attachment

• rutter effect of institutionalisation. investigate whether loving+nurturing care could overturn effects of institutionalisation children suffered in Romanian orphanages. Longitudinal study. Physical, emo+ cog development assessed @ages 4, 6 ,11, 15. age of adoption naturally occurring (IV) + (DV) = children’s development. 111 Romanian orphans adopted in British families. 3 groups = b4 6m, 6m-2yr, 2yr+. compared to control group of 53 british adopted children.
• rutter findings = @ initial assessment, 50% rome orphans showed signs of cognitive impairment+ severely undernourished. by 4yrs made good recoveries but those adopted after 2yrs+ had higher level of disinhibited attachment. orphans adopted b4 6m were as good as british adopted. by 11, mean IQ orphans adopted after 2yrs+ was lower than those adopted earlier = cognitive impairment. those adopted b4 6m had normal IQ level.
• rutter's conclusion was some negative effects of institutionalisation can be overcome by sensitive, nurturing care, more so if the adoption takes place earlier.
• Research - effects of institutionalisation = practical applications bc principles of the theory that institutionalisation has led to psychological problems eg reactive attachment disorder, led to improvements in conditions experienced by children growing up outside family home. Eg, children’s homes now avoid having large number of caregivers 4 each child+ instead children tend to have 1 or 2 ‘key workers’ who play central role in child’s emotional care, to reduce negative effects of institutionalisation. Therefore, institutionalisation research is important part of applied psychology.
• Compared to prev research in2 institutionalisation, Rutter’s research has higher control over extraneous variables. previous orphans’ studies the children had often experienced trauma, neglect, abuse b4 being institutionalised + difficult to tell if any long-term effects were due to neglect+ abuse or the institutional care. However, in Rutter’s research, majority of Romanian orphans - handed over by loving parents who couldn't afford to keep them, = it was possible to study the effects of institutionalisation without these confounding variables. Therefore, increasing the internal validity
• ☹ However, studying children from Romanian orphanages might have introduced different confounding variables. The quality of care in these institutions was extremely poor, with children receiving very little intellectual stimulation or comfort. This means that the harmful effects seen in studies of Romanian orphans may be due to the effects of poor institutional care, rather than institution on its own.
• Cognitive impairment is a delay in intellectual development, an individual would have a low IQ and problems with concentration (Rutter et al), moreover they may have difficulty in learning new concepts and behaviours.
• Disinhibited attachment = children select attachment figures indiscriminately and behave in an overly familiar fashion with complete strangers, eg being friendly and affectionate. This is unusual behaviour as usually, young children would show signs of stranger anxiety. It seems to be caused by long periods of institutional care in early life, children may adapt to having multiple caregivers (not seen enough to form a secure attachment) during critical period for attachment formation. Institutionalised children often have other behavioural disorders too including attention seeking.
• Reactive attachment disorder = extreme lack of sensitive responsiveness from a parent in early life can lead to a child growing up unable to trust or love others. They become isolated and very selfish and unable to understand the needs of others can become sociopathic without a conscience, they can have a lack of remorse.
• Institutionalisation refers to children spending a long period of time living outside of the family home within an institution, for example, an orphanage. This can result in a loss of personal identity and the child adopting the rules and norms of the institution that can impair cognitive functioning.
• Emotional damage includes affectionless psychopathy, this is the inability to experience guilt or strong emotion for others. (1) This prevents the person developing normal relationships and is associated with criminality. Affectionless psychopaths also lack remorse (cannot appreciate the feelings of victims).(1)
• Intellectual damage includes cognitive impairment, such as an intellectual delay, shown by abnormally low IQ. (1)

  Goldfarb found lower IQ in children who had remained in institutions (less emotional care) compared to those who had been fostered (more emotional care). (1)
• maternal deprivation = The emotional and intellectual consequences of extended separation between a child and his/her mother or mother substitute, where a child loses an aspect of care, within the critical period.
• ao1 bowlby maternal dep = Bowlby suggested the idea that continued nurture from a mother or mother substitute within the first 2.5 years of life (critical period) is important for healthy psychological development. (1) If a child has extended periods of separation from the mother within the critical period, where an element of care is lost, then psychological damage is inevitable and irreversible. (1)

  Bowlby proposed two kinds of psychological damage - intellectual damage and emotional damage
• RTS Bowlby’s maternal deprivation = conducted by Bowlby, the 44 juvenile thieves study. Bowlby interviewed opportunity sample of 44 juvenile thieves to see if they had signs of affectionless psychopathy, he then interviewed their parents to see if there were any long periods of separation within the critical period. found that those who had affectionless psychopathy were more likely to have experienced long separations where an element of care was lost, therefore supporting as it shows prolonged separations in early childhood can lead to negative consequences.
• However, one criticism of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory is that the findings from Bowlby’s juvenile thieves study are based on retrospective data. It relies on the memory of the juvenile’s parents to recall the periods of separations in childhood. Therefore they could have lied about this information to present themselves in a better light (social desirability) or simply forgotten it. This reduces the internal validity of Bowlby’s 44 juvenile thieves study and weakens the support the research provides for theory of maternal deprivation.
• strength of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation = practical applications. principle of the theory - potential negative consequences of separation from a caregiver in early life has led to changes in society, such as hospitals changing visiting hours + letting parents stay overnight with infants to reduce intellectual and emotional issues eg affectionless psychopathy. Therefore, an important part of applied psychology + lead to economic implications such as less criminal activity, which consequently saves tax payers money.
• Define the term attachment (2)

  An emotional link between an infant and caregiver, each seek closeness and feel more secure when in the presence of the attachment figure. (1) Interactions between a caregiver and an infant is where an attachment starts. It is the responsiveness of the caregiver to the infants signals that has a deep effect on the child. (1)
• INTERACTIONAL SYNCHRONY- caregiver+ infant respond in time to keep communication going e.g infant smiles, caregiver smiles back @same time. This type of communication ensures infant+ caregivers emotions + actions mirror each other’s. Meltzoff& Moore conducted controlled observation of 40 two-week old infants to measure C-I interactions. adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions, eg mouth opening or tongue protrusion. child’s response filmed+ identified by independent observer. link found between facial expression of adult+ response of the infant.
• RECIPROCITY- two-way, mutual process where infant and caregiver take turns to respond to each other’s behaviours/signals, to sustain interaction. behav of each party elicits response from other, E.g child puts arms out to be held - caregiver picks up. Infants have ‘alert phases’ and signal when they are ready 4 interaction. Mothers pick up and act on these signals 2/3rd of the time. Brazleton said both mother+ infant initiate interaction and take it in turns to do so. He called this the ‘dance.’ He said it’s like when a couple dance together they respond to each other’s moves. (3 and 4 marks)
• L One potential criticism of the research into caregiver-infant interactions, is that much of the research lacks ecological validity. This is because the research takes place in controlled environments, such as a controlled observation with the caregiver and infant being filmed. Therefore, difficult to generalise findings to real life cases of caregiver-infant interactions as infant may not behave how they usually do in the real world, for example, they may interact with the parent more as they are the only familiar person in the room. therefore reduces internal validity
• schaffer emerson investigate formation of early attachments the age at which they develop+ who. Longitudinal study on 60 working class new-born infants and their mothers from Glasgow. visited at own homes every month for the first year of the infant’s life +again @ 18 months. Observations+interviews with mothers were used.
• schaffer + emerson measured attachment in two ways: Separation anxiety - assessed by the infant being left alone in a room, or the researcher asking the mother how the infant reacts in this instance.

  · Stranger Anxiety – assessed by the researcher starting each home visit by approaching the infant to see if this distressed the child.

  · Researchers asked the mothers questions such as who infants smiled at, whom they responded to etc.
• Schaffer+ Emerson 4 stages attachment. Asocial (first few weeks) Infants behav 2 adults+ inanimate objects similar.

  Indiscriminate (2-7 months) Infants show preference to ppl> inanimate objects but no stranger/separation anx. Specific – 7 months form attachments, show separation, strangers anxiety when separated. 65% of cases specific attachment with mother. Multiple– within 1month of forming specific attachment, 29% formed multiple attachment. By 1 year most infants had multiple attachments. At 18 months, 75% of children had an attachment with their father.
• research into schaffer+emerson stages of attachment could be prone to social desirability bias as interviews were used to gather information, therefore the mothers could have lied about their child’s behaviour to present their parenting in the best possible light, for example they may say that the child is distressed when they leave the room even if they are not, so the results may have lacked internal validity and not measure the true stages of attachment/multiple attachments.
• J A plausible strength of Schaffer’s research into stages of attachment is that it has high ecological validity, this is because observations were carried out in the families’ own homes during ordinary activities by the parent such as leaving the room. This makes it easier to generalise the findings to real life examples of attachment as the childrens’ behavior is likely to be representative of everyday interactions. Therefore, increasing the external validity of the research in to stages of attachment/multiple attachments.
• Schaffer’s research criticised for being culture bias as sample used were all from Glasgow. Therefore difficult to generalise the findings of the stages of attachment to other cultures. For example, psychologists studying non-western (Collectivist) cultures where families often work together to look after a child have found that infants can form multiple attachments from the outset without forming a specific attachment first. Thus, limiting the external validity of the research into the stages/multiple attachments as the formation of attachments may differ between cultures.
• Field (Controlled observation) filmed 4 month old infants in face to face interactions w primary caregiver mothers, primary caregiver fathers, + 2ndary caregiver fathers. Found Primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating,+ holding infants than 2ndary caregiver fathers. This behaviour seems to be more important in building an attachment to an infant. fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure and take on a traditionally maternal role. The key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.
• Grossman- longitudinal study looking @ both parents’ behaviour + relationship 2 quality of children’s attachment into teens. Finding 1: quality of infants’ attachment w mothers, but not their fathers, was related to the childrens’ attachments in adolescence. suggesting father’s attachment is less important than the mothers. Finding 2: the quality of father’s play w infants related 2 quality of child’s adolescent attachments. suggests fathers have different role in attachment- more to do with play and stimulation+ less to do with nurturing, but important for the child’s wellbeing.
• Field's role of the father

  Practical applications
• Principles of research

  • Responsiveness to child's needs, not gender
  • Most important when forming attachment
  • Can be used to advise parents
• Parents make decisions about who should take primary caregiver role

  • Mum may feel pressured to stay home due to stereotypical gender roles
  • Dad may feel pressure to go to work rather than focus on parenting
• For some families, it may not be the best option economically for the mum to stay home as she may earn more money
• Reassuring advice offered to parents

  Dad can be the primary attachment figure, reducing parental anxiety about roles of dads
• Field's role of the father is an important part of applied psychology
• Influence of the internal working model on childhood relationships Attachment type is linked to the quality of peer relationships in later childhood. If a child has a secure attachment to their primary caregiver, they are more likely to have better quality relationships with their peers. However, if they have an insecure attachment to their primary caregiver, they are more likely to have difficulties in making friends.