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57 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Define attachment + example |
An emotional bond between two people. Leads to behaviour such as clinging and proximity seeking |
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Define the evolutionary theory and example |
For survival we attach, food and protection - Lorenz SURVIVAL ADVANTAGE |
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Learning theory |
The name given to how classical and operant conditioning explain behaviour, explains behaviour in terms of learning rather than high order thinking |
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What are the two main theories of attachment? |
Learning Theory Evolutionary theory |
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Who conducted the experiment of imprinting and when? |
Lorenz 1952 |
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What was the aim of Lorenz's 1952 imprinting study |
How did animals imprint in order to survive |
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Procedure of Lorenz's study |
12 geese eggs split into two groups 6 imprinted on the biological mother 6 imprinted on Lorenz himself Placed under a cardboard box and re released with both imprinted parents there |
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Findings of Lorenz's study |
Critical period was 36 hours for someone they could follow for more than 10 mins Geese followed their main caregiver |
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Conclusions of Lorenz's study |
Imprinting occurs on the first moving object the geese saw Critical period |
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One weakness for Lorenz's study |
- Animal studies cannot be generalised to humans - We are far more complex and do not need to imprint + emotional attachment - The study lacks external utility for psychologists to apply to everyday life |
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Define interactional sychrony |
When babies mirror themselves to their primary care givers motions |
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What study was carried out that researched into interactional synchrony? |
- Meltzof and Moore observed interactional synchrony in infants as young as two years old - An adult displayed one of three facial expressions and one of three gestures the child's response was filmed - there was a clear association with both the adults and child's facial and physical movements |
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Define reciprocity |
- When one person responds to another e.g smiling back |
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What are some limitations of care giver interactions |
P- It is hard to observe babies due to their constant movements E - It is difficult to be sure what is going on from the infants perceptive e.g are the action deliberate or subconscious E - We cannot be sure that behaviours seen in mother infant interactions are special or just subconscious |
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What are some strengths of care giver interaction studies |
P - well controlled experiments E - the babies cannot show demand characteristics and the Melzoff and Moore study used many different camera angles E - High validity |
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What did Shafer and Emerson find about the role of the father through their research? |
3% of infants primary care giver was their father 27 % the father was joint with the mother as the primary care giver |
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What did Grossman learn about the role of the father |
Attachment with the mother was more important for future relationships than the attachment with the father It was a longitudinal study He concluded that fathers were less important concerning long term emotional development |
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Outline the role of the father |
P - prmiary 3 % S - secondary 75% L - Later life mothers importance P - Primary other studies P - Play - fathers diffrent role in attachement R - Response when father takes up role of primary care giver |
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Outline care giver - infant interactions |
A - Alert phases - notify mother I - Interactional synchrony - Mirroring S - Supporting research Melzoff and Moore H - High IS = High attachment - Isabella et al R - Reciprocity - Responding B - Babies are not passive roles but actually active |
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What's one limitation of the role of the father research? |
P - Social biases prevent observation E - stereotypes are assigned to father roles as being more playful which may cause an unintentional researcher bias E - conclusions are hard to disentangle from social biases |
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What are Schaffers stages of attachment |
Asocial - first few weeks Indiscriminate - 2 - 7 months Discriminate - 7- 1 year Multiple - 1 year + |
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Define a social attachment |
Behaviours is similar towards objects and humans Easily calmed by familiar adults Happier in the presence of humans |
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Define indiscriminate attachment |
More observable social behaviour Recognise and prefer familiar adults No stranger or separation anxiety |
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Define discriminate attachment |
Form a monotropic connection with the mother 65% of the time Show separation and stranger anxiety |
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Define multiple attachment |
Secondary attachments are formed 29% of babies had a secondary attachment in Shaffer and Emerson's study within a month of forming a primary attachment |
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Outline the procedure for Shaffer and Emerson's stages of attachment |
60 working class babies from Glasgow were visited at home every month for one year and again at 18 months SEPARATION ANXIETY - measured through mother leaving the room STRANGER ANXIETY - measured through questioning the mother |
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Outline the findings and conclusions of Shaffer and Emerson's stages of attachment |
50% of babies showed separation anxiety at 8 months Primary attachment was mostly the mother Attachment occurred with care giver that was most interactive and showed reciprocity not necessary the person who spent the most time with the child |
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What was the procedure of Harlows experiment |
16 rhesus monkeys in two conditions one with a cloth mother who dispensed milk and another with the wire mother they would frighten the monkey to see how they reacted |
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What were the findings of the Harlow and Harlow study? |
- Monkeys cuddled the cloth mother more even if the wire mother dispensed milk which proves that we crave love and affection as much as food - Those who had been deprived of a mother were more aggressive and ant social in later life compared to other monkeys |
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One strength of Lorenz's study? |
P - support for the concept of imprinting E - A study showed chicks could imprint on yellow washing up gloves and would try and mate with them as adults E - There is an innate mechanism to form attachment as a young child supporting the evolutionary theory |
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One strength of Harlow's research? |
P - Application to real life E - Social workers could use it to understand the risks of child abuse and so to intervene and prevent it E - The usefulness of this research increases its external validity |
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One weakness of Harlow's research? |
P - Generalising to human E - Human babies develop speech-like communication which may influence attachment E - Psychologists disagree with the extent that primates can be generalised to humans |
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One weakness of learning theory? |
P - Animal studies prove evidence against food as a basis for attachment E - Harlow found that monkeys preferred the cloth mother even when food was not available showing out innate drive for comfort and love E - Therefore, learning theory is less valid as it can be disproved by the evolutionary theory |
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Second weakness of learning theory? |
P - Human research shows that feeding is not the most important factor E - A study found that babies primary attachment was not always with the person who fed them most but the person who interacted with them |
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What is Bowlbys monotropic theory? |
A - Adaptive (survival advantage) S - Social releasers (crying to get mother attention) C - Critical period (2.5 years) M - Monotropy (one single primary attachment figure) I - Internal Working model (continuity hypothesis) |
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What is one strength of Bowlbys theory? |
P - Lorenz E - Geese show innate imprinting so attachment is innate E - supports critical period and survival advantage |
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What is a second strength of Bowlbys theory? |
P - Hazan and Shaver E - Love quiz showed pos correlation between childhood attachment and future relationships E - Supports the internal working model |
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What is the procedure of the strange situation? |
- Children were judged in 5 categories e.g proximity seeking and stranger or separation anxiety - The child was encouraged to explore by CG and then a stranger enters and CG leaves. CG returns and the stranger leaves and CG leaves so child is alone then both CG and stranger return |
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What were the aims of the strange situation |
To assess the quality of a child's attachment to their caregiver |
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What were the three attachment types? |
Secure Insecure - avoidance Insecure - resistant |
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What were the findings of the strange situation? |
Secure - 66% of infants, child explores but sees mother as secure base, moderate separation anxiety, accepts on caregiver reunion Insecure - avoidance - 22%, child explores but mother is not secure base, no stranger anxiety, no comfort at reunion Insecure - resistant - 12%, child does not explore, considerable strange anxiety, resists comfort on return
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One weakness of strange situation? |
P - May be culture bound E - Cultural differences mean infant's may respond differently and caregivers will interact differently E - Takahishi found that mother are rarely separated from their mothers so showed high separation anxiety |
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A second weakness of strange situation |
P - There may be other attachment types E - Research has found that there are other attachment types such as disorganised attachment who do not fit a category E - Questions the utility of Strange situation |
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A strength of strange situation |
P - Predicitve validity E - Attachment types can predict later life development eg bullinging for children who are insecure resistant E - high validity |
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What were the procedures of Van Ijzendoorn's study of cultural variations |
- He conducted a meta analysis of attachment types in different countries and also within the countries to look at cultural attachment - He used 13 studies from across the world |
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What were the findings of Van Ijzendoorn's meta analysis? |
- Individualist cultures had similar results to Ainsworth (12%) - Collectivists culture had far higher insecure resistant like China where rates were above 25% - Inter country differences were greater than those between countries |
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Discuss Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation |
- Define deprivation - No warm attachment before critical period = emotional and behavioural problems in later life (internal working model) - E.g problems are emotional - emotionless psychopaths. Behavioural - delinquency |
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One positive evaluation of Bowlbys theory of MD? STUDY |
P - 44 Juvenile thieves E - 16 thieves were affectionless psychopaths and 86 % had experienced separation E - Supports the behaviour and emotional problems |
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One positive evaluation of Bowlbys study of MD? NON STUDY |
P - Application for real life E - Changed the way children are cared for in hospitals and allowed longer visiting hours plus more flexibility E - External validity |
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One negative evaluation of Bowlbys study of MD? |
P - He does not highlight the difference between privation and deprivation E - Studies show that the long term damage of the thieves is actually due to privation not deprivation E - Lacks internal validity |
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Two effects of institutionalisation? |
- Dis-inhibited attachment - equally affectionate to everyone due to adaptation of multiple caregivers - Damage to intellectual development - mental retardation |
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What was the procedure of Rutter's Romanian Orphan study? |
- Longitudinal study of 165 Romanian orphans who had been adopted and were assessed at various points in their childhood e.g 6, 11 and 15 years - There was a control group of 50 British children |
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What were the findings of the Romanian Orphan study? |
- Those adopted before 6 months had an average IQ - Those adopted after 6 months had an IQ of around 86 - Children adopted after six months experienced dis-inhibited attachment and attention seeking |
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What were the conclusions of the Romanian Orphan study? |
There is a critical period during attachment is that is around 6 months and a failure to form attachment before this causes long term damage |
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What did Zeanah et al research? |
- They conducted the strange situation with children who were in care and had never attached and compared it with a control group - 65% showed disorganised attachment and 19% showed dis-inhibited attachment |
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What was Hazan and Shavers procedure? |
Analyse 620 replies to a love quiz in a newspaper which studied three aspects of relationships; Current relationships, love experiences and attachment type |
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What were the findings and conclusions of Hazan and Shaver's love quiz |
56% of responders were securely attached 25% insecure avoidance and 19% insecure resistant Secure tended to be in longer lasting romantic relationships and insecure avoindant were more likely to be jealous |