Attatchment

Question 1

A01-monotropic theory of attachment - internal working model

Answer 1

-the idea that there is only one significant primary attachment being the primary caregiver and its one special attachment which bowlby called monotropy
- suggested that a child’s monotropic attachment to the caregiver acts as a model for future relationships and referred to this as the internal working model which is known as a continuity hypothesis
-if a child has a strong attachment with their mother they are more likely to go on and have strong and healthy adult relationships
- however a child whos relationship is poor will tend to form pooor future relationships
-the internal working model may also affect the child’s later ability to be a parent themselves

Question 2

A01-monotropic theory of attachment-social releases

Answer 2

-bowlby proposed social releases which suggests that infants have innate ‘cute’ actions such as crying, smiling etc which gives a survival advantage in turn prompting the caregiver to care for them and make the adult feel love towards the baby.
-bowlby recognised this attachment as reciprocal as both baby and mother have innate predisposition to become attached and social releases trigger that response in the caregiver

Question 3

A01- bowlby theory of attachment - critical period

Answer 3

-according to bowlby babies have to form an attachment in the critical period
-the critical period of 2 years suggest that an infant has to form an attachment within 2 years with the mother or caregiver known as monotropic attachment or they won’t be able to form one at all
-this will cause damage for life physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially.
-also cause problems in forming attachments later in life

Question 4

A03- bowlby theory of attachment— strength, Lorenz research

Answer 4

-strength comes from research by Lorenz
-loren found that baby geese imprinted onto the first moving object they see within a critical period (12-17) hours
-this hiloghts that animals form attachments really quickly
-also suggests that attachments are innate as they baby geese are biologically pre-programmes to form attachments
-therefore this matters as it supports bowlby monotropic theory in particular the idea of a critical period suggesting that animals form attachment within a short period of time for adaptive reasons as following a moving object provides safety from predators
-however this study was done on animals and they have different physiology to humans
-this means this study cannot be accurately related to humans making them invalid
-for example humans do not imprint on the first person they see
-therefore a weakness of this is you can’t generalise it to humans as we are more complex

Question 5

A03- bowlby theory of attachment limitation— sensitive rather than critical

Answer 5

-critics argue that the critical period isn’t supported by any evidence
-most psychologists suggest there’s a sensitive period where attachments are most likely to be developed but argue that they could be formed at other times too
-research has shown even children raised in isolation can. Go on to form attachments woth care givers e,g th Czech twins
-this is a weakness because bolwby fails to explain how attachments are able to form after critical periods reducing validity of his theory

Question 6

A03- bowlby theory of attachment limitation—Monotrpy not supported by evidence

Answer 6

-bowlbys claim that children form specific attachments is not supported by evidence
-instead Schaffer and Emerson found by 1 month of age most babies had formed multiple atachm4nts tho parents grandparents etc
-this is important because bowlbys theory, the monotropic bond is seen as most important yet research shows it lacks importance
- limitation because research suggest explanation of monotropy lacks validity

Question 7

A01- bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation- separation

Answer 7

-suggests that been separated from mother in early childhood has serious consequences
-states separation itself will not caused a problem unless its repeated and frequent for long periods of time
-separation may also be a problem if held is deprives of emotional care e,g present but depressed mother may not be able to provide substantial emotional care

Question 8

A01- bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation- critical period

Answer 8

• refers to critical period which is first two and a half years of a child’s life
  -depravation during this period will cause inevitable psychological harm with irreversible consequences in the child’s intellectual social and emotional development and there is no adequate substitute emotional care
  -bowlby later proposed a sensitive period of up to 5 years

Question 9

A01- bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation- 44 theives

Answer 9

• argues that the lack of care could lead to affection less psychopathology
  -AP is characterised by a lack of of concern for others, a lack of guilt and inability to form meaningful relationships, such individuals act on impulse woth little regard for the consequence of their actions
  -to test this hypothesis he studies 44 adolescent juvenile delinquents in a child guidance clinic
  -he conducted interviews wtih them to assess for signs of AP
  -he also interviewd the failed to establish of they experienced prolonged separation
  -compared findings to a control group of 44 non criminals but emotionally disturbed teenagers
  -found 14/44 thieves fit the description of AP 12/14 had experienced maternal deprivation in first 2 yrs of life
  -2/44 control group had experimented maternal deprivation and none were AP

Question 10

A03- bowlby theory of depravation—limitation bias and flawed evidence

Answer 10

-may be strong experimenter bias in his study a he himself conducted the interviews
-Bowlby knew in advance who he expected to shoe signs of AP which may have caused him to overstate the severity of symptoms presented by the ps
-And probably vested intrest in proving the accuracy of his theory
Therefore lacks validity.
-study also had a limited sample of only 44 ps of a similar age
-weakness limits the generalisability of the study and doesn’t provide evidence for lasting impact of maternal deprivation or example how it displays throughout adulthood.

Question 11

A03- bowlby theory of depravation limitation—sensitive period

Answer 11

-some critique saying th critcal period is more of a sensitive period
-e.g the case of the Czech twins
-they were discovered at the age of 7 and had been locked in a cellar with only each other for company amid had not formed any attachment to any adult caregiver
-when discovered had vey little speech and communicated in gestures
- they ere fostered and given love abd care
-at the age of 14 they had caught up to th extent that they were basically the same as any other 14yr olds and at the age of 20 had above average intelligence and were able to develop good relationships with others
- weakness as it shows its more of a sentiment than critical period so decreases the accuracy and reliability of the study.

Question 12

A03- bowlby theory of depravation- strength — impacted post war thinking

Answer 12

-impacted post war thinking of child rearing and child care in hospitals
-before his theory, chosen were separated from parents when in hospitals
-Robertson films two year old Laura eight days in hospital
-she was frequently distressed and begged to go home
-strength as it led to social change in hospitals meaning parents were allowed to stay with they child in hospital.

Question 13

A01- influence of early attachment on adult relationships— template

Answer 13

-research on influence of attachment suggests the first attachment made is a template for future relationships
-quantity of child’s first attachment is crucial as it provides template that will affect the nature of future relationships
-this is due to the internal working model created by bowlby
-if a child’s first attachment is a good experience they will have the assumption of how all relationships are meant to be and are more likely to have succesful relationships later in life
-however if it’s bad experience they may struggle to form relationships and not know how to act within them
-securely attached infants are more likely to or the best childhood friendships however insecure avoidant children are more likely to be victims of bullying and insecure resistant are more likely to become bullies.

Question 14

A01- influence of early attachment on adult relationships Hazan and Schaffer bailey and Harlow

Answer 14

• researchers who analysed 650 replies to a love quiz printed on newspaper
  -quiz asses there’s aspects of a relationship which were the reposndents current and most important relationship, general love experiences and attachment type
• they found 56% of the ps we’re securely attached, 25% were insecure avoidant and 19% insecure resistant
  -this showed secure were more likely to have longer lasting romatic relationships but avoidant tended to me jealous
  -research done by bailey found that most women had the same attachment classification both to their babies and their own mothers
  -harlows monkeys showed a link between poor attachment and later difficulties with parenting because they had a lack of internal working model

Question 15

A03- influence of early attachment on adult relationships weakness— validity lacks

Answer 15

-most studies don’t use Ainsworths storage situation nut asses infant parent attachment interviews or questionnaire and follow up years after infancy
-in order for questionares to be valid they rely on ps responding honestly an they may not be aware of how their relationship actually is and may have a enter view of it than actuality
-they may also not be able to have accurate recollections of their early attachments
-therefore a weakness as it lack validity

Question 16

A03- influence of early attachment on adult relationships strength— supporting evidence

Answer 16

• supporting evidence from Gerad Mcarthys study
• he studied 40 adult women who had been assessed when they were infants to establish their early attachment type
  -he found that those who were securely attached had the best adult relationships and romatic relationships
  -adults classes as insecure resistant as infants had issues maintaining friendships
  -those who were avoidant had sstuggles with. Intimacy in romantic relationships
  -therefore strength as it suggest the internal working model is correct and increases its reliability

Question 17

A03- influence of early attachment on adult relationships limitation — deterministic view

Answer 17

-has a deterministic view on behaviour as it suggests that very early experiences have a fixed effect on behaviour
- however Anne Clarke and Alan Clarke proposed that the influence of early attachment is probabilistic which suggests that people with a bad quality early attachment are not done d but have a higher risk of problems
-therefore they believe early attachment does nit determine adult relationships it makes it certain behaviour is more likely

Question 18

A03- influence of early attachment on adult relationships - weakness— correlation

Answer 18

-Relatioshisps of early attachment and adult relationships are correaltional rather than experimental
-there’re cause and effect are not established between attachment type and later adult relationships -
-an alternative explanation of relationship between weak attachment and later adult relationshps is Megan’s temperament hypothesis
-the idea that an infants temperament explains their attachment behaviour as infants with an easy temperament are easier to interact with and form secure attachments
-whereas infants with a difficult temperament tend to be insecurely attached to
-therefore it may be the individuals temperament that explains the nature of their adult relationships.

Question 19

A01- Romanian orphans- rutter

Answer 19

-Rutter used a Longitudinal study and examined 165 Romanian orphans who spent their early lives in a Romanian institute
-111/165 were adopted before the age off two
-54 by the age of four
-were tested at ages 4,6,11,15 to assess their physical, cognitive and social development
-parents and teachers were interviewd to see their progress and was compare to a control group of 52 British children adopted before 6 months
-when adopted they were behind the British children, they were smaller, weighed less and were not as intellectual
- those adopted before six months=iq of 102
-after 6 months IQ= 86+ disinhibbeted attachment
-after 2 years IQ= 77 + disinhibeted attachment

Question 20

A01- Romanian orphans - institutionalisation

Answer 20

-the effects of institutionalisation was shown through the Romanian orphans in the 1990s
- due to the governments requirement’s for women to have large family’s parents could not afford to keep their children and many ended up in huge orhpahanges in very poor conditions
- in 1989 the gov was overthrown and the world became aware of the state of these orphanages
-institutionalisation is a place where someone lives out of the home e.g hospital or children’s home
-institutionalisation can cause harmful effects such as apathy, loss of personal identity and independence

Question 21

A01-Romanian orphans- effects

Answer 21

-institutional care does not adequately proved the level of positive individual attention and emotional care from constant care givers which is essential for the success of emotional, physical and social development of children
-profoundly relevant for children under 3 years if age for whom institutionalised care has been shown to be especially damaging
-disinhibited attachment- form of insecure attachment where children do not discriminate between people thy house as attachment figures

Question 22

A03-Romanian orphans strength —application

Answer 22

• application if it improving children’s care in institutions
  -e.g orphanages ans children’s homes now avoid having large numbers of caregiver (1-2) people for each child and each child has a key worker who plays a central role for the child
• key worker means children have a chance to develop normal attachments and help avoid disinhibited attachments
  -strength as research has been valuable in practical terms .

Question 23

A03-Romanian orphans limitions — correlational

Answer 23

One weakness is that fact his results were correlational and does not tell us causation
-e.g low IQ may not have been caused because children did not have a primary caregiver
-but because the orphanages in Romania lacked mental stimulation
-weakness as it means means the study has lower face validity as it may not be studying what it has set out too
-and also that we can not establish that institutionalisation causes low IQ but is only correlated with it

Question 24

A03 -Romanian orphans— weakness generalisability

Answer 24

-weakness it it has low genralisability
- these were exceptional circumstances in the Romanian. Orphanages including poor care quality and low intellectual sitimulaton levels
-therefore it is difficult to generalise these results to other cases of adopted children because of the unusual situational variables.

Question 25

A03-Romanian orphans— strength, internal validity

Answer 25

- allowed psychologists to have a unique opportunity to study the effects of institutionalisation -due to i having less extraneous variables than previous orphan studies which had used samples of children who were neglected, abused or suffered loss of parents - was therefore hard to identify which specific factors were effecting their emotional and intellectual develpoments - in the case of the Romanian orphans there weren’t any confounding variables so the research has higher internal validity

Question 26

Care giver infant interactions AO1- reciprocity

Answer 26

-an attachment is a close two way emotional bond between two individuals where they see the other person as essential for emotional security -Babies have meaningful social interactions with their carers and these interactions are important for child’s social development and the development of the caregiver- infant interactions -One type of caregiver infant interaction is reciprocity -This is a way in which two people interact - a mother and infant respond to each others signals and illicit a response from the other -This is called turn taking -babies have periodic alert phases to signal they are ready for a spell of interaction such as making eye contact -an example would be an infant cries and the caregiver response by feeding or cuddling the baby -The baby bubbles words and the caregiver talks back -research by Feldman and Eidleman - Found that mother’s pick up and respond to babies alertness 2/3 of the time -However finegood et al - Argues this varies according to the skills of the mother - Feldman found this interaction increases from about three months old and involves both mother and infant paying attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions -Both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and take turns in doing so, both taking an active role -Another researcher described this interaction as a dance where each partner responds to the others moves

Question 27

Care giver infant interactions A01

Answer 27

-another type of caregiver infant interaction is interactional synchrony -This is where caregiver and baby reflects both on the actions and emotions of the other in a coordinated way -It takes place where caregiver and baby interacting away that their actions mirror each other -Isabella observed 30 mother and infants and found that high levels of interactional synchrony were associated with better quality mother- infant attachment -meltzoff and Moore -Observed the beginning of interactional synchrony in babies as young as two weeks old -An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or distinctive gestures -And babies responses were filmed and labelled by independent observers -A significant association was found between the babies expressions mirroring those of the adults, more than chance could predict

Question 29

Care giver infant interactions AO3 - strength lab

Answer 29

-A strength of research into caregiver infant interactions is often filmed observations in a lab -This control minimise distractions and allows for meticulous observation -Reducing the likelihood of missing any crucial details -Multiple observers can also record data in showing the studies inter-rater reliability and mitigating - Moreover since babies are unaware of being observed their behaviour remains unaffected -Eliminating concerns regarding over observation -Consequently this methodology insures high internal validity and reliable data collection in such research

Question 30

Care giver infant interactions AO3 -weakness, wrong interpretation

Answer 30

-however a challenge in studying caregiver infant interactions is interpreting a babies behaviour accurately -Infants have limited coordination and mobility -Often displaying subtle movements or minor changes an expression -This means it’s difficult to be sure what is taking place from the infant perspective -For example, whether a baby is smiling or just passing wind -Moreover differentiating between random movements and those prompted by the caregiver remains uncertain -This is a limitation as it means we cannot be certain if behaviour is observed in caregiver infant interactions have special meaning

Question 31

Care giver infant interactions AO3 - weakness expanation

Answer 31

-observing behaviours like synchrony, only labels observable caregiver and infinite patterns without explaining their developmental significance -As Feldman highlights -While these patterns are reliably observed, they might not offer insights into child development’s purpose -This limitation implies uncertainty about the importance of reciprocity and synchrony solely from observable research -However evidence does suggest the significance of early interactions -For example, Isabella et al discovered that achieving interactional synchrony predicted the development of high-quality attachment -Meaning caregiver interactions are likely to be important in development.

Question 32

Schafer and Emerson stages A01

Answer 32

They studied 60 babies from skills working class Glasgow homes -The babies were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months -The mothers questioned about how their child behaved when they were separated and how they behaved with unfamiliar adults -The findings were between 25 and 32 weeks of age about 50% of the baby showed sign of separation anxiety towards a particular adult usually the mother -By 40 weeks 80% of the babies had specific attachments and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments

Question 33

Schafer and Emerson stages A01

Answer 33

-They identified full key stages of attachment -1 the first stage was the a social stage: This is the baby’s first weeks of life about first three months -During this period the babies observable behaviour towards human and inanimate objects is quite similar -However they didn’t believe this is entirely a social because even at this stage babies did show science they prefer to be with other people. 2. Stage two is the indiscriminate attachment: -This is from 3 to 7 months -Baby start to display more observable social behaviours -They show clear preference for being with people rather than an objects -And they start to remember familiar faces and will accept comfort from any adult however -They don’t tend to show separation anxiety when attachment figures leave them or stranger anxiety -They treat all adults the same 3. Specific attachment: -This is from 7 to 8 months -They start to show signs attachments towards one person -These signs include stranger and separation anxiety -And become distressed if separated from one specific adult and 65% of cases that’s the mother -This is known as their primary attachment figure 4. Multiple attachments: -This is what babies start to show attachment behaviour to more people other than just their primary attachment figure -These relationships are called secondary attachments -They observed that 29% of these children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment -By the age of one most babies had developed multiple attachments

Question 34

Schafer and Emerson stages A03

Answer 34

-One strength is that research has good external validity -The majority of observations used in the research except stranger anxiety were made by the parents when they did activities and reported it to the researchers -If the research is a present and recorded observation themselves, it may have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious -This means that it’s most likely that the participants behaves naturally or being observed and did not display demands characteristics

Question 35

Schafer and Emerson stages A03

Answer 35

-however there are some issues of asking the mother to take on the role of being the observer -It was highly likely that they were subjective in their observations -They may not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety or they may not have reported it to the researcher intentionally -This shows that even if babies did behave naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded by the mother -Additionally it was a very limited sample -. There was only 60 babies involved and they were all from Glasgow and working class families -Therefore it has a low generalisability those can only be applied to a limited amount of people -Thus lacking university

Question 36

Schafer and Emerson stages A03

Answer 36

-also many researchers believe that infants must establish one primary attachment before they develop further multiple attachments -However there is evidence from cross cultural research to show their babies are capable of developing multiple attachments from birth -For example cultures where this is more likely to occur is called collectivist cultures because families work together jointly in everything -Therefore there is no agreement within psychology about when multiple attachments are formed

Question 37

Schafer and Emerson stages A03

Answer 37

-furthermore the street does lack validity -As all the infants involved in the study came from Glasgow and we’re working class families

Question 38

Animal study’s A01

Answer 38

Lots of early research on attachment was conducted on animals to better understand human attachment -One of the pioneers in this field was Lorenz -He investigated the concept of imprinting -This was the innate tendency to form a strong bond with the first moving object observed after birth -he divided goose eggs into two groups one who hatched with their mother and one who hatched, in an incubator ensuring Lorenz was the first large moving object they saw -Lorenz discovered that naturally hatched goslings followed their mother, while those who hatched an incubator followed Lorenz -Upon release from an upturned box the naturally hatched goslings immediately sort out their mother -Whereas the incubator hatched ones followed Lorenz -Based on these findings, Loren’s concluded the attachment is an instinctive behaviour in animals -and the imprinting is a specific form of attachment that involves close contact with the first moving object encountered

Question 39

Animal study’s A01

Answer 39

Another researcher was Harlow - And his study was the focus on examining the significance of comfort and security in the development of attachment -In his study to test this, he conducted an experiment using 16 newborn rhesus monkeys -He placed two surrogate mothers in the area where the newborn monkeys were -One wire mother which produced milk -The other a cloth mother that provided comfort He observed that the infants spent the major majority of their time clinging to a surrogate mother made of cloth -sometimes spending up to 23 hours a day with it -Additionally when they were frightened, they saw comfort from the cloth mother while they only approached the wire surrogate mother when they required milk -His findings lead him to conclude the attachment is formed on the basis of emotional needs such as comfort and safety rather than just physical needs like food

Question 40

Animal study’s A03 - weakness Lorenz

Answer 40

-One weakness of both of these studies is that they were only studied on animals -Therefore we cannot generalise these results to humans as we are unable to conclude they would behave the same way -for example attachment formation in mammals appears to be very different to that of bird species. -human parents specifically mothers show more emotional reactions to their offspring and conform attachments beyond the first few hours after birth -So whilst some of Lorenzo’s findings have influenced our understanding of development and attachment formation -Caution must be applied when drawing wider conclusions about the results

Question 41

Animal study’s A03 weakness Lorenz

Answer 41

-additionally later research has passed out on some of the conclusions which Lorenz drew - For example Guiton et al, found that chickens would imprint on a yellow washing up glove if that was the largest moving object they first saw after birth -Later they would even try and meet with the object in adulthood -However they disagree with Lorenzo’s predictions that this relationship persists and is irreversible -This is because with experience the chickens could eventually learn to prefer meeting with other chickens instead suggesting that effective imprinting may not be as permanent as initially thought

Question 42

Animal study’s A03 -strength Harlow

Answer 42

-The results from hollow study are of a large practical value since they provide insight into attachment formation which has had real world important applications that can be useful in a range of practical situations -For example, Howe reports that the knowledge gained from hollows research has helped social workers to understand risk factors in neglect and abuse case cases with human children who can then serve to prevent it occurring or at the very least recognise went to intervene -In addition there are practical applications which are used in the care of captive wild monkeys in zoos or breeding programs to ensure that they have adequate attachment figures as part of their care

Question 43

Animal study’s A03 - weakness Harlow

Answer 43

-however a weakness of hollows research is he was heavily criticised for the ethics of his research on animals -The baby rhesus suffered greatly in terms of emotional separation from their biological mother at such an early age due to the procedure Harlow used - if the species of primates are considered sufficiently human like to generalise these results then it stands to reason that the effects of psychological harm that they will have endured are similar of that of a human baby -There is however the question of whether the insight obtained was sufficiently important to psychologist understanding of attachment and that Harlow was justified in his approach.

Question 44

Leaning theory of attachment A01

Answer 44

- explains how infnts learn to become attachedd through the process of classical or operant conditioning - sometimes called the cupboard love theory because of the foxus on food - classical conditioning is learning by association -before conditioning food is the (UCS) - which produces an (ucr) of pleasure as a reef from hunger - the caregiver os the neutral stimulus who produces no conditioned response - during conditioning the child asssociates the caregiver (NS) who feeds them the food (UCS) - through repetition the caregiver becomes a conditioned stimulus who is associated with pleasure from feeding - this results in the caregiver eliciting a conditioned response from the child and the formation of attachment

Question 45

Leaning theory of attachment A01

Answer 45

- operant conditioning proposes that when an infant feels hunger they are motivated to reduce the unpleasant feelings so cries to receive comfort - when the caregiver provides food a feeling of pleasure os produces which is rewarding - attachment will occur beacuse the infant will seek the caregiver who can supply the reward

Question 46

Leaning theory of attachment A03 - X

Answer 46

-undermined by research from Harlow - he found that baby rhesus monkeys spent more time woth a soft ‘comfort’ surrogate mother which provided no food in comparison to a wore money that provided food - this shows that baby monkeys do not form an attachment based on the presence of food alone and prefer contact comfort - these findings go against the learning theory of attachment which is further supported by Schafer and Emersons research which h demonstrates that infants formed attachments to their mothers despite often being fed by other caregivers

Question 47

Leaning theory of attachment A03

Answer 47

-metholodgical issues - much of the research is supported e.g Pavlov and his dogs and skinners reseach with rats is criticised for its over reliance on animals - this is an issue as psychologist argue that behaviourist explanations provide an oversimplified account of attachment formation whhich is a complex emotional bond between a human infant and their caregiver -as a result this theory may lack validity since it s difficult to generalise animal findings to humans with confidence that they would behave in the same way

Question 48

Leaning theory of attachment A03 - strength

Answer 48

Main strength is mich of the research done on this area is scientific due to the methodology - fpr example lots of the reseacrh os done in lab studies which allows for control over extraneous variables - therfore we can establish cause and effect -increasing the internal validity of the theory

Question 49

Leaning theory of attachment A03 - X -

Answer 49

The explanation suggests that attachment are as a result of learning which therefor supports the nurture based view of behaviour - consequently such theories are environmental reductionist as they reduce complex behaviour, the formation of attachments between infants and caregivers to a stimulus response association - many psychologist argue that human attachments are far more complex and learning explanations provide an overly simplifies account of human attachment

Question 50

Strange situation A01

Answer 50

-Ainsworth devised a controlled observation called the strange situation to assess types of attachment in 9 to 18 month old babies -The strange situation involved placing a child and their mother into a novel environment of mild stress -Whereby they would be observed and videoed through a one-way mirror during a series of eight different situations

Question 51

Strange situation A01

Answer 51

-The purpose of the strain situation is to measure four key behaviours -Including: -Explorative behaviours-how the child explores their environment and whether they use their mother as a safe base -Separation anxiety-how the child responds to or behaves when the mother leaves the room -And stranger anxiety-how the child responds in the presence of a stranger -And reunion behaviours-how the child acts when reunited with their mother

Question 52

Strange situation A01

Answer 52

-depending on how the child responded it would lead to one of three attachment classifications -Secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant -In her original experiment, she found the following distribution of attachment types -66% were secure -22% we’re insecure avoidant -12% insecure resistant

Question 53

Strange situation A03 -X

Answer 53

-One weakness of Ainsworth strange situation is methodological issues -Aims with use an over observation -The parents in Ainsworth study knew they were being observed through a one-way mirror -And therefore may have displayed demand characteristics -This meant the mother may have been overly affectionate towards their children as they believed this is the behaviour that the scenario demanded on them -In this may have altered the children’s behaviour and therefore lowered the internal validity of the experiment -Making the strange situation a less valid method of assessing attachment

Question 54

Strange situation A03 x

Answer 54

-additionally her strange situation demonstrates culture bias -Her theory and methods were based on Western ideals in relation to infant behaviour -Categorising a higher proportion of children from other cultures as insecure avoidant E.G Japan -Or insecure resistant E.G German -Consequently the strain situation may not be a valid method of assessing attachment in other non-American cultures

Question 55

Strange situation A03 +

Answer 55

-however the strange situation method of assessing attachment is said to have high reliability -The observations took place strict and controlled methods -Including video recordings -Using predetermined behavioural categories -Since Ainsworth has several observers watching and coding the same infant behaviours -Agreement on attachment classifications could be insured -Ainsworth et al found a 94% agreement between observers and when enter observer/rate reliability is assumed to a high degree the findings are considered more meaningful

Question 56

Strange situation A03

Answer 56

-Additionally the findings of Ainsworth observations show good predictive validity for children’s development -those assessed as securely attached tend to have better outcomes in later life such as education and relationships then children assist as insecure avoidant or insecure resistant -Securely attached infants tend to have better mental health than those of type A and type C -This suggests that the type of attachment developed by Ainsworth are real and this shows high validity in this study

Question 57

Cultural variations in attachment a01

Answer 57

- van ijzendoorn and kroonberg - conducted a meta-analysis of 32 studies from eight different countries that had used Ainsworth strange situation -In total the results of over 1990 in infants were included in the analysis -Their research produced several key findings in relation to the distribution of attachment in different countries with secure attachment being the most common type of attachment in all cultures examined -japan, Israel (collectivist cultures) showed higher levels of insecure resistant attachments -Whereas Germany (individualistic culture) showed higher levels of insecure avoidant attachment

Question 58

Cultural variations in attachment a01

Answer 58

-additionally tronik et al - Studied the efe tribe from zaire who live in extended family group groups -The inference are looked after and breastfed by different women with the social group but in infant sleep with their own mothers at night -Although the child rearing practices differ from western norms the infant still showed a preference for a primary attachment figure at six months old -Echoing the notion that secure attachment is the most common globally

Question 59

ultural variations in attachment a03 x

Answer 59

-A criticism of van ijzendoorn and kroonbergs reseach - Is that they may have compared countries are not in fact cultures -For example, they compared Great Britain with Israel in their metanalysis -Within each country, there may be many different subculture cultures -Each with their own unique ways of raring children -Interestingly the researchers noted that variant within countries was far greater than between countries -It therefore stands to reason that they did in fact collect data on subcultures within the countries they investigated rather than the whole nation

Question 60

ultural variations in attachment a03

Answer 60

-additionally the sample used in their investigation was biased with 27/32 of the studies in their met analysis carried out in individualistic cultures -Therefore their results are biased towards individual individualistic norms and values so we cannot accurately generalise the results to collectivist culture -Lowering the population validity of the findings

Question 61

ultural variations in attachment a01 +

Answer 61

However, one strength Is combining the results of studies carried on different countries is that you end up with a very large sample? -In this study the Me analysis was a total of nearly 2000 babies and their primary attachment figure -Therefore this increases the internal validity as it reduces the impact and likelihood of anomalous results caused by bad methodology or very unusual participants

Question 62

Role of the father A01

Answer 62

-traditionally the role of the father in attachment has been very limited -As they go to work to provide resources for the family while the mothers take care of the children -Although recently the role of the father has changed significantly -But psychologist can defer over the exact role of the father -Such claim that men are simply not equipped enough to form attachments -And some point biological evidence which suggests that the hormone oestrogen underlined caring behaviour in women and the lack of oestrogen in men is why they are unable to form a close attachment -Others argued that the father’s do not take on a caregiving role but provide a different role as a play Mate - Finally some argue that fathers can demonstrate sensitive responses and react to the needs of their children and therefore conform strong emotional ties or bonds

Question 63

Role of the father A01 ( research into)

Answer 63

- grossman - conducted a longitudinal study looking at the behaviour of mothers and fathers towards infants and its relationship to the quality of attachments -It was found that the quality of mothers attachments to their infants was linked to the quality of the infant attachment in later life -However it was also found that the quality of Fathers play with their babies was linked to the quality of attachments in adolescence -Suggesting that fathers play unique and distinctive role surrounding play and stimulation rather than nurture -field Found that primary care caregiver father spend more time like mothers holding smiling and imitating then secondary caregiver fathers - Which are important behaviours when building attachment showing that fathers can be nurturing under the right circumstances and that gender is not key in being a primary caregiver but the level of responsiveness shown by the parent

Question 64

Role of the father A03 ( reseach into)

Answer 64

-limitation to the role of the father is there is a lot of conflicting evidence - Longitude, no studies like Grossmans -Have suggested that fathers our secondary attachment figures which have an important and distinct role in child development - We would therefore expect that children grow up in a single mother or lesbian parent families -Would turn out different in some way -However this is not the case shown by mccallim and gollombok in 2004 -Therefore this means that the question as to whether fathers have distinctive roles remain on answered

Question 65

Role of the father A03 ( RESEARCH INTO)

Answer 65

- One strength is the practical applications research into this role can have -Research can be used for advice for parents -Like organising decisions over roles can cause a lot of pressure and confusion -To the point where prospective parents could start considering whether or not to have a child at all -For example fathers are more than capable of becoming primary attachment figures and also shown not having a father round at all does not affect a child’s development -therefore, this has been good advice with parents to help them decide the future of their parenthood 

Question 66

Role of the father A03

Answer 66

- there is research evidence that provides support for the role of the father as a playmate - Geiger found that the father’s interactions were more exciting in comparison to mothers -However the mother’s interactions were more affectionate and nurturing -This suggests that the role of the father is in fact a playmate and not a sensitive parent who responds to the needs of their children -Therefore these results also confirm that the mother takes on a more of a nurturing role

Question 67

Role of the father A03

Answer 67

- there is research evidence to suggest that fathers do not provide a sensitive and nurturing attachment -hrdy - Found that fathers were less able to detect low levels of infant distress in comparison to mothers -These results appear to support the biological explanations highlighted above - The lack of oestrogen in men means that fathers are not biologically equipped to form close attachments with their children -This suggests that the role of the father is to some extent biologically determined and their father’s role is restrictive because of their biological make up -Thus providing further evidence that fathers are not able to provide a sensitive and nurturing type of attachment as they are unable to detect stress in their children