Attachment- a close two way emotional bond between two people

Critical period- a time during development where an event must happen in order for the child or
animal to develop normally
Sensitive Period- an age in which a child is sensitive to developing a pattern of behaviour if particular
conditions occur
Deprivation- seperation from an attachment figure
Privation- the failure to form a normal attachment
Daycare- non-parental care usually provided by nurseries and child minders
Evolution: the process where species change over generations
Innate- a born tendency to behave in a particular way
Ainsworth Keywords
Seperation anxiety- anxiety at being apart from an attachment figure
Stranger anxiety- anxiety in the presence of strangers
Reunion behaviour- the way the childs acts on being reunited with it's caregiver
Secure base behaviour or Safe haven- regularly returning to an attachment figure when exploring
Proximity seeking- staying close to an attachment figure
Sensitive responsiveness- ability of the adult carer to pick up and respond to non-verbal signals
from the baby
Attachment Type
Type A: Avoident children do not seek proximity and display no secure base behaviour to their
caregiver. Show no distress when she leaves or make contact when she returns
Type B: Secure : children play independently but seek proximity and show secure base behaviour.
Moderate seperation distress and stranger anxiety. Require comfort on reunion with caregiver.
Type C: Resistant : explore less and intenesley seek proximity. Very distressed when left alone and
with a stranger but resist comfort when reunited with caregiver.
Type D: Disorganised- child displays all different aspects of attachment behaviour
Bowlby Keywords
Monotrophy- the tendency to direct infant attachment behaviours towards a single main attachment
figure
Social releasers- innate behaviours designed to gain attention from adults
Internal working model- a mental reperesentation of the first relationship. This acts as a prototype
for future relationships
Interactional sychrony- the synching of adult and baby actions so that they take turns and imitate
each others movements
Maternal deprivation hypothesis- the idea that if the mother-child bond is broken early in life, social,
emotional and intellectual development could be affected.
Imprinting- how a newborn follows the first object it sees
Culture- the set of behaviours and beliefs that characterises a group of people
Cross-cultural study- a study that compares a psychological variable like attachment in people from
two or more cultures
Culture bound- a criticism of a theory or procedure based on the idea that it only works well in certain
cultures
Meta-analysis- a statistical technique which results of several studies are combined and analysed
together