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Attachments
Question | Answer |
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What is an attachment? | An emotional bond between two people which is shown in their behaviour. |
Why are attachments essential for babies? | They are reliant on others for survival. |
What are the four ways we can see an attachment between people? | 1. Seeking proximity 2. Distress on separation 3. Joy on reunion 4. General orientation of behaviour |
What research evidence is there on the formation of attachments in animals? | Lorenz (1935) |
What did Lorenz (1935) do? | Lorenz took two groups of goose eggs. One stayed with the mother goose, but when the other group hatched he made sure he was the first moving thing they saw. |
What did Lorenz (1935) find? | The group which hatched in front of Lorenz became rapidly attached to him. He called this imprinting. When all goslings were put in a crate together and released, the two groups separated and went to find their 'mother'. |
What did Lorenz (1935) conclude from his research? | There is a critical period for imprinting between 13 and 16 hours after hatching. It will never happen if it doesn't happen before 32 hours. This behaviour has been evolved to ensure survival of the young. |
What did Klaus and Kennell (1965) research and how did they do this? | To test the hypothesis that early skin to skin contact between mother and baby leads to closer bonding, they took a group of new mothers in a US hospital and gave them a total of 6 more hours of contact in the 4 days after birth than was routine. |
What did Klaus and Kennell find? | The mothers who had extra contact showed more soothing behaviours, close proximity and gazed at their babies more than the control group (whose babies were taken away immediately after birth to allow them to recover). |
What was learned from Klaus and Kennell (1976)'s results? | The results showed that there is an important sensitive period for mother-baby bonding. As a result practice was changed in US hospitals to allow more contact after birth. |
Two strengths of Klaus and Kennell (1976) | 1. Longitudinal study, took place over 1 year, so researchers could look at changes and take them into account. 2. Supported by De Chateau et al (1987) - 42 Swedish middle class mothers. Babies in extra contact group also showed more signs of happiness. |
Three limitations of Klaus and Kennell (1976) | 1. Eurocentric - only US, young unmarried women. Low population validity. 2. Extra attention shown by mothers may be because of extra attention shown to them by researchers. 3. Gender biased - would fathers react the same? |
What did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) research and how did they do this? | They researched the development of attachment over time by studying 60 babies from Glasgow. They visited the babies every month until the age of 18 months, observed them and interviewed their mothers about separation anxiety and stranger distress. |
How did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) ask mothers to assess separation anxiety and stranger distress? | In the interviews mothers had to use a four point scale from 0 (no protest shown) to 3 (cries loudly every time). |
What were Schaffer and Emerson's (1964) key findings? | 1. Separation anxiety first appears at 6-8 months, and fear of strangers comes 1 month later. 2. 65% of first attachments are to the mother. 3. 27% formed joint attachments (2 people at once) 4. 40% of first attachments were not with primary caregiver. |
2 strengths of Schaffer and Emerson (1964) | 1. High ecological validity as research took place in mother and baby's natural environment. 2. Different methods were used - observation and interview - so results are rich in detail and reliable. |
2 limitations of Schaffer and Emerson (1964) | 1. Only 1 setting - Glasgow; a working class area in a Western country. Low population validity, eurocentric, cultural bias. 2. Historical bias - in 1964 all mothers stayed at home. Now more mothers work, fathers more likely to be first attachment. |
What is the SLT explanation for attachment? | The theory is that attachments are based on classical and operant conditioning and rewards from the primary caregiver, which is why they are normally the first attachment, as they feed them, care for them and comfort them when they are scared. |
What is the main principle of operant conditioning? | Behaviours are learned through the use of the methods of positive and negative reinforcement. |
Define positive reinforcement. | Positive reinforcement rewards a behaviour which makes it more likely to be repeated. |
Define negative reinforcement. | Negative reinforcement is when a behaviour is repeated because it removes something negative. |
Give an example of operant conditioning in attachments. | A baby cries because it wants food (positive reinforcement) and the caregiver gives the baby food to make it stop crying (negative reinforcement). |
What is the main principle of classical conditioning? | The theory is that behaviours are learned through association. |
Define an unconditioned stimulus. | A stimulus which causes an unconditioned response. |
Define an unconditioned response. | An unlearned, reflex response. |
Define a neutral stimulus. | A stimulus which produces no response, learned or unlearned. |
Define a conditioned response. | A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus. It occurs when the neutral stimulus is combined with the unconditioned stimulus. |
Give an example of classical conditioning in attachments. | Milk (unconditioned stimulus) causes pleasure at relief from hunger (unconditioned response) for babies. So the baby learns to associate the person who feed them (neutral stimulus) with this pleasure (conditioned response) and the attachment is formed. |
How does reductionism affect the SLT explanation of attachments? | SLT is reductionist and ignores many things: the evolutionary importance of attachments and the intense emotional need for attachments. |
How can SLT be evaluated with Schaffer and Emerson (1964)? | Schaffer and Emerson found that 39% of babies' first attachments were not to their primary caregiver. This weakens the SLT explanation of attachments, as it suggests there are other reasons for forming attachments besides rewards like food. |
How can SLT be evaluated with Harlow and Zimmerman (1959) - what was done? | This also suggested attachments were about more than food when young monkeys were removed from their mothers at birth. They had two 'mothers': 1 wire with bottle, 1 with soft fabric. Time with each and response when scared was measured. |
What did Harlow and Zimmerman (1959) find? | The 'mother' with soft fabric was used as a base and clung to when the monkey was scared. The monkeys only went to the other when they were hungry, then returned to the cloth mother. |
What is an advantage of the SLT explanation of attachments? | It takes account of the importance of parents as role models and the role of social influence in attachment development. |
What is the key principle of Bowlby's theory? | That attachments are evolved mechanisms which ensure survival. Behaviours such as crying and smiling in babies, and parental instincts have been evolved by natural selection to ensure survival and reproduction. |
Which two ideas did Bowlby suggest? | 1. Monotropy 2. The internal working model |
What is monotropy? | The idea that babies one form attachment which is superior to all others (a monotropic attachment) |
What is the internal working model? | Bowlby suggested that first attachments form a child's template of themselves as loveable or not, and caregivers as trustworthy or not. |
What is the continuity hypothesis? | The idea that the template Bowlby's internal working model is applied to all adult relationships. |
What did Bowlby say about sensitive periods for attachments? | The first three years of life are a sensitive period, in which attachments are formed and disrupting them can have severe consequences. |
What did Hazan and Shaver (1987) investigate and how? | They researched the continuity hypothesis with 'Love Quiz' in a North American newspaper, and asked people to write saying which of 3 descriptions best described their adult relationships and an adjective checklist of childhood relationships with parents. |
What were the three descriptions used in Hazan and Shaver's love quiz? | 1. Uncomfortable being close to others 2. Usually comfortable in a relationship 3. Wants to get closer than others do |
What kind of sample was used in Hazan and Shaver (1987)? | 215 men and 415 women who were randomly selected volunteers, and 108 undergraduates. |
What did Hazan and Shaver (1987) find and what do these findings show us? | They found a link between child and adult attachment type, supporting IWM. Secure types believed they were loveable, anxious avoidant types doubted true love, and anxious ambivalent types fell in love often but without true love, and were insecure. |
What did Black and Schutte (2006) investigate and how? | They investigated the continuity hypothesis by interviewing 205 participants about descriptions of their adult attachments and family events (eg Christmas), and adjectives about their childhood parental relationship. |
What did Black and Schutte (2006) find and what can we conclude from this? | They found a link between child and adult relationships. Those close to their mother were more likely to be trusting and let others rely on them, whereas those close to their father were more likely to rely on others. |
How can we evaluate Bowlby's ideas with Zimmerman et al (2000)? | 44 German 16 year olds were interviewed after attachment type was assessed at 12-18 months old. It was found that events like divorce were better predictors of adult attachment than childhood attachment. This weakens the continuity hypothesis. |
How can we evaluate Bowlby's ideas with the idea of 'earned security'? | Many psychologists believe that poor childhood relationships do not necessarily condemn a child, and 'earned security' through positive school experiences can make them securely attached adults. |
How can we evaluate Bowlby's ideas with Schaffer and Emerson (1964)? | They found that many babies' first attachments are to multiple people or someone other than the primary caregiver, which contradicts the theory of monotropy. |
What did Ainsworth observe in the Strange Situation (1970)? | She observed how each baby reacted when the mother left and returned and the stranger tried to interact with them, and if they used the mother as a safe base from which to explore. |
What did the mother have to do in Ainsworth's Strange Situation? | First she had to sit and read a magazine while the baby played. After talking briefly with the stranger she leaves but returns after 3 minutes. After another 3 minutes she leaves again, leaving the baby alone, but returns again after 3 minutes. |
What did the stranger have to do in Ainsworth's Strange Situation? | 3 minutes in they enter, sit and talk briefly with the mother. When she leaves they try to comfort the baby, and leave when the mother returns. When the mother leaves a second time they return to comfort the baby, and leave again when the mother returns. |
What were the findings of the original Strange Situation experiment? | 70% were securely attached (B). 15% were insecure avoidant (A). 15% were insecure resistant/ambivalent (C). |
How did securely attached babies behave in the Strange Situation? | They showed sadness when the mother left, joy when she returned and avoided the stranger. |
How did insecure avoidant babies behave in the Strange Situation? | They showed no separation anxiety and let the stranger comfort them. |
How did insecure resistant babies behave in the Strange Situation? | They were uneasy around the mother, showed distress when she left but was difficult to comfort by both the stranger and the mother. |
What are 4 issues with Ainsworth's Strange Situation? | 1. Low ecological validity as it is artificial so mothers and babies may have behaved differently. 2. The mother may not be the main attachment figure. 3. Low population validity - research is eurocentric. 4. Unethical to put babies in distress. |
What did Takahashi (1990) do? | The Strange Situation was replicated with 60 middle class Japanese students under 1. |
What did Takahashi (1990) find? | 62% of babies were securely attached, and 32% were insecure resistant. There were no type A babies. Many babies were so distressed when left alone that the study was abandoned. If this hadn't happened there could have been up to 80% type B. |
How can Japanese culture explain the findings of Takahashi (1990)? | The babies were distressed as many spend the entirety of their first 2 years with their mothers. There were no type A babies as it is seen as rude to avoid others. |
What did Van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) do? | They conducted a meta analysis of 32 Strange Situation studies from 8 countries with over 2000 babies. |
What did Van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) find? | Type B was the highest worldwide, and most common in the UK and Sweden and least common in China. Type A was most common in West Germany and least common in Israel and Japan. Type C was most common in Israel, China and Japan and least common in Sweden. |
What did Van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) find about intra cultural variation? | Intra cultural variation was 1.5 times higher than inter cultural variation, showing that it is too simplistic to presume all children in the same culture are raised and behave in the same way. |
What is a strength of Van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)? | There is a large sample size as it is a meta analysis, so population validity is high and results can be applied generally to many cultures. |
What are three weaknesses of Van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)? | 1. 18/32 studies from US, so population validity is low. 2. 27 studies from Western individualistic cultures where independence is valued, so high cultural bias. 3. Doesn't consider that attachment type may be based on predisposition, not upbringing. |
How can cultural norms explain findings of the Strange Situation in West Germany? | Independence is highly valued in Germany, so many babies were classed as insecure avoidant as they showed no distress at separation. |
How can cultural norms explain findings of the Strange Situation in Israel? | Babies in Israel are brought up in small groups and rarely confronted with strangers, which explains why they reacted so strongly to the stranger and were classed as type C as they rarely get individual attention from adults. |
What are the short term effects of separation and when do they develop? | Remember PDD (protest, despair, detachment). These signs first appear at 8-9 months when the first attachment does. |
What happens in the protest stage of short term effects of separation? | The child cries and screams when the parent tries to leave and clings to them. |
What happens in the despair stage of short term effects of separation? | The child calms down from the protest stage but it may be difficult for others to comfort them. |
What happens in the detachment stage of short term effects of separation? | If the separation is prolonged, the child may start to show an interest in others and be angry with the parent when they return. |
What are the three long term effects of separation? | 1. Extreme clinginess 2. Detachment 3. Demanding behaviour |
Describe extreme clinginess as a long term effect of separation. | The child clings to the parent whenever they try to leave, or the child anticipates them leaving. |
Describe detachment as a long term effect of separation. | The child may refuse to be cuddled, perhaps as a defence mechanism so they won't get hurt again. Many children alternate between clinginess and detachment. |
Describe demanding behaviour as a long term effect of separation. | The child may become more demanding or attention seeking of the parent (maybe to stop them leaving or make up for leaving before?) |
What 4 factors affect a child's response to separation? | 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Who the child is left with 4. Attachment types 5. Previous experience |
How does age affect a child's response to separation? | Schaffer and Callender (1959) found that reaction to short term separation is strongest between 12 and 18 months, as this is when attachments are formed, and less after this as the child understands the parent will return. |
How does gender affect a child's response to separation? | Girls seem to cope better with separation than boys. |
How does who the child is left with affect their response to separation? | If the child is older than 10 months then they may have multiple attachments, perhaps to a grandparent, so if left with them they would not react as strongly to separation. |
How does the child's attachment type affect their response to separation? | Barrett (1997) found that securely attached babies don't react strongly to separation as they are sure the parent will return. Insecure-ambivalent babies react strongly because they don't have this security. |
How does the child's previous experience affect their response to separation? | If a child is frequently separated from its parent for example because it attends day care, it may learn to cope better with separation. |
Define privation. | The lack of any kind of attachment in early childhood. |
How did Genie spend the first years of her life? | As a toddler a doctor suggested she might have learning difficulties, so her father locked her in the cellar. She was tied to a potty chair in the day and bound in a sleeping bag inside a cot with a metal cover at night. She had no human communication. |
How did Genie behave after being discovered? | At 13 she was the size of a 6 year old child. She was mute and frequently spat, chewed and sniffed. She had a strange 'bunny walk' with her hands raised like paws. |
How did Genie's condition improve? | She was able to learn sign language, non verbal communication and widen her vocabulary. |
What ethical issues are there in the case of Genie? | She was subjected to much research on language development, ie sleep experiments, which could have been damaging for her. Later she was moved around many foster homes, and after being punished for vomiting in one she refused to open her mouth at all. |
What did Koluchova (1969-1991) investigate? | Koluchova followed the case study of twin boys born in Czechoslovakia in 1960, who suffered from privation. |
How did the twin boys in Koluchova (1969-1991) spend the first years of their lives? | Their mother died in childbirth so they went into care, then went to live with their father and stepmother at 18 months, where they were locked in the cellar, completely isolated, starved and beaten. |
How did the twin boys in Koluchova (1969-1991) behave when they were discovered? | When they were discovered at the age of 7 they were completely mute and terrified of other people. They were sent to a school for children with learning difficulties. |
How did the condition of the twin boys in Koluchova (1969-1991) improve? | After they were adopted and given a loving environment by 2 sisters, by 1977 they attended a normal school, had higher than average intelligence and were happy and sociable. A follow up in 1991 showed no signs of psychological damage. |
Define institutionalisation. | Behaviour shown by children who have been raised in institutions. |
Why does institutionalisation occur? | Children are allowed to have relationships with staff, but one-on-one attachments are not allowed to prevent the child being hurt if the staff member moves away. |
What behaviour do institutionalised children show and what is the term for this? | These children show behaviours such as no fear of strangers, seeking attention from all adults, inappropriate behaviour towards adults and failure to report back to the parent when distressed. This is known as disinhibited attachment. |
What did Tizard and Hodges (1984) investigate and how? | They investigated the effects of institutionalisation on 65 children who lived in children's homes until they were 4. |
What relationship were the children in Tizard and Hodges (1984) allowed with their carers? | They weren't allowed attachments with their carers due to staff turnover - each child had had an average of 50 carers by the age of 4. |
What behaviour did Tizard and Hodges (1984) observe at age 2? | All the children in the study were showing signs of disinhibited attachment. |
What happened when the children in Tizard and Hodges (1984) were aged 4? | 25 were restored to their biological parents, 33 were adopted into new families and 7 remained in care. |
What did Tizard and Hodges (1984) find when the children were visited at age 8? | 20/21 adopted children had strong attachments, compared to 6/13 restored children. |
What did Tizard and Hodges (1984) find from interviews with the participant and questionnaires from the participant's teachers and same sex peers? | The adopted group were closer to their parents and generally had better family relations than the restored group who were argumentative and had worse peer relations. All children were attention seeking from adults and found it hard to form peer relations. |
What 2 issues are there with Tizard and Hodges (1984)? | 1. There is participant attrition - results are less detailed and valid. Possibly biased towards a certain type of remaining people. 2. What if the adopted group were placed with new families in the first place because they were naturally more sociable? |
What are the 2 main options for types of day care? | Nursery based, where activities are planned and there are many other children around, or family based: either a registered childminder, nanny, au pair, or informal arrangements with family members or friends. |
What 3 staff factors are important for good quality day care? | 1. Low adult to child ratio so every child gets enough attention 2. Low staff turnover so children feel secure 3. Key worker policy - every child has an attachment figure who they can use as a safe base |
What 3 organisational factors are important for good quality day care? | 1. Mixed age groups so younger children learn social behaviours from older children 2. Small groups - easier for children to deal with small numbers of strangers 3. Structured activities and free time. Children feel safe in a predictable environment. |
What has research into daycare found and what change has occurred as a result? | Research has shown that separation is very stressful for children - it causes high levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The 'key worker approach' has been developed - every child has a staff member who cares for their needs as a parent would. |
What did Campbell, Lamb and Hwang (2000) study and how? | To assess the effect of quality and quantity of day care on development, they studied Swedish children: 30 who went to nursery, 9 with home care and 9 who changed from home to nursery during the study, compared with a group who lost out on daycare places. |
In Campbell, Lamb and Hwang (2000), how were social skills assessed in the first years of the study? | At 18 months the children were observed playing with peers to set a baseline for social skills. This was repeated at 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years. |
In Campbell, Lamb and Hwang (2000), how were social skills assessed at 6 1/2, 8 1/2 and 15 years? | At 6 1/2 and 8 1/2 years parents and teachers respectively gave their opinion of the child's social abilities. At 15 the children did self report questionnaires on their friendship quality and social style. |
In Campbell, Lamb and Hwang (2000), what was found about the effect of long days spent in daycare? | Children who had longer days in day care were less socially competent, as they were in competition for the attention of adults so had more negative interactions. |
In Campbell, Lamb and Hwang (2000), what was found about the effect of the quality of day care? | It was found that high quality day care leads to better social development. |
In Campbell, Lamb and Hwang (2000), what was found about social development itself? | It is stable between the ages of 3 1/2 and 15; that is, social skills are largely developed by 3 1/2. |
In Campbell, Lamb and Hwang (2000), what are 3 strengths? | 1. The study is prospective so long term effects can be effectively seen. 2. Range of techniques used builds a rich, detailed picture. 3. The baseline assessment shows no children had social issues in their predisposition so internal validity is high. |
In Campbell, Lamb and Hwang (2000), what is 1 weakness? | The research was carried out in Sweden where daycare is very well funded, so the results may not be applicable in other countries. |
What did Andersson (1989), Clarke-Stewart (1991), Schindler et al (1998) and Field et al (1988) all find about day care? | They all found that children who attended daycare had better social development: they had better peer relations and were more outgoing. |
What did DiLalla (1988), Maccoby and Lewis (2003) and Field (1988) all find about day care? | Children who spent more time in day care had weaker social skills, worse peer relations and conflict with teachers. |
What did Borge et al. (2004) find about the effect of day care on levels of aggression? | In a study of 3,431 Canadian children (representative sample) where mothers were asked about how often their child was aggressive and how they reacted to aggression, it was found that aggression was much higher in home reared children. |
What did Belsky (2006) find about the effect of day care on levels of aggression? | Contrary to Borge's findings, Belsky found that whilst children who attended day care had advanced cognitive and language development, they also showed problems of aggression. |
What did Melhuish (1990) find about the effects of different types of day care on language skills? | At 18 months old, the relative care group had the best language skills, and at 3 years old the daycare group were still less advanced in language skills but showed more pro-social behaviour than the relative care group. |