Attatchment

Question 1

Caregiver-infant interactions (AO1)

Reciprocity

Answer 1

Reciprocity = interactions where both caregiver and infant respond to each others signals - each elicits a response from the other (also known as turn taking)

Example - when a mother sings the baby responds by kicking its feet

— from around 3 months interaction involves both the caregiver and baby playing close attention to verbal signals and facial expressions

— however babies are not passive recievers but also have an active involvement can can initiate interactions resulting in what brazelton at al described as a dance

Question 2

Caregiver-infant interactions (AO1)

Interactions synchrony

Answer 2

Interactions synchrony = where the caregiver and baby coordinate their actions creating a synchronised 2-way exchange

Behavioural synchrony - matched touch such as hugging or kissing, vocal synchrony such as the caregiver cooing while baby babbles, joint engagement such as both gazing into eachothers eyes

Physiological synchrony -the coordination of biological processes such as a synchronised heart rate or brain activity

— Meltzoff and Moore observed that at as young as two weeks old babies were more likely to mirror the expressions or gestures of adults more than chance would predict suggesting significant association

Question 3

Caregiver-infant interactions (AO3)

Research into caregiver infant interactions 🟢

Answer 3

One strength of international synchrony is research support from Isabella et al.

— researchers asses international synchrony between 30 parent child dyads

— the children with the most ‘secure’ attachments demonstrated more intersectional synchrony behaviours on their first year of life compared to other attachment styles

— this is a strength because it highlights the importance of interactional synchrony in the development of an attachment between the caregiver and infant

— however, Levine et al found that interactional synchrony is not universal and reported that Kenyan mothers have little coordination in interaction but still develop secure attachments suggesting Isabella et als research is an imposed etic

Question 4

Caregiver-infant interactions (AO3)

Research into caregiver infant interactions 🟢

Answer 4

One strength is that caregiver-infant interactions are usually filmed in a laboratory

— this means that the other activity that may distract the baby can be controlled increasing the internal validity of the observation

— additionally, using films means that observations can be recorded and analysed later

— this is a strength as it is unlikely the researchers will miss key behaviours

— furthermore, filmed interactions allow more than one observer to record data.

— therefore, increasing the inter rater reliability of the observations

Question 5

Caregiver-infant interactions (AO3)

Research into caregiver infant interactions 🔴

Answer 5

One limitation is that it is difficult to interpret a baby’s behaviour

— this is because young babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile
— the movements being observed are just small gestures or subtle changes in expression

— this is a weakness as it is difficult to be sure whether a movement such as a hand twitch is random or triggered by the caregiver

— therefore making conclusions about caregiver infant interactions uncertain

Question 6

Caregiver-infant interactions (AO3)

Research into caregiver infant interactions 🔴

Answer 6

Another limitation is that simply observing the behaviour does not tell us its developmental performance

— Feldman points out that ideas like synchrony and reciprocity simply give names to patterns of observable behaviour from caregivers and infants

— however they still may not be particularly useful in understanding the attachment development as it does not not tell us their purpose of these behaviours

— this is a weakness as we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development

— however, there is evidence from other lines of research that such as Isabella et al that found interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment

— therefore meaning overall caregiver infant interaction is most likely important in attachment development

Question 7

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment (AO1)

Stage 1 - pre attachment (asocial)

Answer 7

Pre attachment = babies show signs that they prefer humans to objects and are more easily comforted by familiar people

Question 8

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment (AO1)

Stage 2 - indiscriminate attachment

Answer 8

Indiscriminate attachment = babies now show a very clear preference for being with other humans and can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people
— they prefer the company of familiar people but are happy to be handled by strangers
— usually show no separation or stranger anxiety

Question 9

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment (AO1)

Stage 3 - discriminate attachment

Answer 9

discriminate attachment = babies start to display signs of attachment towards one particular person
— this is shown through stranger anxiety and separation anxiety
— the baby is now said to have formed a specific attachment with who is known as the primary attachment figure
— this is usually the person who offers the most interaction and responds to the babies signals most effectively
— in 65% of cases this is the baby’s mother

Question 10

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment (AO1)

Stage 4 - multiple attachments

Answer 10

Multiple attachments = attachment behaviour is extended to to multiple other people with whom they regularly spend time such as grandparents and siblings.
— these are known as secondary attachments but the strongest attachment is with the primary attachment figure
— 29% of children formed secondary attachments within a month of producing a primary attachment

Question 11

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment (AO3)

Research into stages of attachment 🟢

Answer 11

One strength is high external validity

— most of the observations (other than stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers

— this is a strength as if the researchers were presents this might have distracted the babies or made them feel anxious

— therefore it’s highly likely the participants behaved naturally while being observed increasing the internal validity of the study

— however, asking mothers to be the ‘observers’ means they were unlikely to be objective

— this is a weakness as they may have been biased in terms of what they noticed
— for example they may not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety

— therefore even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded

Question 12

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment (AO3)

Research into stages of attachment 🔴

Answer 12

One limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s research is poor evidence for the asocial stage

— young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile
— as a result of babies less than 2 months old felt anxiety in everyday situations they might display this in a very subtle way

— this is a weakness as it is difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers on signs of attachment in this age group

— therefore, meaning the babies may actually be quite social but because of flawed methods, they appear asocial

Question 13

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment (AO3)

Research into stages of attachment 🔴

Answer 13

Another strength of schaffer and Emerson’s stages is there is useful practical application in day care

— in the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult

— however Schaffer and Emerson’s research tells us that day care, especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult may be problamatic during the discriminate attachment stage

— this means that parents’ use of day care can be planned effectively using Schaffer and Emerson’s stages

Question 14

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment (AO3)

Research into stages of attachment 🟢

Answer 14

One weakness is low generalisability

— Schaffer and Emerson based their stages on a sample of 60 working class Glasgow babies in the 1960’s

— this is a weakness as this is culture bound, meaning it can’t be generalised to other cultures such as collectivise cultures where multiple attachments from a very early age are normal (ijzendoorn)

— additionally the study was conducted before 1970s meaning social change has occurred and results are not outdated

— therefore this study lack temporal validity as the findings can’t be applied to a more modern time period

Question 15

The role of the father (AO1)

The role of the father

Answer 15

Attachment to fathers — most evidence suggests that fathers are less likely to be the babies first attachment figure compared to mothers
— for example Schaffer and Emerson’s found that the majority of babies first became attached to their mother at around 7 months
— in only 3% of cases this was the father
— in 27% of cases the father was the joint first attachment figure with the mother

— however 75% of babies formed a secondary attachment with their fathers by the age of 18 months as they had separation anxiety

Distinctive role of fathers — Grossmann et al carried out a longitudinal study where babies attachments were studied until that were teenagers
— finding showed that the quality of the mothers attachments with the baby was related to adolescence while the fathers wasn’t
— suggesting the fathers attachment is less important than the mothers

— however grossmann et al also found that the quality of the fathers play was related to the quality of adolescent attachments
— suggesting the fathers have a different role to mothers - one is to do with stimulation and one is to do with emotional development

There is evidence that when fathers take on the role of primary caregiver they are able to adopt the emotional role more typically associated with mothers

— Field filmed a 4 month old babies interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver father.
— PCF’s like PCM’s spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than the SCF’s
— these actions are all part of reciprocity and interactional synchrony which Isabella et al found were part of the attachment development process

— so fathers have the potential to be the emotion- focused primary attachment figure but only that they are given the role of Primary caregiver giver

Question 16

The role of the father (AO3)

Research into the role of the father 🟢

Answer 16

One strength is that research into the role of the father has real world application

— mothers may feel pressured to stay at home due to stereotypical views on the roles of mothers and fathers
— equally fathers may feel pressured to focus on work rather than parenting

— research into role of the father can be used to offer reassuring advice to parents such as father being quite capable of becoming primary attachment figures as well as not having a father around does not affect a child’s development

— therefore parental anxiety about the role of the fathers can be reduced

Question 17

The role of the father (AO3)

Research into the role of the father 🔴

Answer 17

One limitation is the ethical issues of undermining the role of the father

— for example the claim that children without fathers are no different to those with fathers suggests the fathers role is secondary

— this is a weakness as this research is socially sensitive
— these claims clearly undermine the role of the father and suggest fathers do not play an important role in their child’s life

— however, in the case where a father isn’t present is could be that’s families simply adapt to accommodate to play the role of the father, allowing children with or without fathers to develop similarly

— therefore, suggesting when fathers are present they adopt a distinctive role but families can accommodate to not having a father

Question 18

The role of the father (AO3)

Research into the role of the father 🔴

Answer 18

One limitation is conflicting evidence on the role of the father

— Studies such as grossmann et al suggest that fathers as a secondary attachment figure have a distinct role in their child’s development, involving play and stimulation

— however, McCallum and Golombok consistently show that children without a father do not develop any differently

— therefore leaving the question of whether fathers have a distinctive role in a child’s development unanswered

Question 19

Animal studies of attachment (AO1)

Harlow research (monkeys)

Answer 19

One anima such is Harlows research in the importance of contact comfort in monkeys

— in the experiment he set up 16 baby monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’,
— in one condition milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother and in the second condition by the cloth covered mother

— results showed the baby monkeys cuddled the cloth covered mother in preference to the plain wire mother and sought comfort from the cloth mother when frightened by a mechanical bear - regardless of which mother provided food

— he concluded that contact comfort was more critical than feeding in the formation of attachment in monkeys

Question 20

Animal studies of attachment (AO1)

Harlow research (monkeys)

Answer 20

Another animal study is Lorenzs research on imprinting in baby geese

— in this experiment Lorenz randomly divided 12 geese eggs into two groups
— in the control group 6 eggs hatched with their mothers being the first moving object they saw
— in the experimental group 6 eggs hatched in an incubator with Lorenz being the first moving object they saw

— results showed that imprinting had occurred, where each group attached and followed the first moving object they saw

— Lorenz concluded that there is a critical period of as brief as a few hours where imprinting needs to take place otherwise attachment does not occur

— Lorenz also discovered that sexual imprinting occured as the geese who imprinted on Lorenz later displayed mating behaviours towards humans

Question 21

Animal studies of attachment (AO3)

Research into animal studies of attachment 🟢

Answer 21

One strength of Harlows study is high practical application

— for example Howe reported that Harlows research has helped social workers to understand that a lack of bonding may be a risk factor in child development,
— allowing them to intervene and prevent poor outcomes

— additionally, we can show understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild

— this is a strength as children can be ensured they receive adequate care to develop healthily and animals in zoos are protected to ensure their development of social and mating skills

— therefore, the value of Harlow’s research is not just theoretical but also practical

Question 22

Animal studies of attachment (AO3)

Research into animal studies of attachment🔴

Answer 22

One limitation of Harlows study is the ethical concern of long term harm to the monkeys

— the researchers found that in adulthood the monkeys who had suffered maternal deprivation from the study had severe consequences

— for example, they were and made more aggressive, less social and bred less due to being unskilled at mating

— when the became mothers, some neglected or killed their children

— this is a weakness as Rheus monkeys are very similar to humans so it can be argued that the suffering they endured was also human-like

— however this does not reduce the external validity of his findings which had benefits for both humans and animals

— therefore it can be argued that the studies were justified

Question 23

Animal studies of attachment (AO3)

Research into animal studies of attachment🔴

Answer 23

One strength of Lorenz’s study Is research support from Regolin and Vallortigara on the concept of imprint

— in their study, chicks were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved such as a triangle with a rectangle in front, after they hatched

— a range of shape combinations were then moved infront of them, yet they followed the original shapes more closely

— this is strength as it supports the innate tendency to imprint of the first moving object present in the critical period of development

— therefore, increasing the external reliability of lorenzs findings on imprinting as this study produces the same conclusions

Question 24

Explanations for attachment (AO1)

learning theory

Answer 24

Dollard and Miller proposed the learning theory as an explanation of attachment, emphasising the importance of the attachment figure as the provider of food

— there are two explanations for this behaviour: classical and operant conditioning

— classical conditioning is learning through association
— as outlined by Pavlov, this involves learning to associate two
Stimuli together so that we respond to one in the same way as the other
— in the case of attachment, the unconditioned stimulus of food elicits the unconditioned response of pleasure
— the caregiver begins as a neutral stimulus, producing no response, however when providing food over time they become associated with the food
— the caregiver becomes the conditioned stimulus to produce the conditioned response of pleasure, despite no food being present

—operant conditioning is learning through consequences.
— positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of repeating a behaviour to receive the reward such as babies being fed when they cry
— negative reinforcement increases the likelihood of repeating a behaviour to avoid a negative consequence such as caregivers feeling their babies to escape the unpleasant crying

Question 25

Explanations for attachment (AO3) Research into learning theory 🔴

Answer 25

One limitation of the learning theory is a lack of support from animal studies — for example, Lorenz’s geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw regardless of whether it was associated with food — additionally, Harlows monkeys displayed attachment behaviours towards the soft surrogate ‘mother’ in preference to the wire ‘mother’ who provided milk — this is a weakness as it shows factors other than association with food are important in the formation of attachments — therefore, suggesting the focus is too heavily on the role of food, oversimplifying the learning theory as an explanation for attachment

Question 26

Explanations for attachment (AO3) Research into learning theory 🔴

Answer 26

One limitation of the learning theory is a lack of support from studied on human babies — for example, Schaffer and Emerson’s found that babies tended to form their main attachments to their mothers, regardless of whether she was the one who was usually feeds them — additionally Isabella et al found that high levels of interaction synchrony resulted in more secure attachment — this is a weakness as these factors are not related to feeding, indicating that the learning their does not account for the emotional and social factors that also play a role in human attachment — therefore lowering the internal validity of the learning theory as an explanation for attachment

Question 27

Explanations for attachment (AO3) Research into learning theory 🟢

Answer 27

One strength of learning theory is that conditioning could be involved in some aspects of attachment — for example a baby may associate feeling comfort and warmth with the presence of a caregiver or learn that crying leads to positive outcomes such as relief from distress — this is a strength as it shows that conditioning plays a role in shaping attachment behaviours events they aren’t sole factors — therefore, this makes the learning theory useful in understanding certain aspects of attachment

Question 28

Explanations for attachment (AO1) Bowlby's monotropic theory

Answer 28

Bowlbys monotropic theory suggest that attachment to one caregiver is an innate drive, giving the baby a survival advantage — babies must form an attachment during the critical period of 2 and a half years and if not the child will struggle to form an attachment at all — Bowlby believed the longer the baby spent with its primary attachment figure the better -- this is due to the law of continuity suggesting the more constant a childs care the better quality the attachment -- this can also be due to to the law of accumulated separation suggesting the negative effec tof every separation add up so the best dose is zero -- attachment is made easier for the primary attachment figure due to social releasers -- these are innate 'cute' behaviours such as smiling or gripping which encourage social interaction between the adult and the baby -- the internal working model is a mental template for future relationships and parenting behaviours based on the primary attachment figure -- therefore, if a child and primary attachment figure have a loving relationship they are more likely to develop stronger relationships later on

Question 29

Explanations for attachment (AO3) Research into Bowlby's monotropic theory 🟢

Answer 29

one strength of Bowlby's monotropic theory is evidence supporting the role of the social releasers -- Brazelton et al observed babies tigger interactions with adults using social releasers -- researchers then instructed the baby's primary attachment figure to ignore their social releasers -- they found that babies who were previously normally responsive , became increasingly distressed -- this is a strength as it emphasises the importance of social releasers in the process of attachment development -- therefore increasing the inter-rater reliability of Bowlby's monotropic theory as an explanation for attachment as other researchers have drawn the same conclusions

Question 30

Explanations for attachment (AO3) Research into Bowlby's monotropic theory 🔴

Answer 30

one limitation of Bowlby's monotropic theory is contradictory evidence for the importance of montropy in forming attachments -- in Schaffer and Emerson's stages of attachment they found that although most babies did attach to one person at first, a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time -- Additionally, the first attachments having a stronger influence on later behaviour may simply be because the attachment itself is stronger, but not necessarily different in quality from the child's other attachments -- this is a weakness as it contradicts Bowlby's theory that there is a unique quality to the child's primary attachment -- therefore, lowering the internal validity of Bowlby's monotropic theory as an explanation of attachment

Question 31

Explanations for attachment (AO3) Research into Bowlby's monotropic theory 🟢

Answer 31

one strength of Bowlby's monotropic theory is research support from Bailey et Al on the internal working model -- researchers assessed attachment relationships in 99 mothers and their 1 year old babies -- they measured the mothers attachment to their own primary attachment figures as well as the attachment quality of their babies -- results showed that mothers with poor attachments to their own primary attachment figures were more likely to have poorly attached babies -- this is a strength as it supports Bowlby's idea that the mother's ability to form attachments to their own babies is influenced by their internal working models -- However, there are some other important influences on social development such as genetic differences in anxiety and sociability, which could impact parenting ability -- therefore, bowlby may have overstated the importance of the internal working model, limiting the monotropic theory as an explanation for attachment

Question 32

types of attachment (AO1) ainsworth's strange situation

Answer 32

Ainsworth's strange situation was a controlled observation in a room with a two way mirror, aiming to investigate types of attachment -- the main events in the strange situation included, the child explores, a stranger enters, the caregiver leaves and returns, the stranger leaves, caregiver leaves and returns again -- during these events the behaviours that were used to measure attachment were, proximity seeking, exploration, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, reunion response -- findings showed that a secure attachment (type b) would show moderate stranger and separation anxiety, explore but feel comfort from caregiver at reunion -- insecure avoidant (type a) would show no stranger or separation anxiety, explore freely and be unbothered at reunion -- insecure resistant (type c) would show extreme levels of separation and stranger anxiety but don't explore and resist confort at reunion

Question 33

types of attachment (AO3) research into ainsworth's strange situation 🔴

Answer 33

one limitation of ainsworth's strange situation is it is culture bound -- this is because it was conducted in the USA using only american infants resulting in ethnocentric results -- in the USA desirable attachments may not be seen as desirable elsewhere -- for example Takahashi found that separation between caregivers and infants is much less common in japan --meaning naturally japanese babies would show higher levels of separation anxiety and result in a disproportionate level of babies labelled as type c -- Therefore Ainsworth's research is an imposed etic as desirable attachments in western cultures are not universal, resulting in the study having a lack of population validity

Question 34

types of attachment (AO3) research into ainsworth's strange situation 🟢

Answer 34

one strength of Ainsworth's strange situation is high inter-rater reliability -- this is because Bick et al tested the inter-rater reliability on a team of trained observers and found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases -- this high level of reliability may be because the procedure takes place under highly controlled conditions -- therefore, the attachment type assessed in the strange situation does not depend on subjective judgments

Question 35

types of attachment (AO3) research into ainsworth's strange situation 🟢

Answer 35

one strength of ainsworth's strange situation is high practical application -- for example, findings from the strange situation allow social workers and psychologists to identify different attachment types -- this is a strength a strength as understanding attachment types can inform early intervention strategies for example, targeted support for at risk children and parenting programmes -- therefore, the Strange Situation has valuable real-world applications for improving child and family outcomes

Question 36

Cultural variation in attachment (A01) cultural variations

Answer 36

Van Ijzendoorn aimed to investigate cultural variation in the proportions of type a, b and c attachments -- a meta analysis of 32 studies across 8 countries was carried out using the strange situation to measure the average percentage of attachment type for each country -- they concluded type b was the most common in all countries and in japan and korea the levels of insecure babies were mostly resistant -- however, te percentage of type b varied for example it was 75% in britain and 50% in china -- additionally, individualist cultures all had under 14% insecure resistant whereas collectivist cultures were all above 25% -- this was the opposite for insecure avoidant -- furthermore, variations between results of studies conducted in the same country were 150% greater than those between countries -- for example, in the US one sample was 46% type b and another 90%

Question 37

Cultural variation in attachment (A03) research into cultural variations 🟢

Answer 37

one strength of the research is that most of the studies were carried out by indigenous psychologists from the same cultural backgrounds as the participants -- for example Ijzendoorn and kroonenberg included research by a german team (grossman et al) and a japanese researcher (Takahashi) -- this is a strength as many of the potential problems of cross cultural research can be avoided such as researchers' misunderstanding of different languages or difficulties communicating instructions -- therefore, using indigenous researchers increases the chance that the participants and researchers communicated effectively, enhancing the internal validity of the data collected

Question 38

Cultural variation in attachment (A03) research into cultural variations 🔴

Answer 38

one limitation of cross-cultural research is the impact of confounding variables on the findings -- studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in meta analyses -- for example sample variables such as poverty or social class could confound results -- as well as environmental variables such as the availability of interesting toys or the size of the room -- this is a weakness as a smaller room may increase the difficulty of visible proximity seeking, therefore labelling too many children as insecure avoidant -- therefore, confounding variables in the research across cultures may limit the findings on on cross cultural patterns of attachment

Question 39

Cultural variation in attachment (A03) research into cultural variations 🔴

Answer 39

one limitation of cross-cultural research is trying to impose a test designed for one cultural context to another -- this imposed etic occurs when we assume that the attachment behaviours and types measured in the strange situation are universal --for example in japan separation between primary caregivers and babies is far for uncommon than in britain -- this is a weakness as high levels of separation anxiety in japan may result in a disproportionate level of babies labelled as insecure resistant -- therefore, the behaviors measured in the strange situation may not have the same meanings in different cultural context, and comparing them across cultures is meaningless

Question 40

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation (AO1) maternal deprivation hypothesis

Answer 40

Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis suggests that prolonged separation between an infant and their primary caregiver, within the critical period (first 2.5 years of life) with no substitute emotional care, could result in long term cognitive, social, and emotional difficulties for that infant.

Question 41

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation (AO1) the effects of maternal deprivation on development

Answer 41

intellectual development - delayed intellectual development resulting in abnormally low IQ emotional development - increased aggression, depression and most significantly affectionless psychopathy meaning the inability to experience guilt, empathy or strong emotions towards others -- therefore resulting in higher levels of delinquency and unstable relationships

Question 42

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation (AO1) bowlby's study on the 44 juvenile thieves

Answer 42

The aim was to investigate the long-term effects of maternal -- 44 thieves were compared to 44 non-thieves from a delinquency centre -- Bowlby conducted a natural experiment by collecting data via interviews and questionnaires from the 88 juveniles and found that 12/44 thieves had experienced early prolonged separation from their mothers before 5 years while only 2/44 non-thieves had experienced such separation -- 14/44 of the thieves were classed as affectionless psychopaths -- findings indicate that experiencing disrupted attachments in early life is linked to crime, emotional maladjustment, lower academic achievement and affectionless psychopathy

Question 43

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation (AO3) evaluation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation 🔴

Answer 43

one limitation of the theory of maternal deprivation is the flawed evidence it is based on -- bowlby's 44 thieves study is flawed because it was bowlby himself who carried out the family interviews and the assessment for affectionless psychopathy -- this is a weakness as he was left open to researcher bias because he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy -- therefore, this means bowlby's original sources of evidence for maternal deprivation had serious flaws and would not be taken as seriously as evidence nowadays -- however, a new line of research from Levy et al provided support for the idea that maternal deprivation can have long term effect. they found separating baby rats from their mother for as little of a day had a permanent effect on their social development -- therefore, although bowlby relied on flawed evidence to support the theory of maternal deprivation , their are also other sources of evidence for his ideas

Question 44

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation (AO3) evaluation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation 🔴

Answer 44

one limitation is low generalizability -- for example, Bowlby's 44 thieves study was a natural experiment meaning independent variable already existed -- this is a weakness as the natural occurrence of thieves already happened and therefore finding's can't be applied from one specific group to a wider population -- additionally, the study was conducted in 1944 -- since this was pre 1970, social change has occurred such as a change in the definitions of crime and so the findings are outdated -- therefore, findings from bowlby's 44 thieves study lack both population and temporal validity

Question 45

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation (AO3) evaluation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation 🟢

Answer 45

One strength of Bowlby's theory is that it has had wider practical application. -- For example, In orphanages; they now have to take account of emotional needs. -- Fostered children; have to be kept in one stable home rather than being moved around. -- In maternity units, mothers are now allowed to spend more time with their babies as well as if they have a sick child the visiting hours in hospital have been extended. -- This is a strength as Bowlby's theory has highlighted the importance of the presence of emotional care in attachment development. -- therefore his theory has educated caregivers on how to strengthen the attachment between their infants and themselves.

Question 46

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation (AO3) evaluation of Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation 🔴

Answer 46

one limitation of the theory is Bowlby's idea of the critical period -- for Bowlby, damage was inevitable if a child had not formed an attachment in the first 2.5 years of life -- however there is evidence to suggest that in many cases good quality aftercare can prevent most of this damage -- for example, in the case of the Czech twins, they experienced very severe physical and emotional abuse from the age of 18 months up to seven years old -- although they were severely damaged emotionally by their experience they received excellent care and by their teen years they'd recovered fully -- therefore, suggesting lasting harm is not inevitable even in cases of severe privation

Question 47

Romanian orphan studies: institutionalisation (AO1) background and rutter et al's study

Answer 47

institutionalisation arose in romania in the 1990's when former president Nicolae Ceausescu required Romanian women to have five children. many couldn't afford to keep their children so they ended up in huge orphanages in very poor conditions -- many were later adopted, some by british parents -- Rutter et al followed a group of 165 romanian orphans who has been adopted by UK families for many years -- they aimed to investigate the extent of which good care could make up for poor early experiences in institutions -- they assessed the physical, cognitive and emotional development at ages 4, 6, 11, 15 and 22-25 -- a group of 52 UK children who were adopted at the same time were the control group -- findings showed that 74% of the control group were labelled as securely attached whereas this was only 19% for the experimental group -- however the description of disinhibited attachment applied to 44% of institutionalised children

Question 48

Romanian orphan studies: institutionalisation (AO1) effects of institutionalisation

Answer 48

disinhibited attachment = being equally friendly to familiar people and strangers despite most children around this age showing stranger anxiety -- rutter explains this an an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period intellectual disability -- in rutters study most children showed signs of intellectual disability when arriving in britain -- however most adopted before 6 months caught up with the control group by age 4 -- this is because this is the age at which attachments form highlighting the importance of attachments for intellectual and emotional development

Question 49

Romanian orphan studies: institutionalisation (AO3) research into institutionalisation 🟢

Answer 49

one strength is there is real world application to improve conditions of children growing up outside their family home -- for example studying the romanian orphans has improved psychologists' understanding of institutional care and how to prevent the worst outcomes -- this is a strength as the research improves conditions of children in institutions such as avoiding a large number of caregivers per child and focusing on one or two key workers -- therefore children in institutions have a chance to develop normal attachments and disinhibited attachment is avoided

Question 50

Romanian orphan studies: institutionalisation (AO3) research into institutionalisation 🟢

Answer 50

one strength is that this type of research avids the confounding variables that other studies suffered from -- for example, neglect, psychical abuse and bereavement before living in the orphanage -- this is a strength as children in romanian orphanages had been handed over by loving parents who just couldn't afford them -- therefore, results are less likely to be confounded by other negative early experiences -- however, studying children from romanian orphanages might have introduced different confounding variables -- for example, children receiving different levels of intellectual stimulation/comfort -- therefore, may reflect effects of poor institutional care rather than just institutional care itself

Question 51

Romanian orphan studies: institutionalisation (AO3) research into institutionalisation 🔴

Answer 51

one limitation is that the long term effects of institutionalisation are not clear from rutters study -- this is because the data looked at children in their early to mid 20's -- this is a weakness as there is no data to answer long term questions such as lifetime prevalence of mental health problems or success in forming and maintaining romantic and parental relationships -- therefore due to the longitudinal style of the study it will be some time before we know completely the long term effects of institutionalisation on the romanian orphans

Question 52

influence of early attachment on later relationships (AO1) internal working model

Answer 52

Bowlby suggested that a baby's first relationship with their primary attachment figure leads to a mental representation of this relationship known as the internal working model -- this internal working model acts as a template for future childhood and adult relationships -- a baby who's first experience is of a loving relationship with a reliable attachment figure will tend to assume this is how all relationships are meant to be -- they will then seek out functional relationships and behave functionally within them -- e.g not too uninvolved (insecure avoidant) or too controlling (insecure resistant) -- a child with bad experiences of their first attachment will bring these bad experiences to bear on later relationships -- this may mean they struggle to form friendships in the first place or may not behave appropriately within relationships, displaying insecure avoidant or resistant behaviors towards friends and partners

Question 53

influence of early attachment on later relationships (AO1) relationships in childhood

Answer 53

attachment type is associated with the quality of peer relationships in childhood -- securely attached babies tend to go on to form the best quality childhood friendships whereas insecurely attached babies later have friendship difficulties -- in particular, Wilson and smith found that insecure resistant children were more likely to be bullied and insecure avoidant children were more likely to be victims of bullying

Question 54

influence of early attachment on later relationships (AO1) relationships in adulthood

Answer 54

internal working models affect both romantic and parental relationships -- Mccarthy studies 40 adult women who had been assessed when they were babies to establish their attachment type -- those assessed as securely attached had the best adult friendships and romantic relationships -- those classes as insecure resistant had particular problems maintaining friendships whereas those classes as insecure avoidant struggled with intimacy and romantic relationships -- additionally, people tend to base their parenting style on their internal working model so attachment types tend to be passed down through generations of a family -- this was shown through bailey et al's study -- they considered the attachments of 99 mothers to their babies using the strange situation -- their attachment to their own mothers was also assessed using an adult attachment interview -- the majority of women had the saem attachment classification both to their babies and their own mother

Question 55

influence of early attachment on later relationships (AO3) research into the influence of early attachment into later relationships 🟢

Answer 55

one strength of this research is supporting evidence from other studies -- for example Fearon and Roisman reviewed reviewed studies linking attachment to later development and concluded that early attachment consistently predicts later attachment to their own children and emotional well being -- this is a strength as they we are able to understand that while insecure avoidant attachments seem to convey fairly mild disadvantages for any aspect of development, disorganised attachments are strongly associated with later mental disorders -- therefore, secure attachments as a baby appear to convey advantages for future development while disorganised attachments seriously disadvantage children -- however, not all evidence supports the existence of close links between early attachment and later development -- for example the Regensburg longitudinal study followed 43 individuals from one year of age -- at age 16 attachment was assessed using the adult attachment interview and there was no evidence on continuity -- therefore, it is unclear to what extent the quality of early attachment predicts later relationships

Question 56

influence of early attachment on later relationships (AO3) research into the influence of early attachment into later relationships 🔴

Answer 56

one limitation of most research into the influence of attachment is that early attachment is assessed retrospectively -- most research on the link between early attachment and later development are not longitudinal, instead researchers usually ask adolescent or adult participants questions about their relationships with parents and identify attachment type from this -- this is a weakness because as this relies on the accurate perception of the participants --additionally, it is very hard to know whether what is being assessed is early attachment or adult attachment -- therefore, the measures of early attachment used in most studies may be confounded with other factors making them meaningless

Question 57

influence of early attachment on later relationships (AO3) research into the influence of early attachment into later relationships 🔴

Answer 57

a further limitation of studies into the influence of early attachment on later development is the existence of confounding variables -- Some studies do asses attachment in infancy meaning the assessment of early attachment is valid -- however, even these studies may be affected by confounding variables -- for example, parenting style may influence both attachment quality and later development -- additionally, genetically-influenced personalities may be an influence on both factors -- therefore, we can never be entirely sure that it is early attachment influencing later development, lowering the internal validity of this research