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ATTACHMENT - psych paper 1 - Coggle Diagram
ATTACHMENT - psych paper 1
Lorenz research:
procedure -
goslings saw lorenz when they hatched
findings -
newly hatched chicks attach to the first moving object they see (imprinting)
sexual imprinting -
adult birds try to mate with whatever species or object they imprint on
EVALUATION:
research support -
regolin and vallortigara observed chicks imprint on moving shapes
generalisabitiy to humans -
attachments systems in birds are less complex and not two-way
imprinting explains computer operating system choice
Harlow research:
procedure -
baby monkeys given cloth covered or plain wire 'mother' with feeding bottle attached
findings -
monkeys clung to cloth surrogate rather than the wire one, regardless of which disponsed milk
maternally deprived monkeys as adults -
grew up socially dysfunctional
the critical period for normal development -
after 90 days attachments wouldnt form
EVALIUATION:
real world value -
helps proffesionals (e.g social workers) to promote bonding, also applied to zoos and breeding programmes
generalisability to humans -
monkeys more similar to humans than birds but human mind and behaviour are more complex
ethical issues -
procedure cuased severe long term distress to pps, may not be outweighed by theoretical and practical benefits
Explanations of attachment : learning theory (cupboard love theory dollard and miller)
classical conditioning -
caregiver (neutral stimulus) associated with food (unconditioned stimulus) caregiver becomes conditioned stimulus
operant conditioning -
crying behaviour reinforced positively for baby and negatively for caregiver
attachment
becomes a secondary frive through association with hunger
EVALUATION:
counter evidence -
lorenz and harlow showed that feeding is not the key to attachment
counter evidence -
primary attachment figure not always person who does the feeding (schaffer and emerson), quality of attachment related to interactional sychrony not feeding (isabella et al)
involved modelling attachment behaviours, includes role of active baby
Explanations of attachment: bowlby's theory
Monotropy -
one particlular attachment is different in quality and importance than others
social releasers and the critical period -
innate cute behaviours elicit care / up to 6 months, possibly extending to 2 years
internal working model -
mental representation of the primary attachment relationship is a template for future relationships
EVALUATION:
validity challenged -
the primary attachment may be stronger but not different in nature
support for social releasers -
babies become upset when attachment figure ignored social releasers (brazelton et al)
feminist concerns -
bowlby's views imply that mothers shouldnt work outside the home, but bowlby also gave the mother's role greater credit and the theory had real world applications
Types of attachment:
the strange situation -
procedure
- 7 stage controlled observation
assesses prosimity-seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger and seperation anxiety, repsonse to reunion
findings -
babies show consistant patterns of attachment behaviour:
secure - enthusiastic greeting, generally content, moderate anxiety
avoident - avoids reunion, generally reduced responses
resistant - resists reunion, generally more distressed
EVALUATION:
- good predicitive validity -
attachment type predicts later social behaviour e.g school success, bullying
- counterpoint -
kagen suggests behavioural differences due to genetically influnced anxiety levels
- good reliability -
94% agreement between trained observers
- the test may be culuture bound -
strange situation developed in Britain and US, other cultures have different experiences that affect behaviour in the strange situation (e.g Japan, Tekahashi)
- other attachment types -
also type D (main and solomon), but related to abnirmal experiences and outcomes
Cultural variations in attachment:
Van ijzendoom and kroonenberg's research -
compared rates of attachment type in 8 countries. More variation within than between
- Simonelli et al:
italian secure attachment rates dropped to 50%, may be due to increased day care
- Jin et al:
korean secure vs insecure attachment rates similar to other studies. But insecure avoidant simialr to Japan, could be due to simialr child rearing styles
Conclusions -
it appears attachment is innate and universal and secure attachment is the norm. However cultural practices affeect rates of attachment types
EVALUATION:
- indegenous researchers -
e.g Grossman et al (german) reduces bais and miscommunication with pps
- counterpoint -
not true of all cross-cultural studies (e.g americans, morelli and tronick)
- confounding variables -
apparent cultural differences might have been due to sample characterisitcs or environmental differences (e.g room size)
- imposed etic -
ebhaviours in the strange situation have different meanings in different cultures (e.g low affection = independance in Germany)
- competing explanations -
cross sultural similarity may be due to innate system or media influences
Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation:
seperation vs deprivation -
physical seperation only leads to deprivation when the child loses emotional care
- the critical period -
the first 2 1/2 yrs are critical and deprivation in that time cuases damage
- effects on developement - goldfarb
- deprivation causes low IQ
- bowlby -
deprivation of emotional care leads to affectionless psychopathy
- bowlby's research -
many more affectionless psychopaths than controls had prolonged early seperations
EVALUATION:
- flawed evidence -
bolwby may have been biased observer, Goldfarb's study had confounding variables
counterpoint - research with rats shows deprivation can harm social development
- deprivation and privation -
some of the 44 theives may have been prived, deprivation may be less damaging
- critical vs sensitive period -
czech twins recovery suggests it is a sensitve period
- confliciting evidence -
no evidence for link between deprivation and psychopathy, but other research supports it
Romanian orphan sudies: institutionalisation
Rutter et al research -
ERA project studied 165 romanian prphans adopted in the UK later showed low IQ and disinhibited attachment
- Zeanah et al research -
BEI project found secure attachment in 19% of institutional group (74% in controls), disinhibited attachment in 44% (20% in controls)
- effects of institutionalisation -
disinhibited attachment and delay in intelectual developemnt if institutionalisation continues after sensitive period for attachment
EVALUATION:
- realworld application -
both institutional care and adoption practice have been improved using lessons from romanian orphans
- fewer confounding variables -
romanian orphans had fewer negative influences before institutionalisation than e.g war orphans
- counterpoint -
espeically poor conditions in romanian orphanages could be a confounding variable
- lack of adult data -
we don't know the effects of institutionalisation care on adult developement
- social sensisitivity -
findings report poor outcomes for late adopted children, might affect self and others expectations
Influence of early attachments on later relationships:
Internal working model -
bowlby's idea that the primary attachment relationship provisdes a template for later relationships
- relationships in childhood -
securely attached children have better friendships / securely attached children less likely to be involved in bullying
- relationships in adulthood -
securely attached adults have better relationships with friends and partners
secure responder had better and longer lasting relationships, avoidant responders had fear of intimacy (Hazen and shaver)
mothers attachment type matched that of their child mothers and their babies (bailey et al)
EVALUATION:
- research support -
review showed consistant links e.g disorganised type and mental disorders
- counterpoint -
regensburg longitudinal study, no continuity in attachment type from 1 to 16 years
- validity issues -
self report ansers not always honest, and assumes that attachment type has remained the same in adulthood
- confounding variables -
association between attachment type and later development may be due to e.g parenting style or genes
knowing early attachment type might cause self fulfilling prophecies