Paper 1 - Attachment A03

Question 1

What are the strengths in the research into caregiver infant interactions ?

Answer 1

• Strengths in research
• Filmed from multiple angles = cannot miss key behaviours, Analysed by multiple people = inter-rater reliability, Controlled environment = control any other activity that might usually distract an infant
• All factors = high validity and reliability

Question 2

What is the strength to support the role of care-giver infant interactions in relation to attachment ?

Answer 2

• Evidence to show link between role and development of attachment bonds
• Isabella et al observed 30 mothers and infants and assessed the degree of interactional synchrony. Found out that high levels of IS link to better quality attachment bonds
• Highlights how interactional synchrony is important for the development of good quality attachments bonds.

Question 3

What are the negatives in the research into caregiver infant interactions ?

Answer 3

• Problems with Meltzoff and Moore’s research
• Issue of intentionality. It has been pointed out that infants’ mouths are in fairly constant motion and the expressions that are tested (e.g. sticking tongue out) occur frequently. This means that it is difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitated behaviour.
• Low internal validity

Question 4

Issues with data replication in caregiver infant interactions ?

Answer 4

• Failure to replicate Meltzoff and Moore’s results
• eg. Koepke et al. (1983) failed to find any evidence of interactional synchrony in caregiver-infant interactions.
• Lacks reliability, findings = inconsistent

Question 5

What are the strengths of Schaffer and Emersons research regarding its validity ?

Answer 5

• High external validity
• Since it was conducted in family homes with mothers observing separation anxiety during typical daily activities, the study has strong ecological validity
• Generalise to real life settings

Question 6

What are the strengths of Schaffer and Emersons research regarding how it was carried out ?

Answer 6

• Longitudinal Design - where the same infants were observed regularly over time.
• While a cross-sectional design using different children at each age would have been faster, the longitudinal approach improves internal validity as no confounding variables of individual differences between participants
• Findings are more reliable, as they were not influenced by participant variables

Question 7

What are the weaknesses of Schaffer and Emersons research regarding its sample size?

Answer 7

• Specific sample
• All infants are same social class and city. Conducted over 50 years ago, the findings may lack temporal validity
• Might not generalize to different social or historical contexts.

Question 8

Explain the weakness regarding difficulty to know if infants are capable to form multiple attachments ?

Answer 8

• Uncertainty about when infants can form multiple attachments.
• While research like Schaffer and Emerson suggests infants first attach to a primary caregiver, other studies, especially in collectivistic cultures with multiple caregivers, indicate that infants may form multiple attachments from the start.
• This cultural difference suggests that Schaffer & Emerson’s conclusions may be biased toward individualistic societies and may no apply to collectivistic cultures

Question 9

What is the strength of the research regarding the role of the father ?

Answer 9

• Can offer advice for parents
  -Can help them to make informed decisions about caregiving roles without feeling pressured into traditional roles. For example, knowing fathers can be primary attachment figures may reduce parental anxiety and provide reassurance to families in deciding the best caregiving arrangements.
• It has practical application for real life world

Question 10

What is a weakness of the research regarding the role of the father ?

Answer 10

• Lack of clarity in the question itself
• Researchers may focus on different aspects, with some studying fathers as secondary attachment figures and others as primary caregivers. The differing focus leads to contrasting findings.
• Making it challenging to define a single role for fathers in attachment.

Question 11

What is a weakness of the role of the father regarding conflicting evidence ?

Answer 11

• Conflicting evidence
• If fathers have a distinct role as secondary attachment figures, children raised in single-mother or same-sex female households might face developmental disadvantages. However, studies (e.g., McCallum & Golombok, 2004) show these children are no different
• Suggests father has no distinct importance which challenges findings like those from Grossman et al. (2002)

Question 12

What is a strength on the animal study of attachment by Lorenz rearguing its further research evidence ?

Answer 12

• Further research evidence demonstrating the process of imprinting.
• For example, Regolin & Vallortigara (1995) exposed chicks to simple shape combinations that moved, such as a triangle with a rectangle in front. A range of shape combinations were then moved in front of the chicks, and it was found that they followed the original most closely.
• Supports the view that bird species are born with an innate mechanism to attach to and follow the first moving object they see.

Question 13

What is a weakness on the animal study of attachment by Lorenz regarding its lack of generalisation ?

Answer 13

• Mammalian attachment system is very different to that of birds.
• For example, in mammals, attachment is a two-way process, so it is not just the young who become attached to their mothers but also the mothers who become attached to their young.
• Cannot generalise Lorenz’s findings to humans therefore very little can be concluded from his research.

Question 14

What is a strength on the animal study of attachment by Harlow reading its RLA ?

Answer 14

• Important real-world applications.
• For example, it has helped professionals such as social workers to understand that a lack of contact comfort may be a risk factor in child development, allowing them to intervene where necessary.
• Value of Harlow’s research is not just theoretical but also practical.

Question 15

What is a weakness on the animal study of attachment by Harlow reading its EI ?

Answer 15

• Significant ethical issues.
• The monkeys were removed from their mothers at birth and raised in almost total isolation with only the wire mothers for company. Many developed abnormalities later on in life so not protected from psychological harm.
• The suggestion that the benefits of the research outweigh the costs to the animals involved is therefore questionable.

Question 16

What is a strength of Bowlby’s monotropic theory including Bailey et al research?

Answer 16

• Evidence supporting the internal working model and the continuity hypothesis.
• For example, Bailey et al. (2007) studied the quality of attachment relationships between mothers and their own PAF (poor quality with PAF = more likely to have a poor quality own infant)
• Support mental model of relationships, model acts a a blueprint for future relationships

Question 17

What is a limitation of Bowlby’s monotropic theory including alternative explanations ?

Answer 17

• Alternative explanations for findings for internal working model and the continuity hypothesis
• Psychologists suggest genetic differences in sociability affect the quality of all relationships, genetics could offer an alternative explanation
• Weakens this research as a source of evidence

Question 18

What is a limitation of Bowlby’s monotropic theory including its evidence ?

Answer 18

• Evidence that does not support the concept of monotropy
• Schaffer & Emerson (1964) found that most of the infants they studied attached to one person at first, a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time
• Concept of monotropy does not apply to all infants

Question 19

What is a limitation of Bowlby’s monotropic theory including its social sensitivity of monotropy and Burman?

Answer 19

• Concept of monotropy is socially sensitive
• Laws of continuity and accumulated separation suggest that mothers who work may negatively affect their child’s development. Mothers are likely to feel guilty if the go back to work. Burman (1994) suggested these ideas cause mothers up to take the blame for anything that goes wrong for their child in the future.
• Potentially harmful consequences for women

Question 20

What is a strength regarding the reliability of the stranger situation conducted by Ainsworth ?

Answer 20

• Reliable procedure
• Ainsworth et al. (1978) reported high inter-observer reliability for original experiment and found almost perfect agreement between observers rating behaviour
• This high level of agreement between observers suggests that the Strange Situation is a reliable method for measuring attachment types.

Question 21

What is a weakness regarding the EI’s of the stranger situation conducted by Ainsworth ?

Answer 21

• High ethical issues.
• In stage 6, some infants cried “desperately” when left alone, and mothers were distressed because they couldn’t comfort their child immediately.
• Raises concerns about psychological harm and the lack of protection for participants in the procedure.

Question 22

What is a weakness regarding the validity of the stranger situation conducted by Ainsworth ?

Answer 22

• Lacks validity in procedure
• It only measures the infant’s attachment to the mother, not to other caregivers like fathers. Additionally, it was conducted in a lab, which may not reflect real-life behaviour = lack ecological validity Ainsworth also only tested American infants = lack population validity
• Suggest that the Strange Situation doesn’t fully measure what it intends to and may not generalize to other settings or populations

Question 23

What is a weakness regarding the categories of attachment developed by Ainsworth ?

Answer 23

• Some infants don’t fit into the three attachment types.
• Main & Solomon (1986) found that some infants displayed inconsistent behaviors and proposed a fourth attachment type, “disorganised.”
• Suggests that Ainsworth et al. (1978) may have misclassified some infants, and the three categories do not fully capture the complexity of attachment behavior.

Question 24

What is a strength of the study into cultural variations in attachment ?

Answer 24

• Strength of the study
• Large sample size (nearly 2000 infants), increasing validity so findings are likely generalisable. Additionally, most studies were conducted by indigenous researchers, reducing issues like language barriers and improving validity.
• Suggests the findings provide a reliable insight and have high validity

Question 25

What is a limitation of the study into cultural variations in attachment ?

Answer 25

• Weaknessof study
• Potential impact of confounding variables, such as differences in room size and toy availability, which may have influenced infant exploration.
• Reduces the study’s validity, as results may reflect external factors rather than attachment differences.

Question 26

What is a limitation of the study into cultural variations in attachment regarding it’s representativity ?

Answer 26

• Study may not fully represent cultures, as within-culture differences were greater than between-culture differences.
• For example, Japanese samples varied due to urban and rural child-rearing differences.
• Suggests attachment patterns cannot be generalised to entire cultures

Question 27

What is a limitation of the study into cultural variations in attachment regarding it’s cultural bias?

Answer 27

• The Strange Situation is culturally biased
• As it assumes independence reflects secure attachment. In Japan, dependence is encouraged, leading to many infants being misclassified as insecure-resistant.
• This suggests the method is unsuitable for cross-cultural research.

Question 28

What is a strength of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation regarding its evidence ?

Answer 28

• Research supports Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation.
• Goldfarb (1955) found that children fostered before 4 months had an average IQ of 96, while those raised in orphanages had an IQ of 68 which is below the threshold for intellectual disability.
• This suggests maternal deprivation leads to long-term intellectual damage, as Bowlby proposed.

Question 29

What is a strength of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation regarding its RLA’s ?

Answer 29

• Bowlby’s research improved childcare practices.
• Before his research, hospital policies often separated children from their mothers. Robertson (1952) filmed a two-year-old girl, Laura, who became highly distressed during her hospital stay without her mother. This research led to policy changes, allowing parents to stay with their children in hospitals.
• Psychological research can shape real-world policies for child well-being.

Question 30

What is a limitation of Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation regarding its research ?

Answer 30

• Supporting research lacks validity.
• In the “44 Juvenile Thieves” study, Bowlby conducted assessments himself, leading to potential bias. Investigator bias weakens the study’s reliability as leads to confounding variables
• Making conclusions about maternal deprivation less certain.