1.2.5 debate - mother as the primary care giver for and against

Question 1

What is a primary care giver

Answer 1

Person who is most responsible for an infants health, development and wellbeing

Question 2

What does the debate propose

Answer 2

That there is such a thing as a ‘primary care giver’ and it should be the mother

Question 3

Outline the main arguements for the mother being the primary care giver

Answer 3

• Feeding (NHS)
• Freud - the role of the mother in development of personality
• Bowlby - Monotropy
• The role of day care
• Mothers not fathers

Question 4

What did Freud believe infants depend on their mother for

Answer 4

• To satisfy the needs of their libido
• Smooth passage through the oral stage of the psychosexual stages
• Over indulgance or frustration in the oral stage (breast feeding from mother) could lead to emotional problems later in life, such as neediness or pessimism

Question 5

What did Freud belive causes seperation anxiety

Answer 5

The infant realising that their bodily needs will go unsatisfied in seperation occurs

Question 6

Who supports Freuds theory on seperation anxiety

Answer 6

widely supported by modern psychologists including Ainsworth and Bell

Question 7

What did Freud state was crucial in the development of masculinity or feminintiy

Answer 7

The relationship between the mother and the child during the phallic stage through the oedipus/electra complex

Question 8

What did Freud claim about a mothers love

Answer 8

The mothers love acts as a protoype for every relationship the infant will go on to have in their lifetime

Question 9

What does monotropy mean

Answer 9

concept that infants have an innate and inborn capacity to attach primarily to a single caregiver or attachment figure. This concept was proposed by John Bowlby and is a component of attachment theory. This is an evolutionary stance.

Question 10

How did Bowlby share Freuds view that The mothers love acts as a protoype for every relationship the infant will go on to have in their lifetime

Answer 10

Bowlby sugessted that children form an ‘internal working model’ or template for all future relationships based on the one they shared with their primary care giver (continuity hypothesis)

Question 11

What was Bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 11

• Early and prolonged seperation from the mother can have lasting emotional effects
• This seperation is likely to lead to an affectionless psychopath
• Which can lead to a person becoming a thief or have difficulty forming relationships

Question 12

What did Bowlby quote in terms of the mother being the primary care giver

Question 13

How did Bowlby describe the first 2 years of life

Answer 13

• The critical period
• Any disruption or break in the attachment during this period would have negative long term consequences like aggression and delinquency

Question 14

What is recomended by the NHS and World health organisation in terms of breastfeeding

Answer 14

• Infants are breastfed for at least the first 6 months of their lives
• Gives the healthiest start for individuals as it protects them from disease and infections

Question 15

What does the NHS also claim about breast feeding

Answer 15

• It can build a strong physical and emotional bond between mother and baby
• This is important in subsequent emotional devlopment

Question 16

Why does breastfeeding create a bond between baby and mother

Answer 16

• The release of the hormone oxytocin in the mother when breastfeeding promotes bonding
• This makes the mother more likely to interact with and care for the baby than other care givers
• Especially as the number a oxytocin receptors in the mothers brain increses during pregnancy

Question 17

What does this argument mean

Answer 17

• The infants mother is the individual who is going to need to be available to feed the infant; possibly every 2 hours
• It is practical and essential that the mother is the primary care giver
• Anyone els including the father, is limited to a supporting care giving role

Question 18

What did Belksy suggest in terms of the role of the day care

Answer 18

Children who spend early, extensive and continuous time in the care of non-relatives are more likely to show later behavioural problems, such as aggressivness and disobedience

Question 19

What did the findings of Aric Sigman suggest in terms of the role of day care

Answer 19

• Children have elavated levels of cortisol in day care
• The hormone is linked to stress related illness’s such as heart disease, dementia and increased illness frequency

Question 20

What does all this suggest about day care

Answer 20

It is less healthy for the child to be at day care rather than at home

Question 21

Why may women be better suited than men to be primary care givers

Answer 21

• Most men are not psychologically equiped to form such an emotionally intense relationship (could be biological or sociological factors)
• Female hormonse oestrogen underlies caring behaviour so that women, generally, are more orientated towards emotional relationships than men

Question 22

Outline the arguments that the mother doesnt need to be the primary care giver

Answer 22

• Feeding - Harlow
• Multiple attachments - Schaffer and Emmerson
• Rutter- alternative view of role of mother and impacts of seperation
• Role of the father - hormonal influences
• Freud - outdated
• Bowlby
• Evidence for men being capable

Question 23

What did Harlow use monkeys for

Answer 23

To show how important comfort was in the care giving bond

Question 24

What did Harlow find with the monkeys

Answer 24

• When given a choice between a warm cloth mother or a wire mother than provided food, the monkeys sought and attached to the cloth mother.
• They also sought the cloth mother when they were scared

Question 25

What do Harlows findings suggest

Answer 25

That even if the mother breastfeeds the baby, other caregivers, such as the fathe, may be the one the child has most attachment to (if they are most comforting) and therefor they should be the one that provide the primary care for the infant

Question 26

Who supported Harlows research

Answer 26

Schaffer and Emmerson

Question 27

What research did Schaffer and Emerson do that supported Harlow

Answer 27

• Longitudinal analysis of babies and their families, in their homes for the first 18 onths of life.
• They demonstrated that attachments are more complex than originally thought

Question 28

What did they find about birth to 7 months old

Answer 28

• Babies had indiscriminate attachment
• This meant they enjoyed the company of any adult

Question 29

What did they find about the time between 7 and 9 months

Answer 29

The babies had a ‘special attachment’ with just one or 2 caregivers

Question 30

What had happened by 10 months

Answer 30

Many babies had several attachments including mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings and neighbours

Question 31

What could be seen at 18 months

Answer 31

The mother was the main attachment figure for about half the babies and the father was for most of the others

Question 32

What did Schaffer and Emmerson conclude

Answer 32

• The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child, but who plays and communicates with him or her
• Therefor, responsivness appears to be the key to attachment

Question 33

What did Rutter believe

Answer 33

That infants and young children display a whole range of attachment behaviours towards a variety of attachment figures other than the mother - the mother is not special in the way the infant shows its attachment to her

Question 34

What did Rutter do

Answer 34

• Retested Bowlby’s 44 thieves study with 2000 boys on the Isle of Wight.
• He used interviews with the boys and their families to see if the boys who had had seperations in early life turned to crime later on

Question 35

What did Rutter find

Answer 35

• Boys from homes with a psychological disorder, stress and arguments were 4 times more likely to turn to crime
• When seperation was due to death or illness the boy would be unlikely to turn to crime

Question 36

What were Rutter’s conclusions

Answer 36

• It was the conflict of stress and which came before seperations that was the cause of antisocial behaviour

Question 37

What further research did Rutter do?

Answer 37

• Completed the Romanian orphan study.
• Showed that orphans adopted before the age of 6 months could overcome the effects of early deprivation and show ‘normal’ emotional development

Question 38

How did Feldman find that oxytocin levels rise in men when they become parents

Answer 38

• She measured oxytocin and prolactin in 43 first time fathers, during the 6 months after their childs birth
  *

Question 39

What did Feldman find?

Answer 39

• Found that higher prolactin was associated with encouraging their child to explore and interact with new toys, higher levels of oxytocin increased attachment bonds

Question 40

What type of research did Abraham et al do

Answer 40

Neurological research

Question 41

What did Abraham et al do

Answer 41

Used brain scans to show that the amount a parent is involved in the child rearing process changes the areas of the brain that are most active

Question 42

What did Abraham et al say if the father was the secondary caregiver

Answer 42

If a father is a secondary caregiver they show less emotional brain activity and focus on thinking and planning

Question 43

How does the brain change if a person is showing less emotional brain activity

Answer 43

Lower levels of amygdala activation

Question 44

How does the brain change if a person is showing focus on thinking and planning

Answer 44

high levels of superior temporal sulcus activity

Question 45

What did Abraham et al conclude if the father was the PCG and the mother was absent

Answer 45

They maintain their thinking and planning and increase emotional activity to the same level as ‘mother’

Question 46

Why is a woman not the only parent who become hormonally adapted to parenthood

Answer 46

Getter et al - suggested that a fathers testosterone level drops in order to help ‘a man respond more sensitively to his childrens needs’