week 5: competence hypothesis

week 5: competence hypothesis

1. correlates/causes of individual differences in attachment; transmission gap, caregiver sensitivity, IWM

   • secure --> sees self as loveable and interesting to others, others are caring, predictable and dependable
     • Amxious ambivalent and avoidant --> self is unloveable and unworthy, others are uninterested and uncaring, anxious ambivalent = hyperactive in this approach, anxious avoidant = deactivated
     • disorganised - disorientated - self worthless, others are frightening and the world is scary

2. habituation task - watching characters which represent infant and caregiver, infant in distress either faced with responsive/unresponsive caregiving. Secure will look longer at unresponsive, insecure longer at responsive

   • Johnson 'this tells us what the children expect' longer looking time when against expectations
     • consequences of attachment security = long-term impact on later relationships and psychopathy and self-understanding. Relationship between early attachment and capacity in developmental domains

3. The competence hyp = attachment security leads to differences in childrens emotional, social and cognitive competencies.

   • Minnesota longitudinal study of parents and children, SROUFE 2005: initially recruited 260 1st time mothers. SS at 18 months - now some of them are parents themselves.
     • NICHD study of early child care and youth development- SS as a baby --> 15 years old

4. social competence = social skills./interactions with peers/ social skills. Early insecurity linked with social competence

5. Internalising symptoms = depression, anxiety, social withdrawal

6. Externalising symptoms = aggression, hostility, conduct problems, avoidance linked to internalising and externalising symptoms. Disorganisation greater risk for externalising problems

7. Attachment and Psychopathy - majority of clinical adults were insecure on AAI, suggests vulnerability to psychopathy, negative representations of self and other, later development of depression likely associated with - loss of parent (hopelessness), inability to form stable and secure rels with caregiver, caregiver gives messgae child is incompetent/unloveable

8. competence hypothesis = short and long term perspective. Longitudinal studies provide a wealth of supporting evidence. influence of IWM. The IWM helps us understand why the child will go on to make healthy/stable rels (secure) or negative expectations (insecure)

   • critique of IWM - precise defintion needed, how IWM develops and changes over time. how it relates to other socio-cognitive concepts (self-esteem)
     • Focuses on mother-onfant attachment, but children can have multiple. MAIN + WESTON 1981 attachment type to mother and father predictive of social responsiveness
     • effect sizes are too small, suggests other influences. Correlational > Experimental - other possible influences later in development

9. temperament - can influence interactions with caregiver, attachment security and social interaction with peers. however - not the main explanation, bad temperament can be overcome with good parenting

10. EMOTIONAL UNDERSTANDING AND AFFECT REGULATION - attachment security affects the way children process emotional information and understand it/regulate emotions. Secure = better at understanding emotions - cognitve outcomes

    • in classroom will be more intelligent as can focus more in the classroom due to homelife, insecure = hyperactivation - difficulty soothing, panic, rage
      • disassociation/ deactivation = avoidance and withdrawal

11. continuity of caregicing - ZVARA, BHARATHI 2018 - followed from 6-15. Found caregivers who were sensitive at 6 were sensitive at 15. parents who were sensitive >> less externalising behaviours. at 15 only indicator of internalising behaviours = father sensitvity. childs behaviours impact parents sensitivity

12. Psychobiological - hormones, brain development, neglect brain V typical brain. Accumulating evidence suggests human brain may be sensitive to the early caregiving environment. Cortisol changes in 1 year old after SS, secure = less cortisol, Insecure = higher levels of cortisol. Insecure attachment in infancy = higher volume of amygdala in adulthood

    • SUMMARY- Bowlby 1973 proposed early experiences might determine which developmental pathway an individual follows. the developmental pathway is interaction between the organism and the environment it finds itsself in.
      • history of secure attachment is not a guarantee of healthy functioning - but a protective factor (SROUFE 2005)

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