Developmental Psychology

• Looks at how individuals thinking and behaviour develops over time.

“Childhood experiences have an effect on how people develop as adults”

Attachment•By the end of this topic, you should be able to;•Understand key concepts of;

–Separation protest and stranger anxiety–Secure attachment, insecure-avoidant attachment and insecure ambivalent attachment

•Insight into Bowlby’s theory of attachment•Demonstrate knowledge of Hazen and Shaver’s survey•Awareness of applications of research into attachment

What is attachment? Who and when does it occur?

• Quite simply, a bond between two people; “relatively strong and lasting emotional tie

to another person”

We seek to stay close to those we feel attached to!!!

Newborn attachment• Research shows that newborn babies don’t

show attachment during the first 6 months of their lives, but do show enjoyment being around people.

• How could this have been found out?

• It is around 6 months that babies begin to show a strong attachment – usually to their primary caregiver

Measures of attachment

separation protest

getting upset when parted from caregiver

stranger anxiety

showing fear towards unfamiliar people

Measures of attachment

• Separation protest– Measures how much a child is upset when

they are left by their primary caregiver

• Stranger anxiety– Measures how much a child is afraid when

they are in the presence of a stranger

Outline how would set up an investigation to test the following

hypothesis;

“Nine-month old infant are more likely to form an attachment

compared with three month old infants”

Secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-ambivalent

Mary Ainsworth observed mothers and their infants between age of 12-18 months

• Mother and infants enter lab• Infants play with toys with mother• A stranger enters and mother leaves• Stranger comforts infant• Mother returns and stranger leaves• Mother comforts then leaves for 2nd time• Infant left alone for short period of time• Stranger returns and tries to interact• Mother returns and picks up infant, while stranger leaves

• Secure: child and caregiver have a relationship based on trust and security, and child wishes to interact with its caregiver

• Insecure avoidant: child is quite independent of caregiver

• Insecure ambivalent: child is clingy and demanding, yet awkward with caregiver

Cultural differences

• UK: mainly secure attachment

• Germany: Mainly insecure avoidant attachment (believe in more independent children)

• Japan: Mainly insecure ambivalent attachment (tend to develop more intense relationships)

independent infant

responds to strangers

not too distressed if parted from carer

infant feels safe

trusts strangers but prefers carer

is distressed ifparted from carer

infant is clingy

fearful reactionstowards strangers

very distressed ifparted from carer

Types of attachmentINSECURE

AVOIDANTSECURE INSECURE

AMBIVALENT

At what age do children normally form an attachment?

A. 3 months

B. 6 months

C. 9 months

At what age do children normally form an attachment?

A. 3 months

B. 6 months

C. 9 months

Who do children form an attachment with?

A. Themselves

B. Mothers

C. Primary caregivers

Who do children form an attachment with?

A. Themselves

B. Mothers

C. Primary caregivers

What is an attachment?

A. A strong emotional bond.

B. An enduring relationship with a significant other.

C. A two-way interaction based on love, trust and security.

What is an attachment?

A. A strong emotional bond.

B. An enduring relationship with a significant other.

C. A two-way interaction based on love, trust and security.

Identify the type of attachment!

Violet hates being left by her parents at nursery. She clings to their legs when they try to leave, and it is very difficult for the nursery workers to calm her down after her parents have gone.

Identify the type of attachment!

Callum does not like it when his parents leave him at the nursery and he like to have a big hug before they go. However, once they have gone, he soon settles into playing. When his parents pick him up, he is always excited to see them.

Identify the type of attachment!

Anjeli seems to like nursery. As soon as she arrives, she goes straight to the toys and starts playing. She hardly pays attention to the fact that her parents are leaving, and sometimes it is hard even to get her to say goodbye.

Why is it important to study attachment?

• Day care

• Child abuse

• Increase independence

• Parental advice

Bowlby’s Theory

• 1950s, John Bowlby developed a very influential theory, that has been since criticised, but the ideas are still valued.

• Humans and animals instinctively bond with key figure, commonly the mother.

• One special attachment is called monotropy

Bowlby’s Theory• Attachment needed to occur in the first 3 years

of life, preferably the first year:Critical period

• If child didn’t form an attachment, then they would suffer negative psychological effects, later in adulthood.

• When a child does not form an attachment with any significant figure it is known as privation– Emotionless Psychopath– Irreversible

Deprivation

• When a child has formed an attachment to a caregiver, but this is broken through separation.

• Bowlby called it ‘maternal deprivation’• Separation lasting a week or longer

– Hospitalisation– Father leaving– Parents dying

Bowlby’s Investigation of P and D

• Studied a group of teenage boys and found that those that had experience of maternal deprivation were more likely to be ‘emotionless psychopaths’ (criminals who were deviant with no remorse or guilt)

Privation or Deprivation???• Child A is a five year old who has come to his

headteacher’s attention after developing behavioural problems. His behaviour seems to be related to the fact that his father was sent to prison last year to serve an 18-month sentence.

• Child B’s mother died in childbirth. Tragically, her father committed suicide just two weeks later. For the past year she has been waiting to be adopted. In that time, she has had three foster carers.

Privation or Deprivation???• Child C is two years old. Her mother has recently had a

second chills but, because of severe post-natal depression, the mother has been admitted to hospital with the baby boy. She has already been there for three weeks. The father has contacted the health visitor because he is concerned that his daughter’s development is being affected.

• Child D is a three year old who has been taken into care. This happened after it was discovered that her parents left her to go on holiday for two weeks. Her fifteen year old auntie was looking after her.

• Child E is a twelve month old infant who has just been taken from his mother, who is an alcoholic. She is a single parent, living alone, who has basically put him in danger, as well as neglected him by paying him little attention and giving him no affection.

Main features of Bowlby’s theory• Monotropy - babies form only one strong attachment, usually

to the mother and this attachment forms during the first year of life.

• If attachment has not formed by age 3 then it is too late; even after 6 months it is difficult

• Secure attachment to the primary caregiver is essential for positive future social, emotional, and intellectual development

• Attachment, once formed, if interrupted, will have severe consequences on the child's emotional, intellectual and social development. (Maternal deprivation)

• Reciprocal - The attachment process is two way • Critical period - between 6 months and 24 months when it is

crucial for baby to be with caregiver • Privation is the term used by Bowlby to describe the serious

developmental impairment that is caused when child never experiences attachment to anyone

Bowlby’s Theory of AttachmentBowlby said that attachment is an _________ process

which has developed through ________. Babies naturally attach to a caregiver because it aids their ________. He believed that babies attach to one primary caregiver (usually the ______). This idea is known as __________. However, this attachment has to take place in the first __ years of life (and ideally the first year) otherwise it has serious consequences for the child. He described these first years as the ________ period for attachment. If an attachment is broken then Bowlby believed that children suffered from maternal _____________. This meant that they ended up as affectionless ___________. He also believed that the negative effects of a broken attachment were ___________.

Bowlby’s Theory of AttachmentBowlby said that attachment is an instinctive process which

has developed through evolution. Babies naturally attach to a caregiver because it aids their survival. He believed that babies attach to one primary caregiver (usually the mother). This idea is known as monotropy. However, this attachment has to take place in the first 3 years of life (and ideally the first year) otherwise it has serious consequences for the child. He described these first years as the critical period for attachment. If an attachment is broken then Bowlby believed that children suffered from maternal deprivation. This meant that they ended up as affectionless psychopaths. He also believed that the negative effects of a broken attachment were irreversible.

Bowlby vs Critics

Instinct

Monotropy

Critical Period

Irreversible effects of Maternal Deprivation

Learning

Multiple Attachments

Sensitive Period

Reversible effects

Objectives

• Describe core study on attachment

• Interpret results from key study

• Identify limitations of core study

The Strange Situation

Attachment types

Class vote

Alternative Theory: Behaviourist

• Not instinctive process, but learning and experience (nurture)

• Reinforcement: behaviour repeated if rewarded. Examples;– Attention (seen as rewarding) for being naughty– Cooing, smiling and even crying will get attention– Caregiver feeds and comforts infant

• Abuse: nothing rewarding about the relationship

Attachment all depends on experience!

• Securely attached: caregivers who are sensitive to infant’s needs. Co-operative, accepting and accessible.

• Insecure avoidant: caregivers are generally uninterested in infant. Often reject child, self-centred and strict.

• Insecure ambivalent: caregivers interested in infant, but misunderstand their behaviour. No emotional support.

‘Love Quiz’• Hazen and Shaver, 1987, wanted to see if there was a

correlation between the infant’s attachment type and their future approach to romantic relationships.

To test this Hazan & Shaver devised the ‘Love Quiz’ which consisted of 2 components:-

• A measure of attachment type - a simple adjective checklist of childhood relationships with parents and parents’ relationships with each other

• A love experience questionnaire which assessed individual’s beliefs about romantic love - eg: whether it lasted forever, whether it could be found easily, how much trust there was in a romantic relationship, etc

‘Love Quiz’

• The Love Quiz was printed in local newspaper the Rocky Mountain News and readers were asked to send in their responses.

• Hazen & Shaver analysed the first 620 replies sent in from people aged from 14 to 82.

• Hazen & Shaver found a strikingly high correlation between the infant attachment types and the adult romantic love styles.

feared intimacy inrelationships

jealous ofromantic partners

report being okby themselves

friendly and happyromantic relationships

more accepting ofromantic partners

longer lastingrelationships and

less likely toget divorced

obsessive inromantic relationships

extreme attraction but also extreme jealousy

shorter lastingrelationships and

more likely toget divorced

Results of study

INSECURE

AVOIDANTSECURE INSECURE

AMBIVALENT

‘Love Quiz’

• They concluded that there was evidence to support the concept of the inner working model having a life-long effect. However, they did concede that not everyone stayed true to their infant attachment style and that some people did change as they grew older.

Limitations of Hazen & Shaver’s study

The sample was mainly females, making it difficult to generalise.

Respondents were only asked about their most important romantic relationships so it may not be representative of others.

Relationships may be too complex to only be assessed using closed questions.

Respondents may not have reliably recalled their attachments from childhood.

Hazen & Shaver (1987)

What method did Hazen & Shaver use?

Questionnaire.

Where did their sample come from?

Readers of a local newspaper.

What two key variables did they investigate?

The relationship between childhood attachment types and the quality of intimate relationships.

Applications of researchinto attachment

How might knowledge of attachment be useful in the following settings?

A day nursery A maternity ward in a hospital A children’s ward in a hospital

BBC: Nurseries Risk

• Do you agree or disagree with the article?

• Draw up a table of the advantages and disadvantages of nurseries for child care

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Research methods

The main research methods used in developmental psychology are longitudinal studies, case studies, andcross-sectional studies.

A longitudinal study is when the researchers follow the participants over a period of time and note changes in

their development.

A cross-sectional study is when the researchers

observe differences between individuals of different ages

at the same time.

A case study is when the researchers observe

individuals, or small groups of people, to provide an

in-depth study.

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Evaluating developmental psychology

+ Strengths - Weaknesses

There are problems with the validity of developmental psychology. For example, many concepts in are based on observations of young children that have been interpreted in different ways by different researchers. These interpretations have been generalized to external situations.

The study of human development has been influential in many other fields. This is particularly evident in the influence of early social development on education.

Can you think of any more strengths or weaknesses ofdevelopmental psychology?