AQA A Level Psychology - Attachment - Key terms 100% Pass

AQA A Level Psychology - Attachment - Key terms 100% Pass Attachment ✔✔A close, loving/emotional two way bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their emotional security ...

AQA A Level Psychology - Attachment - Key terms 100% Pass Attachment ✔✔A close, loving/emotional two way bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their emotional security Reciprocity ✔✔A description of how two people interact where both the infant and mother respond to each other's signals and elicit a response from the other Interactional synchrony ✔✔Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated way Primary caregiver ✔✔The person who takes primary responsibility for someone who cannot care fully for themselves (infant) Asocial stage ✔✔First stage in early attachment where the baby's behaviour towards human and non-human objects is similar, familiar adults find it easier to calm them Indiscriminate attachment ✔✔From 2-7 months babies show a preference for people over objects but accept comfort from any adult Specific attachment ✔✔From around 7 months the baby becomes anxious when separated from one particular adult Multiple attachments ✔✔Attachments to two or more people. Most babies develop them once they have formed one true attachment to their primary attachment figure Stranger anxiety ✔✔Response to unfamiliar adults Separation anxiety ✔✔Level of distress shown when separated from a particular adult Imprinting ✔✔Bird species that are mobile from birth follow the first moving thing they see Ethology ✔✔Study of animal behaviour Sexual imprinting ✔✔Directing courtship behaviour towards the first moving objects an animal sees Critical period ✔✔Time within which an attachment MUST form if it is to form at all Contact comfort ✔✔Contact with something soft (e.g. a cloth) is important for baby monkeys Learning theory ✔✔A set of theories from the behaviourist approach to psychology that emphasise the role of learning in the acquisition of behaviour Cupboard love ✔✔Babies develop an attachment with their caregiver because they provide food Primary drive ✔✔An innate, biological motivator e.g. hunger Secondary drive ✔✔Learned by an association between the caregiver and the satisfaction of a primary drive Monotropic (theory) ✔✔Child's attachment to one caregiver is different and more important Law of continuity ✔✔The more consistent and predictable care is, the better the quality of the attachment Law of accumulated separation ✔✔Effects of separation add up and the 'safest dose is zero dose' Social releasers ✔✔Innate sense of cute behaviours designed to activate the adult attachment system Sensitive period ✔✔Time within which an attachment SHOULD form because it will be more difficult to form one later Internal working model ✔✔Mental representations of relationship to your primary caregiver which affects future relationships Temperament ✔✔Child's genetically influenced personality Strange Situation ✔✔A controlled observation design to test attachment security in an unfamiliar playroom Secure base (behaviour) ✔✔Using caregiver as a point of contact during exploration to make them feel safe Proximity (seeking) ✔✔An infant with a good attachment will stay fairly close to their caregiver Secure (attachment) ✔✔Most desirable attachment type, moderate stranger and separation anxiety, happy to explore but returns regularly, comfort is required and accepted on reunion Insecure avoidant (attachment) ✔✔Attachment type with little stranger and separation anxiety, no secure base or proximity seeking and little response on reunion Insecure resistant (attachment) ✔✔Attachment type with high stranger and separation anxiety but resists comfort at reunion Disorganised (attachment) ✔✔Attachment type showing a mix of insecure resistant and insecure avoidant characteristics Imposed etic ✔✔Trying to apply a theory or technique designed for one culture to another culture Maternal deprivation ✔✔The emotional and intellectual consequences of separation between a child and their mother or mother substitute Deprivation ✔✔Child is not in the presence of the primary attachment figure and loses an element of care Separation ✔✔Child is not in the presence of the primary attachment figure Affectionless psychopathy ✔✔The inability to feel guilt or strong emotion for others, no empathy, no remorse Privation ✔✔Failure to form any attachment in the first place Institutionalisation ✔✔Living in an institutional setting such as a hospital or orphanage for long, continuous period of time Orphan ✔✔Child whose parents have died or abandoned them permanently Disinhibited attachment ✔✔Attachment type characterised by attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour direction indiscriminately towards all adults even if unfamiliar Secondary attachment figure ✔✔A person other than the primary caregiver with whom the child has formed a close emotional bond Classical conditioning ✔✔Learning by association when an unconditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus Operant conditioning ✔✔A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences Mutual reinforcement ✔✔Reinforcement is a two way process - crying and comfort is positive reinforcement for the baby and negative reinforcement for the caregiver