attachment - ao3

• caregiver - infant interactions

  P forms the basis for social development

  E meltzoff (2005)

  E developed the 'like me' hypothesis of infant development based on his research. this 'theory of mind' explains how infants begin to acquire an understanding of how other people think and feel is fundamental to social relationships

  L explains how children begin to understand other's feelings
• caregiver - infant interactions

  P problems with testing infant behaviour

  E infants are in fairly constant motion

  E the expressions they tested occur frequently (eg. tongue sticking out, yawning, smiling)

  L therefore, it's hard to tell what behaviours occurred as a response to the caregiver

  C observers monitor infant's behaviour from a film to increase validity
• schaffer and emerson's study (stages of attachment)

  P sample was biased

  E cohn et al. (2014)

  E it was from a working class population in the 1960s. in addition, the number of fathers choosing to stay at home and care for children has quadrupled over the past 25 years

  L if conducted today, the findings may be different
• lorenz's research

  P research support for imprinting

  E guiton (1966)

  E leghorn chickens exposed to yellow gloves whilst being fed during their first few weeks became imprinted on them

  L provides clear support for lorenz's research and conclusions
• lorenz's research

  P dispute over the characteristics of imprinting

  E guiton (1956)

  E found that he could reverse the imprinting in the chickens that initially tried to mate with the yellow gloves. after spending time with their own species, this could be fixed

  L therefore, it may not be as irreversible as suggested
• harlow's research

  P humans and monkeys are similar

  E green (1994)

  E on a biological level at least, all mammals have the same brain structure as humans

  L therefore, the findings may be generalisable to humans
• harlow's research

  P confounding variable

  E the heads of the stimuli were different

  E there was more differences between the mothers than just material. the monkeys may have preferred the one with the more attractive head

  L the conclusions of the study therefore lack internal validity
• learning theory

  P based on animal studies

  E pavlov + skinner

  E human behaviour cannot all be explained by conditioning, it is more complex

  L may lack validity because it is an oversimplified version of human behaviour
• bowlby's theory

  P support for the continuity hypothesis

  E sroufe et al. (2005)

  E study followed participants from infancy to late adolescence and found continuity from early attachment to later emotional and social behaviour

  L this supports bowlby's theory
• bowlby's theory

  P there may be a sensitive period rather than a critical one

  E rutter et al.

  E it is not impossible for infants to form attachments past this point, just less likely

  L attachment can take place outside of the critical period as suggested by bowlby
• strange situation

  P high reliability

  E there was a .94 agreement between observers

  E the inter-observer reliability was therefore high

  L the results were likely meaningful
• strange situation

  P low internal validity

  E main and weston (1981)

  E found that children behaved differently depending on the parent that they were with

  L they could therefore, have been testing the quality of that particular attachment and not the type
• strange situation

  P maternal sensitivity may not affect attachment

  E raval et al. (2001)

  E found low correlations between measures of maternal sensitivity and the strength of attachment

  L suggests the findings/theory are incorrect
• van ijzendoorn and kroonberg's study (cultural variations)

  P standard methodology was used

  E strange situation was used in every country

  E comparisons can easily be withdrawn

  L reliability is therefore high
• van ijzendoorn and kroonberg's study (cultural variations)

  P 'tools' used may not be valid

  E the strange situation design was used in every culture

  E what is assumed to be secure attachment in one culture is different to eachother. in japan, dependence would be considered secure

  L the western criteria could lack validity in other cultures
• maternal deprivation

  P support for long term effects

  E bilfuco et al. (1992)

  E women who had experienced early separation with their mothers were 25% more likely to experience depression or anxiety

  L this supports the theory
• maternal deprivation

  P deprivation vs privation

  E rutter (1981)

  E criticised bowlby for not making it clear whether the attachment had been formed and broken, or not formed in the first place

  L lack of clarity in the definition may negatively effect finding validity
• romanian orphan studies

  P value of longitudinal studies

  E it followed the lives of children over several years

  E without such studies mistaken conclusions could be made, such as that orphans do not recover

  L this shows that it is wrong to conclude that the effects of institutionalisation are irreversible, making the study a strong one
• romanian orphan studies

  P deprivation is only one factor

  E turner + lloyd (1995)

  E the orphans faced much more than just deprivation. they faced appalling physical conditions and a lack of cognitive stimulation

  L effects of institutionalised care go beyond deprivation, thus creating confounding variables
• hazan and shaver's study (influence of early attachments)

  P longitudinal studies support the findings

  E simpson et al. (2007)

  E participants who were securely attached as infants were rated as having higher social competence as children, closer to friends at 16 and more emotionally attached as partners

  L supports the view that attachment types predict adult relationships
• hazan and shaver's study (influence of early attachment)

  P low correlations

  E fraley (2002)

  E reviewed samples where infants were assessed in infancy and later re - assessed. he found correlations ranging from .50 to as low as .10

  L provides a challenge to attachment research