main attachment has formed; develops more attachments e.g. extended family

- these are called secondary attachments

- stranger anxiety weakens but attachment to primary figure remains the strongest.

Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson

(-) data may be unreliable

data collection was subjective - one mother might be more sensitive to crying than another which would create systematic bias thus challenge validity

(-) sample was biassed

from working class families therefore may only apply to certain social groups. parental care has changed a lot and the mother may not be the primary caregiver like the study suggests. findings how be very different thus further research needs to be conducted.

(-) may only apply to individualistic cultures

collectivist cultures may teach to share and do things together to cater to the group's needs. attachment stage order may be different in terms of how an infant was brought up e.g. some may have multiple attachments first etc. This suggests research only applies to individualist cultures therefore difficult to be generalised.

Animal studies : Konrad Lorenz (1935) (procedure + results)

PROCEDURE

Lorenz studied goslings and imprinting:

- divided the eggs randomly into two

- one half of the eggs stayed and hatched with the mother goose, and the other half hatched in an incubator with Lorenz.

Mother: the goslings saw the mother as the first moving thing they saw, therefore they followed the mother around

Lorenz: the goslings saw Lorenz as the first moving thing they saw therefore they followed Lorenz around.

RESULTS

To prove imprinting happened - he marked the goslings that hatched with him to identify which goslings were from where.

- he put them together and him and the mother goose were present. Lorenz went one way the the goose went the other

- incubator batch followed Lorenz and the half hatched w the mother followed her.

noted that early imprinting had a role on later mate preferences - animals would likely choose the same object that they imprinted on.

Animal studies : Harry Harlow's experiment (procedure + results)

Harlow studied baby monkeys' behaviour:

- separated the baby monkeys from the mother immediately

- had two different surrogate mothers; one wire mother with food and no cloth, and one cloth covered mother without food.

- recorded amount of time spent with each mother

sometimes the baby monkeys were deliberately frightened by a mechanical teddy bear to see which mother they would go to

> the cloth mother

also studied the long term behaviour of the monkeys

- anti-social behaviour

- aggressive tendencies

Evaluations of Animal studies (both)

(-) confounding variable is that the heads on the monkeys were different - it may have been the monkey preferred the cloth mother who had a more attractive head

(-) difficult to generalise the findings to humans - humans are much more complex than animals in terms of attachment so attachment in animals may not apply to humans

(+) Schaffer and Emerson found that in their study, infants were most attached to the one that was the most responsive/sensitive to their needs, not just to the one that feeds them.

(+) research found (Guiton) that chickens who were exposed to yellow gloves when they were fed imprinted on them

---> however this experience could be reversed

(-) major ethical issues - animals suffered greatly and experienced long lasting effects later in life and developed abnormally e.g monkeys not cradling babies

Learning theory - classical conditioning

We have to learn to attach and we do so by food

- we learn through association

BEFORE:

UCS (food) ----> baby feels pleasure (UCR)

NS (mother) ----> baby does not respond (NR)

DURING:

UCS + NS ----> baby feels pleasure (UCR)

AFTER:

CS (mother) ----> baby feels pleasure (CR)

we form an association between the mother and the food

'Cupboard love Theory'

Learning theory - operant conditioning

The mother rewards the infant by feeding them - satisfies baby

Food = primary reinforcer --> supplies the reward so the infant will repeat the action (i.e crying) to get this reward

Mother = secondary reinforcer --> presence of mother will bring baby comfort and pleasure as the mother has been associated with the food (even without food present)

attachment is strengthened because the child seeks to person who supplies the rewards.

known as drive reduction theory

Positive reinforcement

A reward that increases the behaviour e.g food (reward) so repeats behaviour that brings on food (crying)

Negative reinforcement

Removing something unpleasant from the situation so the behaviour is repeated e.g crying is removed so this reinforces caregiver's behaviour

Drive Reduction Theory

he infant is motivated by a hunger drive to remove the unpleasant feeling of hunger

food = primary reinforcer

mother = secondary reinforcer

attachment strengthens with mother as she is the source of the reward (O.C can explain strengthening of attachments)

crying is positively reinforced by caregiver feeding

caregiver receives negative reinforcement (feeding) when crying stops

Evaluation of Learning Theory of Attachment

(-) overemphasises role of the food

E: shown through Harlow's research of attachment in monkeys (explain conditions of mother dolls +results)

E: shows that contact comfort and emotional support is more important than just food in terms of a strong attachment

L: however it could be argued that these findings cannot be generalised to humans as humans are more complex than animals. BUT Schaffer and Emerson found that more than half of the infants studied were not attached to the person involved with feeding them - they were attached to the one who were the most responsive and attentive to their needs

--> weakens Learning Theory

(-) ignores other factors associated with forming attachments

E: ignores reciprocity and interactional synchrony - essential in forming attachments

E: if attachment was only feeding, there would be no purpose for the complex interactions

L: oversimplifies the process of attachments - reduces it to only feeding

(+) can explain how attachment develops through association and reinforcement (cc and oc) but it is very likely that attentiveness and responsiveness are better rewards than just food

(-) an alternate explanation for attachment may be more complete in explaining attachment e.g Bowlby

seen as an improvement to L.T and his one explains how and why an attachment forms - LT does not adequately explain why they form, only how.

Bowlby's monotropic theory - adaptive

Humans have an innate tendency to form attachments for survival (adaptive advantage)

- caregiver gives them food, shelter, warmth, comfort etc

Bowlby's monotropic theory - social releasers

babies have cute features which unlock the innate tendency of adults to care for them - explains how attachment forms

e.g big eyes, small nose, small mouth

e.g crying, cooing, babbling

Bowlby's monotropic theory - internal working model (IWM)

mental representation of their relationship with the primary caregiver

- it is a model to infants on what relationships are like

- will form expectations of their experience

- if first exp. is good, the think the rest of their relationships are like this (and vice versa)

Bowlby's monotropic theory - critical period

babies have to form the attachment within 0-2.5 years

- if attachment is not formed by then, the child woulf be damaged for life, socially, physically, mentally, emotionally etc

Bowlby's monotropic theory - continuity hypothesis

early emotional experiences effect later adult relationships

- secure = trusting, socially confident adults

- insecure = emotional and social difficulties

there is a continuity from infancy to adulthood in terms of relationships

Bowlby's monotropic theory - monotropy (MOST IMPORTANT)

infants form ONE special attachment bond (usually with primary caregiver)

- usually with biological mother (not always the case though)

- will attach to the one who responds the most sensitively to the infant's needs

Evaluation of Bowlby's Monotropic Theory - weaknesses

more of a sensitive period than a critical period

- suggests that attachment MUST form in this time or not at all

- some researchers say 'sensitive' is preferred as attachments are more likely to form within this period but it does not rule out the possibility of forming them outside the period; it will just be slower and more difficult.

could be down to an infant's temperament, NOT to how responsive the caregiver is

- child's genetically inherited personality traits have a role to play ; infant's biological makeup

KAGAN = TEMPERAMENT HYPOTHESIS

- child may be more outgoing and laidback = attachments form quicker

- child may be less social and difficult = attachments form slower

- Bowlby ignored the role of temperament + focused on child experiences in how they attach; biological makeup may influence how an infant attaches to their caregiver (securely/insecurely)

socially sensitive

- implications for mothers and father

- places all the responsibility on the mother, and if the child is insecurely attached, they will feel responsible for that. may also influence mother's decisions in life e.g stay at home and not go to work

- suggests fathers aren't important at all = outdated explanation

Evaluation of Bowlby's Monotropic Theory - strengths

Longitudinal study

- Minnesota parent-child study followed ppts form infancy to late adolescence (SROUFE ET AL 2005)

- predict continuity from early to later attachment due to IWM and CH

- found continuity between early attachment and later social behaviour = secure: rated highest for social competence + less insecure + more popular

- supports the notion of continuity influencing later relationships

Differences in Learning Theory + Monotropic Theory

LT - BMT

explains how - explains how and why

no critical period - has critical period

attach to feeder - attach to most attentive

psychological process and learned - innate (biological)

attached initially for food - attached for survival

Ainsworth Strange Situation - procedure and results

A controlled observation designed to test the nature/type of attachment where infants are put into novel situations and observed.

procedure:

looked at 4 different behaviours

- separation anxiety

- reunion behaviour

- stranger anxiety

- willingness to explore/secure base

8 episodes, lated 3 mins each

one of the 8 lasted 30 seconds

106 infants observed in unfamiliar environment

1. parent and infant play

2. parent sits while infant plays

3. stranger enters and talks to parent (both in room)

4. parent leaves, child plays (offer comfort if needed)

5. parent returns, greets + offers comfort - stranger leaves

6. parent leaves child alone in room (no adult - 30s)

7. stranger enters (offers comfort if needed)

8. parent returns and greets infant, stranger leaves

findings:

- found 3 pain patterns of behaviour (main attachment types)

Evaluation of Ainsworth - weaknesses

does is actually measure attachment type?

- Main and Weston (1981) found that behaved differently with diff. caregivers e.g secure with mum, insecure with dad

- shows that S.S may not be assessing internal characteristic of their attachment type, but the quality of attachment between the two different caregivers at home.

- suggests this was not testing what it was supposed to test thus it lacks internal validity thus does not provide us an adequate explanation for attachment types.

culture bound

- western standard of attachment; not valid to use same method in different cultures

- germany encourages children to be independent and may show type A in S.S

- Japan encourage a sense of 'amae' or oneness, and may show type C in S.S

- based on American values so they may not apply to all cultures

3 types are too simplistic

- Main and Solomon (1986) analysed over 200 S.S videotapes and proposed a 4th type

- original classification is too simplistic

- found a 4th attachment type = insecure-disorganised (type D) ; lack of consistent pattern of social behaviour + may appear fearful of attachment figure

- suggests more research needs to be carried out in order to have a more complete explanation for attachment types

Evaluation of Ainsworth - strength

intervention strategies can be developed to tackle the disordered patterns of attachments between infant and caregiver

- Circle of Security project (Cooper et al 2005) teaches caregivers to better understand their child's signals of distress

- showed a decrease in caregivers classified as disordered (60% - 15%)

- showed an increase of securely attached infants (32% - 40%)

- shows S.S has important real life applications to help identify and tackle problematic attachments and teach caregivers how to attentively respond to their infants, leading to long lasting healthy effects that result in better outcomes for the child.

observations have high reliability

- inter-observer reliability is a measure of agreement among observers

- Ainsworth et al --> 0.94 agreement between raters when observing exploratory behaviours

- shows S.S had a good method and structure, clear, and there was high consistency between observers

- shows this is a good method and explanation for attachment due to its high reliability

Types of Attachment (Ainsworth)

Secure - type B

Insecure-avoidant - type A

Insecure-resistant - type C

Secure (type B) - 4 behaviours

separation anxiety:

distressed when mother leaves but often can be soothed

stranger anxiety:

avoidant of stranger when alone but friendly when mother is present (moderate)

reunion behaviour:

positive and happy when mother returns

willingness to explore:

will use mother as a safe base to explore their environment - checks with mother and will keep coming back to her

Insecure-Avoidant (type A) - 4 behaviours

separation anxiety:

little/no distress when mother leaves - will carry on playing (indifferent)

stranger anxiety:

plays normally, is okay with the stranger present (low)

reunion behaviour:

indifferent to when the mother returns - avoids contact altogether

willingness to explore:

will explore independently

Insecure-Resistant (type C) - 4 behaviours

separation anxiety:

extreme emotional distress when mother leaves

stranger anxiety:

avoids stranger - shows fear of stranger (high)

reunion behaviour:

seeks and rejects- approaches mother but may even push her away - not easily soothed

willingness to explore:

low willingness to explore - stays close to mum

% of infants with secure attachment (Ainsworth) - og findings + british toddlers

66% = OG

(60-75% british toddlers)

% of infants with insecure-avoidant attachment (Ainsworth) - og findings + british toddlers

22% = OG

(3% british toddlers)

% of infants with insecure-resistant attachment (Ainsworth) - og findings + british toddlers

12% = OG

(20-25% british toddlers)

Cross Cultural variations - Van Ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg - procedure and resuts

procedure:

meta-analysed 32 stranger situation studies from different countries to study differences in attachment between cultures (intercultural) and within cultures (intra-cultural)

- mother infant pairs

results:

most common = secure (type B)

highest % of type C = Japan and Israel

highest % of type A = Germany

differences across cultures = small (secure is always the most common)

difference within cultures = big (variation within is 1.5 times greater than between cultures)

Evaluation of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

(+) large samples

- nearly 2000 mother-child pairs studied

- large sample = good as it reduces the impact of anomalous results caused by unusual ppts or flawed methodology

- however not all cultures were represented in the sample e.g china was included but only 1 study was used with 25 pairs - not representative.

(-) based on cultural assumptions

- strange situation is very western and based on american values and norms

- e.g japan has a sense of 'amae' or oneness, where dependence is seen as a positive sign, but in the strange situation, japanese children may be seen as insecurely attached according to western criteria, but securely attached in japanese standards.

- this suffers from 'imposed etic' as western ideas are imposed onto another

(-) countries rather than cultures

- countries do not equate to culture

- they compared USA with Japan, however, within each country there are a large variety of subcultures within them with different child bearing practices

- one study found that in Tokyo (urban setting) there was a similar distribution to attachment types as western countries, where as more rural areas of Japan, they found an overrepresentation of Type C attachments.

- suggests that great caution needs to be exercised when using the term 'cultural variations' when concluding whether an individual sample is representative of a whole culture, not country.

(-) unethical

- ethics need to be carefully considered esp. in cultures where infants are not usually left alone

- japan; separation episode caused very high levels of distress, however it could be countered by cutting the length of this episode down

- even still, this may cause the child extreme distress and will fail to be within the bounds of BPS guidelines in certain cultures

Germany - cultural differences (study)

Grossman and Grossman (1991)

- 49 german families using S.S

- most infants were insecurely attached (type A) rather than securely (type B)

- they kept the same attachment type over 10 years

german culture involves keeping interpersonal distance between parents and children - children encouraged to be independent.

this cultural difference could be due to different child-rearing values in germany - may be wrongfully classed as insecure avoidant due to the infants being used to exploring on their own.

Japan - cultural differences (study)

Takahashi (1990)

- 60 japanese infants using S.S

- found similar rates of secure attachments to those found in USA (68%)

- showed no evidence of insecure avoidant and higher rates of insecure resistant (32%)

- very distressed about being left alone = for 90% of infants, the study was stopped at this point

due to being rarely separated and the encouraged sense of oneness (amae) infants are likely to show high rates of separation anxiety - can explain why no infants were found type A and higher rates of type C

Italy - cultural differences (study)

Simonella et al (2014)

- investigated whether they found similar proportions of each attachment type that had been found in previous research

- assessed 72, twelve-month old babies using S.S

- found lower rates of secure and higher rates of insecure avoidant compared to previous research

suggests higher rates of avoidant children is to increasing number of working mothers and use of professional child care

collectivist cultures meaning

values the importance and needs of the group - the group is more likely to live together, share tasks, child care, and belongings

individualist cultures meaning

values independence and importance of the individual

Role of the Father in Attachment - no they're not important

Hrdy (1999) - not a typo

- found that fathers were less capable to detect low levels of infant distress compared to mothers

- results support biological explanation of not having enough oestrogen ; not equipped innately to form close attachments with their children

- biologically determined that father is restricted because of their makeup

Grossman (2002)

- longitudinal study looking at both parent's behaviour

- quality of infant attachment w/ mothers but not fathers was related to children's attachment in adolescents

- suggests that role of father is not important

Role of the Father in Attachment - yes in a different way

Geiger (1996)

- fathers are a 'playmate' not a primary caregiver

- father interactions in his study were more exciting than mothers; mother's interactions were more affectionate and nurturing

- fathers take on a playful role, not a nurturing role that responds to the needs of his children

Role of the Father in Attachment - yes just as important as mothers

Field (1978)

- filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interactions with:

- primary caregiver mothers + secondary caregiver fathers

- primary caregiver father

- Prim. fathers spent more time smiling, imitating, holding etc compared to second. fathers

- behaviour appears to be important in building an attachment with the infant

- fathers are capable in taking on a nurturing role and the level of responsiveness is unrelated to gender

Evaluation of the Role of the Father

(-) inconsistent findings

- confusing; poeple have understood their role is secondary whereas there have been evidence that they are also capable of being primary caregivers

- problem; cannot answer the question of 'what is the role of the father??'

- firm conclusions cannot be drawn from this

(-) research has left unanswered questions

- research has found fathers as secondary figures have an important role --> but why don't children who grow up without fathers develop differently?

- children with single mothers/ same sex female parents don't grow up any differently from those in a heterosexual/nuclear family

- weakness as it suggests fathers as a secondary role is not important

Affectionless Psychopathy meaning

the inability to experience guilt or strong emotions for others. this prevents the person from developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality

- cannot appreciate the feelings of victims thus lack remorse for others

Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis (3 things)

Separation - when the child is not in the presence of the primary caregiver e.g. with a substitute caregiver

Deprivation - when there is a loss of emotional care normally provided by a primary caregiver

Privation - when an attachment bond has never been formed

> FREQUENT AND PROLONGED SEPARATIONS CAN LEAD TO DEPRIVATION

44 Thieves - key study (KNOW THE STATS)

88 children (travistock clinic london)

- 44 thieves (criminals)

- 44 emotionally disturbed children (no crime committed) - control group

- matched by age + intelligence.

procedure

- unstructured interviews about childhood (detailed + qualitative data)

- completed IQ tests + psychiatric test (1hr)

- interviewed boys + mothers about childhood experiences + separation (before age of 2)

- follow up interviews; checklist to diagnose affectionless psychopathy

Findings (thieves)

- 14/44 = 32% affectionless psychopaths (A.P)

- 12 out of the 14 affectionless psychopaths (86%) experienced early separation

- 17% experiences maternal deprivation without A.P

Findings (not thieves)

- 0% A.P

- 4% experienced separations during critical period

criticisms of the STUDY (not the theory)

(-) data relied on mother's reports of separation

mothers may not have told the truth because they feel guilty about their parenting/feels like their fault (social desirability bias)

this is inaccurate as their memories may not be that good as this replies on retrospective data - mothers may not remember separations

(-) diagnosed affectionless psychopathy himself

he knew which children were separated early in their childhood and knew who were thieves. therefore, there was researcher bias thus the results and diagnosis may be biassed towards thieves.

evaluations of Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory - real world appl.

(+)

P: led to real world applications

E: Bowlby + Robert :

the theory led to hospital changes regarding visiting hours - it was believed that children would get upset if visited by their parents but Bowlby's theory highlighted the importance of attachments, thus parents were encouraged to spend as much time as possible with their children. parents can stay as long as they want

E: shows his theory has real life appl. as he used elements of his theory to provide a positive change to better children's lives in the future

L: this led to major social changes in how children were cared for in hospital regarding visitations and developing of attachments.

evaluations of Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory - more vulnerable

(+)

P: evidence that early separations may make an individual more vulnerable in later life to certain disorders

E: Bifulco et al (1992) - experiencing maternal deprivation doesn't always lead to negative outcomes BUT increased likelihood. He found 25% of women who experienced separation/other later experienced depression/anxiety compared with 15% who had no experience of separation.

E: this supports Bowlby's notion of a critical period, suggesting that early childhood deprivation can lead to later vulnerability for depression + anxiety disorders.

L: this research supports Bowlby's notion of a critical period and his theory as a whole, thus we can confidently say this theory is a good explanation for the outcomes of children who were separated in early childhood.

evaluations of Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory - challenged by other research

(-)

P: this theory is challenged by other research

E: Lewis: looked at 500 young people, and in her sample, a history of prolonged separation from the mother did not predict criminality or difficulty in forming close relationships.

E: this is a problem for his theory because it shows this is not supported by other research. Lewis' study suggests prolonged separation may not necessarily lead to later problems.

L: this finding suggests that other factors may influence the extent to which maternal deprivation has negative consequences.

E.g Barrett (1997) found that securely attached children are more resistant to the negative effects of maternal deprivation in comparison to insecurely attached children.

evaluations of Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory - unclear meanings

(-)

P: Rutter argued that Bowlby did not make a distinction between the concepts of deprivation and privation

E: suggests privation (not having any formed attachments) leads to more damaging consequences for the child than experiencing a broken attachment in their early years. Rutter disapproved that Bowlby was confusing the 2 concepts and used the term interchangeably.

E: this is a problem as this shows Bowlby's theory os refuted by the lack of distinction between the 2 concepts of deprivation and privation.

L: this lack of clarity in his theory and definitions of these two terms negatively affects the validity of his research findings.

Institusionalisation

a place dedicated to a particular task and where people live for a period of time e.g. looking after children

- outside the home

- can result in privation (not forming attachments at all)

Effects of institutionalisation - Romanian orphan study (ERA study)

RUTTER ET AL

- longitudinal study

- 165 Romanian orphans adopted by UK families

- three conditions of the naturally occurring IV:

1) 1/3 of Romanian babies were adopted before they were 6 months old

2) 1/3 were adopted between 6 months + 2 years of age

3) 1/3 were late placed adoptees (2-4 years of age)

- physical + cognitive + social development were tested at regular intervals (age 4, 6, 11, 15)

- Romanian children compared with 52 British children adopted in the uk before the age of 6 months (control grp)

results

- all Romanian orphans in all 3 conditions lagged behind the control group

- physically weighed less and were smaller

- age 11: Romanian children show different rates of recovery related to age of adoption

average IQ (adopted before 6 months) = 102

average IQ (6mo - 2 yrs) = 86

average IQ (late) = 77

Romanian children adopted after 6 months had a 'disinhibited attachment'

- attention-seeking

- clinginess

- indiscriminate behaviour towards ALL adults

this behaviour was rare in Romanian and control group adopted BEFORE 6 months.

Le Mare and Audet (2006) - studies on Romanian orphans

procedure

- longitudinal study of 36 orphans

- adopted by families in Canada

- DV in study were health + physical growth

findings

- orphans physically smaller than the matched control group at age 4.5 years

- difference disappeared by 10.5 years

- possible to recover from the effects of institutionalisation on physical development

Zeanah et al (2005) - studies on Romanian orphans

The Bucharest Early Intervention Project

procedure

- assessed attachment using Strange Situation

- children ages 12-31 months who spent an average of 90% of their lives in institutional care

- compared to a control group of 50 children who never lived in an institution

- carers were asked about unusual social behaviour (that showed disinhibited attachment style)

findings

- 74% control group = securely attached

- compared to 19% of the institutional group

- institutional group = much higher rate of disinhibited attachment ---> 44% compared to less than 20% of control group.

effects of institutionalisation

low IQ

quasi-autism

disinhibited attachment

delayed physical growth + development

problems with later relationships + adult relationships

evaluation of research into institutionalisation - real life appl.

(+)

P: strength - enhanced out understanding of the effects of institutionalisation + led to improvements int eh way children are cared for in them

E: for example, orphanages and children homes now avoid having large numbers of caregivers for each child; now only 1-2 workers to ensure there is a central role for the child (key worker)

E: having a key worker means child gets to develop an attachment and help avoid disinhibited attachment. research helped out knowledge of the importance pf early adoption and value of high quality foster care. helped inform policies to ensure early adoption and move away from orphanages to foster homes

L: shows that research has been immensely valuable in practical terms and has helped improve the lives of children + potentially reduce some of the negative effects of being in an institution.

evaluation of research into institutionalisation - long term effects are seen

(+)

P: strength of the ERA = longitudinal study

E: researchers most recently followed up the children aged 15 years

E: this is an advantage as this allows us to see the long term effects of institutionalisation and the extent to which some of the negative effects may be reduced or even disappear after a long period of time with high quality emotional care.

L: however, it could still be argued that more follow up is needed of these children to establish whether the effects are life long as it may be that some of the effects reduce further into adulthood in order to have a fuller understanding of the effects of institutionalisation.

evaluation of research into institutionalisation - not typical

(-)

P: problem of research using Romanian orphanages is that these were not typical e.g in UK or other places

E: this makes this difficult to generalise the findings to all orphanages/forms of institutionalisation.

E: Romanian orphanages had poor quality of care, especially when it came to intellectual stimulation and opportunity to form any relationship (limited). even suffered from food shortages thus children were malnourished too.

L: therefore this means it is difficult to generalise the effects of being in a Romanian orphanage to all types of institutionalisation - some effects may have been a result of the extreme levels of poor care. argued that negative effects may be less extreme in higher quality institutions

evaluation of research into institutionalisation - children weren't randomly allocated

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P: children were not allocated randomly to the conditions i.e. researchers did not interfere w the age at which each child was adopted. This means that there could be other factors besides time spent in the institution which could have influenced the child's later development

E: e.g children adopted before 6 months may have seemed more alert and sociable and therefore more appealing for potential adoptive families - older children adopted after 6 months may have seemed less social or showed signs of emotional/social difficulties therefore less likely to be adopted + spent longer in institution

E: problem as we cannot be sure that the late adoption group had the worse effect on social and emotional development due to the length of time spent in the institution/ whether they were going to have more difficulties

L: however, this can be overcome by randomly allocating the children to each group (technique used by Zeanah) were some children were allocated to high qual. foster care vs institution. This could be seen as unethical though the study met the ethical guidelines as being part of the study did not mean children could not get adopted - children who remained in institution still had the opportunity to be adopted if adoptive parents were found.

Influence of Early attachments on later relationships - role of IWM

- infants learn about relationships through experience

- IWM acts as a template for future relationships - what they are and how partners behave toward each other

- effects expectations of future relationships and therefore might influence actual relationships later in life

behaviours influenced by the IWM (influence of early attachment)

- childhood friendships

- parenting ability

- romantic relationships

- attachment disorder

(recognised distinct psychiatric disroder which results from the lack of attachments in the critical period = lack of IWM)

KEY STUDY - influence of early attachments in later relationships

Hazen and Shaver

Aim: investigated the relationship between early attachment type, IWM and adult relationships

procedure

- placed a 'Love Quiz' in American Newspaper(local)

- 1st section: assessed current/most important relationship

- 2nd section: assessed general love experiences

- 3rd section: assessed attachment type (assuming this type is a result of early attachment) by asking respondents to choose which of the statements best described their feelings

findings

- analysed 620 responses: 205 male, 415 female

- majority = securely attached

- 25% type A

- 19% type C

- those w secure attachments were most likely to have a good loving + lasting relationships

- those w avoidant attachments were most likely to show fear of intimacy and jealousy

conclusion

- shows that there is an association of how early attachments can effect later relationships in life.

childhood relationships study

Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998)

- used questionnaires on children aged 7-11

- were asked about attachment type and bullying involvement

- type A = more likely to be bullied/victims of bullying

- type C = likely to be bullies

- type B = not bullied nor bullies

suggests bullying behaviour can be predicted by attachment type and how it influences how you treat and are treated by peers in childhood.

Minnesota children study - found continuity between early attachment + later social/emotional behaviour --> type B individuals ranked highest for social skills later in childhood - less isolated, more popular.

adult romantic relationship + friendships study

McCarthy (1999)

- studied 40 women (assessed in infancy of attachment type)

- securely attached infants went on to have the best adult relationships

- insecurely attached infants went on to have problems with intimacy and maintaining friendships

- explained by IWM - securely attached children seek functional relationships and behave similarly whereas insecure children display dysfunctional behaviour.

-longitudinal study

- link to love quiz

parenting (relationships with own child) study

Bailey et al (2007)

- looked at attachment of 99 mothers to their babies + own mothers

- mother-baby attachment was assessed using strange situation

- mother + own mother attachment was assessed using an adult attachment interview

most women had the same attachment classification to both their babies and own mothers

IWM are subject to intergenerational transmission - meaning parents' IWM may be passed on to their children.

LINK to Harlow money study e.g parents didn't cradle their babies

evaluations of research into the influence of early attachments on later relationships - conflicting research

(-)

P: there is mixed research in determining the continuity of attachment types from childhood to adulthood

E: Zimmerman (2000) suggests that infant attachment type and the quality of relationships with parents during adolescence are unrelated

E+L: findings do not support the role of the IWM being important in the development of childhood and adult relationships, casting doubt on the emphasis placed on this concept by developmental psychologists such as Bowlby.

evaluations of research into the influence of early attachments on later relationships - research is correlational

(-)

P: the issue with investigations of the influence of early attachment on later relationships and the IWM is that the research us correlational

E: an association has been found by many researchers, indicating heavy influence but this does not determine causality

E: Fraley et al (2002) correlations were not always strong positive ones, with correlations ranging from +0.1 to +0.5. this means correlational research in this area is not very reliable due to the unstable array of results

L: thus this questions whether we can confidently say that the early attachment type and IWM heavily influences later relationships as the research is correlational and results are considered as inaccurate/invalid, suggesting this is not a good study to base outcomes of later relationships.

evaluations of research into the influence of early attachments on later relationships - methodological issues

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P: there are methodological issues with assessing attachment retrospectively

E: research e.g. "Love Quiz" by Hazen and Shaver rely upon self reports from adult ppts about their memories from infancy and childhood.

E: recollections from years gone by is likely to be impaired and any answer provided may lack accuracy due to the deterioration which lowers the int. val.of findings.

L: thus this problem is further compounded by the possibility that individuals may not report honestly due to social desirability bias, or even have insight to their own template of expectations since the IWM is an unconscious framework. this questions if research such as the Love Quiz can be used to support the influence of attachment in later relationships due to the flawed methodology of assessing attachment.

evaluations of research into the influence of early attachments on later relationships - too deterministic

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P: research into the impact of attachment on childhood and adult relationships suggests set views and outcomes for future behaviour. this is too deterministic.

E: this suggests a child's behaviour is only determined by external factors e.g upbringing and does not take into account internal factors of the child - this also suggests that an infant's early attachment experience will have severe consequences on childhood and adulthood behaviours (mental health)

L: however, not all psychologists (humanistic ones for example) prescribe to deterministic views; many would argue that humans have free will and can overcome negative childhood experiences and go on to form happy and healthy adult relationships despite attachment type.