attachment evaluation

• caregiver - infant interactions 1

  • Problems with testing infant behaviour - Infant's mouths are constantly moving and expressions, makes it harder to distinguish general activity and imitated behaviours
  • Failure to replicate - Marian replicated Murray and Trevarthen study and found infants can't differentiate between live and videotaped images - Infants were not responding to the adult
• caregiver - infant interactions 2

  • Individual differences - Isabella found that infants that were strongly attached to caregiver showed greater interactional synchrony
  • Is behaviour intentional - Infants given inanimate object. Infants 5-12 weeks made little response to object -Concluded imitation is limited
• development of attachment 1

  • good external validity - schaffer and emerson's study was conducted in families' own homes and most observations reported by parents - behaviour of babies wasnt affected by presence of observers, behaviour was natural.
  • longitudinal design - same children followed up and observed regularly - causing better internal validity as confounding variables arent present
• development of attachment 2

  • limited sample characteristics - families in study were from the same area and social class - limitation. results dont generalise with other social contexts - it was a biased sample.
  • unreliable data - data based on mothers reports of their infants, some mothers less sensitive to infants protests so less likely to report them
• animal studies of attachment- Lorenz

  • generalisability to humans - Lorenz's findings on birds aren't applicable to humans as attachment system differs. mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to young than do birds and are able to form attachments at most stages.
  • Guitton - demonstarted that chicks exposed to yellow glove became imprinted on the gloves - showed that animals aren't born to imprint on a specific object but on any moving object present during critical period
• animal studies of attachment - Harlow

  • ethical issues - monkeys suffered, had lasting emotional effects - found it difficult to form relationships with their peers.
  • confounding variables - two heads were different so monkeys may have preferred more better looking monkey - study lacks internal validity
• explanations of attachment - learning theory 1

  • based on research with animals - skinner's research involved mice. complex behaviours such as attachment are harder to generalise. behaviourist explanations lack validity because they present an over simplified version of human behaviour
  • contact comfort is more important than food - learning theory suggests food is the key element to attachment - harlow's study depended on contact comfort not food.
• explanations of attachment - learning theory 2

  • drive reduction is ignored today - there are many things that people do that have no effect in reducing discomfort. - some people enjoy bungee jumping which increases discomfort
  • bowlby's theory explains why attachments form whereas learning theory only suggests how they form - bowlby explains advantages of attachment such as protection from harm - suggests attachment evolved as a behaviour which would enhance survival
• bowlby's theory 1

  • is attachment adaptive - attachment less critical for survival. Bowlby suggested attachment occurs after 3 months. in the past , it would have been important for immediate attachments to form for survival. The age of attachment depends on features of a species life
  • sensitive period - studies observed children who fail to form attachments during the critical period. Found that although it appears less likely that attachments will form after the critical period but it is not impossible. Researchers now call this time the sensitive period.
• bowlbys theory 2

  • multiple attachment vs monotropy - suggest that attachments are put into one single internal working model. bowlby explained that secondary attachments are important for social developments. Infant- father attachment: key role for fathers as secondary attachment and in social development.
  • continuity hypothesis -minnesota parent-child study- followed participants from infancy to adolescence and found continuity between early attachment and later social behaviour. securely attached in infancy had higher social competence later in childhood and were more popular.
• Ainsworths strange situation 1

  • other types of attachment - disorganised attachment - lack of consistent patterns of social behaviour, infants lack a coherent strategy with dealing of the stress of separation
  • observations had high reliability - findings discussed with an observer until they came to an agreement
• ainsworth's strange situation 2

  • real world application - findings led to intervention strategies to be developed - teaches caregivers to understand their infant's signals of distress - increased amount of children classified a securely attached. supports research on attachment types - used to improve children's lives
  • low internal validity - children behaved differently depending on which parent they were with. - classification of an attachment type may not be valid - one relationship measured rather than a personal characteristic lodged in an individual.
• cultural variations in attachment 1

  • large sample size - combining results from many different countries increased sample size which is a strength as it increases internal validity - reduce impact of anomalous results. 2000 babies and attachment figures meta analysed in ijzendoorn and kroonenberg study.
  • samples unrepresentative of cultures - claimed to study cultural variations but instead comparisons made between countries no cultures. each country has different cultures - leads to under or over representation of the proportion of attachment types.
• cultural variations in attachment 2

  • method of assessment is biased- cross cultural psychology includes ideas of etic and emic. strange situation designed by an american researcher based on a british theory. can a western theory be applied to other cultures.
  • lacks validity - kagan suggested attachment type is more related to the temperament than relationship with primary attachment figure. strange situation can be seen as measuring anxiety more than attachment.
• bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation 1

  • poor evidence - bowlby studied post WW11 children who were traumatised and had poor aftercare - these factors may have been the causes of development difficulties rather than separation.
  • real world application - Bolwby’s theory had an important impact on post war thinking about how children were looked after in hospitals.Before,Bolwby’s theory children were separated from parents when they spent time in the hospital and visiting was discouraged and even forbidden. Bowlby’s and Robertson’s work led to a major social change in hospital care for children.
• bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation 2

  • counter evidence - Hilda replicated the 44 juvenile thieves study on a larger scale. - a history of prolonged separations did not predict criminality or difficulty forming close relationships - suggests there may be other causes rather than maternal deprivation
  • failure to distinguish between deprivation and privation - rutter - deprivation: loss of primary attachment figure after attachment has developed. privation: failure to form an attachment in the first place. long term damage is a result of privation not deprivation
• romanian orphan studies 1

  • individual differences - some children who experienced instituitionalisation not as strongly affected as others. - rutter suggests this might be because they received special attention in institutions - had early attachment experiences.
  • romanian orphanages not typical - they had poor standards of care. some conditions were so bad results weren't generalisable as other institutions have better quality care
• romanian orphan studies 2

  • real life application - studying romanian orphans enhanced understanding on effects of institutionalisation - led to improvement in the way children are cared for in institutions - use key works to allow child to form an attachment and avoid disinhibited attachment
  • long term effects aren't clear yet -studies followed up adopted children in their mid teens and found some lasting effects of early experience - too soon to say if they are short or long term effects.
• influence of early attachment on later attachment 1

  • alternative explanations- feeney - adult attachment patterns are properties of the relationship rather than the individual - adult relationships guided by tendency to seek others who conform your expectations of relationships.
  • overly determinist - hazan and shavers study suggests early experiences have a fixed effect on later adult relationships. - not always the case, some adults have loving relationships despite not being securely attached.