Discuss research into different type of attachment (12 marks)
Discuss research into different type of attachment (12 marks)
Mary Ainsworth conducted two naturalistic observations, one in the rural community of Kampala in Uganda which lasted for two years and the other in the urban city of Baltimore which had lasted for one year. The aim of this observation was to look at a mother and infant interaction. In both study she used the same number of participants, which were 26 mothers and their infants. Using the strange situation she found three different types of attachments that were displayed by the children and the fourth found by Main and Solomon.
The first study in Uganda she found that some mothers were more sensitive to their infants needs meaning that, they were more capable of providing more details about their infants. The infants of these mothers were ‘securely attached’, this means that in their mothers’ presence they cried little and were more eager to explore. This secure attachment led to the infants being more independence because they used their mothers as a secure base that they could run to in time of danger. The second observation took place in Baltimore, America. In this study she and her team did not use a behaviour checklist which means that there was not certain thing that she was looking for, for example she did not have a paper where she wrote all the behaviour that she was looking for such as anger or sorrow and ticked them off when she witnessed it, she was purely just writing what she had seen. In this observation she found that mother were more sensitive to their infants for the first three months of their lives, meaning that in the one year that she had studied them, only for the first three months the mother, who was classified as a secure base responded more to the infants needs during that time period. Learning theorist found this confusing, this is because from their understanding, responsiveness to behavioural social releasers, such as crying should act as a reinforcer and increase the
Mary Ainsworth conducted two naturalistic observations, one in the rural community of Kampala in Uganda which lasted for two years and the other in the urban city of Baltimore which had lasted for one year. The aim of this observation was to look at a mother and infant interaction. In both study she used the same number of participants, which were 26 mothers and their infants. Using the strange situation she found three different types of attachments that were displayed by the children and the fourth found by Main and Solomon.
The first study in Uganda she found that some mothers were more sensitive to their infants needs meaning that, they were more capable of providing more details about their infants. The infants of these mothers were ‘securely attached’, this means that in their mothers’ presence they cried little and were more eager to explore. This secure attachment led to the infants being more independence because they used their mothers as a secure base that they could run to in time of danger. The second observation took place in Baltimore, America. In this study she and her team did not use a behaviour checklist which means that there was not certain thing that she was looking for, for example she did not have a paper where she wrote all the behaviour that she was looking for such as anger or sorrow and ticked them off when she witnessed it, she was purely just writing what she had seen. In this observation she found that mother were more sensitive to their infants for the first three months of their lives, meaning that in the one year that she had studied them, only for the first three months the mother, who was classified as a secure base responded more to the infants needs during that time period. Learning theorist found this confusing, this is because from their understanding, responsiveness to behavioural social releasers, such as crying should act as a reinforcer and increase the