Attachment

Question 1

Caregiver and infant interaction strengths

Answer 1

(+) as it’s controlled and filmed , captures fine detail, recordings can be rewatched and analysed by more than one person so inter-rater reliability can be used
(+) babies don’t know they’re being observed so its genuine interaction increasing validity

Question 2

Caregiver and infant interaction weaknesses

Answer 2

(-) we don’t know for sure what the actions of the infant mean - it could be special but it also might not be
(-) we don’t know why these actions occur we can just observe them but we don’t know why - limiting usefulness

Question 3

Role of the father strengths

Answer 3

(+) benefits fathers aiming to gain joint or full custody of child - studies show that paternal relationships are significant and fathers can be just as nurturing as a mother

Question 4

Role of father weaknesses

Answer 4

(-) if fathers play a significant role - not having one should have an impact but Grossman found that kids in single parent or same sex families grow up no different
(-) inconsistent findings - all studies aims are different - not beneficial to have more than one answer to the question

Question 5

Schaffer and Emerson’s strengths

Answer 5

(+) longitudinal design - same babies - no pp variables - high validity
(+) good validity due to the fact that the babies were studied at their own house - natural behaviour

Question 6

Schaffer and Emerson’s weaknesses

Answer 6

(-) biased sample - all from same class and city - from 1960s - hard to apply to now
(-) conflicting evidence on multiple attachments - some show that specific attachment his first THEN multiple but some show that multiple can be formed from the offset
(-) asocial stage - baby practically immobile - hard to study

Question 7

animal studies strengths

Answer 7

(+) Guiton replicated Lorenz’s study with chicks and got same results
(+) Harlow - theoretical value - we know now the importance of a quality attachment with care and comfort
(+) Harlow - practical value - findings applied to care of infants and captive monkeys in zoos

Question 8

animal studies weaknesses

Answer 8

(-) ethical issues - Harlow separated monkeys from mothers and created lasting effects on monkey and its future relationships
(-) Guiton found that you could reverse effects of imprinting so its not like Lorenz suggested (that its an irreversible process)

Question 9

Learning theory strengths

Answer 9

(+) some aspects of conditioning can be applied - comfort as at the unconditional stimulus rather than food
(+) newer form of learning theory can be applied - social learning theory - parents teach love by showing love so kids imitate

Question 10

Learning theory weaknesses

Answer 10

(-)ignores factors like sensitivity and interactional synchrony - if attachment purely based on food there will be no relationship found with these factors in other studies
(-) counter evidence from Harlow’s study
(-) counter evidence from Schaffer and Emersons study aswell - many attached to the caregiver that didn’t even feed them often

Question 11

monotropic theory strengths

Answer 11

(+)evidence for existence of social releasers - brazelton et al’s observation of reciprocity extended to experiment where caregivers had to ignore infant’s signals - baby became distressed
(+) critical period provides advantage for infants as during 3-6 months - they crawl - needs protection from caregiver

Question 12

monotropic theory weaknesses

Answer 12

(-) confer evince from Schaffer and Emerson - significant minority formed multiple attachments same time as specific
(-)controversial - implies women need to be with babies more and that its their fault of anything goes wrong wont the child