The role of the father Flashcards
In attachment research, what is the father?
anyone who takes on the role of the primary male caregiver. this can be but is not necessarily the biological father.
Does evidence suggest that fathers are much more or less likely to become babies’ first attachment figures compared to mothers?
much less likely
In Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) study, in what percentage of cases was the father the first sole object of attachment?
3%
In Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) study, in what percentage of cases was the father the joint first object of attachment with the mother?
27%
What percentage of babies studied by Schaffer and Emerson formed an attachment with their father by the age of 18 months? How was this determined?
75%, the babies protested when their father walked away
What did Grossmann et al (2002) do?
carried out a longitudinal study where babies’ attachments were studied until they were in their teens. the researchers looked at both parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of their baby’s later attachments to other people.
What did Grossmann et al (2002) find?
quality of a baby’s attachment with mothers but not fathers was related to attachments in adolescence.
Grossmann et al also found that the quality of fathers’ (….) with babies was related to the quality of adolescent attachments
What does this suggest?
play
This suggests that fathers have a different role from mothers - one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with emotional development.
What did Tiffany Field (1978) do?
filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.
What did Tiffany Field (1978) find?
primary caregiver fathers, like primary caregiver mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than the secondary caregiver fathers.
Based on evidence, do fathers have the potential to be the more emotion focused primary attachment figure?
yes, they can provide the responsiveness required for a close emotional attachment but perhaps only express this when given the role of primary caregiver
What is a limitation of research into the role of the father? (inconsistent findings)
Inconsistent findings may be due to researchers being interested in different research questions
some psychologists are interested in understanding the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures whereas others are more concerned with fathers as primary caregivers
this is a problem as it means psychologists cannot easily answer a simple question people ask: what is the role of the father?
What is a limitation of research into the role of the father? (children without fathers)
does not explain why children without fathers develop no differently
MacCallum and Golombok (2004) found children growing up in single or same sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in two parent heterosexual families
this would seem to suggest that the fathers role as a secondary attachment figure is not important
What is a limitation of research into the role of the father? (numerous influences)
numerous influences which might impact on a child’s emotional development
eg. culture, fathers beliefs, amount of time father spends away from home
it is difficult to control all of these variables and therefore it is difficult to draw conclusions about the role of the father
What is a limitation of research into the role of the father? (primary attachment figures)
doesnt explain why fathers dont generally become primary attachment figures
could be due to the result of traditional gender roles, women expected to be more nurturing, therefore fathers dont feel they should act like that
however it could be that female hormones create high levels of nurturing and therefore females are biologically pre-disposed to being the primary attachment figure
