social development – Flashcards

attachment - long-enduring emotionally meaningful tie to a particular individual. The bond is usually characterised by a desire for closeness or proximity to an individual and by separation distress when the tie is broken. the attachment object usually the mother offers comfort and acts as a source of security. schaffer and emmerson (1964) studied 60 glasgow infants carrying out observations and interviews with parents at regular intervals during the first 18 months after birth. they found a particular pattern of attachment behaviour occurred and identified stages in the development of attachment

asocial stage - birth to 6 weeks - respond in similar way to people and objects although prefer to look at human like stimuli indiscriminate/diffuse attachment stage - 6 weeks to 6 months - show no preference for any particular individual and will be comforted by anyone specific attachment stage - 6 to 12 months - a strong attachment is formed to 1 individual, typically the main care-giver show a fear of strangers multiple attachment stage - from 12 months - show attachment to others such as siblings and grandparents. by 18 months ay have 4 or 5 attachment figures

can function to develop and maintain attachment. in subtle and often unconscious ways adults interacting with babies seem to be especially turned into the baby's needs, modifying their speech and actions accordingly. even though a baby can't speak communication between care-giver infant pairs is rich and complex.

research in 70s suggested mother and baby should have immediate contact after birth because skin-to-skin stimulation was improtant for the formaton of a bond. Klaus and kennel (1976) argued mothers who cuddled their baby in critical period after birth enjoyed better relationships with the child than those mothers who didn't have the opportunity. in short terms at least it does seem that mothers who have immediate contact show more tender interactions with the child and spend more time looking at them then other mothers who do not.long term effects of early contact are less reliably demonstrated although in some cases early contact does appear to be related to general adequacy of parenting (bee 1989)

the capacity of even very young infants to imitate adults facial expressions has provided some of the most convincing evidence that children are innately social beings and take an active part in relationships formation in the first months of life

investigated imitation of facial expressions in 2 and 3 week old infants method - infants presented with a set of 3 facial expressions (tongue pull, lip protrusion, open mouth) and one hand movement involving sequential finger movement, a dummy was positioned in the infants mouth to prevent any movement before and during the modelling of the behaviour by the adult. after presentation of the behaviour by the model the dummy was removed from the infatn's mouth and the immediate response was recorded on close-up video. independent judges were then asked to rate the infant's response for likeness to any of the 4 target behaviours. raters were no aware of which expression or movement the infant had been exposed to results - there was a significant association between the model's behaviour and the infants behaviour, with infants able to imitate specific facial expressions or hand movements conclusion - very young infants will spontaneously imitate facial and hand movements on adult role models. the same effect was later demonstrated in infants of less than 3 days old.

condon and sander (1974) noted how babies would coordnate their actions in time with adult speech, taking turns to contribute to the conversation. frame-by-frame analysis of film recordings of babies movements was matched to sound recordings of adult conversation. it found babies would move in time with the rhythm of conversation, engaging in a subtle form of turn taking. in real interactions between baby and caregiver this results in reciprocal behaviour, with both parties able to elicit responses from the other, even though only the adult can speak. such synchrony is sometimes likened to a dance between mother and baby. the importance of interactional synchrony in attachment has been demonstrated by isabella (1989) found securely attached mother-infant pairs were those who had shown more instances of interactional synchrony in home observations during the first year. Murray and trevarthen (1985) interfered with interactional turn taking. they asked mothers to adopt a frozen face expression with their babies and found the infants became extremely upset turning away from the mothers face and crying. furthermore infants made deliberate attempts to draw the mother back into the interaction

snow and ferguson (1977) identified distinctive language patterns demonstrated by adults conversing with young children. this was referred to as motherese sometimes called parentese or caregiverese. motherese differs from normal inguistic style in a number of ways, all of which help communication between adult-baby pairs and draw the child into the communication, perhaps helping to establish a relationship. motherese is usually slow high pitched and repetitive varied in information an comprises short simple sentences. one of the most distinctive characterists is the sing songy nature of the communication almost as if the speaker were singing. paposek (1991) found that chinese german and american mothers tended to use a rising tone to siginal to the baby that it was his or her turn in the interaction. motherese can thereofre be seen as contributing towars the effectiveness of interactional synchrony

human infants are not alone int heir need for social interaction. animal research showed that baby rhesus monkeys that have been seprarated from their mothers prefer the warmth and physical comfort of an artificial cloth mother veen though an artiial wire mother was the soruce of food. these monkesy were also found to be unable to form attachments when they were older, suggesting he infant-caregiver interaction is important for the development of attachment

studied the behaviour of infant monekys separated from their mothers at birth to test the effects of the separation method - infant rhesus monekys were taken from their mothers and kept in a cage with 2 substitute mtoehrs a cloth (soft blanket) and a wire mother with a feeding bottle. the monkeys were kept in these conditions were a period of time an then released into a cage with a group of normally reared monkeys results - the infant monkeys preferred the cloth mother even tho other gave food. when returned to compnay of other monkeys, harlow's monkeys showed signs of inappropriate social behaviour and delinquency. they were aggressive towards other monkeys unable to form normal relationships and attackdmonkey when tried to mate with them. if they did have offspring the deprived monkeys were poor neglecting mothers conclusion - the study showed physial fomort in more important attachment than food. it seems that lack of attachment results in delinquent antisocial behaviour

- according to darwin's theory of evolution, all species are generticlaly related in some way and thereofr emakes sense to generalise findings from one species to aother because there is behaviour continuity. the field of comparative psychology involves studying other speciies and then makin comparisons with the findings to human behaviour. in case of harlow there is an especially close relatedness between human and rhesus moneys but it could still be aruged that human behaviour is more complex - harlow was criticised on ethical grounds for distress caused o monekys. in defence deliberate separation is the only way to determine cause and eeffect and cannot be done with human infants. contribution to psychology was significant -harlow was used to support bowlby's hypothesis that babies need secure attachment by a certain age if they are to develop normally and relate to others satisfactorily

-myers (1984) suggested immediate physical contact is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of attachment -crticis of imitation studies have suggested young babeis are not intentionall social and will respond in a similar way to inanimate objects like an approaching pen (jacobsen 1979). abravanel and deyoung (1991) found 5 and 12 week old babies would imitate tongue pulling and mouth opening in human models, but not when the expression were simulated using objects - IS is not related to secuirty of attachment in all cultures. levine (1994) showed how mothers in kenya rarely cudle and interact closely with their babies, even though they are attentive to their needs and have secure attachments - although motherese undoubtedly serves to enhance communication there is no evidence it directly effects formation or quality of attachment. adults have been found to use motherese with all babies and young children not just those who they have an attachment to

initially it was though human infants attach to the person who provides nurture in the form of food. the secondary drive theory of attachment or cupboard love theory as it is sometimes known, can be crticiised on several grounds not least becaus e babies do not necessarily attach to the person who feeds them. note how the infant monkeys studied by Harlow preferred to spen time with the cloth mother even though they obtained their food from the wire mother

evolutionary theorists suggest that attachment behaviour has a citical survival value for an infant but not necessarily in the way that cupboard love theory would have predicted. animals that are immediately mobile at birth known ad precocial species need to remain close to the mother and have the protection of their group in order to avoid predators. early view about attachment were often based on observations of other species for example Lorenz (1935) studied the innate following behaviour demonstrated by greylag geese. he reared young goslings away form other members of their species and found that they would follow and attach themselves to the first large moving obect they saw. in normal circumstances this would usually be the other and so this behaviour known as imprinting, function to keep the young gosling safe from harm. according to evolution the innate following behaviour would confer survival value on members of the species that behave in this way. psychoanalytic theorists have drown on animal research to explain attachment in terms of an innate instinctual drive to maintain proximity to the caregiver who would most usually be the mother. drawing on animal research and his own psychoanalytic. Bowlby (1969) proposed that attachment was rooted in the need to maintain proximity or closeness, the chief benefit of which would be survival

survival value of a different sort was proposed by Bower (1979) in his communication theory of attachment. according to bower infants are selective in their choice of attachment figure choosing as their preferred figure whoever is best able to communicate with them. this need not be the person who spends most time caring for the child but instead would be the person who the child can use most effectively as a means to accessing the things he or she needs. e.g. the child would prefer an attachment figure who can recognise from cry exactly what is required over someone who might often be present but who is unable to interpret the child's attempts at communication. this theory of attachment can be linked to ainsworth's views about sensitive responsiveness

aside from offering survival value to the infant attachment may serve a function in the longer term. in 1969 bowlby proposed that attachment provides the child with an internal working model of relationships. this model acts as an internal representation or metnal view of the relationship with the primary caregiver - e.g. a child who has a secure and loving attachment would have an internal representation of the caregiver as responsive and sensitive. this mental model enables the child to have expectations of the caregiver and makes future interactions easier and more predictable. as the child comes into contact with more and more people the internal working model can be used as a framework on wich to build other similar relationships. if this notion is correct then quite simply the child's earliest relationship sets the scene for all relationships that are to follow, e.g. with teenage and adult friends and in intimate relationships

watching - the child will keep an eye on the attchment figure as they move about the room crying - when attachment fig moves out of sight following - children who are mobile will try to keep contact with the attach fig by following and clinging to them using a safe base - child play in close prox to the attach fig perhaps venturing away to get a toy but returning frequently and playing close. this behaviour is obvious when the child is startled by or suspicious of something. e.g. child playing in centre of room might run back to mother and gold onto her if a stranger enters or theres a sudden noise greeting - child shows obvious pleasure at the return of attach fig smiling and holding up their arms as a signal to be picked up stranger fear - child show fear of stangers demonstrated by turning away and resisting attempts to be picked up and comforted

- whilst the idea that early relationships act as a foundation for later ones is an appealing one, critics have aruged that the internal working model is too general to be used (Dunn 1993) - the notion of continuity in relationships leads to a fairly pessimistic determinist view suggesting that if your first relationships are unhappy and insecure then future relationships will the same - internal working model is attractive in that it combines several perspectives in psychology e.g. cognitive perspective (understand of attachment) and the behaviourist perspective (behaviours rewarding are likely to be repeated) barnes 1995

attachment looks at infants and young children using observational methods

Ainsworth - devised a procedure for measuring attachment in young children. it has been replicated many times and has become a standard method for measuring type and quality of attachment . the quality of attachment is dependent on the mother's behaviour towards the child. mothers of securely attached infants tended to be more sensitive to the child's needs more responsive and cooperative and more accessible than mothers of anxious types. Main (1985) explored the relationship between the mothers behaviour and type of attachment and found motherrs who had satisfactory attachment experiences woul dbe more likely to have securely attached children. Main and solomon (1990) proposed a 4th type of attachment, disorganised which is characteristics of high risk families where children have been abused or neglected a child showing disorganised attachment will appear confused and apprehensive with no consistent response to the events in strange situation

studied reactions of young children to brief separations form their mother in order to determine the nature of attahcment behaviours and types of attachment known as strange situation method - controlled observation infants were exposed to a sequence of 3 minute episodes. the observation lasted 25 mins approx. first the infant and mother were introduced to observation room by researcher and then the researcher left the room. after a while a stranger entered the room and spoke to the mother. the mother then left quietly leaving the infant with the stranger for 3 mins max. if the child became very distressed the mother would return earlier. the sequence of events was then repeated with a further stranger. child's behaviour was recorded throughout results - using a combination of behavioural measures mainly proximity seeking and maintenance of proximity, ainsworth classified infants as securely attached, anxious avoidant or anxious resistant. in middle clas us samples approx 65% of infants were secure attach, 15-20% in other 2 conclusion - research lead to 2 conclusions - there are different types of attachments and these types are differentiated in observed attchment behaviours and the type of attachment between a mother and child is dependent upon the mother's sensitivity and responsiveness to the child

anxious-avoidant - ignores mother, seems indifferent. easily comforted by stranger treats mother and stranger same secure - happy in mother's presence. distressed when mother leaves, calms on mother's return wary of stranger anxious-resistant - fussy, difficult, cries a lot. distressed when mother leaves not comforted on return, shows anger and resists stranger

- ainsworths procedure has been replicated a lot to see whether (a) the classifications show good reliability over time with the same mother-child pairs and (b) the category percentages are similar across cultures (Ijzendoorn) although ainsworths own study failed to show good test-retest reliability of classification other studies have found fairly stable classification over time certainly for those babies int he securely attached and disorganised categories (hesse and main) studies have shown there to b ea relationship between the type of attachment observed in infancy and relationships in later life (waters) - Brenner questions the assumption that proximity seeking and maintenance of proximity are key measures of security attachment. securely attached infants are often observed to be happy exploring their enrivonment, and do not feel the need to maintain continual proximity to mother (cassidy) indeed it could be argued that proximity seeking is a sign of insecurity rather than a sign of a secure attachment - Belsky noted that ainsworth focused on the mother's sensitivity and neglected wider influences on attachment. additional factors that might affect security of attachment include the temperament of the child the parent's background and health and the social context, including social support and the family's socio-economic status. according to some researchers it is the baby's temperament rather the an the mothers behaviour determines the type of attachment - Fraley and Spieker argue that the fixed category system is oversimplified, suggesting that it is more sensible to consider attachment as a 2D construct. the 1st dimension is proximity seeking vs avoidance this represents the degree to which the child prefers to maintain closeness to the mother. the 2nd dimension is anger/resistance versus emotional confidence; this represents the child's emotional response to the attachment figure.

cross cultural replications of the strange situation indicate that the category percentages defined by ainsworth using an american sample are not universal. van ijzendoorn and kroonenberg analysed strange situation data from 32 different studies in 8 countries. this is known as meta-analysis. VI and K found german infants had the highest % of anxious avoidant attachments and israeli and japanese showed the highest % of anxious avoidant. takahashi suggested this could be due to the excessive stress japanese infants might experience during the strange situation separation as infant mother separation is not the norm in the japanese culture. overall the most common type of attachment in all cultures was secure. in addition to cross cultural differences the researchers found differences in pattersn of attachment within individual cultures, in a japanese study there was no anxious avoidant babies and in the other 20% of the infants showd anxious avoidant attachment. in all VI and K research suggests that although the strange situation is highyl seful tool for measuring attachment differing child-rearing norms between and even within cultures will lead to varying percentages of types of attachment found in any individual study. de Wolff and VI have also considered ainsworhts view that the type of attachment depends on the sensitivity shown by the other. sensitivity refers to the mothers ability to read singla sfrom the baby and understand and respond to her baby's immediate needs. a sensitive mother is responsive accepting and cooprative, whilst an inensitive mother puts own needs before her babys. using the meta-analysis technique, DW and IV found the quality of mother infant interaction and sensitivity of the mother was only moderately associated with security of attachment. according to VI 'the impact of sensitivity on attachment appears to be only modest and not in accordance with its central position in attachment theory'

Main et al (1985) devised a procedure for classifying adults according to their recollections of their own attachment experiences. the AAI last approx 1 hour and consists of 15 open qus about the person's attachment experiences. interview content is then analysed and coded according to 4 categories: - insecure-dismissing: individuals whose attachment relationships are dismissed as of little concern - autonomous-secure: individuals whose attachment experiences are recalled openly and objectively - insecure-preoccupied: individuals who still actively struggle to please their parents - unresolved: individuals who have experienced an attachment trauma or loss of attachment figure and have not yet come to terms with it. the AAI can be extremely stressful particularly for those adults who had negative attachment experiences as children. autonomous secure adults who discussed their own childhood experiences openly were more likely to have children identified as securely attached in a strange situation. dismissing and preoccupied tended to have children identified as insecure in the strange situation according to Main a mothers own childhood experiences affect how she interacts with her child and th type of relationship established between the mother'child pair.

Waters devised a method of measuring attachment using a set of 90 behavioural desciprtors on cards. the parent techer or child expert has to sort the cards into 9 piles according to how well each descriptor represents the child's behaviour. items include: - if adult reassures, child will approach - child keeps track of adult's location - child actively goes after adult if upset to complete the test the sorter has to decide where to place the card on a scale of 1-9 where 1 is least like the child and 9 is most like the child. when all the cards have been sorted into the epiles there is a system for tallying a total attachment score; this score is then used to indicate the attachment type. subsets of the cards are suitable for use with different people depending on their relationship with the child e.g. there is a subset suitable for teachers. Pederson reported that classifications of type of attachment made using the attachment q-sort corresponded well with classifications made using the strange situation procedure.

never having had any secure and loving relationship with any attachment figure. much evidence showing cause and effect has tended to come from animal research. one of the most influential studies from animal privation was the Harlow experiment with rhesus monkeys. harlow's monkeys showed inappropriate and delinquent social behaviour when they were placed into the company of other monkeys they were aggressive towards other monkeys unable to form normal relationships and attacked any monkey that tried to mate with them. if they did have offspring the deprived monkeys were extremely poor neglecting mothers. harlow's work illustrates the extreme consequences of privation at least in monkeys. aside from harlow most evidence for effects of privation has come from case studies of children who have been raised in conditions of neglect. some cases e.g. the case of Genie (Curtiss) suggest that severe privation has permanent effects. Genie was severely neglected and maltreated by her parents. at the age of 13 she was unable to speak, physically underdeveloped and showed inappropriate emotional responses. despite fostering and intellectual stimulation, she never recovered although thhere was other factors that could've resulted in this (dad thought she was mentally retarded)

losing a secure relationship or bond with a mother or attachment figure in short term deprivation results in distress of the type observed when a child has to be separated from the carer for a short while perhaps because of hospitalisation or an extended holiday. A commonly observed sequence of behaviours can be seen in this sort of separation. initially the child will protest by crying and struggling to keep contact with the carer this protest will then give way to despair where the child appears to be calmer but perhaps cries quietly and appears very unhappy. eventually as the seapration goes on the chld enters a period of detachment showing little emotion towards others andbeing apparently unconcerned. if the attachment figure returns the child often rejects contact and appears almost to resent the attachment figure who is treated just like a stranger in the child. an excellent illustration of the PROTEST-DESPAIR ATTACHMENT sequence is presented by robertson and robertson who filmed separations of young children going into care for a short time. the robertson studies illustrated the short term effects of separation and had a significant impact on theh way health and childcare professionals viewed children's needs in separation situations. young children between 7 months and 3 years are most vulnerable to suffering from the distress of separation. schaffer identified other characteristics that predispose children to suffer more in separation situations. problems are more likely where the child: - is male (in early childhood femlaes suffer more in adolescence) - has a difficult temperment - has a history of family conflict - has parents who are psychologically unavailable - suffers repeated separations long term effects of deprivation are difficult to determine because other variables may influence the childs behaviour. however studies of children who have experienced separations suggest that one long term consequence may be a fear that separation will occur again the separation anxiety may be seen in a variety of behaviours such as increased clinging aggression towards the carer and physical stress related reactions in adulthood separation anxiety may reult in a general of abandonment or insecurity in relationships making it difficult to trust other people. one of the most common separation situations occurs when parents divorce studies of children of divorced parents show some negative life outcomes such as lower academic attainment and a higher incidence of delinquency. such data are correlational and do not show that separation following divorce causes negative effects. Schaffer summarised the effects of divorce related separations and concluded that several factors can help to reduce the effects of separation: - regular contact with absent parent - reduced parental conflict - regular contact with absent parent - behaviour of parent who has custody and his or her ability to provide stability - lifestyle maintenance - many separated parents find themselves worse off financially which affects continuity for the child - avoidance of further disruption such as moving school - positive relationship with step parent where there is remarriage

investigated the effects of daycare on attachment relationships M - using meta-analysis belsky collated the results of a number of previously published studies. data gathered included the time per week young children spent in non-maternal care and information about their type of attachment R - out of 464 children, 26% of those in day care for less than 20 hours per week showed insecure attachments whereas 41% of those in day care more than 20 hours per week were categorised as insecure C - there was some evidence that 20 hours or more per week in non maternal care has a negative effect on attachment security. this effect was especially marked for children under 1 year. Barnes notes that these differences in attachment type may be due to other factors such as the type of substitute care and the reasons for mothers needing to work longer hours

followed the long term development of twin boys who had suffered severe privation in early childhood. between the ages of 18 months and 7 ears the boys had been locked in a cellar and physically abused. the twins were discovered by the authorities and moved into care at the age of 7 ears at the age of 9 they were fostered with 2 sisters M - in a longitudinal study the twins were assessed at intervals over 22 years for intellectual and social ability R - at the age of 7 he twins had no speech were suffering malnutrition and were totally lacking in social ability. the age of 10 years were attending a mainstream school and were assessed as having average intelligence showing normal attachments to their adoptive family. in a follow up study in 1991 they were reported to have totally recovered and shows no psychological problems. as adults both twins have completed vocational training are married and have their own families C - the effects of years of severe privation can be overcome with appropriate treatment and care

90s world became aware of severe conditions a large number of orphans were being raised in. the children were malnourished, no toys and had minimal social interaction. an internal outcry meant many of the children were removed to enriched environments and adopted in UK and other countries. the progress of the uk children has been followed closely by the english and romanian adoptees study team at the institute of psychiatry led by rutter

since 1998 children from romanian orphanage have been stufied many times to see the effects of early privation are long lasting. rutters study suggested that severe instituonal deprivation can be overcome more recent research has not been as positive especially for those children who are adopted after the age of 6 months. Kreppner reported that 104 romanian children adopted into british families before 2 showed lower frequency of pretend play role play and ability to appreciate other people's mental states than a UK control group. these differences did not eppar to be related to general cognitive or verbal ability so negative outcomes were due to privation. rutter studied 144 children who had been raisd in romanian institutions and adopted into uk families. the chilren were studied at 4 6 and 11 years and compared with 52 uk adoptees not raised in institutions. following assessment some of children also tested for autistic like symptoms at the age of 12 years - 9.2% of the romanian adoptees were found to show quasi-autistic symptoms compared with 0% of the uk adoptees. quasi-autistic symptoms inclue communication difficulties and stereotyped behaviours. half of the children with inhibited attachment and poor relationships with their peers. dis-inhibited attachment occurs when children show little discrimination in their attachments rapidly forming attachments with comparative strangers. rutter team also studied th long term effects of cognitive fucntioning in romanian orphans. Beckett compared 131 adoptees from romanian institutions with 50 uk adopted children. they were tested for congitive functioning at the age of 11. many of romanians who were over the age of 6 months on arrival in uk continued to show marked adverse effects at the age of 11 years although some catch up was noted between 6 and 11 for thos echildren at the very bottom of the ability range. the researchers said there are continuing psychological deficits associated with institutional deprivation for children adopted over 6 months

investigated the progress of 1111 romanian orphans bought to britain for adoption in 90s. children had been raised in poor insitutions with little chance to develop close attachmetns M - assessed for height, head circumference and general cognitive level (mccarthy and denver scales) on arrival in britain and had periodic assessments until 4. control group of 52 british adopted children was also tested to see whether it was separation from mother or severe circumstances in romania that was responsible R - approx half romanians showed intellectual deficits at the start and mosrt of them very underweight. british children showed no such negative side effects. 4 years later the 2 groups showed no significant differences intellectually or physically development, children who arrived in britain before 6 months showed more marked improvement C - the negative outcomes shown by romanian children could be overcome through adequate substitute care, separation from mother alone is not sufficient to cause negative outcomes, as british children not separated but were not developmentally delayed

- situation of romanians provides fairly unique opporutnity for psychologists to study privation in large sample of human participants. before privation had been limited to animal experiments or case studies with single individuals in extreme circumstnaces - although not all children show developmental catch up leading to equivalence with uk raised controls, they showed significant improvement in comparison to romanians - although raised in deprived conditions the extent of human contact the romanian had experienced and individual circumstances which they were adopted varied a lot, may have mediated effects of privation - more recent evidence raises questions abotu rutters findings that the effects of early privation could be overcome. less positive when adoptions occurs after 6 months

thought many mental health and behavioural problems could be directly attributed to early childhood experiences. in '51 the world health orgaisation (WHO) published a document in which bowlby stated that mother love in infancy is just as important for childs mental health as a vitamins and minerals for physical health. in '53 book child care and the growth of love, bowlby stated following: - what is believed to be essential for mental health is that an infant and young child should experience warm, intimate and continous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute someone mothers him) in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment - looks at role of innate, instinctual drives in the movitation of our behaviour lead bowlby to suggest that a child had an instinctual need to be close to the mother, which he called proximity seeking

maternal deprivation made mothers question their own childcare arrangements. mothers who worked felt guilty for leaving children and stay at home mothers thought they should continue, changed way in which generation was raised some childcare workers reading bolwbys worked concluced it was better for a child to be broguht up by a bad mother than sent to an institution or childrens home also had positive consequences; hopsitals chaged practises so mothers were encouraged to stay with their child in hospital and the importance of continuity of care was recognised for children in institutions

child has innate need to attach to one main attachment figure. the idea for a single and exclusive bond became known as monotropy. bowlby didn't include other attachments for the child in the theory but he did believe the primary bond was most important child should recieve the continuous care of this single most important attachment figure for approx first 2 years attachment broken or disrupted in 2 year period = irreversible long term consequences maternal deprivation can lead to delinquency affectionless psychopathy and intellectual retardation. affectionless psychopahty is inability to empathise with other people or as Klein said 'permanent lack of feeling for others'

longitudinal study on 15 pairs of children up to ages of 10-14, one group fostered soon after birth, other 3 years in institution and then fostered. instittuion group perfomed sig less well on a range of emotional and cognitive measures concluidng their deficits could be attritubted to their lack of an attachment figure during their institutionalised years. lack of attachment may not be sole reason for deficits. in those days institutional settings tended to be very unstimulating environemtns with few toys and books. also poss children for fostering were chosen because they were brighter and more sociable compared with institute group

causes of delinquency M - interviewed 44 juvenile thieves in clinic asked about themsleves and behaviour and childhood experiences. bowlby also interviewed members of their families about the boys behaviour and aspects of family history whether the boys had been separated from families in early childhood. control group of non delinquent young people was used as a baseline for comparison R - identified in clinic: 14 affectionless psychopaths,, 12 had been separated from mothers during first 2 yers. 1/5 delinquents not suffering affectionless behaviour been similarly separated from their mothers, 2 of the control group had been separated for any prolonged period C - delinquency is linked to childhood maternal deprivation since the dqlients more likely than average population to have had a deprivation experience in childhood. critics have argued that the retrospective interviews he condcuted might have yielded unreliable data. interviewes might not have been able to recall accurately events for many years ago evidence of maternal deprivation: control - 2 juvenile thieves - 17 no evidence of maternal deprivation control - 42 juvenile - 27

whilst not denying the importance of attachment many people have criticised aspects of bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis. the issues here are: - the concept of monotropy - depirvation as the cause of delinquency - concept of critical period and irreversibility - the effectiveness of substitute care - the role of the father

was criticsed by schaffer and emmerson who showed that children develop more than one strong attachment and attachment need not be to the mother but will be to those who are most response to the children's needs. multiple attachmetns is consistent with cross cultural studies of childrearing. schaffer also said there is no evidecne from societies where infant care is shared between members that it is diluted. Tronick descrbed infant care arrangements of the Efe people from Zaire where children are collectively cared for by members of the group where the average number of carers was 14.2. such collective responsbility seems to have no damaging psychological effects on the children and brings many benefits including provision of various sources of security and wider social experience for the child

rutter argued there was no relationship between delinquency and maternal deprivation. he believed the other important variabes need to be taken into account like the reason for separation from the mother and the way it's handled. not all maternal deprivation = delinquency. rutter suggested bolwby confused deprivation and privation. (explain difference) consistency between Rutters suggestion that privation is cause of delinqeuncy fits with Harlow. rutter carried out a large scale study on the isle of wright using a rating scale to measure distributed behaviour. parents and teachers were asked to assess a child's character and behavour by indicating agreement or disagreement with a series of statements such as (FINISH LATER) bascs maternal deprivation alone wasn't enough to cause delinquency the reason for the separation was more important

'good mothering is almost useless if delayed until after 2.5 years of age' - bowlby. hodges and tizzard children adopted as late as 7 could esstablish affectional realtionship with adopted parents. at age of 16 were found to have relationships that were as good as those of chilren who had been raised continously in their own families. clarke and clarke reivewed a large number of studies and suggested that children have a resilience which enables them to cope with and overcome even the most difficult circumstances. some studies do support bowlby of lack of attachment in early life leading to psychological problems. (romanian orphanages). follow up stuy of harlow's monkeys (suomi and harlow) found possible to socialise 6 month old isolated monkeys by introducing female monkeys 3 months younger than themselves (monkey therapists) delinquent and stereotype behaviour was reduced.

freud and dann experiment. children survived emotionally because they had established bonds with peers who acted as an effective substitute for a primary attachment figure. Skuse reviewed several cases of deprivation and concluded sympathetic care suh as children have an excellent prognosis. rutter 2007 and beckett 2006 romanian adoptees has indicated that whilst significant catch up is possible for those children who have the benefit of early substitute care later adopted children may not be able to fully recover

in 40s and 50s bowlby was studying and fathers had very little to do with childcare and childbearing. according to bowlby child would have one attachment figure and this was usually mother. with changes in social attitudes and employment patterns fathers take an increasingly active role in care of children nowadays. Parke and Sawin found some fathers are just as responsive to their infants as mothers. VI and DW found there is a positive correlation between the level of sensitity shown by the father and the security of father infant attachment although the correlation is not as strong as it is for mothers. schaffer and emmerson found hat around half the infants in scottish study showed a stronger to someone other than mother, usually father. lamb found that babies will approach both mother and father equally to be held except when distress when mother is normally preferred attachment figure. lamb noted differences in maternal and paternal interactions with inants; time fathers spend with their children is taken up with fun and playtime activity mothers spend time with the child carrying out care focused duties like cleaning and dressing. despite the differences evidence from fathering research indicated fathers have a valuable role in attachment

investigated number of attachment relationships infants have M - in longitudinal study of scottish infants throughout first 18 months, 60 infants observed and mothers were interviewed about child's responses to separation. 2 aspects of attachment behaviour were considered separation anxiety and stranger distress R - by 18 months most children had formed more than one attachment figure and some children had as many as 5. although mother was commonly selected attachment figure 75% infants also selected father at 18 months. C - babies don't normally demonstrate monotropy and is usual for a child to have several attachments figures. this finding is supported by other research. lamb noticed dhow infants establish several attachments simultaneously

smith described friendship as a close relationship between 2 particular people as indicated by their association together or their psychological attachment and trust. according to erwin children's friendships serve a number of important functions: - friendship allow for the development of interactional and cognitive skills - friends provide an opportunity for intimacy - friends enable us to exchange and test knowldge about people and the world - friends can be an important emotional buffer in times of stress e.g. when parents are arguing and the child is unhappy at home many studies show friends tend to show personality traits interests and backgrounds perhaps because a relationship with someone similar to ourselves is rewarding and supportive. as the friendship progresses friendships start to become even more similar in attitude and behaviour

investigaetd age related differences in the understanding of friendship M - children interviewed and asked a series of quesstions like 'tell me about your best friend' or 'tell me a story about two who are friends' the content of the replies was analaysed and categorised into 3 levels of understanding R - children under 7 years expressed few feelings of like and dislike. friends just people to spend time with and friendships are quickly formed and dissolved e.g. child takes toy off other. 8-11 children described friendships based on shared mutual interests with trust and responsiveness to others needs with kindness seen as an important criterion. 12 up friendships described as deep enduring relationships with mutual understanding and sharing of intimacies. C - understanding of friendship becomes more complex with age and children become less egocentric and more concerned with mutuality. there is a gradual shift from focus on shared activites to focus on intimacy and reciprocal understanding

observation studies have shown that 2 year old children have a sustained preference for a particular playmate and by age of 4 approx 50% of children preferred friend with whom they spend at least 30% of their time in nursery school (hinde) the number of friendships increases until adolescence when depth of relationship rather than number of friends becomes important. levitt found that even 7 year olds reported feeling close to friends as well as members of their family and buhrmester found that whereas 7- to 10 year olds are most likely to self disclose to parents, 15 year olds to friends. hartup and stevens report a decrease in the number of friends after the early teens with adolescents repoting they have between 4 and 6 friends and most young adults stating that they have one or two friends. as children age they value friends more and prefer the company of peers to adults and family so their understanding deepens. this age related change might be explained though lessening egocentrism and increase in ability to take the perspective of another person. damon studied understanding of friendship changed and identified 3 levels of understanding. selman showed children a typical dilemma about a story about a girl who lied to her friend because she didn't want to go out with her. it was followed with interview questions about the characters and the friendship in general he then proposed the stages

12 + - frienship without the extreme intensity autonomous independence 10-15 - intimate relationship, very close, tending to jealousy and possessiveness - ingroup of 2 7-12 - reciprocal relationship with some idea of other person's needs - fair weather cooperation 5-9 - friend as one way assistant to child's needs 3-6 - friend as partner in physical interaction

studied how children's understanding of a friend changed with age by analysing children's essays M - scottish and canadian cildren 6-14 were asked to write essays about best friend. 480 kids in each sample. researchers analaysed content of each essay rating content on 21 dimensions including reciprocity and sharing R - dimensions referred to in stories changed as children got older. younger - emphasis on common activities living nearby general play and giving to friend. older - similarity acceptance loyalty and intimacy no differences in the 2 countries C - understanding of the concept friend becomes more sophisticated with age with an increasing emphasis on psychological qualities over social interaction. children views about friendship become less egocentric with less focus on childs own perspective and more empathetic with the child showing greater concern for friend

before 2 interaction between children tends to be in pairs with little evidence of same sex preference. even before the concepts of boy and girl are properly developed children start to prefer own sex friendships by 3 or 4 play mostly in same sex groups (Erwin) sex separation might occur because boys and girls prefer different sort activities e..g boys engage in much more rough and tumble play. 5 yrs boys show greater same sex preference than girls by 11 and 12 groups have become very important and sex segregation is almost complete. waldrop and halverson have described boys and girls relationships as extensive (boys) and intensive (girls). bys most time is spent in larger group on shared activities or tasks. boys view friendship group as collective entity and value its solidarity. girls view group as a network of intimate 2 person friendships with focus on closeness and sharing of emotion rather than joint activities. sex differences during adolescence tend to be similar to those observed in younger children. there is no apparent difference in the number of friends that boys and girls have boys are much less concerned with close intimate bonds. girls see individual friends as confidants and source of emotional support, boys more likely to focus on importance of the group and allegiance to group. douvan and adelson suggested boys need the group to support the quest for autonomy and defy authority whilst girls noa s defiant and dont need to focus on the group as a source of strength. lever showed girls worry more about friendships. researchers recently investigated in friendship and confirmed girls more sensitive to threat and breakdown of close relationships than boys beneson and christakos

increasing complex and abstract understanding of friendship shown in older children may be partly due to increase in ability to express such ideas in language. maybe younger children understand friendship in a complex way but cannot express ideas. just because a child doesn't talk about characteristics like trust empathy in answer doesn't mean they don't appreciate and recognise qualities in friend many studies involve use of clinical interview and lack formal structure/control. usually interview is followed by analysis and categorisation of responses a procedure that can be subjective.likely when responses take a completely open ended form like an essay hypothetical dilemma responses been suggested that hypothetical reasoning tends to be more advanced than real life understanding. serafica found responses to questions about hypothetical friends and real friends yielded descriptions which were quite different, not all studies are testing the same thing - some ask about friend, bestfriend or friendship which is complex and abstract for young child

social networks in 10 year olds male and female M - asked children to rate their peers using friendship and play rating scales. the children also asked to describe peers using open ended interviews R - boys - more extensive social networks of interconnected friendships, focus on attributes that contributed to the status of the group girls - friendships based on small more intimate groups of cliques, focus on attributes that were important for 2 person or small groups no differences in number of bffs between male and female C - different types of social networks and different ideas about attributes important to friendship

investigated sex differences in friendship attitudes and behaviours M -10 year old boys and girls in american city suburban schools were interviewed about their attitudes towards friends and their interactions with friends several differences emerged - - girls more cmfortable with single best friend less likely to admit third person into friendship - girls openly show affection - e.g. hand holding boys don't - girls more sensitive to fragility of intimate relationship worry abotu falling out - girls shared personal intimacies boys shared group secrets - girls more likely to be jealous of third party girls more emotionally involved with friends and prefer more intimate two person relationships boy's friendships more open

investigated sex differences in young people''s friendships 60 girls and boys aged 10-15 were interviewed about their closest same-sex friendships several differences: -girls friendship last shorter time - girls more upset abotu friendship ending - girls more likely to recognise something that could have prejudiced their friendship - girls reported having mre best freinds in past than boys girls more aware of fragility adn vulnerability of relationships with same sex best friend. boys appear to be much less sensitive and much less concerned with fragility of their best friend friendship

male preference for larger friendships groups can be explained from biological and evolutionary perspective, males the large group offers a means of fulfilling the need to compete with dominance hierarchy. viewing social behaviour from this perspective might also explain why females prefer quieter activities using friends as source of individual support, fulfilling the need to nurture and care traditional behavioursits would argue that sex idifferences in friendships occur because of operant coniditoning males and feamles reinforced what is seen as sex appropriate behaviour so girls encouraged to play quietly in 2 boys play competitively in groups SLT suggest boys and girls are simply copying the behaviour of adult models

Coie and Dodge carried out a sociometric study of primary school children which each child was asked to identify who in the class they liked most and who they liked least. from responses the researchers identified 5 types of children; popular children average children controversial children neglected children and rejected children. neglected children are often well adjusted nd quite socially skilled apparently choosing to play alone rather than being forced into solitude because they are actively disliked by peers. classmates often described neglected children as shy. controversial children do show some of the behaviours typical of rejected aggressive children but they comepnsate for these with positive and pro-social behaviours. as a result the controversial child often has many friend despite being disliked by some children. it is the rejected child that is a source of concern and rejected children have been the greatest focus of study for child psychologists. rejected children often have few friends or make friends with other unpopular children. Berk identifies 2 types of rejected child. rejected aggressive children often demonstrate serious behavioural problems because they are hostile hyperactive and impulsive. they are very poor at social understanding very often misreading the behaviour of others e..g misinterpreting the behaviour of peers as hostile (Crick and Ladd) rejected withdrawn children are inhibited passive and socially withdrawn. they show high levels of social anxiety and are concerned about being attacked by others. such a submissive style often leads to them to being the target of bullying.

children prefer to be friends with those who are attractive and been young children have been found t prefer to look at attractive peers. higher status individuals and those perceived to be more contempt e..g good at sport tend to be more popular. Vaughn and Langlois fund significant correlation between ratings of physical attractiveness and popularity using a sociometric analysis of 59 pre-school children whilst the results for group as whole were significant there was a much more significant correlation between 2 variables for the girls than for the boys

children choose friends who live need or see regularly. as we find similarity reinforcing children will choose playmates from similar backgrounds of the same sex with similar interests and so on. Rubin refers to strong pressures to exclude the deviant or different child. Kandel carried out longitudinal study of adolescent friendships from the start to the end of the school year which suggests similarity is important in friendship. 3 types of friendships: - maintained friendships: existed at the start and end of year - dissolved friendships: existed at start but not at end - newly formed friendships: started up at some time during the year Kandel noted maintained and newly formed friendship pairs were more similar in attitude, behaviour and interests than dissolved friendship pairs. he concluded that either similarity may be the key to friendship or successful friendships may be those where partners come to adopt each other's interests and characteristics

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secure - no trouble getting close to others, happy depending on others, comfortable if others are dependent, not worried about being abandoned, not afraid someone will get too close anxious-avoidant - somewhat uncomfortable being close to others, difficulty trusting others, difficulty depending on others, nervous when anyone gets too close, feels partners want to be too intimate anxious-ambivalent resistant - concerned partner will leave, disappointed other people will not get close enough, desire for intense closeness frightens other away, afraid others are not really committed

investigated playground behaviour to see whether there were behavioural differences between popular and unpopular children M - naturalistic observation 5 yrs observed in playgrond. researchers focused on pairs of children at play and watched to see how a 3rd child would approach and try to join in with game. behaviours such as time spent watching, types of verbal comments made and the style of approach recorded R - found that popular and unpopular children differed significantly in their approaches to the other children. popular children watched and waited made group oriented statements and were gradually accepted. neglected watched but shied away from attempting interaction rejected children were highly active and aggressive disrupting play of the others being generally uncooperative and making critical comments C - unpopularity of rejected and neglected children relates to deficits in social skills

according to attachment theory and internal working model relationship between child and mother sets the pattern for future relationships. then the rejected child is one who has not had the satisfactory care of a single loving adult and who therefore has no model on which to base future relationships. Hazan and Shaver proposed 3 types of attachment shown in ainsworths strange situation are carried through to later relationships with other people so that an infant defined as secure according to ainsworth would grow up to be a person who has similarly positive experience in later relationships. Hazan and Shaver relate the 3 types to later romantic relationships anxious resistant and anxious avoidant would be more likely to have difficulty in childhood and adolescent relationships. e.g. the anxious avoidant be afriad of getting too close to others and tend to resist any attempts at intimacy from others therefore finding it very difficult to sustain friendships.

rejected childrn do seem to show aggressive and disruptive behaviours but it is very difficult to say whether these are a consequence of their rejection. Dodge arranged for children 6-8 who didn't know each other to play togehter in organised play sessions over a numebr of weeks. children were tested for personality characteristics before the play sessions began and observed during them. observers recorded data about each child's popularity and interaction in the group. a clear relationship was fond between the child's personalty traits at group. however its also noted that once a child had been labelled as unpopular by the group, the child seems that personality traits may lead to unpopularity which one established becomes self fulfilling

no clear cut cause and effect relationship between social inadequacy and rejection initial peer group rejection can lead to an expectation of social failure. because a child expects t be rejected he she may then avoid social opportunities to practice peer social skills. as a result child becomes more and more deficient at social interaction Ladd and Golter followed 3-4 yrs for a year to see whether they could detect a cause and effect relationship between social incompetence and unpopularity. they found that early argumentative behaviour predicted later unpopular status

whilst attachment theory may explain why some children have difficulty relating to peers there are other possible explanations. a number of studies have shown that one reason for rejection by peers may be that a child has poor social skills and therefore experiences difficulty interacting with others. if poor social skills are at the root of the problem for an isolated child, then training in social skills ought to lead to an increase in popularity. Oden and Ashder set up a program of social skills training for 8-9 yrs isolates. the unpopuar children were given coaching in the following skills: - how to join in - turn taking - sharing - communication - giving attention to others - helping at end of program they were no longer isolated from their peers were more outgoing and more positive towards other people and had improved social status

Berk describes acceptance by peers as extremely important for child's psychological adjustment. whereas childhood popularity seems to be associated with positive life outcomes evidence from several sources suggests negative long term outcomes for unpopular children. Cowen carried out a longitudinal study with 800 children to investigate the long term effects of peer relationships on psychological well-being. It was found that children rated negatively by peers at 8 were more likely to suffer from a variety of psychiatric problems throughout childhood and adolescence and into their adult lives. Duck similarly found that rejected children were more likely to grow up to suffer from a range of behavioural and mental disorders including alcoholism depression schizophrenia delinquency and psychotic behaviour. Kuperschmidt and Coie identified link between sociometric and a number of negative life outcomes including truancy and being in trouble with the police. 7 year longitudinal study they found children identified as rejected at the age of 11 were much likely to drop out of or be suspended from school and 3 times more likely than averagely popular children to have been in trouble with the police by late adolescence. interestingly neglected children did not show any increased evidence of negative outcomes

although these studies suggest rejection has serious consequences determining a cause and effect relationship is impossible. it might be these individuals were rejected as children because thy already showed disordered behaviours and that the behaviour was a cause and not a consequence of their rejection Schaffer discusses the role of aggressiveness in negative outcomes and suggests that an aggressive temperament may be a more reliable in indicator of negative life outcomes than peer rejection only some of the rejected children in Kuperschmidt and Coie were identified as being aggressive and these were the children more likely to show social malajustment most studies of rejected children are also friendless but its impossible to be rejected by many and yet still have one or two friends. Bagwell suggests the effects of rejection alone are different from the combined effect of friendlessness and rejection

investigated the effects of peer rejection and friendship in a longitudinal study M - large group of 334 US children aged 10 asked to name 3 best friends an 3 people in class they liked least. large group the researchers selected children who fell into 2 distinct subgroups: 58 friended children who each had a stable best friend and 55 chumless children who had no 2way friendship. these children were then given a peer rejection score based on the ratings from the whole group. at age of 23 young adults from 2 subgroups assessed on several variables R - those rejected as children had poorer life status (job etc). those who had childhood friends had better family relationship and self-esteem those rejected ad friendless as children showed symptoms of mental disorder. the quality of adult friendships was not related to either rejection or friendlessness as a child. C - long term effects of rejection aren't same as the effects of rejection coupled with childhood friendlessness