The Whole of AQA A-Level Psychology | Attachment | Revision for Exams
Primrose Kitten Academy | GCSE & A-Level Revision・2 minutes read
Attachment in psychology is a complex bond between infants and their primary caregiver, often the mother, with key features like responsiveness, interactional synchrony, and attachment types influencing future relationships and development. Various studies and theories, from Schaefer and Emerson's stages of attachment to Ainsworth's strange situation research, highlight the importance of early attachments on overall well-being and future outcomes.
Insights
- The bond between infants and their primary caregiver, often the mother, is crucial in attachment psychology, with key features like sensitive responsiveness, imitation, and reciprocity shaping these interactions.
- Various theories like Bowlby's monotropic theory and research studies such as Ainsworth's strange situation highlight the significance of early attachments in influencing future relationships and behaviors, emphasizing the long-term impact of attachment styles on individuals.
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Recent questions
What is the focus of attachment in psychology?
Bond between infants and primary caregiver.
What are the stages of attachment identified by Schaefer and Emerson?
Pre-attachment, indiscriminate, discriminant, multiple attachment.
What did Harlow's study with monkeys reveal?
Preference for comfort over nourishment.
What is John Bowlby's monotropic theory?
Infants form a primary attachment influencing future relationships.
What did Ainsworth's strange situation research assess?
Infant-caregiver attachment through separation and reunion reactions.
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Summary
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Complexities of Attachment in Psychology and Development
- Attachment in psychology is complex, focusing on the bond between infants and their primary caregiver, often the mother.
- Key features of infant-caregiver interactions include sensitive responsiveness, imitation, interactional synchrony, reciprocity, and motherese.
- Schaefer and Emerson's 1964 research identified four stages of attachment: pre-attachment, indiscriminate, discriminant, and multiple attachment phases.
- Lorenz's imprinting study with geese highlighted the rapid formation of attachments after birth, but its applicability to humans is limited.
- Harlow's 1959 study with monkeys showed a preference for comfort over nourishment, raising ethical concerns due to psychological harm inflicted.
- Learning theory suggests attachments form through conditioning, either classical or operant, linking caregivers to fulfilling basic needs.
- John Bowlby's monotropic theory posits that infants form a primary attachment, influencing future relationships and survival.
- Attachment types include secure, insecure-avoidant, and insecure-resistant, impacting future relationships based on early attachments.
- Ainsworth's strange situation research in the late 1970s assessed infant-caregiver attachment through reactions to separation and reunion.
- Cross-cultural studies suggest similarities in attachment formation, but some variations exist due to cultural norms and practices.
19:04
Impact of Attachment on Childhood Development and Beyond
- Institutions in attachment psychology refer to organizations caring for children in place of a family, often orphanages, with historical prevalence but rare in Britain today.
- Deprivation and privation are distinguished by Rutter, where deprivation involves a broken attachment and privation is the absence of attachment, both leading to similar consequences.
- Studies on privation cases like Genie and Romanian orphanages show the impact of lack of attachment, with adoption before six months potentially reversing effects.
- Disrupted attachments in childhood can lead to consequences like affectionless psychopathy, analytic depression, deprivation dwarfism, delinquency, and reduced intelligence, affecting adult relationships based on Bulby's internal working model theory.
