Key terms- Attachment

Interactional synchrony- mother and infant both reflect on each others actions and emotions and act in a co-ordinated way to give a response

Reciprocity- when a mother and infant both react and respond to cues from each other

Stages of attachment- a theory relating to how an infants attachment changes as they grow

Asocial stage- when infants behaviour towards humans and non-humans are very similar

Indiscriminate- infants have a preference for humans over object but not for any particular humans over other humans

Specific stage- babies have stranger anxiety and prefer the primary attachment figure over other humans

Multiple attachments- babies shows preference not only to the primary caregiver but also with adults whom they have secondary attachments with

Animal studies- when animals are used for research as it’s seen as more ethical to use them than humans and in some case for practicality as some animals breed faster than humans

Learning theory- looks at the role of learning on acquiring behaviour, explanations of this theory (behaviourist approach) includes classical and operant conditioning

classical conditioning- when a parent gives an infant food a conditioned response of happiness is caused over time to the parent as they are believed to expect food (unconditioned stimulus) when they see them

Operant conditioning- the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated is dependent on the response to it, if their’s a positive response it has been positively reinforced

Attachment as a secondary drive- the primary drive (hunger) becomes generalised to the caregiver, so attachment is a secondary drive learned through association between a caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive

Monotropic- one relationship with the primary attachment which is more important than all the others

Social releasers- physicalities and behaviours that infants do to cause the caregiver to want to care for them, these are innate

Critical period- a time ( up to 3yrs) in which it’s highly important that an attachment bond is made, now called the sensitive period

Internal working model- infants will gain a mental representation of their future relationships from their relationship with their primary attachment figure

Strange situation- a controlled observation which aims to see how infants are attached to their caregiver, this is done through infants being assessed on their response to: playing in an unfamiliar room, being left alone, being left with a stranger and being reunited with a caregiver

Secure attachment- healthiest type of attachment and is related to have authoritative parents, shown in the strange situation by having moderate stranger and separation anxiety but being comforted easily at the reunion

Insecure- avoidant attachment- seen with low anxiety but a weak attachment and is related to having authoritarian parents, shown in the strange situation by having low stranger and separation anxiety and little response at the reunion

Insecure- resistant attachment- characterised by strong attachment and high anxiety and is related to having permissive parents, shown in the strange situation by having high stranger and separation anxiety and is resistant to being comforted at the reunion

Disorganised attachment- characterised by lack of consistent patterns of social behaviour and is related to having uninvolved parents, shown through having an incoherent amount of separation anxiety and their attachment type will vary

Cultural variation- the difference in norms and values between people in different groups

Maternal deprivation- the emotional and intellectual effects of significant separation between a child and their mother or mother substitute

Separation- child isn’t in the presence of the primary attachment figure

Deprivation- child lacks an element of care with their primary attachment figure

Affectionless psychopaths- people who can’t appreciate any other feelings and therefore lack remorse

Institutionalisation- Behavioural patterns of children raised in institutions, where they may not have one-to-one attachments

Disinhibited attachments- when a child is equally affectionate towards those they know or don’t (lack stranger anxiety) usually stems from time in institutionalisation

Cognitive impairment- delayed intellectual development, shown in Rutter’s et al (2011) study

Childhood relationships- relationships that we have with those in childhood

Adult relationships- relationships that we have with those in later life and adulthood