Attachment Trivia Quiz

Answer: The critical period

Bowlby believed there is a critical period to attachment (usually from birth to 3 years old. If an attachment is not formed within the sensitive period, the baby may become damaged both physically and emotionally. He later suggested a sensitive period, lasting up to five years of age.

Answer: The idea that the attachment you have as a baby will affect you throughout your life

The Continuity Hypothesis explains that the attachment we have as a baby will affect our lives. For example, Bowlby believed that a successful, secure attachment will lead to the child forming developed social behaviours.

Answer: Secure base, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and reunion behaviour

Mary Ainsworth, a supporter of Bowlby's attachment theory, wanted to test his belief of secure base. Secure base is when the baby uses the mother as a base to come back to, but also to explore the world.

Ainsworth also wanted to find out how babies would react when left with a stranger or left by themselves.

Answer: Secure, Insecure Avoidant and Insecure Resistant

Secure attachment is characterised as having cooperative interactions with the caregiver. The baby has a high willingness to explore and is easy to soothe.

Insecure Avoidant Attachment is characterised as having a high willingness to explore, a low stranger anxiety level and is indifferent when separated from the caregiver. The caregiver is characterised as ignoring or mis-reading the baby.

Insecure Resistant Attachment is characterised as having a low willingness to explore, showing high levels of distress when separated from the primary caregiver. Upon the return, the baby will seek and reject the caregiver.

Answer: The more time spent in day care, the more aggressive the child becomes

The NICHD study found that children in full time day care were almost three times more likely to show behavioural problems such as anti-social behaviour than if they were at home.

Answer: Failure to form any attachment at all

Privation can be both physical or emotional. One famous case of physical privation was in a study by Curtiss 1977 about a girl named Genie (not her real name). Genie was isolated in her room, with no contact with the outside world. She, therefore, did not form an attachment and didn't have any language. Genie was looked after by many doctors and psychologists, and started to show signs of improvement, e.g. she was beginning to form relationships.

However, her interests were often put second to scientific research, and she is now cared for in an adult care centre.

Answer: Early emotional privation interfered with the ability to form relationships.

Hodges and Tizard investigated 64 British children who were placed in an institute when they were less than 4 months old. The children who returned to their mothers were less likely to form an attachment with the mother, than if they were adopted.

Answer: Protest, Despair and Detachment

Protest is when the child cries, screams and protests angrily when left. They cling to the caregiver and struggle to escape from others who try to pick them up.

Despair is when the child appears calmer, but is more withdrawn and upset. They will refuse attempted to comfort them and will seem uninterested in anything.

Detachment is when the child may start to engage more with others, but will be wary. The children would be likely to reject the caregiver on reunion.

Answer: Mother

The experiments were designed to explore the child's reactions in various situations, when the mother was present, and/or when a stranger was introduced into the equation. They were an empirical attempt to explore the differences in attachment between different children.

Answer: The idea of forming one attachment

Bowlby believed that as a baby, you form one attachment. This is either to the mother or the substitute mother. That person is then called the Primary Attachment Figure.