All attachment

define institutionalisation

• the effects of living in an institutional setting

• e.g. hospital or orphanage for long/continuous periods of time -historically these places provided little emotional care.

define disinhibited attachment

a type of attachment where children showed attention seeking, clinginess and overfamiliarly towards adults and children, whether known to the child or not.

what case study shows the effects of institutionalisation

The Romanian orphan study

what is the context behind the Romanian orphan study?

• Ceauqescu was president of Romania from 1966 - 1989

• Wanted to grow population of Romania

• Encouraged big families

• Women had to have five children

• Banned abortion and contraception

• Economically —a time of energy and food shortages

what was the consequence of the policy (that women had to have 5 children and banned contraception and abortions)

•  Many Romanians couldn't afford to look after their children

• abandoned children in state run orphanages - 600 in the country

• Underfunded — too few staff and very poor conditions

what were the conditions of the orphanage like?

• Rigid, insensitive routines

• Very high child to carer ratios

• No keyworker system if consistency of care for each child

• Lack of active engagement with the children by the carers

• Distressed children were not responded to

• There was little intervention for aggressive behaviour

 

what were the effects of the conditions at the orphanage?

• they will want attention

• may not know right from low

• IQ development will suffer causing a low IQ

• later attachment issues as they haven't formed them before or seen it before

what happened after the collapse of the communist regime in 1989?

• Led to the discovery of these orphanages

• Many children were adopted into Western families

• Gave rise to a number of studies:

^ERA – English & Romanian Adoptees study

^BEIP – Bucharest Early Intervention Project

what year did the communist regime collapse and what happened?

• 1989

• the orphanages were discovered

what happened in 1990 surrounding the Romanian orphans study?

• A sample of adoptees from Romania is gathered to study the effects of institutionalisation.

• They are compared to a control group of British children adopted in the UK.

what were children who were adopted before 6 months like at adoption, at age 4 and age 6-15 (physical, cognitive and social development)?

• At adoption

  • Physical: smaller, underweight

  • Cognitive: behind average

  • Social: behind average

• Age 4

  • Physical: caught up with British children

  • Cognitive: mean IQ ≈ 102

  • Social: similar to British children

• Ages 6–15

  • Physical: normal development

  • Cognitive: normal IQ

  • Social: typical social behaviour

what were children who were adopted between 6 months and 2 years like at adoption, at age 4 and age 6-15 (physical, cognitive and social development)? for the ERA

• At adoption

  • Physical: smaller, underweight

  • Cognitive: behind average

  • Social: behind average

• Age 4

  • Physical: partial catch-up

  • Cognitive: mean IQ ≈ 86

  • Social: some social delays

• Ages 6–15

  • Physical: some long-term differences

  • Cognitive: lower-than-average IQ

  • Social: increased risk of:

    • Disinhibited attachment

    • ASD

what were children who were adopted between 2 years and 4 years like at adoption, at age 4 and age 6-15 (physical, cognitive and social development)? for the ERA

• At adoption

  • Physical: smaller, underweight

  • Cognitive: behind average

  • Social: behind average

• Age 4

  • Physical: physical delays remain

  • Cognitive: mean IQ ≈ 77

  • Social: marked social delays

• Ages 6–15

  • Physical: long-term developmental differences

  • Cognitive: persistently low IQ

  • Social: high risk of:

    • Disinhibited attachment

    • ASD

what were the British control group (never institutionalised) like at adoption, at age 4 and age 6-15 (physical, cognitive and social development)? for the ERA

• At adoption

  • Physical: typical development

  • Cognitive: typical

  • Social: typical

• Age 4

  • Physical: typical development

  • Cognitive: mean IQ ≈ 102

  • Social: typical

• Ages 6–15

  • Physical: typical development

  • Cognitive: normal IQ (~102)

  • Social: typical social behaviour

what are 2 other studies of Romanian orphans?

• La Mare and Audet (2006)

• Zeanah et al. (2005)

what did La mare and Audet do and what was the result?

• 2006

• Reported findings of longitudinal study of 36 Romanian adoptees adopted by families in Canada

• Dependent variables = physical growth and help 

• The adoptees were physically smaller than a matched control group at age 4 and a half years but this difference had disappeared by ten and a half years.

• The same was true for physical health.

• This suggests that recovery is possible form the effect of institutionalization on physical development.

• did not support Bowlby’s theory

what did Zeanah et al. do and what were the results?

• 2005

• Compared 136 Romanian children who on average, spent 90% of their lives in an institution, to a control group pf Romanian children who had never been in an institution.

• The children were aged 12-31 months and were assessed in the strange situation

• The institutionalized children showed signs of disinhibited attachment

• supported Bowlby’s theory

what was discovered when a follow up was done when the institutionalised children were young adults (22-25yrs)?

Those with more than 6 months in an institution:

• Persistently higher rates of ASO, ADHD and disinhibited social engagement

• Marked increase in emotional symptoms

Higher proportion of:

• Lower educational achievement

• Mental health use

• Service use

what are the 4 main effects of institutionalisation?

• physical underdevelopment

• intellectual under functioning

• disinhibited attachment

• poor parenting

what did the effect -physical underdevelopment- of institutionalisation mean?

• in institutionalized care are usually physically small

• research has shown that lack of emotional care rather than poor nourishment is the cause of what has been called 'deprivation dwarfism’

what did the effect -intellectual under functioning- of institutionalisation mean?

• cognitive development is also affected by emotional deprivation, as shown in Rutters study.

• At time of adoption, most Romanian adoptees were intellectually behind the British control group.

• However, those who were adopted before 6 months caught up.

what did the effect -disinhibited attachment- of institutionalisation mean?

• a form of insecure attachment where children do not discriminate between people they choose as attachment figures.

• Such children will treat near-strangers with inappropriate familiarity and may be attention seeking.

what did the effect -poor parenting- of institutionalisation mean?

• Harlow showed monkeys raised with a surrogate mother went on to become poor parents.

• Quinton et al. compared a group of 50 women who had grown up in institutions with a control group of 50 women who had grown up at home.

• When the women were in their 20s it was found that the ex-institutional women were experiencing extreme difficulties acting as a parent.

• For example, ex-institutional had children who spent more time in care.

can we make conclusions about institutionalisation off effects? why?

• no as it is correlation not causation

• esp. not for physical underdevelopment - big possibility of confounding variables

what are 2 evaluation points supporting what Rutter found in the ERA study?

• Application to child and family social work/real life application - helped people to see institutions were set up incorrectly so they changed to allow people/carers to visit children when in institutions

• Longitudinal studies - more valid data from different points

what were the 2 main Romanian orphan studies?

• ERA - English and Romanian adoptees study

• BEIP - Bucharest Early Intervention Project

what was the aim of the ERA?

to investigate the effects of institutionalisation on development

what was the procedure for the ERA?

• Sample: 165 Romanian adoptees

  • Experienced early institutional care in Romania

  • 111 adopted before age 2, 54 adopted by age 4

• Compared with 52 British children adopted in the UK before 6 months

• Children assessed at ages 4, 6, 11 and 15

• Measures: physical, cognitive and social development

• Data collected using standardised tests, plus parent and teacher interviews

who conducted the ERA and in what year?

Rutter - early 1990’s

what are 2 evaluation points not supporting what Rutter found in the ERA study?

• Does not account for individual differences - some children didn't fit into the general results,  some children may have received special treatment due to individual factors like smiling more

• Deprivation only one factor - confounding variables, doesn't take other factors into account, like learning disabilities or parental disharmony

what limitations of other studies (like the ERA) convinced researchers to do the BEIP?

• studies before looked at children after adoption without addressing them before adoption - so it is hard to see what benefits as cannot compare to before

• some children are never chosen for adoption and other studies don’t represent them

what was the aim of the BEIP study?

to test whether fostering really produces better outcomes than institutional care.

what was the method of the BEIP study?

• 136 children aged 6-36 months at the start of the study

• a control group of 72 never institutionalised children was also studied to see typical development

• a random control trial, where children were randomly allocated to institutional and fostering

• children had multiple assessments including IQ and attachment security at 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 and 8, 10 and 12 years.

what was an ethical issues with the BEIP study and how was it justified?

• half of the children were placed in an institution where it was believed outcomes would be poor

• without the study, all children would’ve been left in institutionalised care.

• additionally, the children in the institutional group could be adopted and removed from the condition

what were the results of the BEIP study?

• By 4.5 years the foster care group were significantly advantaged over the institutional care group. They had higher mean IQ, better (on average) language development and were more likely to have secure attachments and no psychiatric symptoms.

• However, the foster care group were typically behind the control group on all measures.

• There were substantial variations within each group, so some institutionalised children were more resilient than others and did not appear to be massively disadvantaged.

• The advantages of foster care were maintained into the teenage years.

what conclusions were drawn from the BEIP study?

• Institutional care disadvantages children in cognitive and emotional development.

• Fostering has better outcomes than institutional care. This advantage is greater in children fostered at an early age.

• Successful fostering further advantages children — placement breakdown predicts poorer outcomes.

• Some children are more resilient than others and are not always severely affected by early institutionalisation.

• Quality of early care is a highly significant predictor of intellectual and emotional development.

What did Bowlby claim about prolonged emotional deprivation?

It leads to long-term consequences for emotional development.

What is the critical period in Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory?

The first 2.5 years of life.

What happens if a child is deprived of emotional care during the critical period?

Psychological damage is likely unless a suitable substitute caregiver is provided.

How was maternal care traditionally viewed before Bowlby?

As mainly providing food and physical care; emotional care was underestimated.

What is the difference between separation and deprivation?

Separation = physical absence but substitute emotional care; typically no long-term issues.
Deprivation = loss of emotional care (e.g., neglect), leading to possible long-term harm.

What long-term consequences did Bowlby associate with maternal deprivation?

• low IQ scores.

• bad emotional development.

  ^bad mental health (e.g. depression)

  ^emotionless psychopaths

what study did Bowlby use to support his theory of maternal deprivation?

the 44 juvenile thieves theory

who supported Bowlby’s idea of children that experience maternal deprivation end up with lower IQ’s?

Supported by Goldfarb (1947): institutionalised children had lower IQs than fostered children.

what are characteristics of affectionless psychopaths?

• Inability to feel guilt, empathy, or strong emotions. 

• Linked to delinquent, antisocial behaviour. 

what was the aim of the 44 thieves study?

To examine the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation. 

what was the procedure of the 44 thieves study?

• Consisted of 44 criminal teenagers accused of stealing. 

• All thieves were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy. 

• Their families were also interviewed to see if the thieves had prolonged early separation from their mothers. 

• Sample was compared to a control sample of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed young people. 

what were the findings from the 44 thieves study?

• Bowlby found that 14 out of the 44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths and 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first 2 years of their lives.  

• In contrast only 5 of the remaining 30 thieves had experienced separations.  

• Only 2 participants in the control group of 44 had experienced long separations.  

what was Bowlby’s conclusions from the 44 thieves study?

Bowlby concluded that prolonged early separation/deprivation caused affectionless psychopathy.  

what were some strengths of the 44 thieves experiment?

• led to changes in childcare (hospitals, orphanages etc)

• Goldfarb’s evidence supports Bowlby’s idea of low IQ

• Bowlby used multiple data sources for his research

• Bowlby used a control group

what were some weaknesses of the 44 thieves study?

• potential bias - conducted interviews himself (researcher bias) and used retrospective interviews (unreliable memories).

• confusion between deprivation and privation - rutter (1981) argued Bowlby mixed up the concepts and so the effects he saw might not have been due to deprivation.

• counter evidence - Koluchova and the Czech twins who had no early attachments but did not suffer later in life.

what is the difference between deprivation and privation?

Deprivation is losing an existing attachment or emotional care, while privation is never forming an attachment in the first place.

define maternal deprivation

psychological theory that the prolonged separation of a child from a primary caregiver during early life can lead to negative emotional and intellectual consequences later in life.  

define critical period

the specific timeframe, initially considered to be the first two and a half years of life, during which a child must form an attachment with a primary caregiver. 

define intellectual development

the process of acquiring cognitive abilities like thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving. 

define emotional development

a lifelong process of learning to experience, understand, express, and regulate emotions, heavily influenced by social context and cognitive changes. 

define an affectionless psychopath

individuals who lack emotion, affection, and concern for others, and exhibit no or little guilt or remorse for their actions. 

what did Spitz and Wolf’s research consist of and did it support Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation or not?

• 1947

• Studied 100 apparently normal children who became seriously depressed after long term stays in hospital

• the children generally recovered well if the separation lasted less than 3 months.

• Longer stays were rarely associated with complete recovery. 

• and so it did support Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation.

what did Skeels and Dye’s research consist of and did it support Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation?

• Compared the development of one group of orphans raised in a home for women who were mentally challenged, with a control group who remained in the original institution.

• After 1 year, the IQs of control group fell from 87 to 61.

• Whereas the IQ in the other group rose from 64 to 92, assessed children 20 years later and claimed this was still apparent.

• this supported Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprovation

what were Bowlby’s other research which disproved his own theory of maternal deprivation?

• A group of children with tuberculosis studied, under age of 4 when they were first hospitalised.

• The nursing regimes tended to be strict and the care impersonal.

• Many of the children were visited weekly by families, but this probably did little to prevent emotional deprivation.

• this did not support his theory of maternal deprivation as although the children experienced weekly visits they still experienced emotional deprivation.

what was the aim of the strange situation (5 things)

• Assess the quality of attachment between an infant and their primary caregiver.

• Identify different attachment types based on children’s behavioural responses.

• Observe how infants use the caregiver as a secure base for exploration.

• Examine infants’ reactions to key situations

• Develop a standardised, replicable procedure for studying infant–caregiver attachment across different children.

what were the 4 behaviours the researchers were particularly instrested in observing at the strange situation?

• separation from caregiver - separation anxiety

• reunion with caregiver - reunion behaviour 

• response to a stranger - stranger anxiety 

• willingness to explore - able to use mother as a secure base 

who conducted the strange situation and in what year?

Ainsworth in 1970’s.

what are the 8 episodes and what behaviours are assessed in them? (strange situation)

Episode	What Happens	Behaviour Assessed
1	Parent and infant play	—
2	Parent sits while infant plays	Use of parent as a secure base
3	Stranger enters and talks to parent	Stranger anxiety
4	Parent leaves; infant plays; stranger offers comfort if needed	Separation anxiety
5	Parent returns, greets infant, offers comfort if needed; stranger leaves	Reunion behaviour
6	Parent leaves; infant alone	Separation anxiety
7	Stranger enters and offers comfort	Stranger anxiety
8	Parent returns, greets infant, offers comfort	Reunion behaviour

who took part in the strange situation?

about 100 middle class American infants and their mothers.

what are the 3 types of attachment?

• secure attachment (type B)

• insecure resistant attachment (type C)

• insecure avoidant attachment (type A)

what percentage was found for each type of attachment?

• secure = 66%

• avoidant = 22%

• resistant = 12%

what is a securely attached infant like?

• harmonious interactions and cooperation with caregiver 

• likely to show distress when caregiver leaves and also when left with stranger

• when anxious they seek bodily close contact with caregiver and are easily soothed , may be reluctant to leave the caregivers side 

• they seek and are comfortable with social interaction and intimacy 

• uses caregiver as a secure base to explore

what is an insecure avoidant attached infant like?

• tend to avoid social interaction with others 

• Show little or no separation anxiety when the caregiver leaves.

• Show little or no stranger anxiety, responding to the stranger much like the caregiver.

• Avoid seeking comfort and may ignore or turn away from the caregiver on reunion.

• Do not use the caregiver as a secure base in an emotionally meaningful way.

• Appear independent, but this behaviour reflects suppressed attachment needs, not genuine confidence.

what is an insecure resistant infant like?

• Show very high separation anxiety and become intensely distressed when the caregiver leaves.

• Show high stranger anxiety, often refusing comfort from the stranger.

• On reunion, display a cling–resist pattern: they seek closeness but also push away or show anger.

• Are not easily comforted by the caregiver.

• Show low exploration and tend to stay very close to the caregiver.

What are some evaluation points for the strange situation? (3)

• other attachment type 

• high reliability - controlled experiment 

• low internal validity

Ainsworth evaluation - other attachment type 

• Main & Solomon (1986) re-analysed over 200 Strange Situation videos and identified a fourth attachment type: disorganised (Type D).

• Type D is shown by a lack of coherent strategy for dealing with stress (e.g., strong distress followed by freezing, avoidance, or confusion).

• Van IJzendoorn et al. (1999) found 15% disorganised in a meta-analysis of 80 US studies (55% secure, 15% insecure-avoidant, 9% insecure-resistant).

• This suggests Ainsworth’s original attachment types were oversimplified and did not represent all children’s behaviours.

Ainsworth evaluation - controlled experiment 

• Observations in the Strange Situation are highly reliable because they are controlled and structured.

• High inter-observer reliability: Ainsworth et al. (1978) found 94% agreement between observers when rating exploratory behaviour.

• High agreement suggests the Strange Situation has strong reliability, meaning behaviours are consistently interpreted.

Ainsworth evaluation - low internal validity

• Criticism: The Strange Situation may measure the quality of one relationship, not the child’s true attachment type.

• Main & Weston (1981) found children behaved differently depending on which parent they were with.

• This suggests attachment classification may reflect the particular relationship, not the child's overall attachment style.

• This challenges the Strange Situation’s internal validity (i.e., whether it measures what it claims to).

what are cultural variations?

• The ways in which different groups of people vary in terms of their social practices. 

• The effects of these different practices have on the development of behaviour. 

• Applied to attachment – the ways in which these different social practices effect the development of attachment, and the proportion of children in the different attachment types.  

define meta analysis

looking at large scale data size. 

who researched cultural variations of the strange situation and in what year?

• Van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg

• 1988

what explanation did Bowlby propose to why children form attachments?

Evolutionary  - attachment is an innate system that provides a survival advantage (part of biological approach). 

What is the ‘ask me’ anagram (ASCMI)?

A-adaptive S-social releasers C-critical period M-monotropy I-internal working model.

what did Bowlby say about Lorenz and Harlow’s studies?

Said attachment, like imprinting, evolved as a mechanism to keep young animals safe by ensuring they stay close to their caregivers.   

why did he reject the learning theory as an explanation of attachment?

Mostly due to his argument that 'if it were true, an infant of a year or two would take readily to whomever feeds them and clearly this is not the case'. 

what was Bowlby’s theory of attachment?

 

• Attachment is innate, evolutionary behaviour that increases an infants chance of survival. 

• Infants are born with a natural drive to form attachments because staying close to a caregiver protects them from danger.  

• Infants form one primary attachment (monotropy) 

• This forms the basis of the child's internal working model – a mental template for future relationships. 

• Infants release social releasers to strengthen attachment. 

• He also suggested they have a critical period (2.5 years) which attachment must form otherwise the child may experience long term social and emotional difficulties.

Define Monotropy

the concept that a child forms a primary attachment to one main figure.  

evaluation: monotropy other research

• Dagan et al. (2020) found that infants typically form multiple attachment relationships, not just one primary attachment.

• The quality of each attachment is independent from the others.

• Their research showed that the combined quality of these multiple attachments is a better predictor of later development than the quality of attachment to a single caregiver. 

define social releasers

Innate behaviours exhibited by infants that are biologically pre-programmed to attract the attention of caregivers (usually cute behaviours like smiling or holding onto a finger).  

social releasers other research

• Brazelton et al. (1975) provided evidence that baby behaviours are designed to elicit caregiver responses.

• They observed that babies use social releasers to trigger interactions with adults.

• Researchers asked the primary attachment figures to ignore their babies’ social releasers.

• Babies who were previously responsive became increasingly distressed, and some curled up and lay motionless.

• This demonstrates the crucial role of social releasers in emotional development and highlights their importance in attachment formation.

Define internal working model

a mental template a child forms from their early attachment that teaches them what relationships are like and how to behave and what to expect from other people.  

Internal working model other research

• Bailey et al. (2007) studied 99 mothers and their one-year-old infants.

• Mothers’ attachment to their own mothers was assessed using interviews.

• Attachment between mothers and their infants was assessed using the Strange Situation.

• The quality of a mother’s attachment to her own mother matched the attachment she had with her baby.

• Suggests early attachment forms a mental template influencing parenting and later relationships.

define critical period 

a specific timeframe during development when an individual is especially sensitive to a certain stimuli – usually when your born till 2.5 years for a child to form attachment. 

critical period other research

• Rutter et al.’s research suggests Bowlby’s claim about a critical period is partly correct.

• Attachment is less likely to form after this developmental window, but it is not impossible.

• The window functions more as a sensitive period, where children are most receptive to developing certain behaviours or characteristics.

• These developments can still occur outside the sensitive period, just with more difficulty.

who did the love quiz and in what year?

Hazen and Shaver in 1987

what was the aim of the love quiz?

• To investigate whether early attachment style (secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant)
  → predicts adult romantic relationship quality.

• To test if there is a relationship between childhood attachment and:

  • Adult love experiences

  • Beliefs about romantic love

  • Patterns of romantic behaviour

what was the procedure for the love quiz experiment?

• Used a self-report questionnaire called The Love Quiz.

• The quiz was published in a local newspaper

• Over 620 participants responded:

  • 205 men

  • 415 women

• The Love Quiz had two key sections:

  1. Assessment of childhood attachment

     • Participants selected descriptions that best matched their early relationships with caregivers.

     • Based on Ainsworth’s attachment types.

  2. Assessment of adult romantic relationships

     • Participants described:

       • Their most important romantic relationship

       • Experiences of love

       • Beliefs about love (e.g., "love is everlasting")

what were Hazen and Shaver’s findings?

• Attachment type proportions similar to Ainsworth:

  • 56% secure, 25% avoidant, 19% resistant

• Secure adults:

  • Had trusting, long-lasting relationships (avg. 10 years)

  • More positive beliefs about love (e.g., enduring, stable)

• Avoidant adults:

  • Fearful of intimacy, jealous, less commitment

  • Shorter relationships (avg. 5–6 years)

• Resistant adults:

  • Intense, obsessive relationships; emotional highs/lows

  • Shortest relationships (avg. 4–5 years)

what conclusions can be drawn from the love quiz?

• Early attachment style is linked to adult romantic behaviour and beliefs.

• Supports Bowlby’s internal working model, showing childhood attachment forms a template for future relationships.

what are some evaluation points for the love quiz?

• large sample size

• retrospective data 

• correlational study 

love quiz evaluation - large sample size

• Increases population validity and makes patterns more reliable.

• 620 participants 

• however cultural bias may affect it’s validity as it only uses American volunteers.  

love quiz evaluation - retrospective data

• low internal validity

• Participants relied on memories of childhood, which may be inaccurate or distorted.

• people may lie

love quiz evaluation - correlational study

• Cannot establish cause and effect.

• Early attachment may be linked to later relationships, but other variables (e.g., personality, family environment) could be responsible.

• 
  

did Bowlby say early attachment can influence attachment in later life?

yes