Glossary

• Reciprocity


  A description of how two people interact. Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both caregiver and infant respond to each other's signals and each elicits a response from the other.
• Interactional synchrony


  This is when the caregiver and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of one another in a co-ordinated way.
• Attachment


  A two-way emotional bond between two people that develops over time, shown in their behaviour, e.g. clinging or proximity-seeking.
• Validity


  The extent to which a test or piece of research accurately measures what it is intended to measure.
• Reliability


  This refers to how consistent research findings are in psychology.
• Ethnocentric


  Centred around one culture/norms. Judging other cultures using our own cultural norms/standards.
• Longitudinal

  A longitudinal study is a study design that involves repeated observations of the same variables over a long period of time.

  e.g. Schaffer and Emerson's study on stages of attachment.
• Separation anxiety


  Distress shown by an infant when separated from an attachment figure.
• Stranger anxiety


  Distress shown by an infant when approached by an unfamiliar person.
• Snapshot


  This is a type of research that aims to gather data and insights in a short period of time.
• Internal validity


  A type of validity concerned with what goes on within a study - the extent to which the researcher is measuring what was needed. This includes the control of variables to ensure that changes in the dependent variable are solely due to the independent variable.
• Imprinting


  An innate readiness and tendency to develop a strong bond with the mother (the first moving thing they see) during a specific time in development, immediately after hatching.
• Critical period


  A biologically determined period of time during which attachment or imprinting can take place.
• Sexual imprinting


  This is when the animal attempts to mate with the object of attachment or imprinting.
• Generalisability


  The degree to which research findings can be applied to different people, situations, and context beyond the situation of the original study.
• Contact comfort


  Innate pleasure that is derived from close, physical contact, usually between a caregiver and infant. (Harlow)
• Maternal deprivation


  The act of being removed from a mother at a young age, and the emotional and psychological impacts that follow.
• Monotropy 


  The idea that one particular attachment is different and more significant than others. It is of central importance to the child's development.
• Internal Working Model


  Mental representation of our attachment to our primary caregiver. This affects future relationships as it carries the perception of what relationships look like:

  • loving relationship > loving, reliability, brings good qualities
  • poor relationship> poor treatment, expects poor qualities

  This also affects:

  • future friendships
  • ability to parent
• Law of continuity 


  The more constant and predictable a child's care is, the better the quality of attachment.
• Law of accumulated separation

  Substantial time apart from a primary caregiver risks a poor quality attachment that will disadvantage the child in a range of ways.
• Continuity hypothesis


  Suggests a link between early attachment and later relationships. Poorly attached children had more difficulty in childhood and adulthood while securely attached children form stable attachments.
• Strange Situation


  A procedure for assessing the quality of attachment between the infant and mother. Developed by Ainsworth et al. (1978) and involves a series of episodes where the child is alone in a room and adults come in and out of the room.
• Proximity seeking


  Looking to stay close to a caregiver
• Secure base behaviour


  Infant feels confident to explore, with the caregiver acting as a secure base/point of contact to return to.
• Reunion behaviour


  How an infant responds to the return of a caregiver.

  Attached infants will greet the caregiver's return with pleasure and seek comfort.
• Inter-rater reliability


  The degree of consistency or agreement between observers in the assessment of a behaviour/phenomenon
• Test-retest reliability


  Replicating a study and checking for consistent findings over time
• Secure attachment (type B)

  Attachment style in which infants feel supported, safe and connected:

  • Infants will show proximity seeking, exploration and secure base behaviours.
  • Moderate levels of separation and stranger anxiety.
  • They will also show reunion behaviours and are readily comforted by caregiver.
• Insecure-avoidant (type A)


  Dysfunctional/insecure attachment style in which infants exhibit self-reliance and do not care much for the caregiver.

  • They explore freely without care
  • Low levels of separation and stranger anxiety
  • Very little reunion behaviour
• Insecure-resistant (type C) 


  Dysfunctional/insecure attachment style in which individuals are dependant on others and are clingy.

  • Display high levels of separation and stranger anxiety
  • Doesn't explore much
  • Reunion behaviour - cannot be comforted.
• Disorganised attachment (type D)

  Dysfunctional/insecure attachment style in which individuals display a mix of avoidant and resistant behaviours.
• Culture-bound


  When something does not have the same meaning in other countries outside Western Europe and the USA.

  • e.g. The Strange Situation has been criticised for being a culture-bound test
• Maternal deprivation

  The prolonged loss or lack of emotional care, typically from the mother figure.

  Bowlby believed that ongoing maternal deprivation would have negative effects on a child's emotional development, leading to possible mental health problems.
• Maternal separation

  Brief periods of time where the child is out of the presence of the mother, but has emotional care from a substitute caregiver.
• Affectionless psychopathy

  The inability to experience guilt or strong emotions towards others, preventing a person from forming normal relationships and is also associated with criminality.

  Affectionless psychopaths cannot appreciate the feelings of victims and lack remorse for their actions.
• Privation

  A situation where no attachment bond has had the opportunity to develop.
• Institutionalisation

  Living long-term in an institution, where your behaviours and cognitions are affected as a result.
• Disinhibited attachment

  A typical effect of spending time in an institution.

  A situation in which the child doesn't seem to prefer his or her parents over other people, even strangers. The child seeks comfort and attention from virtually anyone, without distinction.

  Rutter explained this as an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during sensitive periods for attachment.