HECOL 313: Attachment Theory, Systems Theory, and Human
Ecological Theory Study guide
1. John Bowlby (AT): Maternal deprivation in early life could produce negative consequences for healthy
development. Connections to mothers is also instinctive and evolutionary; not just physical.
2. Mary Ainsworth (AT): Secure base, Strange situation procedure, maternal sen- sitivity
3. Secure Base (AT): Mary Ainsworth: infants use parents, specifically mothers, as a place of comfort and reassurance
when exploring the world
4. Strange Situation Procedure (AT): Mary Ainsworth: Mothers are best source for comfort when infants are
distressed
5. Maternal Sensitivity (AT): Mary Ainsworth: Mothers have the ability to infer meaning behind their infant's
behavioural signals and deal with them accordingly
6. William Blatz (AT): Security Theory: Independent security, immature security, pseudosecurity
7. Security Theory (AT): William Blatz: 1) Independent: child feels secure enough to explore their environment 2)
Immature: child is insecure and clingy
3) pseudo: child acts as if they are independent when they are actually attached
8. Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver (AT): Styles of attachment in adult relation- ships: secure, anxious-
ambivalent, avoidant
9. Basic Assumptions of Attachment Theory: 1) Attachment behaviour is univer- sal and evolutionary based
2) confidence in an attachment figure reduces fear
3) During the sensitive period (6m-3y) confidence in an attachment figure develops
4) actual experiences influence expectations of accessibility and responsiveness in an attachment figure
5) Attachment systems operate throughout life
6) attachment behaviour ids activated in threatening situations
10.Adult attachment (AT): an individuals tendency to seek out proximity and contact to individuals who provide
physical and/or psychological safety and security
11.When is intensity of attachment typically revealed? (AT): when an attach- ment figure is lost, either
temporarily or permanently
12.Attachment sensitivity in Infancy (AT): Mothers displaying sensitivity to their child's desire for attention and
soothing
13.Attachment sensitivity in Adulthood (AT): the ease with which an individual develops attachment bonds. More
frequent in adults than children
14.Attachment behaviour (AT): any form of behaviour that results in a person attaining or retaining proximity
to some other
ie) infants crying for attention vs. adults texting someone for attention
1/
5
, HECOL 313: Attachment Theory, Systems Theory, and Human
Ecological Theory Study guide
15.Ainsworth's attachment styles (AT): Secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-re- sistant/anxious-ambivalent,
insecure-disorganized
16.securely attached (AT): Caregivers are warm and responsive and child is social and active
17.insecurely attached-avoidant (AT): Caregivers are hostile and reject their child who is in turn avoidant
18.insecurely attached-ambivalent (AT): Caregivers are insensitive and less re- sponsive, child is distressed when
separated and protests through crying or clinging
19.insecure-disorganized attachment (AT): Caregivers are abusive or disturbed leaving children with lack of ability
to deal with stress
20.Main and Solomon's 4 Adult Attachment styles (AT): secure-autonomous, preoccupied, dismissing-avoidant,
disorganized-disoriented
21.Attachment system (AT): establishing security and deep bonds with a partner to maintain a balance between
exploration and proximity-seeking behaviour
22.Attachment relationship functions (AT): proximity maintenance, secure base, safe haven
23.Internal Working Models (AT): memories or beliefs that evolve from one's experience of parental attachment
that are maintained throughout life and impact expectations and behaviours in future relationships
24.Family Systems Theory: The family is a closed system of social interaction in which members adhere to roles
that form and maintain equilibrium
25.Basic Assumptions of Family Systems Theory: 1) The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
2) Individual and Family behaviour must be understood in its context
3) a family is a goal seeking system
4) a family is a self-reflexive and self-regulating system influenced by feedback
5) family systems are defined by their communication
6) the locus of pathology is not within an individual but a system disfunction
26.Families as a system (ST): a boundary-maintained unit composed of interrelat- ed and interdependent parts such
that an alteration to one part effects all the others. The system is organized around the primary subsystems; parental
spousal, sibling
27.Familial roles (ST): recurring patterns of behaviour developed through interac- tion that family members use to
fulfil familial functions.
28.four player parts (ST): the mover; initiates action, the opposer; blocks action of the mover, the follower; adheres
to and empowers either the mover or the opposer, the bystander; passively maintains family functioning
29.roles according to birth order (ST): Hero; represents to the outside that every- thing is good (stressful but
rewarding), Delinquent; the family scapegoat to engages
2/
5
Ecological Theory Study guide
1. John Bowlby (AT): Maternal deprivation in early life could produce negative consequences for healthy
development. Connections to mothers is also instinctive and evolutionary; not just physical.
2. Mary Ainsworth (AT): Secure base, Strange situation procedure, maternal sen- sitivity
3. Secure Base (AT): Mary Ainsworth: infants use parents, specifically mothers, as a place of comfort and reassurance
when exploring the world
4. Strange Situation Procedure (AT): Mary Ainsworth: Mothers are best source for comfort when infants are
distressed
5. Maternal Sensitivity (AT): Mary Ainsworth: Mothers have the ability to infer meaning behind their infant's
behavioural signals and deal with them accordingly
6. William Blatz (AT): Security Theory: Independent security, immature security, pseudosecurity
7. Security Theory (AT): William Blatz: 1) Independent: child feels secure enough to explore their environment 2)
Immature: child is insecure and clingy
3) pseudo: child acts as if they are independent when they are actually attached
8. Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver (AT): Styles of attachment in adult relation- ships: secure, anxious-
ambivalent, avoidant
9. Basic Assumptions of Attachment Theory: 1) Attachment behaviour is univer- sal and evolutionary based
2) confidence in an attachment figure reduces fear
3) During the sensitive period (6m-3y) confidence in an attachment figure develops
4) actual experiences influence expectations of accessibility and responsiveness in an attachment figure
5) Attachment systems operate throughout life
6) attachment behaviour ids activated in threatening situations
10.Adult attachment (AT): an individuals tendency to seek out proximity and contact to individuals who provide
physical and/or psychological safety and security
11.When is intensity of attachment typically revealed? (AT): when an attach- ment figure is lost, either
temporarily or permanently
12.Attachment sensitivity in Infancy (AT): Mothers displaying sensitivity to their child's desire for attention and
soothing
13.Attachment sensitivity in Adulthood (AT): the ease with which an individual develops attachment bonds. More
frequent in adults than children
14.Attachment behaviour (AT): any form of behaviour that results in a person attaining or retaining proximity
to some other
ie) infants crying for attention vs. adults texting someone for attention
1/
5
, HECOL 313: Attachment Theory, Systems Theory, and Human
Ecological Theory Study guide
15.Ainsworth's attachment styles (AT): Secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-re- sistant/anxious-ambivalent,
insecure-disorganized
16.securely attached (AT): Caregivers are warm and responsive and child is social and active
17.insecurely attached-avoidant (AT): Caregivers are hostile and reject their child who is in turn avoidant
18.insecurely attached-ambivalent (AT): Caregivers are insensitive and less re- sponsive, child is distressed when
separated and protests through crying or clinging
19.insecure-disorganized attachment (AT): Caregivers are abusive or disturbed leaving children with lack of ability
to deal with stress
20.Main and Solomon's 4 Adult Attachment styles (AT): secure-autonomous, preoccupied, dismissing-avoidant,
disorganized-disoriented
21.Attachment system (AT): establishing security and deep bonds with a partner to maintain a balance between
exploration and proximity-seeking behaviour
22.Attachment relationship functions (AT): proximity maintenance, secure base, safe haven
23.Internal Working Models (AT): memories or beliefs that evolve from one's experience of parental attachment
that are maintained throughout life and impact expectations and behaviours in future relationships
24.Family Systems Theory: The family is a closed system of social interaction in which members adhere to roles
that form and maintain equilibrium
25.Basic Assumptions of Family Systems Theory: 1) The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
2) Individual and Family behaviour must be understood in its context
3) a family is a goal seeking system
4) a family is a self-reflexive and self-regulating system influenced by feedback
5) family systems are defined by their communication
6) the locus of pathology is not within an individual but a system disfunction
26.Families as a system (ST): a boundary-maintained unit composed of interrelat- ed and interdependent parts such
that an alteration to one part effects all the others. The system is organized around the primary subsystems; parental
spousal, sibling
27.Familial roles (ST): recurring patterns of behaviour developed through interac- tion that family members use to
fulfil familial functions.
28.four player parts (ST): the mover; initiates action, the opposer; blocks action of the mover, the follower; adheres
to and empowers either the mover or the opposer, the bystander; passively maintains family functioning
29.roles according to birth order (ST): Hero; represents to the outside that every- thing is good (stressful but
rewarding), Delinquent; the family scapegoat to engages
2/
5
