A-Level Psychology: Attachment Revision Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the A-Level Psychology Attachment specification, including Learning Theory, Animal Studies (Harlow and Lorenz), Bowlby's Monotropic Theory, Ainsworth's Strange Situation, Cultural Variations, the Continuity Hypothesis, Maternal Deprivation, and the Effects of Institutionalisation.

AO1 (Assessment Objective 1)

The ability to demonstrate psychological knowledge and understanding of specification content, typically assessed by describing or outlining theories, models, or empirical studies.

AO2 (Assessment Objective 2)

The ability to apply psychological knowledge and understanding to novel scenarios, contexts, or stimulus materials.

AO3 (Assessment Objective 3)

The ability to analyse, interpret, and evaluate psychological specification content, such as judging the strengths, limitations, and methodological validity of a theory or study.

PEEL Structure

An evaluative writing method used to construct AO3 points consisting of Point, Explain, Example/Evidence, and Link back to the question.

GRAVE Framework

An evaluation tool used to assess psychological research across five key criteria: Generalisability, Reliability, Application, Validity, and Ethics.

Cupboard Love Approach

The learning theory perspective (Dollard and Miller, 1950) proposing that infant-caregiver attachments develop primarily because the infant views the caregiver as a provider of food.

Classical Conditioning (in Attachment)

The process by which an infant associates a neutral stimulus (the primary caregiver) with an unconditioned stimulus (food) that produces an unconditioned response of pleasure, transforming the caregiver into a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response of pleasure.

Operant Conditioning (in Attachment)

A two-way learning mechanism where an infant's crying is reinforced positively by food or comfort, while the caregiver experiences negative reinforcement when the unpleasant crying ceases upon feeding.

Primary Drive (Hunger)

An innate, biological motivator that compels organisms to feed in order to achieve drive reduction.

Secondary Drive (Attachment)

A learned psychological motivator (Sears et al., 1957) formed because the caregiver becomes associated with the satisfaction of the primary biological drive of hunger.

Social Learning Theory of Attachment

An alternative learning explanation proposed by Hay and Vespo (1988), suggesting parents model attachment behaviours (e.g., hugging) and reward children with approval when they display similar behaviours.

Contact Comfort

The physical comfort provided by a soft tactile surface, shown by Harlow (1958) to be more critical to infant monkeys than food provision when forming attachments.

Critical Period (Harlow)

A developmental window of $90\,\text{days}$ in infant rhesus monkeys during which an attachment figure must be introduced, otherwise attachment is impossible and irreversible social damage occurs.

Imprinting

An innate attachment process identified by Lorenz (1952) where precocial hatchlings rapidly attach to and follow the first moving object they encounter after hatching.

Critical Period (Lorenz)

A biological time frame of approximately $20\,\text{hours}$ after hatching in greylag geese, during which imprinting must take place or attachment behaviour will not develop.

Guiton (1966)

A study demonstrating that chickens imprinted onto yellow rubber washing-up gloves attempted to mate with them as adults, though with experience they learned to mate with their own species, challenging the irreversibility of imprinting.

Monotropy

Bowlby's concept that an infant forms one primary attachment to a specific caregiver (usually the mother) that is qualitatively different and more important than any other relationship.

Social Releasers

Innate infant behaviours, such as smiling and crying, that encourage attention and trigger caregiving responses in adults.

Law of Continuity

Bowlby's principle stating that the more constant and predictable a child's care is, the better the quality of their attachment.

Law of Accumulated Separation

Bowlby's principle asserting that the adverse effects of being separated from the primary attachment figure add up over time, meaning separations should be avoided or minimised.

Internal Working Model

A part-conscious, part-unconscious mental 'cognitive blueprint' formed during infancy that provides rules and expectations for how to conduct future relationships and parenting.

Critical Period (Bowlby)

A developmental window of approximately $2\frac{1}{2}\,\text{years}$ from birth during which an attachment must form to prevent permanent emotional and relational damage.

The Strange Situation

A controlled observational procedure designed by Mary Ainsworth (1969) comprising seven 3-minute episodes to assess infant-caregiver attachment quality in a $9 \times 9\,\text{foot}$ room.

Secure Base Behaviour

The tendency of an infant to explore an unfamiliar environment with confidence while regularly returning to or referencing the caregiver as a point of safety.

Secure Attachment (Type B)

An attachment type shown by $70\%$ of American middle-class infants, characterised by confident exploration, moderate separation distress, joy and comfort upon reunion, and a clear preference for the caregiver over a stranger.

Insecure-Avoidant Attachment (Type A)

An attachment type shown by $15\%$ of American middle-class infants, characterised by low proximity-seeking, lack of distress upon separation, and active avoidance or ignoring of the caregiver upon reunion.

Insecure-Resistant Attachment (Type C)

An attachment type shown by $15\%$ of American middle-class infants, characterised by clinginess, unwillingness to explore, intense distress upon separation, and conflicting reunion behaviour (seeking contact while resisting comfort).

Disorganised Attachment

An atypical attachment classification identified by Main and Solomon (1986) where infants display an inconsistent, confusing mixture of avoidant and resistant behaviours.

Temperament Hypothesis

Kagan's (1982) argument that genetically influenced differences in infant personality, rather than caregiver sensitivity, primarily explain behaviour and distress in the Strange Situation.

Cultural Variations in Attachment (Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg, 1988)

A meta-analysis of $32$ Strange Situation studies across $8$ countries showing that variations within cultures were $1.5\,\text{times}$ greater than between cultures, with secure attachment being universally the most common.

Individualist Culture (Attachment Profile)

Societies (such as Germany and the USA) that prioritise independence, where research shows higher levels of insecure-avoidant attachment ($35.3\%$ in Germany) due to cultural emphasis on self-reliance.

Collectivist Culture (Attachment Profile)

Societies (such as Japan and Israel) that emphasise interdependence and closeness, showing elevated rates of insecure-resistant attachment ($27.1\%$ in Japan, $28.8\%$ in Israel) and very low insecure-avoidant attachment.

Culture-Bound Test

A methodological limitation indicating that the Strange Situation was designed based on Western, American ideals of secure attachment and cannot be fairly applied to judge parenting in other cultural contexts.

Continuity Hypothesis

The proposition by Hazan and Shaver that early infant attachment styles act as a lifelong template, continuing into childhood friendships, adult romantic relationships, and parenting styles via the internal working model.

The Love Quiz (Hazan and Shaver, 1987)

A self-report questionnaire administered via the Rocky Mountain News that found a strong correlation between early attachment classifications and adult romantic relationship styles ($56\%$ secure, $25\%$ avoidant, $19\%$ resistant).

Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis (Bowlby, 1951)

The theory that prolonged or permanent emotional separation from the primary attachment figure during the critical period ($2\frac{1}{2}\,\text{years}$) results in long-term intellectual, emotional, and social damage.

Affectionless Psychopathy

A psychological condition characterized by an inability to show normal affection, empathy, shame, or remorse, and an incapacity to accept personal responsibility for one's actions.

44 Thieves Study (Bowlby, 1944)

An investigation comparing $44$ juvenile thieves with $44$ non-delinquent controls, finding that $14$ thieves displayed affectionless psychopathy, $12$ ($86\%$) of whom had experienced prolonged maternal deprivation in early childhood.

Privation

Rutter's term distinguishing the complete failure to form any attachment bond whatsoever from deprivation, which is the loss of an attachment figure after a bond has already formed.

Sensitive Period

A more flexible developmental window (proposed by Rutter) during which attachment forms most readily, but outside of which damage can still be reversed with loving care, as seen in the Czech twins (Koluchová, 1976).

Institutionalisation

The effect of growing up in institutional settings (such as orphanages) that provide little to no individualised emotional care, resulting in distinct physical, cognitive, and social developmental deficits.

English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study

A longitudinal natural experiment led by Michael Rutter (2011) tracking Romanian orphans adopted into British families, assessing their physical, cognitive, and social progress at ages $4$, $6$, $11$, and $15$.

Disinhibited Attachment

An atypical social attachment style stemming from institutionalisation, marked by attention-seeking, clingy behaviour, and an indiscriminate, inappropriate lack of wariness toward unfamiliar adults or strangers.

Quasi-Autistic Behaviour

A social difficulty observed in institutionalised children (such as Romanian orphans) characterized by poor comprehension of social contexts and obsessional routines resembling OCD.

Bucharest Early Intervention Project (Zeanah et al., 2005)

A study assessing $95$ children aged $12\text{–}31\,\text{months}$ who spent $90\%$ of their lives in institutional care, finding that only $19\%$ were securely attached, $65\%$ had disorganised attachment, and $44\%$ showed disinhibited attachment.