Attachemt L3-5 Flashcards
Investigation into Role of the Father
Schaffer et al
Reasons why the father was less likely to be the Primary Attachment Figure
- May spend less time with the infant
- Not psychologically adapted, lacking the emotional sensitivity that women have
- Biological factors, women have the female hormone oxytocin that underlies caring behaviour
- Societal norms, it is a stereotype that being sensitive to the emotions of others would be feminine
Evaluation of the Role of the Father
- There are inconsistencies in the research into the role of the father. In same-sex and single parent families, it was found that there is no effect on development of the infant and therefore the role of the father is not important
- It was found that fathers don’t always play a distinct role. For example, in single parent families it was found fathers take on a maternal role and become the primary attachment figure
- Grossman found that early attachment with the mother was a better predictor of what teenage relationship would be like compared to an attachment with the father. But if there was an early attachment formed between both parents, the teenage relationship with both parents would be strengthened
What do Fathers provide for the infant
Play and Stimulation, considered to be just as crucial as the role of the mother
Three types of Attachment
Secure
Insecure Resistant
Insecure Avoidant
The strange situation
Methodology by Ainsworth to investigate attachments between infants and mothers
Four Variables that were investigated in the Strange Situation
Proximity Seeking
Stranger Anxiety
Separation Protest
Reunion Joy
Four Different Situations that Infants were Placed in
Mother and Baby
Stranger then enters
Mother Leaves
Mother comes back
Insecure Avoidant
20% of babies
- Explores the room
- Low stranger anxiety
- Low separation protest
- Low Reunion Joy
Essentially the caregiver and the stranger are treated the same
Secure Attachment
- 70% of babies. Most Common
Use the Mum as the safe base as they explore - Medium proximity seeking
- Medium/High separation protest
- High/Medium reunion joy
- Medium Stranger Anxiety
Insecure-Resistant
10% of babies
- Do not explore and are clingy, High proximity seeking
- High Separation Protest
- Low Reunion Joy
- Extreme stranger anxiety
Evaluation of the Strange Situation
+ Use of standardised procedures has meant that the study is replicable and can be performed to investigate for other cultures
- High cultural bias. In germany, many mothers didn’t work but encouraged the baby to be independent. They didn’t reward clingy behaviour. Babies were then classed as being Insecure Avoidant which was wrong because they showed no separation protest.
- Controlled observation which makes the research lack ecological validity. The study was also conducted in a laboratory. Infants present stronger behaviours in lab settings
- Gender bias, it only used a mother as the caregiver and not a father. A babies attachment to each parent may be different
- Proximity Seeking could be a measure of insecurity rather than security. Decreases validity of measures
Cross Cultural Variation
Van Ijzendoorn conducted a met analysis. Included 32 studies across 8 countries. Finding differences across cultures
Van Ijzendoorn Findings
- Secure Attachment was most common in Great Britain(75%) and least common in China(50%)
- In collectivist cultures like Israel and Japan, Insecure resistant was highest, 27%
- In West Germany rates of Insecure Avoidant was highest, 35%
Evaluation of Cross Cultural Variations in Attachment
+ It was a meta analysis meaning large sample. Increases Validity
- Ainsworth assumed that a willingness to explore means a child is securely attached but this may not be the same in other cultures. It had cultural bias (the criteria)
- Infants from Israel lived in Kibbutz’s which is a closed community, perhaps this is the reasoning behind why Israel had a high percentage of Insecure Resistant because the infants showed high stranger anxiety
- The study didn’t compare cultures but in fact countries. One study in Tokyo found that infants showed similar attachments to infants from USA but infants in rural areas were more insecure resistant rather than securely attached
