Flashcards

Key Terms

Adaptive - the extent to which a behaviour increases the reproductive potential of an individual and survival of its genes.

Altricial species - species in which the young are helpless when they are born and need a lot of parental care for months or even years.

Amae - a Japanese word referring to a positive form of attachment that involves emotional dependence, clinging, and attention-seeking behaviour. Such behaviour is regarded more negatively in Western countries.

Anaclitic depression - a severe form of depression in infants who experience prolonged separations from their mothers. The term “anaclitic” means “arising from emotional dependency on another”.

Attachment - a strong, emotional bond between an infant and his or her caregiver(s) that is characterised by a desire to maintain proximity. Such bonds may be secure or insecure.

Bond disruption - this occurs when a child is deprived of their main attachment object (in the short or long term) and receives no substitute emotional care.

Bonding - the process of forming close ties with another.

Classical conditioning - learning through association; a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a known stimulus–reflex response.

Critical period - a biologically determined period of time during which an animal is exclusively receptive to certain changes.

Deprivation - to lose something such as the care of an attachment figure for a long time.

Deprivation-specific patterns - negative patterns of behaviour often found in children who have been institutionalised but rarely in those who have suffered other forms of psychosocial stress.

Disorganised attachment - a type of attachment in which the child’s attachment behaviour is inconsistent and hard to classify.

Ethologists - researchers who study various animal species in their natural habitat or environment.

Imposed etic - the use of a technique developed in one culture to study another culture.

Imprinting - the tendency of the young of various species to follow the first moving object they see; this tendency has been claimed to occur only shortly after birth and to be irreversible.

Individual differences - the characteristics that vary from one individual to another; intelligence and personality are major ways in which individuals differ.

Innate - inborn, a product of genetic factors.

Institutionalisation - a wide range of negative effects (e.g. on attachment, social relationships, and development generally) when children spend long periods of time in an institution (e.g. orphanage).

Interactional synchrony - a form of interaction between parent and infant involving mutual focus, reciprocal, and a mirroring of emotion.

Internal working model - a mental model of the world that enables individuals to predict, control, and manipulate their environment. The infant has many of them, some of which are related to relationships.

Longitudinal study - a study that lasts for an extended period of time so that changes in the participants can be observed.

Maternal deprivation theory - Bowlby’s view that separation from the primary caregiver leads to disruption and perhaps breaking of the attachment bond, with long-term adverse and possibly permanent effects on emotional development.

Maternal sensitivity - this involves the mother displaying various qualities in her interactions with her infant including alertness to infant signals and prompt and appropriate responding.

Maternal sensitivity hypothesis - the notion that individual differences in infant attachment are due mainly to the sensitivity (or otherwise) of the mother’s interactions with her infant.

Meta-analysis - a form of analysis in which the data from several related studies are combined to provide an overall estimate.

Microanalysis - a very detailed analysis of the second-by second interactions between infants and their mothers.

Monotropy hypothesis - the notion that infants have an innate tendency to form strong bonds with one caregiver, usually their mother.

Operant conditioning - learning through reinforcement; a behaviour becomes more likely because the outcome is reinforced (rewarded). It involves learning contingent on the response.

Oxytocin - this hormone promotes feelings of well-being and calm in mothers as part of the attachment process; it is sometimes referred to as the “cuddle hormone”.

Positive reinforcement - a reward (e.g. food; money) that serves to increase the probability of any

response produced shortly before it is presented.

Precocial species - species in which the newborn are able to move around.

Primary reinforcer - something that provides positive reinforcement because it serves to satisfy some basic drive; for example, food and drink are primary reinforcers because they satisfy our hunger and thirst drives, respectively.

Privation - an absence of attachments, as opposed to the loss of attachments, due to the lack of an appropriate attachment figure. Privation is likely to lead to permanent emotional damage.

Reciprocity - a form of interaction between parent and infant involving mutual responsiveness.

Reductionist - an argument or theory that reduces complex factors to a set of simple principles.

Secondary reinforcer - a reinforcer that has no natural properties of reinforcement but, through association with a primary reinforcer, becomes a reinforcer, i.e. it is learned.

Secure attachment - the result of a strong positive bond between infant and caregiver, so that although the child shows distress at separation, he or she is easily comforted by the caregiver’s return.

Sensitive period - the notion that imprinting is more likely to occur during a certain period of time rather than earlier or later.

Separation - the absence of the caregiver (e.g. due to work commitments, divorce, or hospitalisation) which usually causes great distress but not necessarily permanent bond disruption.

Separation protest - the infant’s behaviour when separated from the caregiver involving crying or holding out his/her arms; some insecurely attached infants show no protest when left by their attachment figures whereas securely attached infants do.

Social learning theory - the view that behaviour can be explained in terms of direct and indirect reinforcement, through imitation, identification, and modelling.

Social releasers - a social behaviour or characteristic that elicits a caregiving reaction. Bowlby suggested that these were innate and critical in the process of forming attachments.

Strange Situation - an experimental procedure used to test the security of a child’s attachment to a caregiver. The key features are what the child does when left by the caregiver and the child’s behaviour at reunion as well as its responses to a stranger.

Stranger anxiety - the distress experienced by a child when approached by a stranger.

Temperament hypothesis - the view that a child’s temperament is responsible for the quality of attachment between the child and its caregiver.

Weblinks

Imprinting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16301233 Christian Moullec hand-reared a brood of Barnacle Geese who now see him as their mother. This BBC video shows them following him in flight.

Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people

A brief outline of Bowlby and his work from the Science Museum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAAmSqv2GV8 A short clip of Bowlby outlining his theory of attachment and loss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s14Q-_Bxc_U This clip of a 2-year-old from the Robertson’s own archive is not the happiest as it shows a little girl isolated from her parents and family, as used to be the norm when children went into hospital.

Ainsworth’s “Strange Situation”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH1m_ZMO7GU A video clip showing the Strange Situation.

Bowlby’s Theory of Maternal Deprivation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igC9R45TS5E Professor Sir Michael Rutter speaks about the work of Bowlby and the concept of maternal deprivation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02086k2 A radio interview with Michael Rutter about his Romanian orphan research.

http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/english-and-romanian-adoptee-study An easy-to-read synopsis of the ongoing English and Romanian Adoptee Study.

Discussion Points

Throughout AQA Psychology you may have noticed self-assessment questions in orange text in the margins. These are discussion points, designed to help you think about the key issues and research in the text, and to consider how you can apply psychology to real life. Although in many cases there is no correct answer to these questions, we have provided some example discussions that could arise from thinking about some of these points. They should also help you structure your thinking on the topic in question.

1. Do you think that there are problems with generalising from the behaviour of one species to another?

We tend to anthropomorphise many animals, ascribing to them the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of humans. This isn’t really surprising, especially as many of us read stories with animal characters when we were children so we have grown up thinking in this way.

This could, however, be a problem when we look at research using non-human animals. If something does or does not happen in certain conditions in, for example, a monkey, does this mean we would behave in the same way? Basically, we can’t tell. The human brain is so much more complex than any other animal’s brain, even our closest ape relatives. This means that our behaviours are likely to be more complex, and depend on more complex factors than other animals.

So what is the point of research using non-human animals to find out about ourselves? Sometimes, especially in the past, such as with Harlow’s monkeys, conditions can be used which we could never even think of using with human babies. And this use illustrates also the issues already described. Human babies are helpless; they can’t move or seek food and we have to do it all for them. Monkey and ape babies are born able to move and this is a huge difference between them and humans, so comparing us with them is not comparing like with like. But it may give us some clues about what is important for us and our behaviour, and may generate ideas which we can then pursue in human participants.

This in no way addresses a key issue, that of whether or not it is right, moral, or ethical to use non-human animals in psychological research. That is another topic.

See also Eysenck’s AQA Psychology, pages 127–129.

2. How do classical and operant conditioning differ?

Both classical and operant conditioning are methods of learning, and they are well demonstrated in laboratory settings. Their differences are based on exactly how this learning takes place.

Classical conditioning occurs when you learn to associate two things that are not linked. For example, have you noticed that you can often hear stomachs rumbling in the last lesson before lunchtime? Those embarrassing noises are more likely to happen then because we have learned to associate that time of day with food, and so our stomachs start to gurgle in anticipation! Classical conditioning can explain some things we learn, though possibly it is more important in non-human animals, as demonstrated by Pavlov’s dogs.

Operant conditioning is learning based on a behaviour being rewarded, in which case that behaviour is likely to be repeated; or punished, when the behaviour is less likely to be repeated. This type of learning explains a lot of human learning, especially if you think about how we bring up children. How were you encouraged to learn to say “please” and “thank you”? How were you dissuaded from, say, hitting or biting your little friends?

If one considers a normal teenage situation, such as being given a deadline to be home by on a weekday evening, then classical and operant conditioning can be applied to explain why a teenager might comply with that deadline. You can ask yourself what that individual might associate with getting home on time, or getting home late; and what could reward or reinforce the compliance, or discourage non-compliance. One can also apply conditioning to explain workplace and social behaviours, though these explanations are considered very simplistic as they ignore important human factors such as our thoughts and emotions.

See also Eysenck’s AQA Psychology, pages 130–132.

3. What are the strengths of the experimental approach used by Ainsworth and Bell (1970)?

Ainsworth and Bell used a controlled observation. This is similar to other types of observational study but it is carried out in a laboratory. Although without a carefully manipulated independent variable it could not have shown cause and effect, this environment does carry benefits. An observation of this type allows more control of extraneous variables than natural or field experiments and case studies. These other methods often have to be used in the area of developmental psychology because alternatives would cause too many ethical problems.

Superior control over other forms of investigation is achieved through the setting and the procedure. The laboratory environment eliminates many potential confounding variables and allows the extraneous variables that have been identified to be controlled. For example, in contrast to a field or natural experiment there are not the distractions of noise or other individuals. In a laboratory setting, you also have the participants’ attention, so it is much easier to gain lots of relevant, detailed information that can be used when interpreting your results.

The highly standardised procedure also had benefits for Ainsworth and Bell. First, the controlled laboratory method by its very nature is more likely to be able to be repeated. Second, the Strange Situation procedure was standardised; this meant that it could be done in exactly the same way every time. This allows other researchers to replicate (repeat) the research and further validate their findings. This has benefited Ainsworth and Bell as the procedure has been repeated cross-culturally and has improved the study’s external validity.

See also Eysenck’s AQA Psychology, page 141.

4. Are there problems with using the Strange Situation in very different cultures?

The Strange Situation procedure is based on the idea that separation and stranger anxiety underpin secure attachment. Infants are distressed when their caregiver leaves, feel relieved and are able to be comforted on reunion, and are wary of strangers. This is based on norms and values of how mother and infant should behave that are integral to our culture. The problem with this is that cultural differences exist.

There is huge variance in table manners, driving behaviour, or how much flesh it is appropriate to show. You may have been on holiday and been shocked by someone belching at the dinner table in a restaurant or scared by the taxi driver’s sense of what is a safe manoeuvre! It is reasonable to assume that the same may be true for cultural expectations of child-rearing practices. Consider whether you would be able to pass the national driving test of any country because you have passed the British one. The answer is probably, not necessarily. This is because the test reflects ways of thinking and behaving that you haven’t been brought up with. This doesn’t mean you are a bad driver, it just means that your thoughts and behaviours are incompatible with those that the test was designed for.

In the same way, with the Strange Situation, a psychologist is measuring the behaviour of other cultures through Western eyes, using a Western tool, and interpreting the results with a Western mind. Just because a Japanese infant comes out with an anxious and resistant attachment type does not mean the mother and infant have an unhealthy relationship. It may be that the Strange Situation is not detecting the subtleties of Japanese culture.

See also Eysenck’s AQA Psychology, page 141.

Interactive Excercises

• 4.1 - Imprinting
• 4.2 - Bowlby's Theory of Attachment
• 4.3 - Theories of Attachment - Learning Theory