AttachmentPaper 1

Attachment specification

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Topic Content

Confidence rating after lesson1: confident4: not confident

Revision material

completedRevised?

Definition of attachment

Reciprocity Interactional

synchronicity

Development of attachment

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Stages of attachment Role of the father Multiple attachments

Animal studies of attachment

Lorenz (imprinting) Harlow

Explanations of attachment

Learning approach explanation of attachment

Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment

The Strange Situation

(Ainsworth, 1978)

Describe and evaluate Types of attachment

Cross-cultural variations in attachment

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Disruption of attachment

Maternal deprivation Hypothesis

Effects of institutionalisation-Romanian orphans: Rutter & Songa-Barke

Influence of early attachment

Internal working model Hazan and Shaver

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Caregiver-infant interactions in humans: reciprocity and interactional synchrony. __________________________

Alert phases

Reciprocity

Interactional synchrony

Define attachment?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are the characteristics of attachment, as identified by Macoby (1980)?1.2.3.

Reciprocity

The word reciprocal means two-way, or something that is mutual. Infant and caregiver are both active contributors in the interaction and are responding to each other. This is referred to as reciprocity.

Traditional views of childhood believed that a baby took a passive role, simply receiving care from an adult however research shows us that a baby is very active and that mother child interactions are like a “dance” Brazelton et al (1975). Mother and child take turn to initiate interactions and from birth babies and carers spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction. Babies have alert periods that mothers pick up on and respond to, although only about two thirds of the time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007). From three months the reciprocal element kicks in as interaction becomes increasingly frequent and involves the carer and child playing close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions.

Outline two examples of reciprocity?

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Exam tip!The AQA acknowledge that the textbooks tend to offer slightly different definitions and that the two concepts do overlap. They say that candidates do need to be aware that the concepts overlap but that they should also be able to define the terms separately and mention Condon and Sander as a good example. So how exactly do they overlap? The concepts in this area are describing the metaphorical dance between infant and caregiver. It looks, feels and acts like a conversation between infant and caregiver. Though no words may be uttered (not on the baby’s part anyway) this two-way interaction has two active contributors (carer and baby). The interactions will be rhythmic and mutual; infant and caregiver are likely to appear to be in harmony as they take turns in this attachment promoting conversation which is likely to involve the infant and caregiver responding to each other with similar sounds, emotions and behaviours. Infant and caregiver are able to anticipate how each other will behave and can elicit a particular response from the other.

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Interactional synchrony

The word synchrony means a simultaneous action or occurrence. Interactional synchrony relates to the timing and pattern of the interaction. The interaction is rhythmic and can include infant and caregiver mirroring each other’s behaviour and emotion.  The infant and caregiver’s behaviours are synchronised because they are moving in the same, or a similar, pattern.

Condon and Sander (1974) have investigated interactions between infants and caregivers in particular in relation to responses to adult speech. In their paper they report “As early as the first day of life, the human neonate moves in precise and sustained segments of movement that are synchronous with the articulated structure of adult speech”. According to research by Meltzoff and Moore (1983) infants as young as 3 days imitate the facial expression of adults. This implies that this ability to mirror is an innate behaviour.

What does this overlap look like? The caregiver who smiles at their baby in response to a smile-like facial movement from the infant or who opens their mouth in mock surprise when the infant scrunches up their face, is engaged in this two-way pattern of interaction and is laying the foundations for an attachment to form. The infant that cries and elicits a sad expression and look of upset on their caregivers face or the caregiver who laughs in response to their infants giggling sound and tickles them, is experiencing synchronised interaction.

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Exam focus:

A psychologist is carrying out an observation of 10 month old Felix and his mum that lasts 10 minutes. He sits in a room with them whilst they play and used a stopwatch and also writes his observations in a notepad to analyse later. He observes that the interactions between them are almost totally equal, with Felix being timed as being “active” for 8mins 35 seconds and mum for 7 mins 5 seconds with some overlap where both are active at the same time. Some of his observations of their behaviour are as follows. “Felix is playing with a car, he looks at his mum and says beep-beep and his mum responds by saying honk-honk”

“F covers his face with his hands and then uncovers them saying “peek-bo”, mum covers her face and does the same saying peek-bo”

“Mum is capping her hands and singing but F rubs his eyes and frowns and mum immediately stops singing and pulls a sad face and strokes his face and then they are both quiet for 10 seconds whilst she strokes his face and he strokes her face”. The researcher has observed similar patterns of behaviour in mothers and children as young as 3 weeks old. Total-10 marks

1. Find one example or piece of evidence of reciprocity in the scenario above and justify your answer (1+1 marks)

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2. Find one example of interactional synchrony in the scenario above and justify your answer (1+1 marks)

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3. “The researcher has observed similar patterns of behaviour in mothers and children as young as 3 weeks old” What does this comment tell us about mother-child interactions (1 mark).

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4. What are two problems with the way that this research has been carried out (1+1 marks)

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5. How could you change the research design to address the problems mentioned in question 4 (3 marks)

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Exam focus

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Evaluation of caregiver-infant interactions

Evidence Research supports the concepts of reciprocity and interactional synchronicity.

Meltzoff and Moore (1977) used 4 different stimuli; adults displayed one of three facial expressions and a hand gesture and the child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers who had no knowledge of what the children had just seen. The behavioural catergories were mouth opening, termination of mouth opening, tongue protrusion, termination of tongue protrusion. Each observer scored the tapes twice so that inter-observer reliability could be calculated. All scores were greater than .92. An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult has displayed and the babies actions.

Isabella et al (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and looked at synchrony and quality of attachment and found an association between high levels of synchrony and better quality attachments.

This research supports because Meltzoff showed the existence of 6

reciprocity consistently between mother and child. Also Isabella found differences in the degree of reciprocity and intentional synchrony shown i.e. infants displaying more synchronicity were more strongly attached which shows us not just about the concepts existence but also about the purpose and importance of reciprocity and interactional synchrony.

Research methods-observations

Observations of mother-infant interactions are generally well controlled procedures, with both mother and child being filmed, often from multiple angles. This ensures very fine details of behaviour can be recorded and later analysed and improves the validity of the research and the use of independent observers improves the reliabilty of the research. Infants don’t know or care that they are being observed so their behaviour doesn’t change in a controlled observation which is generally a problem for observational research. This is a strength as means the research has good validity. However the behaviour of the mother may be subject to demand characteristics.

Not

universal

Interactional synchrony is not found in all cultures which weakens the support for the idea that it is important in the development of attachments. Le vine (1994) reported that Kenyan mothers have little physical contact or interactions with their children but have high proportions of secure attachments.

Practical applications

There is no simple answer about whether socially sensitive research should be done. There is an argument against socially sensitive research like that by Isabella et al. (1989) because research like this can be used to restrict freedom of choice – in this case the choice of mothers of when to return to work. Other people believe that knowledge is always neutral, not good or bad. Attachment researchers sometimes argue that they wish to equip parents with the best understanding possible of their child's needs so that they can make informed decisions. Unlike some areas of socially sensitive research, attachment research has clear real-life applications so there is a strong argument for saying that it is potentially very important. In order to balance this usefulness of their research against its social sensitivity, attachment researchers should be cautious about their conclusions and careful not to imply that people should make particular lifestyle choices.

Meltzoff and Moore (1983) demonstrated intentional synchrony with three day old babies. Which suggest that babies should be placed next to their mothers in hospital and should continue to remain in close contact for at least the first three months to improve the quality of attachment. Furthermore, Music therapists and other therapists who work with parents and infants/children who have experienced disruption in their attachment formation (e.g. when children are adopted and attachments with foster carers need to be transferred to adoptive parents) recognise the importance of reciprocity and interactional synchrony in their therapeutic work. For example, caregivers are encouraged to mirror and share their child’s emotion by imitating facial expressions and engaging in reciprocal behaviour in response to music or other stimuli.

Evaluation activity: Reciprocity and Interactional Synchrony: Meltzoff and Moore

Point One issue with Meltzoff and Moore’s research is the questionable reliability of testing infants.7

Evidence Infants pull ‘funny faces’ all the time and it is not uncommon for an infant to randomly stick

their tongue out, yawn or smile and therefore it is difficult to distinguish between normal

behavior and imitation.

Explain This matters because

Point

Evidence Meltzoff and Moore (1983) replicated their study with infants as young as three- days old.

The found that even infants this young demonstrated the same synchrony, suggesting that

the behavior is innate.

Explain

Point

Evidence Koepke et al. (1983) attempted to replicate Meltzoff and Moore’s findings, but failed to

produce the same result.

Explain This matters because

Stages of attachment identified by Schaffer.

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The study

Asocial stage

Indiscriminate attachment

Specific attachment

Multiple attachments

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) demonstrated that children go through various stages of attachment.

Stage Age DescriptionPre-attachment

/Asocial

Birth-3 months Babies start to smile and become more “sociable” and from around 6 weeks. They can tell people apart and like to be in human company so begin to form stronger attachments however these do not progress much until the next stage as can be easily comforted by any individual. At this stage, Schaffer and Emerson found that they did not show a fear of strangers.

Indiscriminate attachment

3 months to 7/8 months

Infants are recognising and forming bonds with their carers through reciprocity and interactional synchrony however their behaviour towards animate (faces) or inanimate objects (teddies) is quite similar. Towards the end of the phase they start to be more content when in the presence of other people and can be more easily calmed by familiar adults but will allow strangers to handle and look after them.

Discriminate Usually 7/8 The key things about this stage are that the

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attachment months onward infant begins to show separation anxiety and “protests”, usually by crying, when their primary attachment figure leaves (the biological mother in 75% of cases) They are said to now have formed a specific attachment. The second key behaviour is that they begin to show fear of strangers.

Multiple Attachments

9 months onwards

Shortly after infants show specific attachments they begin to make multiple attachments (29% within a month according to Schaffer’s study). This is usually towards friends, grandparents and child-minders/ nursery staff.

If babies could talk: What stage am I at? 1. Jacintha showed no distress when her mother (her primary caregiver) left the room to go out for the evening. When her older brother elbowed her she cried but was comforted after a cuddle from the new baby sitter who had just started that evening.

Stage: ____________________

Reasons:

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2. Ash went to nursery 4 days a week. When he saw his key worker at the nursery he was immediately pleased to see her and happy to be at nursery. When his mum picked him up from nursery he ran straight to he and was delighted to see her; the situation was the same when his dad picked him up. Once, though, his Auntie (who did not like children and rarely saw Ash) had to pick him up from nursery; Ash cried and clung to his key worker.

Stage: ____________________

Reasons:

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3. Albert cried the first time he saw his grandfather, who live abroad so had not visited him before. Furthermore, when his father (his primary caregiver) left the room Albert tried to follow him and tearfully banged on the shut door to try to get his father back.

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Stage: ____________________

Reasons:

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4. Jane seemed interested when shown the red balloon, her teddy or her older sister. She seemed quite excited when her dad came back home from work but she also seemed excited to see a blue balloon. When the blue balloon popped she became very upset; showing her the red balloon did not calm her down, but a cuddle from her dad did.

Stage: ____________________

Reasons:

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Extension: create your own scenario for someone else to guess the attachment stage

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) research Procedure:

Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson conducted a longitudinal study on 60 Glasgow infants (5- 23 weeks at the start of the study) from working-class homes at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of their life. The children were all studied in their own home and a regular pattern was identified in the development of attachment. The babies were visited monthly for approximately one year, their interactions with their carers were observed, and carers were interviewed. The mothers were asked to keep a diary of the infant’s response to separation in seven everyday situations:

Left alone in a room Left with other people Left in their pram outside the house Left in their pram outside the shops Left in their cot at night Put down after being held by an adult Passed by while sitting on their cot or chair.

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The researchers also carried out direct observations of the infants’ reaction when they approached him. (stranger anxiety).They were followed up again at 18 months.

Results:

They discovered that baby's attachments develop in the following sequence:o Up to 3 months of age - Indiscriminate attachments. The newborn is predisposed to

attach to any human. Most babies respond equally to any caregiver.o After 4 months - Preference for certain people. Infants learn to distinguish primary

and secondary caregivers but accept care from anyone; o After 7 months - Special preference for a single attachment figure. The baby looks

to particular people for security, comfort and protection. It shows fear of strangers (stranger fear) and unhappiness when separated from a special person (separation anxiety). Some babies show stranger fear and separation anxiety much more frequently and intensely than others, but nevertheless they are seen as evidence that the baby has formed an attachment. This has usually developed by one year of age.

o After 9 months - Multiple attachments. The baby becomes increasingly independent and forms several attachments. (p153 Ox)

Conclusions: The mother was the main attachment figure for 65% of the children at 18 months old, whilst only 3% of the infants studied developed a primary attachment to their father. By 18 months old, 31% of the infants had formed multiple attachments, e.g. to grandparents etc. By one year 78% had developed multiple attachments with 33% having five or more multiple attachment figures.

The results of the study indicated that attachments were most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the baby's signals, not the person they spent most time with. Schaffer and Emerson called this sensitive responsiveness. The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child but who plays and communicates with him or her.

NB: Different books have different ages – it is not set in stone – there are individual differences

Answer the following questions on the Schaffer and Emerson study:

1. What is a longitudinal study?

2. Separation anxiety is ‘unhappiness when separated from a certain person.’ How would Schaffer and Emerson have judged whether the infant was unhappy?

3. At what age do infants develop a preference for a single attachment figure?

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4. What is ‘sensitive responsiveness?’

5. Schaffer and Emerson found that the father was the main attachment figure for only 3% of infants. How might these results be different if the study carried out today? Explain your answer.

6. What does this study tell us about multiple attachments?

7. Do infants always attach to the person who feeds them? (Remember this for future use!)

Evaluation of stages of attachment

Research methods

Shaffer’s research used a longitudinal method meaning that the same group of infants were observed over a long period of time. This is strength as when compared to a lab experiment or observation, longitudinal studies can look at the real development of attachment and not just give us a snap shot like other research. Furthermore, Schaffer’s study observed babies in their actual home environment and so the behaviour was unlikely to have been effected by the observers and so can be said to have external (ecological) validity. However, Schaffer and Emerson’s study is based on a limited sample of participants. Whilst 60 babies is an acceptable sample size, all the babies were from the same area and were the same social class so is low in

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population validity.

Stage theory of

attachment

One strength of Shaffer’s theory is that the stages link to reciprocity and interactional synchrony particularly at the indiscriminate stage. This can be used as evidence to support the stages outlined by Shaffer as well as support for the existence of reciprocity and interactional synchrony. However, one limitation with stage theories is that they are inflexible. For example, If a child doesn’t fit into the particular stage at the “right” time then they may be judged as abnormal or parents might become worried if these stages are a standard by which families are judged. For example, it has been found that in some cultures multiple caregivers are the norm so multiple attachments may develop immediately instead of specific attachments and as child rearing practices vary from culture to culture and over time these results do not necessarily generalise well to explain how attachments develop in other cultures.

The role of the father.__________________________

Multiple attachments

Attachment to fathers

Father's role

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Fathers as primary carers

Weighing up the role of the father. People are interested in finding out whether it is essential that the mother should be the primary caregiver and attachment figure.

Is it possible for fathers to be equally good/better than mothers?Will there be a long-term impact in terms of attachment if the primary caregiver is male?

Task 1: Read the material below and off the power point and summarise the findings presented:

Are fathers important in attachment?

Which research suggests that father are important as attachment figures and why?

Which research suggests that fathers are not particularly important as attachment figures?

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Task 2: Now try to find out some more about the debate about fathers. These questions may help get you started:

Are there biological reasons why men should not be the ones to provide emotional care?

Do social stereotypes prevent fathers from providing emotional care? What evidence is there that the role of the father is changing? Aside from emotional care what other factors are important in attachment?

The role of the father So how important is the role of fathers in a child’s development? Traditionally research looks at mother-child interactions and there is limited research into this area. The research that has been carried out focus on different areas and so it’s hard to come up with a definitive answer however research does suggested that the father plays a key role in the development of attachments.

Summary of the key findings Fathers play interactions are more exciting and

pleasurable than mothers Mothers are more nurturing and affectionate Mothers are preferred when children are

distressed and seeking comfort Fathers are preferred when children are in a positive emotional state and want

stimulation (Lamb 1987) Fathers are less able than mothers to detect low levels of infant distress (Hrdy

1999) However fathers that do become the main care provider do quickly develop

more sensitivity to children’s needs and become a safe base for children to explore from suggesting that sensitive responsiveness is not necessarily a biological ability limited to women Lamb (1987).

Marital intimacy was linked to security of father-infant interactions. So the fathers with secure father-infant interactions had secure and intimate relationships with the child’s mother. (Belsky 2009)

Evidence to support the role of the father

Grossman (2002): play not nurture

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Grossman has suggested that the father has a different, unique role in attachment-one that is more to do with play and stimulation and less to do with nurturing. A longitudinal study was carried out looking at parent’s behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachment in their teens. It was the quality of the mother’s attachment and not the fathers that was related to attachment in their teens but the quality of fathers play with infants was related. So this evidence shows that the father is still important in a child’s development and their role does impact on the quality of their attachments in their teenage years but through play and not nurturing and being the primary attachment figure.

HOWEVER There is evidence that contradicts the idea that fathers can play the same role as mothers successfully.

Grossman suggests that fathers as secondary attachment figures have an important role to play in a child’s development however research by Golombok (2004) have found that children growing up in a single or same sex parent household do not develop any differently and so questions the importance of the role of the father in attachment.

Field (1978): level of responsiveness not genderField filmed 4-month-old babies in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers. They found that primary caregiver fathers like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers and that this behaviour is important in the building of attachments. This is suggesting the father is as capable as the mother of being a sensitive and caring primary caregiver if given the chance and that it is the level of responsiveness and not the gender of the parent that is the key to the attachment relationship.

There are a number of factors that contribute to the different attachments made between the child and their father

Social policies

In the UK, fathers until last year were not given any paternal leave so the responsibility for child care was implicitly given to the mothers. This could change the attachment the children make with their fathers. However this is not the case in every country so the pattern of attachment between father and children might be different.

Biological factors

Research suggests that a sensitive male carer is as capable of effective child rearing as a female but why do men not tend to take on this role? Men seem to lack the emotional sensitivity to infant cues (Heerman, et al. 1994) that women offer spontaneously. This is of course to do (in part) with traditional gender roles but it could be the fact that female hormones create higher levels of empathy which biological pre-dispose women to be the primary attachment figure. Women produce a hormone, oestrogen which increases emotional response to other’s needs.

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However Frodi et al. (1978) found that men’s physiological response was the same than women’s.

Age and gender

Freeman et al. (2010) found that male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children. He also found that children are more likely to be attached to their father during their late childhood to early adolescence. Infants and young adults are less likely to seek attachment to their fathers.

The contradictory research in this field can be used to help develop the quality of attachments within the whole family as it shows that the

parents relationships can impact on the father-child relationships. It can also be used to try to validate/increase the role that fathers play in families as it shows how important it is to a child’s development.

Exam focus:

Multiple attachments__________________________So what does the evidence show us then about multiple attachments?

29% of infants develop multiple attachments within a month of developing specific attachments (by 40 weeks)

- By the age of one 78% of children have multiple attachments- By the age of one 33% of the 78% have 5 or more attachments (Schaffer)

Fathers are one of the key multiple attachments that children form and that this attachment is important for a child’s development.

Do all babies develop a single attachment to the main carer before they develop multiple attachments?

Bowlby developed the idea of monotropy – babies have one key attachment figure. This figure is usually, but does not have to be, the mother. Secondary attachments then follow, such as to the father and siblings.

Outline the role of the father in attachment (6 marks)

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If babies do develop multiple attachments after a primary attachment to one person, are multiple attachments of equal strength to the primary attachment or not?

Rutter (1995) saw all attachments as being equal – so there is no such thing as primary and secondary attachments. All a child’s attachments give the child an idea of how relationships work (an internal working model).

Is the picture clear on multiple attachments?

In some cultures multiple caregivers are the norm so multiple attachments may develop immediately instead of specific attachments. For instance, Sagi et al (1994) looked at children raised in a community children’s home in kibbutzim where they slept away from their parents, and compared them to children with family based sleeping arrangements. Attachment to the mother was twice as strong in the family based arrangements.

Animal studies of attachment: Lorenz and Harlow. __________________________Starter:

Why do we carry out research on animals?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are the advantages of this?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are the disadvantages of this?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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In the early 20th century a number of ethologists conducted animal studies looking at attachment in infant animals to inform their understanding of human mother-infant attachments.

Lorenz (1935)

Ethology The study of animal behaviour.

Imprinting Newly hatched goslings attach to the first moving object they see.

Critical period Imprinting must occur within a few hours after birth.Sexual imprinting

Birds show courtship behaviour towards whatever species they imprint on.

To investigate the mechanisms of imprinting, where bird species mobile from birth follow and form attachment to the first moving object they see.

Lorenz split a clutch of greylag goose eggs into two batches- one naturally hatched by the mother, one in an incubator with Lorenz

as the first moving object they saw. He then recorded their behaviour.

He also marked the gooslings and placed them under an upturned box, then removed it and recorded their behaviour.

FindingsThe incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas the control group followed their mother. When the two groups were mixed up the incubator group still continued to follow Lorenz and the control group the mother.

There was a critical period of between 4-25 hours (depending on species) and if imprinting did not occur the chicks did not attach to a mother figure.

Lorenz subsequently reported that the goslings imprinted on humans would later attempt to mate with humans.

The fact that the goslings studies imprinted irreversibly so early in life, suggests that this was operating within a critical period, which was underpinned by biological changes. The longevity of the goslings’ bond with Lorenz would support the view that, on some level, early attachment experiences do predict future bonds. The powerful instinctive behaviour that the goslings displayed would suggest that attachments are biologically programmed into species according to adaptive pressures; goslings innately follow moving objects shortly after hatching, as this would be adaptive given their premature mobility.

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Harlow (1959)

Importance of contact comfort

Infant monkeys prefer a soft toy mother to a wire one regardless of which provides milk.

Maternal deprivation Monkeys brought up without a mother were dysfunctional as adults.

Critical period Monkeys had around 90 days to attach to a mother figure or they could not form an attachment.

To determine whether food or close comfort was the important factor in attachment, Harlow placed 16 baby rhesus monkeys in cages with two surrogate mothers; a harsh wire mother or a soft towelling mother.

4 of the 16 monkeys were used in each of the following four conditions--wire mother producing milk, towel mother no milk-wire mother no milk, towelling mother producing milk-wire mother producing milk-towelling mother producing milk

The amount of time spent with each mother was recorded as well as feeding time.The monkeys were frightened with a loud noise to test for mother preference during stress. A large cage was also used to test for degree of exploration.

FindingsMonkeys preferred contact with the towelling mother when given a choice of surrogate mothers, regardless of whether she produced milk; they even stretched across to the wire mother to feed whilst clinging to the towelling mother.

Monkeys with only the wire mother showed signs of stress as had diarrhoea.

When frightened by a loud noise, monkeys clung to the towelling mother in conditions where she was available.

In larger cage conditions monkeys with towelling mothers explored more and visiting their surrogate mothers more often.

Monkeys in adulthood

Monkeys in some of Harlow’s experiments were followed into adulthood and severe consequences were found- more aggressive, less sociable, bred less often as were unskilled at mating. As mothers some of the monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children even killing them in some cases.

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The rhesus monkeys’ willingness to seek refuge from something offering comfort rather than food would suggest that food is not as crucial as comfort when forming a bond. The fact that isolated monkeys displayed long-term dysfunctional behaviour illustrates, once more, that early attachment experiences predict long-term social development. Despite being fed, isolated monkeys failed to develop functional social behaviour, which would suggest that animals have greater needs that just the provision of food.

Harlow concluded that “contact comfort” (provided by the cloth mother) was more important than food in the formation of attachment. This also shows that contact comfort is preferable to food but not sufficient for healthy development. He also concluded that early maternal deprivation leads to emotional damage but that its impact could be reversed in monkeys if an attachment was made before the end of the critical period. However if maternal deprivation lasted after the end of the critical period then no amount of exposure to mothers or peers could alter the emotional damage that had already occurred. 

Answer the following questions to consolidate learning:

1. What is imprinting?

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2. What is a critical period?

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3. What would Lorenz results suggest about the cause of attachment? (nature? Nurture?) Explain your answer

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4. Psychologists use animal studies when studying attachment behaviour.a Outline 22

one practical reason for using animals rather than humans when studying attachment behaviour.

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5. Suggest one ethical reason for using animals rather than humans when studying attachment behaviour.

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6. Outline the procedure and findings of Harlow (1958).

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7. Explain why Harlow’s study undermines the learning theory explanation of attachment.

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8. What long-term effects did deprivation have on the monkeys in the study by Harlow (1958)?

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Evaluation of animal studies

Theoretical value Harlow’s findings have had a profound effect on psychologists understanding of mother-infant attachment. Most importantly Harlow showed that attachment does not develop as a result of being fed by a mother figure but s a

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result of contact comfort. He also showed us the importance of the quality of early relationships for later social development.

Difference in nature and complexity of the bond (taken from mark scheme)

It is argued that it is not appropriate to generalise Lorenz’s findings to humans as a mammal’s attachment system is quite different to that of birds. Mammals show more emotional attachment to their young and may be able to form attachments at any time, albeit less easily in infants so the bond in humans is much more complex.

Problems of extrapolation to attachment in human infants (taken form mark scheme)

Monkeys are similar in some ways to humans. They are primates, and it is likely that attachment works in a similar way in all primates. On the other hand, there are also key differences between humans and monkeys. Humans have much larger brains and are psychologically more complex. Humans can make conscious decisions about social interactions to a much greater extent than monkeys. The major argument against applying animal studies of attachment to humans is one of generalisability; we simply don't know how similar attachment is in humans and monkeys. The major argument for applying animal studies is that we can have tight control over the conditions in animal studies; in humans we can only study existing cases of deprivation, not create those conditions for an experiment.

Ethical issues Harlow faced severe criticism for the ethics of his research. The species were considered similar enough to humans to be generalised to them and so the suffering they encountered was presumably very human like there were sever long term effects for all of the monkeys involved. Some argue the findings were important enough to justify the ethical issues though.

Imprinting not always permanent -

Lorenz work has been replicated and in some cases it was found that imprinting was not always permanent. Guiton (1966) found that when chickens were imprinted to a yellow rubber glove they did at first imprint on it but learned with experience to prefer mating with other chickens eventually so it suggests that the impact of imprinting on mating behaviour is not as permanent as Lorenz believed.

Practical applications

Harlow’s research has helped social workers to understand risk factors in child neglect and abuse and so intervene to prevent it (Howe 1998). They have also been important in the care of captive monkeys and we now understand the importance of proper attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoo’s and breeding programmes.

Task: Mark this answer and give three improvement points.

Discuss animal studies of attachment, including research by Lorenz and Harlow (16)

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Animal studies of attachment are useful because you can’t do the same kinds of things practically or ethically with humans, so they give support to theories like Bowlby’s theory. In this essay I am going to describe and evaluate Lorenz’s research on imprinting and Harlow’s research on contact comfort. Both were important in the development of Bowlby’s theory. Before Bowlby’s theory there was also learning theory and his research was important in showing that learning theory was wrong.Lorenz did research with Geese and Goslings. He had a group of goose eggs and when one lot hatched the first thing is saw was Lorenz. They followed him around. To test this Lorenz put a whole lot of young geese together, some of them imprinted on their real mother. As expected the ones that imprinted on Lorenz followed him instead of their real mother. Bowlby based his idea of attachment on imprinting and said that babies become attached to geese imprint-because it makes them more likely to survive as they stick close to an adult and are less likely to be eaten.Harlow’s study was with baby monkeys. He had observed that baby monkey’s survived better in cages without their mother if you gave them soft cloth to cuddle. He set up an experiment to test this where there were two wire mothers. One of the mothers had a feeding bottle attached while the other one was covered in cloth. The monkeys were kept all the time in a cage with just these two wire mothers. The monkeys spent their time with the cloth covered mother not the other one which shows that contact comfort is important in attachment.

The big issue with these studies is how much they do tell us about human attachment. In the case of geese they are quite different to humans because the attachment system is much more advanced. Research with Monkeys is better because they are animals too.

Improvement points1.

2.

3.

Outline the procedure used in one study of animal attachment [4 marks]

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Outline one strength and one weakness of animal studies into attachment (4)

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Explanations of attachment:

Learning theory __________________________The Behavioural explanation proposes that all behaviour is learnt rather than inborn (innate). When children are born they are like blank slates and everything they become can be explained in terms of the experiences they have. Learning theory is put forward by behaviourist who focus solely on behaviour- what people do rather than what they might be thinking. Behaviourists suggest all behaviour and so attachment can be explained using the concepts of classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

DOLLARD and MILER (1950) propose that attachments can be learnt through two processes (a) Operant Conditioning and (b) classical conditioning.The learning theories of attachment is also known as “cupboard love”.There are two types of conditioning involved in learning theory:

Classical conditioning is learning by association (of the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus)

Operant conditioning is learning by consequences. There are two types of reinforcement; positive and negative.

Classical conditioning

According to the classical conditioning part of learning theory attachment is formed partly due to learning through association. Food (Unconditioned stimulus) naturally produces a sense of pleasure in a child (unconditioned response). The person who feeds the infant initially (neutral stimulus) provides no natural response but over time the “feeder” eventually produces the pleasure associated with the food; pleasure now becomes a conditioned response and the feeder the conditioned stimulus. This association between an individual and a sense of pleasure is the attachment bond.

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Task 1: Below is a diagram illustrating Pavlov’s original study of salivating dogs. Redraw the whole set of labels and illustrations (with an appropriate heading) as if you were explaining how classical conditioning can explain attachment behaviour.

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Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is learning through reinforcement of behaviour. Crying is an automatic response to hunger. If an infant is fed each time she cries, she learns that crying results in food, which is rewarding, and so repeats this behaviour more often - this is positive reinforcement.

The caregiver’s attention results in food, and so is also reinforcing. The primary reinforcer in this process is the food. The secondary reinforcer is the caregiver.

The infant learns that crying will maintain the caregiver’s attention and food supply, so attachment behaviours such as separation distress are formed. The caregiver is also conditioned by the infant. The caregiver feeds the infant, who stops crying. Feeding is repeated to avoid the discomfort of hearing the infant cry. This is negative reinforcement for the caregiver.

Learning theory and drive reduction

The primary drive for the baby is hunger; babies are driven to have their hunger reduced. Attachment is a secondary drive learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of the primary drive. Hence learning theory predicts that babies want to be close to the caregiver who feeds them.

Key terms

Positive reinforcement-when the consequences of your actions are pleasant, so you repeat the behaviour to again get the positive reinforcer e.g. praise, money.

Negative reinforcement- when you repeat a behaviour not because you are receiving a reward or something pleasant but are removing something unpleasant for example you take paracetamol to get rid of your headache which is unpleasant.

Primary reinforcer-this is something which is automatically or directly reinforcing e.g. food, money, praise.

Secondary reinforcer-this is something that is indirectly reinforcing so through classical conditioning has become associated with a primary reinforcer e.g. the mother giving a child food.

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Task 2: Put the following flow diagram in order to explain the process of operant conditioing in attachment and then label the diagram where the following occur- Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, primary reinforcer, secondary reinforcer

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Task 3: fill in the missing spaces to consolidate your knowledge of the learning theory.

Learning theory uses classical conditioning and operant conditioning to explain attachment. Classical conditioning is learning by ............................, and operant conditioning is learning by ..............................

In terms of classical conditioning, the child learns toassociate the carer with food. Food is an .................. ..................... which is associated with pleasure. At the start the carer isa ........................... ..........................., that is, a stimulus that produces no response. Over time, when the carer regularly feeds the child, he/she becomes associated with food and becomes a ...................... stimulus which evokes ................... . This is how attachment develops.

In terms of operant conditioning, if a behaviour results inagreeable consequences it is likely to be ........................ and if itresults in disagreeable consequences it is likely to ...................... .If crying results in feeding, then the consequences are pleasantand crying is ........................ Escaping from an unpleasantstimulus is also agreeable so it is a reinforcer. Most carersdislike hearing a baby cry so the cessation of crying is a .................... .................... encouraging the carer to behave in such a way that the child stops crying. Smiling by the child is very rewarding and is therefore a .................. ........................ so the carer behaves in such a way as to evoke smiling. In these ways, an attachment bond is formed between carer and child.

Missing terms:

neutral stimulus, conditioned, consequences, decline, repeated,pleasure, association negative reinforce, reinforced, unconditioned stimulus, positive reinforcer

Task 4: Answer the question below applying your understanding of the learning theory to a scenario.

Cheska is a baby. Her family has enlisted the help of a nanny to help with practical care. Cheska is bottle-fed and most of her feeds are administered by the nanny. Cheska’s mother works part-time so Cheska spends approximately the same number of hours a week with her mother as with the nanny. The nanny is mostly interested in

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practical care whereas Cheska’s mother plays with her and spends lots of time cuddling her.

1. Cheska’s mother is concerned that she will get more attached to her nanny because she usually feeds her. Based solely on your understanding of learning theory should she be worried?

You must include the following words in your answer-unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, Neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus, and attachment.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Using the evaluation in your pack, explain to Cheska’s mother why she might not need to worry after all.

You must include the following words in your answer- counter evidence, animal studies, Shaffer, sensitivity, reciprocity. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Evaluating the learning theory explanation of attachmentPlausible and scientific (from mark scheme)

Plausible and scientific as founded in an established scientific theory, i.e. likely that association between the provision of needs and the person providing those needs

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can lead to strong attachments; reinforcers are clearly shown.

Reductionist (from mark scheme)

The focus on basic processes (stimulus -response links, reinforcement) is too simplistic to explain complex attachment behaviours.

Counter evidence Some animal studies have shown us that young animals do not necessarily attach to those who feed it. Lorenz’s geese imprinted before were fed and maintained these attachments regardless of who fed them and Harlow’s monkey study showed the monkeys preferred the comfort monkey who gave no food.

Counter evidence Human research by Schaffer also shows that food is not the key factor in attachment as they found that more than half of infants were not attached to the person who provided the primary care (i.e. fed them) but instead were still attached to their biological mother rather than this caregiver and so there is no unconditioned stimulus involved.

Ignores other factors It ignores reciprocity, interactional synchrony and other factors associated with forming attachments. Research (specifically Ainsworth) suggests that it is the sensitivity of the caregiver that is important and that the quality of the attachment is linked to developing reciprocity and interactional synchrony. If attachment was just purely about food then there would be no need for these complex interactions.You can compare with other explanations such a Bowlby to highlight flaws and weaknesses.

Task 5: Is it really just cupboard love?

There are many strands to the evaluation of the learning theory explanation of attachment. Use the following headings to produce a comprehensive evaluation of the theory.

Point Evidence/elaboration

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There is counter-evidence from animal research

Lorenz’s geese study showed that...

Harlow’s research on deprived monkeys demonstrated that...

There is counter-evidence from human research

Schaffer & Emerson (1964) found that...

Learning theory ignores other factors associated with forming attachments

The quality of attachment appears to be associated with...

NEVERTHELESSSome elements of conditioning could be involved in attachment behaviour

Rather than feeding being the main unconditioned stimulus, it is probable that... (Note - if you have studied Ainsworth you can include her research in this section. What did she say attachment depended on?)

Social learning theory has also made an important additional contribution to the original learning approach by stating that...

When Max was born, his mother gave up work to stay at home and look after him.Max’s father works long hours and does not have much to do with the day-to-day care of his son. Max is now nine months old and he seems to have a very close bond with his mother.

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Use learning theory to explain how Max became attached to his mother rather than to his father. (6 marks)

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Explanations of attachment:Bowlby’s monotropic theory. The concepts of a critical period and an internal working model. (CRIIMPS)__________________________

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Based on the work of Lorenz and Harlow, Bowlby proposed an evolutionary explanation of attachment.

Critical period- Bowlby believed that if attachment hadn’t occurred by the age of two then a child will have difficulty forming attachments later on in life.

Attachment is an innate system that is biological programmed into babies from birth in order to help them to survive i.e Infants have an innate drive to survive.

Internal working model-The importance of monotropy is that, for a child, this special relationship forms a mental representation or a model for what relationships are like. It can therefore have a powerful effect on the nature of a child’s future relationship and their ability to be a parent themselves. Individuals who are strongly attached as children continue to be socially and emotionally competent in relationships and with their own children whereas infants with poor attachments have more social and emotional difficulties in childhood and in adulthood (the continuity hypothesis).

Monotropy - Bowlby proposed that infants have one special emotional bond, normally the biological mother (but not always) and that this relationship was different and more important than any others. Bowlby believed the more time spent with the primary attachment figure the better.

Babies seek proximity to carer (mother) for safety as it protects them from hazards; millions of years ago wild animals; today, cars, ponds, electricity. So security and secure attachment equals survival.

Social releasers are important for the development of this parent-infant attachment as they elicit caregiving from the parent. Social releasers are innate mechanisms so natural characteristics or behaviours of babies such as; Baby faces/cuteness Crying Smiling “pick me up!”

Outline Bowlby’s monotropic theory (6 marks)CR-

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Evaluation of Monotropic theory

Outline Bowlby’s monotropic theory (6 marks)CR-

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Research that refutes Bowlby’s monotropic theory

Research that supports Bowlby’s monotropic theory

An alternative explanation for the apparent continuity in styles of attachment lies in Jerome Kagan’s Temperament Hypothesis (1984). Kagan noted that innate temperamental characteristics which made infants ‘easy’ or ‘difficult’ had a serious impact on the quality of the mother-infant relationship and thus the attachment type. These innate temperamental characteristics would influence the individual throughout life and thus love relationships.

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Evaluation of the monotropic theory

Research Evidence from Harlow and Harlow (1962) supports Bowlby’s theory. They found that baby monkeys would cling to a wire model covered with cloth rather than a wire model that could feed it. The monkeys spent most of their time (22/24 hours) clinging to the towelling model, they went on to be bad mothers. These findings support the concepts of innate programming and Monotropy because the monkey instinctively sought to be close to one specific mother monkey even if it was a fake one and the fact if favoured the cloth monkey (22/24 hours spent with it) further supports the idea of monotropy. It also supports the idea of the internal working model because this monkey didn’t form adequate attachments and so didn’t form relationships as an infant monkey and went onto become a bad mother, suggesting that the monkey didn’t know how to look after infants because she had never learnt herself.

Research Evidence from Schaffer and Emerson (1964) which found that by 18 months old only 13% of the babies were attached to one person and many of the infants had as many as five attachment figures contradicts the idea of monotropy. Also Lamb (1982) found that infants had different attachments for different purposes rather than certain attachments being more important than others; fathers for play, mothers for comfort for example. Bowlby’s concept of monotropy suggests that the father can’t play the role of the primary caregiver as Bowlby suggests it’s the mother or a female substitute which contradicts research into the role of the father

Research Hazan and Shaver (1987) continuity hypothesis discovered that infants who had been securely attached when children went on to have happy, lasting and trusting relationships as adults, yet insecurely attached infants had less successful adult relationships. This evidence supports the internal working model because…

Economic implications/socially sensitive.

The concept of monotropy also included in Bowlby’s 1950s World health organisation report suggested that babies needed constant care of the mother for healthy social development which led to stay at home mothering and still has a negative impact on mothers today. There is still the idea amongst some that mothers should not work. Erica Burman (1994) and other feminists state that it places a terrible burden of responsibility on mothers pushing them into particular lifestyle choices and placing the blame on them if anything goes wrong in a child’s life.Further evidence however shows that good substitute care either in a nursery, the father or a family member does not have a detrimental effect on social development and so a

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mother can happily return to work after having a child and remain economically active contradicting Bowlby’s theory.

Essay plan: Outline and evaluate Bowlby’s monotropic theory (16 marks)

Ainsworth: The Strange Situation Types of attachment: secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant.

__________________________Types of attachment

Secure attachment- This is a strong and contented attachment of an infant to his/her caregiver, which develops as a result of sensitive responding by the caregiver to the infant’s needs. Securely attached infants are comfortable with social interaction and intimacy. Secure attachment is related to subsequent healthy cognitive and emotional development.

Insecure attachment- This is a form of attachment between infant and caregiver that develops as a result of a caregiver’s lack of sensitive responding to the infant’s needs. It may be associated with poor subsequent cognitive and emotional development.

There are two types of insecure attachment; avoidant and resistant (ambivalent).

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Insecure-avoidant- A type of attachment that describes children who tend to avoid social interaction and intimacy with others.

Insecure-resistant- A type of attachment that describes those infants that both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction.

Ainsworth and Bell's (1970):The Strange SituationAimsTo produce a method for assessing the security of an infant’s attachment by placing the infant (9-18 months) in a mildly stressful and novel situation and observing the attachment behaviours that result.

Procedures

The strange situation took place in a laboratory. The original participants were American infants aged between 9 and 18 months and their caregiver (usually their mother). The third individual involved in the strange situation was a stranger. The same stranger was used all the time.

9x9 foot space marked into 16 squares to help monitoring

Controlled observation set up in a laboratory using a two way mirror which Ainsworth used to make her observations.

The procedure lasted for just over 20 minutes and the behaviour of the infants was closely observed to assess the infant’s levels of exploring, playing and distress behaviours at separation and reunion with the caregiver and when left with the stranger.

Four main behaviours were observed: (important!)

1. Exploration behaviour (is the mother considered to be a secure base?)

2. Response to reunion3. Separation anxiety4. Stranger anxiety

Exam focus:

The Strange Situation can be used to identify a child’s attachment type.

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Explain how the behaviour of a child showing insecure-avoidant attachment type would be different from the behaviour of a child showing insecure-resistant attachment type. (4 marks)

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What happens in the strange situation? What type(s) of behaviour is being

measured1

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Task: complete the chart showing what happens in the strange situation and what type of behaviour is measured

If the infant became severely distressed in a particular stage, that stage was shortened.

Findings

Below are the behaviours observed in three types of attachment; secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant.

Secure Attachment (66%) Insecure-avoidant (22%) Insecure-resistant (12%)

Harmonious and cooperative relationship

High willingness to explore (using caregiver as safe base)

High stranger anxiety

Enthusiastic on reunion with caregiver

Some separation anxiety but maybe soothed

Avoid social interaction and intimacy with others and treat caregivers and strangers similarly

High willingness to explore (independently from caregiver)

Low stranger anxiety

Indifferent/little/no separation anxiety

Avoids contact on reunion with caregiver

Both seek and reject intimacy and social interaction

Low willingness to explore

High stranger anxiety

Very distressed on separation from caregiver (high separation anxiety)

Seeks and rejects reunion from caregiver (angrily resisting being picked up but seek proximity in different ways)

Conclusion

The Strange Situation is a controlled way of measuring individual differences in attachment behaviour, and these can be categorised into three broad types – secure (A), insecure avoidant (B) and insecure resistant (C). Secure attachment is likely to be the most common and preferred type of attachment in North America; Ainsworth and Bell argued that it linked to later healthy emotional and social development. They also said that there was an association between the mothers’ behaviour and the infant’s attachment. Ainsworth suggested the ‘caregiver sensitivity hypothesis’ as an explanation for different attachment types.

AINSWORTH’S maternal sensitivity hypothesis argues that a child’s attachment style is dependent on the behaviour their mother shows towards them.

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‘Sensitive’ mothers are responsive to the childs needs and respond to their moods and feelings correctly. Sensitive mothers are more likely to have securely attached children.

In contrast, mothers who are less sensitive towards their child, for example those who respond to the child’s needs incorrectly or who are impatient or ignore the child, are likely to have insecurely attached children.

Evaluation of Ainsworth strange situationsTask: This study is a controlled observation which took place in a laboratory. Using research methods, you should be able to explain strengths and weaknesses of this study. These can include; research in controlled, reduced demand characteristics with the babies, possible demand characteristics with mothers, and investigator effects, internal validity, low ecological validity, biased sample.

Write your own PEEL point to the following exam question ‘Evaluate the strange situation’ (4 marks). Your evaluation should focus on research methods.

Remember you need to link it to the study - generic evaluations get limited marks!

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Further evaluation: Ainsworth strange situationInter-rater reliability

The study has inter-rater reliability. Different observers watching the same children tend to agree on what attachment type to classify infants as. Bick (2012) found it to be as high as 94% which means we can be confident that the attachment type of an infant observed by the strange situation does not just depend on who is observing them i.e. it is reliable.

Real world application

The circle of security project teaches caregivers to better understand their infant’s distress signals and to increase understanding of what it is to be anxious. The project showed an increase in infants classified as securely attached from 32% to 40% which supports the research on attachment types because such research can be used to improve children’s lives which is a strength.

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ResearchThere is research to suggest that there are other reasons which may better explain why children develop different attachment types and that the maternal sensitivity theory places too much emphasis on the mother. For example, Main and Weston (1981) found that children acted differently depending on which parent they were with so may have appeared insecurely attached in the study to their mother but may well be attached to the father illustrating the attachment types are linked to individual relationships with carers and are not set characteristics of children.

Another alternative theory proposed by KAGEN suggests that the TEMPERAMENT OF THE CHILD is actually what leads to the different attachment types. Children with different innate (inborn) temperaments will have different attachment types. However, this too could be argued to be too simplistic.Perhaps, the most complete explanation of why children develop different attachment types would be an INTERACTIONIST theory. This would argue that a child’s attachment type is a result of a combination of factors – both the child’s innate temperament and their parent’s sensitivity towards their needs.BELSKY and ROVINE (1987) propose an interactionist theory to explain the different attachment types. They argue that the child’s attachment type is a result of both the child’s innate temperament and also how the parent responds to them (i.e. the parents’ sensitivity level). Additionally, the child’s innate temperament may in fact influence the way their parent responds to them (i.e the infants’ temperament influences the parental sensitivity shown to them). To develop a secure attachment, a ‘difficult’ child would need a caregiver who is sensitive and patient for a secure attachment to develop.

Culture bound

There is the belief that the study is culture bound, i.e. does not have the same meaning outside of the USA and Western Europe because children and caregivers may respond differently to the strange situations depending on their cultural experiences. Takahasi (1990) found that the test does not work on Japanese children because Japanese mothers are so rarely separated from their children that they show very high levels of separation anxiety and in observations Japanese mothers tended to race to their children and scoop them up at the reunion stage meaning the response was hard to observe. See next section on cultural variations.

Cross Cultural variations in attachment__________________________

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Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg

Procedure: Comparison of attachment types in 32 studies in eight countries.Findings: Broadly similar rates of attachment type across countries.

Simonelli et al. Half secure and a third insecure–avoidant in Italy.Jin et al. Most secure and a substantial minority insecure–resistant in Korea.

Conclusions Attachment broadly similar across a range of cultures. Some variation, probably linked to child-rearing.

Culture is the whole way of living your life – your religion, your language, your beliefs

A cross-cultural study is one that compares different cultures

Complete the following activity. Read through the description of each country and decide which type of attachment is being referred to.

Israel

In Israel, children were previously raised in a Kibbutz – a collective community for children. Groups of children shared a house and had a nanny (called a metapelet) who took care of their everyday needs. Parents would typically visit and spend up to 3 hours a day with their children, after work.

What type of attachment? Justify your answer.

Japan

Japanese babies are rarely separated from their mothers, and they are hardly ever left alone with a stranger.

Which type of attachment? Justify your answer.

Germany

The German culture values distance between a child and his/her mother. Proximity 44

and seeking behaviours are discouraged: “The ideal baby is an independent, non-clinging infant, who does not make demands on the parent.”

Which type of attachment? Justify your answe3

Activity 2: What is the difference between individualistic and collectivist cultures? Which countries examined in Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg research were individualistic and collectivist?

Individualist Collectivist

Countries Countries

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) cultural variations in attachment styles

AimsTo investigate variations in attachment styles between different cultures, using the results of studies carried out in various countries. These studies always used the strange situation; hence this study is a meta-analysis of those ones.

ProcedureThe results of 32 studies that used the strange situation to measure attachment

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behaviour were analysed. Research from 8 different countries was used, including Western cultures (e.g. USA, UK, Germany) and non-Western cultures (e.g. Japan, China, Israel). The 32 studies yielded results for 1,990 children.

Findings1.Secure attachment was the most common attachment style in all nations. 2. In Western cultures the dominant style of insecure attachment found was avoidant3.in non-Western cultures the dominant style of insecure attachment was resistant4. There was greater variation within cultures than between cultures.

Table to show percentages of children displaying attachment types in the 8 countriesCountry No. of

studiesPercentage of each attachment type

Securely attached

Avoidant Resistant

West Germany 3 57 35 8UK 1 75 22 3Netherlands 4 67 26 7Sweden 1 74 22 4Israel 2 64 7 29Japan 2 68 5 27China 1 50 25 25USA 18 65 21 14

ConclusionAs secure attachment was the most common style of attachment, there may be universal characteristics in infant-caregiver interactions. The variations in attachment both between and within cultures may also show that child rearing practice varies between and within cultures.

Activity 3: Answer the following questions based on the study above

1. How many studies were used for the meta-analysis?

2. How many different countries? How many children?

3. Children from eight countries were used in the study. Some of the countries were classified as Western and some non-Western. Highlight western in one colour and non-western in another.4. What attachment style was most common in all nations?

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5. For non-Western countries, what was the dominant insecure attachment style?

6. For Western countries, what was the dominant insecure attachment style?

7. Was greater variation in attachment style found within or between cultures?

8. Does child-rearing vary between cultures, why

Activity 4: Complete the questions on Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg’s (1988) research.

1. What do these results suggest about attachment types in individualist cultures (Europe and the United States) compared to collectivist cultures (Japan, Israel, China)? (4 marks) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Explain one strength of using a meta-analysis to assess cross-cultural differences in attachment. (2 marks) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Explain a problem with using secondary data in assessing cross-cultural differences in attachment. (2 marks) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. How could research into cultural variations in attachment affect the economy in any of these countries? (4 marks)

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Many critics have argued that this study is ethnocentric. Explain what is meant by this criticism. (4 marks) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Evaluation of Cultural variations in attachment.

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

The use of a META ANALYSIS is ETHICALLY SOUNDBecause there was no new data collection involved in the study (only analysis of secondary data), no more children had to be put through the potentially traumatic ‘strange situation’ procedure.

The study has significant

The use of the STRANGE SITUATION in each study is an issueThis is because the strange situation is argued to be an ETHNOCENTRIC procedure. It was developed in America, based on American norms, so it may only be useful for studying Western children. Using it to assess the attachments of non-western children

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APPLICATIONS TO PSYCHOLOGYThis study was the first large scale comparative analysis of attachment studies in different countries. The conclusions significantly developed our understanding of not just the different child rearing practices in different cultures but how these different child rearing practices can impact on a child’s attachment type.

could be argued to be inappropriate as it does not take into account culturally specific elements. Its use is therefore an IMPOSED ETIC when used in non western cultures. The study may NOT BE TRULY REPRESENTATIVEIn some countries, Van Ijzendoorn only looked at a small number of studies (e.g.1 in china compared to 18 in the USA). This means the results for these countries may not be truly representative and may not generalise to the country at large.

Issues with Cross-

Cultural comparisons

Cultural Bias: There may be differences in how different cultures raise their children. It is possible that behaviours that are valued in collectivist cultures differ from behaviours that are valued in individualistic cultures. The Strange Situation is based on ideas about attachment from a Eurocentric viewpoint, so people in the UK and USA may not value over-dependency on the caregiver (insecure-resistant attachments), whereas this is valued in other cultures, such as Japan, thus incorrectly interpreting a behaviour as insecure, when it is secure.

If the Strange Situation is affected by factors other than attachment then it lacks validity as a measurement tool. If the bulk of research into cultural variations has used the Strange Situation and it lacks validity then all the findings of this research are called into question and we may actually know very little about cultural variation in attachment.

Culture does not mean country, and each country will have a number of different sub-cultures. We must not conclude that all people from one country will act in a similar way. The few studies using the Strange Situation in Japan only represent a very small proportion of the population, and results may differ when other samples are used. For example, results in Tokyo seem to mirror findings from the US, but a more rural Japanese sample found an over-representation of insecure-resistant attachments.

Can we be sure that the procedures are standard from one culture to the next? Can we be sure that the tools used to measure behaviour are standardized in each study? This makes comparisons risky unless they are exact replications of each other.Simonella (2014) conducted the strange situation in Italy very recently to see if the attachment levels were similar to those recorded in past studies. 76, 12 month olds were used and they found much lower rates of secure attachment than in previous studies 50% secure (66% in original study) 36% insecure-avoidant (22% in original study). The researchers suggest it reflects the

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Cultural changes

increasing number of mothers of very young children working long hours and suggests that cultural changes over time can make a dramatic difference to attachment patterns.

Oumar (2001) studied the Dogon people of Mali using the strange situation and compared the findings to North American parents. They found no avoidant attachments compared to 23% in North American and 67% secure compared to 55% in North America. The style of child rearing is very different called natural parenting or attachment parenting with infants constantly in physical contact, breastfeeding on demand, co-sleeping and responding immediately to distress signals, so children aren’t left to cry like many western “cry it out” sleep techniques. This study again reflects the difference in results to the strange situation depending on culture i.e. is culturally bound and also highlights the differences in childrearing around the world. Attachment parenting is becoming increasingly popular in the west and so research needs to be carried out here to see if this style of parenting in the west provided different results.

Culture bound

There is the belief that the study is culture bound, i.e. does not have the same meaning outside of the USA and Western Europe because children and caregivers may respond differently to the strange situations depending on their cultural experiences. Takahasi (1990) found that the test does not work on Japanese children because Japanese mothers are so rarely separated from their children that they show very high levels of separation anxiety and in observations Japanese mothers tended to race to their children and scoop them up at the reunion stage meaning the response was hard to observe.

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation. __________________________

Bowlby

Maternal deprivation

Critical period

Effects

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44 thieves study

Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation.

1. In this hypothesis he suggested that “Mother love in infancy and childhood is as important for mental health as are vitamins and proteins for physical health” (1953)

2. If a child does not have a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with his or her mother (or mother-substitute) then they would have trouble forming relationships with others later on, and would be at risk of behavioural disorders such as affectionless psychopathy (see later) but also risk of intellectual problems e.g. low IQ.

3. If the separation occurs before the age of two and a half (without a substitute) the effects on the emotional well-being of the child are particularly severe, (critical period) although the child is at risk of deprivation up to the age of five.

4. Bowlby identified circumstances in which maternal deprivation could occur, which included the mother being imprisoned, divorce or even the mother working full time.

Easy to remember summary Continuous, warm mother love = Good mental health Broken, poor mother love = risk of behavioural and intellectual

issues, poor internal working model Broken mother bond < 2 1/2 severe risk but still risks > 5

Extension: Children who are separated typically show three key behaviours, in the same order, which we can remember as PDD.

P rotest The child cries, screams and protests angrily when the parent leaves. They will try to cling on to the parent to stop them leaving.

D espair The child’s protesting begins to stop, and they appear to be calmer although still upset. The child refuses others’ attempts for comfort and often seems withdrawn and uninterested in anything.D etachment: If separation continues the child will start to engage with other people again. They will reject the caregiver on their return and show strong signs of anger.

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Exam focus:

As a child Sally's primary attachment figure was her mother however in the first two years of her life she worked away from home for long periods, sometimes not coming back for months on end. Her dad did his best to be a substitute for her mother. Sally is now five and about to start school.

Sally is starting school, what would Bowlby predict would happen to Sally at school and why? Be creative and come up with real life examples e.g. Sally might start kicking kids in her class______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bowlby based this theory on his own study the 44 thieves- you can use this study to evaluate his main theory.

Bowlby’s 44 thievesBowlby studied 88 children aged 5 to 16 who had been referred to a child guidance clinic where he worked. 44 were referred for stealing the other half were a control group; Bowlby diagnosed 16 of the 44 as affectionless psychopaths – shameless and conscienceless. The control group had been referred for other types of behaviour but none of them were diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths. Bowlby interviewed the children and their family to build a record of their early life experiences. Bowlby discovered that 86% of the affectionless psychopaths had experienced early and prolonged separation from their mothers; only 4% of the control group had experienced such separation. He concluded that the separation had caused affectionless psychopathy.

Review of the main findings. From 44 thieves, 16 were diagnosed with affectionless psychopaths. 86% of the 16 had suffered early and prolonged separation from their mothers. None of the control group were considered to be affectionless psychopaths, and only 4% of the control group had suffered early and prolonged separation.

Task: You need to draw the 44 thieves as a flow diagram. You need two flows, one ending with affectionless psychopathy and one ending with the lack of this.

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Evaluation of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis

Research methods

Bias

Sample bias- the sample were children who were had all been referred to his clinic for issues with their behavior so we can’t generalize these results to all children as what about children without issues that were separated?Researcher bias- Bowlby carried out this research and came up with the term affectionless psychopaths and decided who fitted into each group so there is an issue with objectivity here.

Research methods-interviews

Remember to link it to the

study generic evaluations get limited marks!

Interviews used so issues with extraneous variables and other problems related to interviews (see research methods.-Interviews used so Bowlby was able to go into depth and find out rich detailed information on what is a sensitive area.All of the negative evaluation points reduce the support for Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis.

Deprivation versus privation

Rutter (1976) claimed that Bowlby was actually mixing up the concepts of deprivation and privation. He claims Bowlby never made it clear whether the child’s attachment bond had actually even been there in the first place and that in fact the severe long-term damage that Bowlby associated with deprivation was more likely to be the result of privation.

Bowlby's theory would be improved by making this distinction between deprivation and privation clear. He should have identified whether the children he studied were simply 'deprived' of emotional care in early childhood or whether they had not formed early attachments. Then he could see whether the consequences were different and reflect this in his theory.

Individual differences

Barrett (1997) reviewed various studies on separation and concluded that actually securely attached and more mature children may actually cope better and be less affected than

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insecurely attached children.

Real world

application

Bowlby’s theory and work by Robertson and himself had an enormous effect on childrearing and led to major social change in the way children were cared for in hospitals. Before the research parents were discouraged or even forbidden from visiting children who had to go into hospital but his research and footage showing how distressed these children became from Robertson changed this (See homework sheet for more details).

Research

Animal studies of maternal deprivation are interesting because they show that separation from the mother for as little as a day can have serious lasting effects on social development. This is consistent with Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation, and suggests that separations from the primary attachment figure can have a significant effect on development.However, these results are not supported by human research into separation from the primary attachment figure suggesting that this type of animal study is not generalisable. For example Lewis (1954, see textbook) did not find that separation led to relationship difficulties.

Exam focus

Joe was taken away from his alcoholic parents at six months old and placed in care. He was adopted when he was seven years old, but has a difficult relationship with his adoptive parents. He is aggressive towards his younger siblings and is often in trouble at school. His last school report said “Joe struggles with classwork and seems to have little regard for the feelings of others”

Bronze: Outline Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis (6 marks)

Silver: Explain Joe’s behaviour referring to the maternal deprivation hypothesis (6 marks)

Gold: Discuss Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory. Refer to the experiences of Joe as part of your discussion (12 marks)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Romanian orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation.__________________________Institutionalisation The effects of spending significant time in an orphanage or

children's home.

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The ERA study

Procedures: longitudinal study of the cognitive and social development of orphans adopted in England.Findings: some attachment problems and lower average IQ in those adopted late.

Bucharest Early Intervention project

Procedures: longitudinal study of the social development of orphans fostered in Romania.Findings: much more insecure and disinhibited attachment in children who remained in institutions.

Effects of institutionalisation

Disinhibited attachment (over-friendly) and mental retardation (low IQ).

Romanian orphan studies: Effects of InstitutionalisationInstitutionalisation refers to when children are looked after somewhere other than a home – for instance, they may be in some kind of orphanage or children’s home. Often (and particularly in the past) children had so many changes of carers in the institution that it was impossible for them to form any attachments. If the children had been in the institution since they were babies, privation may result where the child has formed no attachments. In Romania many children were placed in orphanages, although they were not always orphans. The grim conditions in the orphanages became known worldwide from 1989 and became a tragic opportunity to look at the effects of institutionalisation. Your

background research will have explained why Romania was particularly looked at. Some of the Romanian orphans were adopted by British families. A team of psychologists (called the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team) led by Michael Rutter have studied these children and the effects of their early experience. The studies are known as the ERA studies and they are a series of natural experiments that have been published at various times; the children

have been studied soon after arrival, at 4, 6, 11 and 15 and there are plans to study them into adulthood, so they are also longitudinal studies as they take place over time. Remember that a natural experiment is one in which the IV (exposure to conditions in the Romanian orphanages or lack of exposure for the control group) is not manipulated by the experimenter because it exists prior to the study; the experimenters simply measure the effect of the IV.

Define Institutionalisation

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__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What’s the difference between this and being cared for by a family?Institutional Care Family Care

Rutter (1998) Procedures -165 Romanian children were assessed on a variety of measures of physical and intellectual ability on arrival in Britain. Most of them had been in institutional care from shortly after they were born but they were naturally split into 3 conditions

1-adopted before 6 months 2-adopted between 6 months and 2 years and 3-adopted after 2 years.

The orphans were assessed for height, head circumference and cognitive functioning on arrival in the U.K and assessed again at 4. A control group of 52 British adopted children were also assessed to ascertain whether negative effects were due to separation from carers or the institutional conditions of the Romanian orphanages.

Findings

The children’s IQ was tested upon arrival in the UK and the average score for the Romanian orphans was 63. For those adopted when over 6 months old, the average was 45. Physical development was also poor, 51% of them being in the bottom 3% of the population for weight. They were also shorter in height than was normal for their age and had smaller head circumferences.

The Romanian orphans were tested again at the age of 4 and compared to a control group of 52 British-adopted children, all aged 4, who had showed none of the negative effects suffered by the Romanians.

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-At the age of 4 orphans adopted before 6 months showed no significant differences in either intellectual or physical development with the control group. All the children had improved though with the average IQ of the Romanians increasing from 63 to 107. However for those adopted after 6 months, it had gone from 45 to 90. The older adoptees tended to do less well in terms of physical development too. In follow up studies when the children were 6 and 11,

Rutter (2007) found that many had normal levels of functioning. However 54% of children who displayed disinhibited attachment at 6 years old still displayed disinhibited attachment it at 11 and many of them were receiving help from either special educational and or mental health services.

Disinhibited attachment is characterised by a lack of close, confiding relationships, rather indiscriminate friendliness and clingy, attention-seeking behaviour, a relative lack of differentiation in response to adults (treating them all alike, a tendency to go off with strangers and a lack of checking back with a parent in anxiety-provoking situations.

Summary of the effects of institutionalization

Some of the negative outcomes shown by the Romanian children could be overcome through adequate substitute care. Remember at aged 11 just under half of the children in Rutter’s study had normal levels of functioning.

But intervention should take place before 6 months of age as those adopted after tended to have lower IQ’s and be less physically developed.

Many children, especially those who had been adopted later, displayed disinhibited attachment -

Some research shows that the negative physical effects of institutionalization can be reversed by 10 1/2.

Separation from mother alone is not sufficient to cause negative outcomes as British children had been separated but were not developmentally delayed

The effects of Romanian orphans are still not fully clear as they still need to be followed into adulthood to see if the negative effects can still be overcome with more time.

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Le mare and Audet (2006) carried out a longitudinal study on 36 Romanian orphans adopted into Canada. They were looking specifically at physical growth and health and found that adopted orphans were physically smaller than control group at 4 ½ years old but that this difference had disappeared by 10 ½ and the same was true for physical health so shows that recovery is possible from the physical effects of institutionalisation.

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Evaluation of Romanian orphan studies

Reliability

Many other studies of Romanian orphans have found similar results to Rutter. Morison (2005) who studied Romanian orphans in Canada, and O’Connor (1999) who found indiscriminate friendliness (part of disinhibited attachments-treating strangers like a primary caregiver) was positively correlated to length of time spent in an institution. This suggests that Rutter’s findings are reliable.

Longitudinal studies

The children were followed over many years and so we are able to see the real life, long term effects of institutionalisation; a very bleak picture would’ve been painted after 4 years! These studies are also continuing into the future so we will be able to see even longer term effects.

Natural experiments

and extraneous variables

As these pieces of research had to be natural experiments there are of course going to be issues with extraneous variables and difficulties in establishing cause and effect. For instance Rutter acknowledges that is was difficult to find out information about the quality of care the children received in the institutions and thus the level of privation. Some children coped much better than others and it is thought that some children may have received special attention in the orphanages if they maybe smiled more for instance and so did have some early attachment experiences this is another variable uncontrolled.

Real life application

The findings of Romanian orphanage studies have led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions and so have been immensely valuable in practical terms (Langton 2006). Children in institutions now are assigned a key worker and have perhaps only one or two other caregivers responsible for them so that the children have a change to develop normal attachments, avoiding disinhibited attachments.

Exam focus

What does research show about the effects of institutionalisation on young children? (6)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Discuss the effects of institutionalisation. Refer to the studies of Romanian orphans in your answer. (16 marks)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships, including the role of an internal working model.__________________________nternal working models

Mental representations based on infant's primary attachment affects later relationships.

Later childhood Securely attached children have better friendships.

Bullying Securely attached children are unlikely to be victims or perpetrators of bullying.

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Adult friendships Securely attached adults have better friendships.Romantic relationships

Securely attached adults tend to have better romantic relationships.

Parenting Securely attached adults tend to form secure attachments to their own children.

The internal working modelWe have covered this already when looking at explanations of attachment. It was suggested by Bowlby that a child’s first relationship with their primary attachment figure forms a mental representation for the child and this relationship acts as a template or shapes all future relationships whether they be childhood, romantic, plutonic, or with their own children. The continuity hypothesis is based upon the internal working model and says that the specific attachment types of children are also reflected in their adult relationships.

Childhood relationshipssecurely attached children have better friendships and are the least likely to bully and be bullied.Belsky (1999) found that 3-5 year old securely attached children were more curious, resilient, self-confident, got along better with other children and were more likely to form close relationships.

Why?

Securely attached children have higher expectations that others are friendly and trusting and so enables easier relationships with others and closer relationships as they are prepared to be trusting and let people get close to them.

Smith (1998) assessed attachment type and bullying involvement using standard questionnaires in 196 children aged 7-11 from London and found that secure children are unlikely to be involved in bullying. Insecure-avoidant children were most likely to be victims and insecure-resistant were most likely to be bullies.

Why?As securely attached children tend to be more confident (Belsky 199) they are less likely to be the target of bullies for fear that they will stand up for themselves and as they have close friendships bullies risk then having the support of other children.

Adult romantic relationships : securely attached children have longer-lasting romantic relationships

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Hazan and Shaver (1987) The love quizProcedure

They analysed the responses from 620 respondents of a “love quiz” they published in the rocky mountain news (an American small-town newspaper). Sample-205 were from men, 415 women; 14-82 years old, 91% heterosexual, 42% married, 28% divorced or widowed, 9% co-habiting and 31% dating (some fitted more than one category).

The questionnaire firstly asked questions to assess current or most important relationship, secondly it asked questions about attitudes towards love as an assessment of the internal working model. Thirdly investigated attachment history to identify current and childhood attachment types by asking respondents were to pick which of three descriptions best applied to their inner feelings about romantic relationships (see below)

Findings

The table below shows the percentage of respondents classified as secure, avoidant or resistant. Attachment style

% of respondents

Response

Secure 56I find it easy getting close to others and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t worry about being abandoned or about someone getting close to me

Insecure-avoidant

23I am uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them, difficult to depend on them. I am nervous when anybody gets close to and love partners want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being.

Insecure-resistant

19I find others are reluctant to get close as I’d like. I worry my partner doesn’t really love me or won’t stay with me. I want to merge completely with another person and this desire scares people away.

Table below shows what percentage of each attachment type endorsed each statement.

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Internal working model statements that respondents agreed with

Secure Avoidant Resistant

It is easy to fall in love. I feel myself beginning to fall in love often

9% 4% 20%

Intense romantic love is common at the beginning of a relationship but rarely lasts forever.

28% 41% 34%

It is rare to find someone you can fall in love with

43% 66% 56%

The kind of head-over-heels love depicted in novels and movies doesn’t exist.

13% 25% 28%

Securely attached respondents tended to have a positive internal working model (see table)

They also found a positive correlation between attachment type and love experiences; the more attached a person was the more positive they found their love experiences. Securely attached respondents described love experiences as happy, friendly, trusting and were able to accept and support their partner despite their faults.

Securely attached love relationships were more enduring- lasting on average 10 years compared to five for resistant and 6 avoidant and if married they tended not to divorce.

Both insecure types were vulnerable to loneliness with resistant being the most vulnerable

Avoidant types tended to reveal jealousy and fear of intimacy.

Relationships with own children.If the internal working model is to be believed then childhood attachment type should affect parenting style i.e. if you are a securely attached child then you should have a secure relationship with your children and vice versa. This idea is supported by Harlow’s studies we looked at earlier as the motherless monkeys went onto become bad mothers but do human studies find the same thing? Bailey (2007) considered the attachments of 99 mothers to their babies and to their own mothers using the strange situation and an adult attachment interview and they found the majority of women had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers. Quinton (1984) compared 50 women raised in institutions with 50 women raised as home and found that when the women were in their 20’s the ex-institutional women experienced extreme difficulties acting as parents and more of their children has spent time in care.

Evaluation of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships

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Research methods evaluation

Remember to link it to the study generic

evaluations get limited marks!

Most of the research mentioned here used questionnaires or interviews and largely self-report and so encounter the common strengths and weaknesses of these methods and you can add more evaluation for yourself (see research pack).

Social desirability bias

Some of the problems to consider are social desirability bias especially in Hazan and Shaver as participants may be reluctant to admit for instance that they begin to find themselves falling in love often. This means the validity of the research is limited because they depend on respondents being honest and having a realistic view of relationships.

Retrospective data

Most studies rely on asking adults to recall their early lives in order to assess infant attachment but such recollections are likely to be flawed as our memories of the past are not always that accurate.

Causation

Also the research linking the internal working model to relationships is correlational rather than experimental so therefore we can’t claim that the reason for the later relationship style is the earlier attachment there may be other reasons such as the child’s temperament. It also means fortunately that if you have had a poor relationships as a child you can still have good, healthy and secure relationships as an adult. So these factors limit the internal working.

Some longitudinal research contradicts

the model

When people were tracked from childhood and followed to adulthood (rather than self-report as adults) then the results contradict the internal working model. Zimmerman(2000) studied 44 German children at 12-18 months to assess attachment style then again at 16 and found that childhood attachment was not a good predictor of adolescent attachment and that life events often altered secure attachments to insecure.Rutter (1999) also found the change could occur in the other direction and in his study found that a group of people who experienced problematic relationships with their parents went on to achieve secure, stable and happy adult relationship.

Low correlations

Steele (1998) found only a small correlation of 0.17 between having a secure attachment type in childhood and early adulthood. Fraley (2002) conducted a review of 27 samples where infants were assessed in infancy and reassessed up to 20 years later and found

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correlations ranging from 0.50 to as low as 0.10. So such correlations suggest that attachment type is not very stable.

Exam focus__________________________

Past exam questions –old spec but still useful

January 09

6 Ainsworth and Bell observed infants in an unfamiliar room to assess the quality of their attachment to their mother. Observations during this ‘Strange Situation’ related to the following categories of behaviour:Exploration – how much the infant explored the unfamiliar room;Separation behaviour – how the infant reacted when the mother left;Stranger anxiety – the response of the infant to a stranger;Reunion behaviour – how the infant reacted when the mother returned.

6 (a) Select two of these categories and explain how the behaviour of securely attachedinfants and insecurely attached infants would be different in the ‘Strange Situation’.

(2 marks + 2 marks)

6 (b) Briefly explain why some children show characteristics of secure attachment and somecharacteristics of insecure attachment.

(2 marks)

7 One situation in which disruption of attachment can occur is when a mother of a young child is admitted into hospital. A researcher decided to study the behaviour of a two-year-old boy who experienced this disruption of attachment. She decided to use naturalistic observation of the boy both before his mother was admitted into hospital and after she returned home. Each period of observation lasted for one hour.

7 (a) Suggest two suitable behavioural categories the researcher could use to record the boy’s behaviour.(2 marks)

7 (b) How might the researcher record the boy’s behaviour during the one-hour observation?(2 marks)

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7 (c) Explain why the psychologist might want to carry out a pilot study before the mainobservation.

(2 marks)

8 Outline what research has shown about the effects of day care on children’s aggressivebehaviour.

(6 marks)

9 A psychologist analysed the results of ‘Strange Situation’ studies from different countries.Some of the results are shown below.

9 (a) Outline what the table above shows about cultural variations in attachment. (3 marks)

9 (b) Explain one criticism of investigating cultural variations in attachment using the‘Strange Situation.’

(3 marks)

10 Psychologists have put forward different explanations of attachment, such as learning theory and Bowlby’s theory.Outline and evaluate one or more explanations of attachment.

(12 marks)

June 09

5 A recent study recorded the amount of time that children spent in day care from birth to four years, and asked each child’s mother to rate her child for aggression and disobedience. The study found that, as the time spent in day care went up, the mothers’ rating of aggression and disobedience also went up.5 (a) What kind of correlation is this research showing?

(1 mark)

5 (b) Outline one strength and one weakness of using correlational research to investigatethe effects of day care.Strength Weakness

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(2 marks + 2 marks)

The researchers also found that children who experienced better quality day care had fewerbehavioural problems than children who experienced lower quality day care.5 (c) Outline two characteristics of high quality day care.Characteristic 1 Characteristic 2

(2 marks + 2 marks)

5 (d) What have studies shown us about the effects of day care on peer relations? (4 marks)

6 (a) What is meant by the term attachment? (2 marks)

6 (b) Tick two of the boxes below to indicate which of the following statements relate to Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment.A Attachment takes place during a critical period or not at all.B Infants become attached to the person who feeds them.C Infants are innately programmed to form an attachment.D Attachments are based on the principles of classical and operant conditioning.

(2 marks)

7 Research has suggested that institutionalisation can have negative effects on children. In the1990s, many children were found living in poor quality orphanages in Romania. Luca had lived in one of these orphanages from birth. When he was four years old, he was adopted and he left the orphanage to live in Canada. His development was then studied for a number of years.

7 (a) Outline possible negative effects of institutionalisation on Luca. (4 marks)

7 (b) The scenario above is an example of a case study. Outline one strength and one limitation of this research method.Strength Limitation

(2 marks + 2 marks)

7 (c) Disruption of attachment can occur when children experience separation from their attachment figure during their early childhood.Outline one study of the effects of disruption of attachment.

(4 marks)

8 By observing interactions between the infants and their mothers in a Strange Situation, Mary Ainsworth was able to identify different types of attachment.8 (a) Describe possible demand characteristics in this research.

(3 marks)

8 (b) How does the behaviour of securely attached infants differ from that of insecurely attached infants? (4 marks)

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January 105 (a) What is meant by the term attachment?

(2 marks)

5 (b) Tick two of the boxes below to indicate which statements best describe the behaviour of a securely attached child in the Strange Situation.

A Exploration of the environment is limited because the infant has difficulty moving away from the caregiverB The infant explores a strange environment, plays happily with toys and uses the caregiver as a safe base.C The infant goes to the caregiver when she returns and is easily soothed.D The infant goes to the caregiver when she returns but is difficult to comfort.

(2 marks)

5 (c) Outline how Ainsworth studied types of attachment. (3 marks)

6 A psychologist investigated the effect of different forms of day care on children’s later social development. She selected two different types of day care:• child minders• day nurseries.The children had been in one of these types of day care full-time for at least a year before they started primary school.Each child’s mother was asked to complete a questionnaire.

6 (a) Identify one sampling technique and explain how it could be used to select the children.Sampling technique Explanation of how it could be used to select the children

(1 mark + 2 marks)

6 (b) The questionnaire given to the mothers included questions about the way their children’s social behaviour changed over time.Explain what is meant by children’s social behaviour.

(2 marks)

6 (c) Write one suitable question which could be used in the questionnaire to producequantitative data.

(2 marks)

6 (d) Write one suitable question which could be used in the questionnaire to producequalitative data.

(2 marks)

6 (e) Give one weakness of using questionnaires in this research.(2 marks)

7 Simon, a two-year-old boy, was left by his parents in a residential nursery for nine days.His mother did not see him during this time because she was in hospital. He was looked

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after by many different carers who gave him good physical care.7 (a) Explain how Simon’s behaviour might change as a result of disruption of attachment.

(4 marks)

7 (b) Suggest one way in which Simon’s experience when his mother went into hospitalcould have been improved.

(2 marks)

8 Failure to form attachments is known as privation.Outline and evaluate research into privation.

(2 marks)

June 10

6 Ainsworth identified different types of attachment in children, including secure andinsecure attachment.6 (a) Identify two characteristics of an insecurely attached child.Characteristic One Characteristic Two

(2 marks)

A psychologist investigated the relationship between type of attachment in childhood and success in later adult relationships. He published a questionnaire in a local newspaper. The participants were people who read the newspaper, filled in the questionnaire and sent it to the psychologist. Participants’ answers to the questions were used to decide whether they had been securely or insecurely attached as children. The participants who were identified as securely attached children were more likely to have successful adult relationships than those identified as insecurely attached children.

6 (b) Identify the sampling technique used in this study. ……………………Outline one weakness of using this sampling method.

6 (c) Identify one ethical issue the researcher would need to consider in this research.Suggest how the researcher could deal with this ethical issue.

(3 marks)

6 (d) Questionnaires and interviews are both self-report techniques. Explain one advantageand one disadvantage of using a questionnaire rather than an interview.Advantage Disadvantage

(4 marks)

7 Observation in a Strange Situation has been used to investigate cultural variations inattachment.

7 (a) Give one advantage of using observation in psychological research. (2 marks)

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7 (b) Outline what research has shown about cultural variations in attachment. (4 marks)

8 Both of Ali’s parents work full time, so they have decided to put him into day care.They do not have any relatives or friends who could care for Ali, but there are several types of day care available locally.

8 (a) Name two different forms of day care which might be suitable for Ali. (2 marks)

8 (b) What advice would you give to Ali’s parents to help them choose the most suitable daycare for Ali?

(4 marks)

9 Psychologists have studied children who have lived in institutions such as orphanages.Outline and evaluate research into the effects of institutionalisation.

(12 marks)January 11

6 (a) Mary Ainsworth studied insecure and secure attachments in infants by using the‘Strange Situation’.Describe how Ainsworth studied types of attachment.

(5 marks)6 (b) Some people say that Ainsworth’s studies lacked validity.Explain this criticism of Ainsworth.

(4 marks)7 (a) Explain the difference between privation and disruption of attachment. You may useexamples to help explain the difference.

(4 marks)7 (b) Explain how child care has been influenced by findings of research into attachment.

(4 marks)8 Learning theory provides one explanation of attachment. It suggests that attachmentwill be between an infant and the person who feeds it. However, the findings of someresearch studies do not support this explanation.

8 (a) Outline research findings that challenge the learning theory of attachment. (4 marks)

8 (b) Outline an evolutionary explanation of attachment.(5 marks)

9 A psychologist assessed the aggressive behaviour of 100 five-year-old children whowere starting school. The children had attended day care for at least 20 hours a week.Fifty of the children had attended day nurseries. The other fifty children had beenlooked after by childminders. The children who attended the day nurseries were moreaggressive than the children who had been looked after by childminders.

9 (a) Explain why this is an example of a natural experiment. (2 marks)

9 (b) Suggest one way in which the psychologist could have measured the children’s

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aggressive behaviour.(2 marks)

9 (c) Explain two ethical issues which the psychologist should have considered whencarrying out this research.Issue 1 Issue 2

(4 marks)9 (d) The researcher then decided to investigate how day care affects peer relationships.Explain what is meant by peer relations.

(2 marks)

June 11

4 Anya has a 10-month-old son called Ben. Anya sometimes ignores Ben and does notrespond when he cries. However, when Anya feels like playing with Ben, she wakeshim up, even if he is soundly asleep.4 (a) What type of attachment is Ben likely to show? Explain your answer.

(3 marks)4 (b) Explain how a psychologist could investigate Ben’s attachment type using Ainsworth’sStrange Situation.

(3 marks)

5 Outline what research has shown about cultural variations in attachment.(4 marks)

6 Psychologists sometimes use case studies to study children. One example was of a boy who was discovered at the age of six. He had been kept in a darkened room andhad had almost no social contact with people.

6 (a) How could a psychologist maintain confidentiality when reporting a case study? (2 marks)

6 (b) Psychologists use a range of techniques to gather information in case studies.Outline one technique which the psychologist could use in this case study.

(2 marks)6 (c) Apart from ethical issues, explain one or more limitations of using case studies.

(4 marks)

7 Some research has suggested that there is a relationship between the time children spend in day care and their aggressive behaviour. Researchers selected a group of school children who had been in day care. They asked the children’s mothers to estimate how many hours a week their children had spent in day care. They measured the same children’s aggression.

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7 (a) How many children are represented in this scattergram? (1 mark)

7 (b) Suggest one way in which the children’s aggression could be measured. (2 marks)

7 (c) In the media, it was claimed that the results showed spending time in day care causedthe children to become aggressive.Explain why this claim may be untrue.

(3 marks)8 Describe one or more studies of the effects of day care on peer relations.

(4 marks)9 Outline and evaluate learning theory as an explanation of attachment.

(8 marks)

January 12

4 A researcher investigated the effect of age of starting day care on levels of aggression.Four-year-old children attending a day nursery were used. Each child was assessed bythe researcher and given an aggression score. A high score indicated a high level ofaggression. A low score indicated a low level of aggression. The maximum scorewas 50.

Table 1 Mean aggression scores for four-year- old children who had startedday care before the age of two or after the age of two

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Started day care before the age of two

Started day careafter the age of two

Mean score 25 23

4 (a) Identify the operationalised independent variable and the operationalised dependentvariable in this study.Operationalised independent variable Operationalised dependent variable

(2 marks + 2 marks)

4 (b) What do the mean scores in Table 1 suggest about the effect of age at which childrenstarted day care on children’s aggression?

(2 marks)4 (c) Name one measure of dispersion that the researcher could have used to describe thedata.

(1 mark)4 (d) Draw an appropriate bar chart to display the data presented in Table 1.Correctly label your bar chart.

(3 marks)

4 (e) State an appropriate directional hypothesis for this study. (2 marks)

4 (f) Other research has shown that quality of care is important when considering the effectsof day care on children. Outline two characteristics of high quality day care.Characteristic 1 Characteristic 2

(2 marks + 2 marks)

5 Sam and Dan are both twelve months old. They are observed separately in77

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation. Sam is slightly upset when his mother leaves, but Dan is very upset and cries loudly.

5 (a) In the table below, identify the type of attachment suggested by the behaviour of each child.Type of attachment

SamDan

(2 marks)5 (b) Sam’s and Dan’s behaviour was then observed when the mothers returned. Give oneexample of the behaviour that each child would be likely to show.Sam’s behaviour Dan’s behaviour

(2 marks)5 (c) Apart from ethical issues, explain one or more limitations of using the StrangeSituation to assess the type of attachment in young children.

(4 marks)6 Outline and evaluate Bowlby’s explanation of attachment.

(8 marks)7 Psychologists have studied the effects of early experience on children’s later behaviour.This has included the effects of institutional care and privation.Explain what is meant by the terms institutional care and privation. You may use examples in your answer.Institutional care Privation

(2 marks + 2 marks)

June 12

5 Outline Bowlby’s theory of attachment.(6 marks)

6 A researcher used the Strange Situation to investigate the attachment types of twoinfants. Megan was classified as insecure-avoidant. Rosie was classified asinsecure-resistant.6 (a) Explain how Megan’s behaviour would differ from Rosie’s behaviour in the Strange Situation.

(4 marks)

6 (b) Give one limitation of the use of the Strange Situation in attachment research. (2 marks)

7 A psychologist carried out a research study to investigate the effects of institutional care. To do this, she constructed a questionnaire to use with 100 adults who had spent some time in an institution when they were children.She also carried out interviews with ten of the adults.7 (a) For this study, explain one advantage of collecting information using a questionnaire.

(3 marks)

7 (b) In this study, the psychologist collected some qualitative data.Explain what is meant by qualitative data.

(2 marks)

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7 (c) Write one suitable question that could be used in the interviews to produce qualitative data.(2 marks)

7 (d) Identify two ethical issues that the psychologist would need to consider in this research.Explain how the psychologist could deal with one of these issues.Ethical Issue 1 Ethical Issue 2 How the psychologist could deal with one of these issues

(1 mark + 1 mark + 3 marks)

8 Outline and evaluate research into the effects of day care on children’s socialdevelopment (eg aggression, peer relations).

(12 marks)

January 13

5 A researcher used content analysis to investigate how the behaviour of young childrenchanged when they started day care.He identified a group of nine-month-old children who were about to start day care.He asked the mother of each child to keep a diary recording her child’s behaviour everyday for two weeks before and for two weeks after the child started day care.

5 (a) Explain how the researcher could have used content analysis to analyse what themothers had written in their diaries.

(4 marks)

5 (b) Explain one or more possible limitations of this investigation.(4 marks)

5 (c) The researcher was interested in the quality of day care.Outline one characteristic of high-quality day care for nine-month-old children.

(2 marks)6 The Strange Situation can be used to identify a child’s attachment type.

6 (a) Explain how the behaviour of a child showing insecure-avoidant attachment type would be different from the behaviour of a child showing insecure-resistant attachment type.

(4 marks)6 (b) Evaluate the Strange Situation as a method for investigating types of attachment.

(4 marks)6 (c) Outline one or more studies that have investigated cultural variations in attachment.

(6 marks)7 Outline and evaluate research into the effects of failure to form attachment (privation).You may use this space to plan your answer

(12 marks)

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