A-Level Psychology: Attachment — Theories and Types

The second half of the attachment topic is where the essay questions live: competing theories of why attachment forms, the classification of attachment types, and the consequences when attachment is disrupted. This quiz covers all three strands.

The theory questions set learning theory against Bowlby. Learning theory's cupboard-love account — attachment conditioned through association with feeding — is tested along with its recognised limitations, including the animal evidence (Harlow) that food is not the mechanism. Bowlby's monotropic theory is examined component by component: social releasers, the critical period as a biological window, and the internal working model as the cognitive template early attachment lays down for later relationships — with a question distinguishing which elements genuinely belong to Bowlby and which to rival accounts.

The classification questions cover Ainsworth's Strange Situation and the behaviour profiles of all three types: secure-base exploration with reunion joy, the avoidant infant's indifference at separation and reunion, and the resistant infant's ambivalent seek-and-reject pattern. Cultural variation is tested through the van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg meta-analysis finding that secure attachment predominates everywhere while insecure distributions vary.

The disruption strand covers Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis with the 44 thieves study and affectionless psychopathy; the effects of institutionalisation, including the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) project and the role of adoption age, are covered in the flashcards and written questions.

Each explanation names the theoretical claim being supported or challenged, modelling the compare-and-evaluate structure that top-band attachment essays require.

• Contrast learning theory's cupboard-love account with Bowlby's monotropic theory
• Define social releasers, the critical period and the internal working model
• Classify secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant behaviour in the Strange Situation
• Interpret cross-cultural attachment findings from the meta-analytic evidence
• Evaluate maternal deprivation and institutionalisation research (44 thieves, Romanian orphans)

Practice material written by Zestly on attachment, following the AQA A-level Psychology (7182) topic list as an example: learning theory and Bowlby's monotropic theory, Ainsworth's Strange Situation and attachment types, cultural variations, maternal deprivation, and the effects of institutionalisation including the English and Romanian Adoptees project.