Easy to read, detailed exam notes for the Attachment topic in AQA Psychology A level. Written by a four A* student. Covers the entire memory spec with detailed examples, positives and negatives and full evaluations.
Attachment
Reciprocity and interactional synchrony
Attachment = a strong reciprocal emotional bond between infant and primary care giver.
Reciprocal = two/both ways. Must both be able to contribute and generate a response, such as when a parent smiles
at the child, the child would smile too.
EXAMPLE
Brazleton et al - children as young as 2 weeks old can attempt to copy their caregiver, who in turn responds to the
child’s signals 2/3 of the time.
Interactional synchrony = when the infant and primary caregiver becomes synchronised in their
interactions. Brazleton et al demonstrated that young infants can copy the displayed distinctive facial expressions or
gestures.
Positives
Controlled observations - Brazleton filmed interactions from different angles = reliability, replicability, valid
conclusions to be drawn because inter-rater reliability can be established
Independent observers can rewatch the tapes and compare
Negatives
Don’t know whether action is meaningful as children two weeks old have little to no more motor
coordination
Bremner - behavioural response and behavioural understanding
Stages of Attachment
Schaffer and Emerson’s study (1964)
Aim To identify stages of attachment between infants and parents.
Used 60 babies from Glasgow – visited once a month for 18 months
Analysed the interactions between the infants and carers/interviewed carers
The mother had to keep a diary to track the infant’s behaviours based on the following measures:
1. Separation Anxiety - signs of distress when the carer leaving + needs to be comforted when
Procedure the carer returns
2. Stranger Anxiety - signs of distress as a response to a stranger arriving
3. Social Referencing - how often the infant looks at their carer to check how they should
respond to something new
ww
, Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
Infant responds to objects and people similarly
Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks – 6 months)
Develops more responses to humans. Can tell the difference between different
people, but comforted by anyone.
Findings/
Conclusion
Specific (7 months +)
Prefer one particular carer and seeks for security, comfort and protection in
particular people. Start stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.
Multiple (10/11 months +)
Multiple attachments and seeks security, comfort and protection in multiple
people.
31% of the infants had 5 or more attachments at the end of the study.
Negatives
Lacks population validity – infants all Glasgow working-class families – small sample size – can’t be
generalised
Lacks temporal validity - parenting techniques changed since the 1950s
Lacks internal validity – self report method – parents may have missed details – social desirability bias –
demand characteristics to tailor support to go with what they think hypothesis of study is
Asocial stage cannot be studied objectively – children and a six week lack basic motor coordination meaning
we cannot establish whether responses such a separation anxiety or deliberate
Role of the Father
Schaffer and Emerson - 75% formed secondary attachment to their father by 18 months - suggests father is
important, but is unlikely to be the first person to which the child develops an attachment to.
EXAMPLE
Tiffany Field - observed interactions between infants and primary caregivers - regardless of gender more attentive
towards the infant and spent more time holding and smiling at them = Although mothers are often expected to
become primary attachment figures, this does not always have to be the case!
Lack of agreement over extent of the influence of the father as a primary attachment figure.
EXAMPLE
MacCallum and Golombok - children growing up in homosexual or single-parent families weren’t different
compared with two heterosexual parents. If the father was so crucial in the development of an attachment with the
infant, then we would not expect these findings. This suggests that the exact role of the father is still disputed.
Gender of the primary – dictated by society - women expected to be caring and sensitive – social constraint
Biology - women have higher levels of oestrogen and lower levels of testosterone compared to men - biological
constraints
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