Psychodynamic Approach - Contemporary Debate: The mother as primary care-giver of an infant

Question 1

what are the points that support the mother as primary care-giver

Answer 1

• feeding (NHS)
• Freud’s view on the importance of the mother (infant dyad)
• depravation damage (John Bowlby)
• mothers not fathers (oestrogen)
• mother’s role in animal kingdom (Dr. Sarah Hrdy)

Question 2

what are the points that are against the mother as primary care-giver

Answer 2

• feeding (classical conditioning)
• Freud’s view on the importance of the mother (Oedipus complex)
• Deprivation damage (not exclusively the mother)
• Same-sex couples (Farr, Forssell and Patterson (2010))

Question 3

explain the supporting argument: Mother’s role in animal kingdom

Answer 3

• In the animal kingdom, female mammals often exhibit maternal instincts and invest significant time and effort into raising their young. An example would be lionesses.
• In a lion pride, it’s the lionesses that primary take care of the cub. She provides them with nourishment, protection and teaches them essential survival skills.
• In a study conducted by Dr. Sarah Hrdy, she examined the parenting behaviours of various primate species, including humans. She found that female primates generally exhibit more consistent and nurturing parenting behaviours than males.
• This suggests that mothers being the primary caregiver of infants are an instinct and a part of the mother’s biology.
• Therefore, there is no one else better suited to the role of being a mother other than the child’s biological mother.
• Furthermore, a strength to this argument is that although human behaviour can be seen as more complicated than animal behaviour (with factors such as jobs, politics and social media – that other animals don’t have to deal with that might influence behaviour), the research study was conducted on humans as well as other primates. And because these maternal instincts were consistent in both humans as well as other primates, it suggests that mothers being the primary care-giver is something that so strongly hardwired into animals that it can’t be denied. The mother (instinctively) must be the primary care-giver.​

Question 4

explain the contradicting argument: Same-sex couples

Answer 4

• In male gay couples there’s no mother.
• In a systematic study of adoptive gay father families carried out by Farr, Forssell and Patterson (2010) in the US. Based on evidence from questionnaires given to parents and teachers, it was found that: preschool children adopted in infancy and gay fathers were as well adjusted as those adopted by lesbians or heterosexual couples. There was no differences in: Parenting stress, parenting disciplines and parental relationship satisfaction.
• This would suggest that Mothers don’t play a crucial role in a child’s development and that fathers are just as capable at bringing up well-adjusted children.
• However, a counter is that because questionnaires were used, it is susceptible to social desirability bias because people want to give politically correct answers in order to not seem homophobic.
• Another counter is that the sample could be seen as biased as it was only done for gay couples in the US. In countries where homosexuality is less widely accepted or even illegal, this could’ve had an effect on the child’s development due to homophobia from their peers, resulting in behavioural problems for the child.
• Therefore, suggesting that mother is necessary as a primary care-giver and that gay father families are insufficient.​

Question 5

explain the supporting argument: feeding

Answer 5

• NHS recommends that infants are breastfed for at least the first 6 months of their lives
• it offers the healthiest start for infants because it protects them from numerous infections and disease, as well as build a strong physical and emotional bond between the mother and baby
• this is important in their subsequent emotional development
• this requires the mother to be present every 2 hours, and therefore for practical reasons, it is essential that the mother is the primary caregiver
• and therefore anyone else, including the father, is limited to a supporting care giving role. not primary

Question 6

explain the counter argument: feeding

Answer 6

• 1950s behaviourists say that infants are classically conditioned to associate their mothers with a sense of pleasure:
• food (UCS) creates pleasure (UCR) producing a conditioned response of pleasure
• Harlow (1959) placed infant monkeys with 2 wire ‘mothers’. One had a feeding bottle attached and the other was covered in soft cloth. the monkeys who spent the most time with the cloth-covered mother would then cling to it when frightened
• showing that food doesn’t create an emotional bond - contact comfort does
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) supported this finding in a study of human behaviour. Finding that primary attachments were not formed with the person who fed or spent more time with the infant. Strongly attached infants had carers who responded quickly and sensitively to their ‘signals’ and who offered their child the most interaction

Question 7

explain the supporting argument: Freud’s views on the importance of the mother

Answer 7

• Sigmund Freud believes the mother-infant dyad was of the greatest importance in the initial oral stage of psychosexual development
• infants depend on their mother to satisfy the needs of their libido. Overindulgence or frustration leads to emotional problems later in life, such as neediness or pessimism respectively
• Freud also claimed that separation anxiety is caused by the infant realising that their bodily needs will go unsatisfied if separation occurs.
• in 1938 Freud claimed that a mother’s love acts as a prototype for every relationship the infant will go on to have in their lifetime

Question 8

explain the contradicting argument: Freud’s views on the importance of the mother

Answer 8

• it’s important to put Freud’s ideas in historical context
• at the time it was written, women couldn’t vote
• therefore his ideas may simply reflect the norms and values that were held by society in the early half of the 20th century. If it were written today, the father’s role would be different
• Freud did recognise the importance of the father, e.g. claiming in 1930 that fathers play an important role in a boy’s development (Oedipus complex)

Question 9

explain the supporting argument: deprivation damage

Answer 9

• John Bowlby classic research is described on the previous 2 spreads. He demonstrated how early and prolonged separation between a child and its mother can have lasting emotional effects
• most especially that separation is likely to lead to an affectionless character (lacks the ability to feel normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility)
• such characteristics is more likely to become a thief and have difficulty forming relationships
• Bowlby developed these views into maternal deprivation hypothesis
• therefore mother as primary care-giver is essential to a healthy emotional development

Question 10

explain the contradicting argument: deprivation damage

Answer 10

• ‘Maternal’ deprivation isn’t exclusive to the child’s mother
• he wrote ‘ a child should experience a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute)’ in 1953
• Bowlby had also presented some research that showed no ill effects from early separation (Bowlby et al 1956). These were children with tuberculosis and spent years in hospital with little contact with their family. Most of them showed few problems later in life.

Question 11

explain the supporting argument: Mothers not fathers

Answer 11

• men aren’t psychologically equipped to form this kind of intense emotional relationship as well as a mother. Due to biological and social factors
• e.g. the female hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour so that women are generally more orientated towards emotional relationships than men
• in terms of social factors, there continues to be gender stereotypes that affect male behaviour, such as it being seen as feminine to be sensitive to the needs of others
• evidence from Heerman et al (1994) supports this with evidence of men being less sensitive to infant cues than mothers
• However Frodi et al (1978) showed videotapes of infants crying and found no differences in the biological responses of men and women

Question 12

explain the contradicting argument: Mothers not fathers

Answer 12

• there’s plenty evidence men are capable of forming close attachments with their children, as in the case of single (male_ parent families
• the view that men aren’t emotional is outdated
• our changing stereotypes have meant that both men and women feel freer to take on roles traditionally reserved for the opposite sex
• A woman is not the only parent that’s hormonally adapted to parenthood
• Gettler et al (2011) suggest that a father’s testosterone level drops in order to help ‘a man respond more sensitively to their child’s needs’