Psychology A Level Year 1 and AS: The Complete Companion Student Book for AQA
These study notes contain everything you need to know in order to pass the Attachment module of the AQA A-level Psychology - 'Introduction to Psychology' exam (Paper 1). Including:
- Caregiver-infant interactions in humans.
- Stages of attachment identified by Schaffer.
- Animal studies...
Stages of Attachment
pros Study
Schaffer & Emerson (1964): Glasgow cons
high
. 60 internal
infants agedvalidity = controlled
5-23 weeks; observation
working-class within +lab;
backgrounds ethically
studied for 1yr.dubious = infant can’t give informed consent + no
extraneous variables controlled. way to withdraw.
. mothers visited once every 4 weeks; reported on infant’s response to separation in 7 everyday situations.
high reliability = video watched multiple times + observers small sample size = 1 pp; lacks external validity.
. mother asked to describe intensity of protest on 4-point scale + whom protest directed at.
mostly agreed [0.92 score]. difficulty testing infant behaviour = infants’ mouths in
. stranger anxiety measured via assessing response to interviewer.
constant motion + expressions tested occur frequently.
. findings:
hard to distinguish between general behaviour + specific
- 65% of children = first specific attachment was mother.
imitated behaviour.
- 3% of children = first specific attachment was father.failure to replicate findings = Koepke et al., (1983) couldn’t
replicateMULTIPLIED
IN THE BEGINNING DINOSAURS findings.
Indiscriminate Attachments produce similar responses to allhowever; study +less
objects (animate carefully controlled; may not be
inanimate).
reliable.
0 - 8 weeks
Animal Studies of Attachment
Beginnings of Attachments more sociable.
Harlow (1959): Feeding Bond between Mother + Infant
around 4 months distinguish between familiar + unfamiliar people.
. 2 wire mother monkeys; 1 bare wire + 1 cloth covered.
prefer human company.
. 8 infant monkeys 4 fed on cloth-covered mother / 4 fed on bare wire mother.
Discriminate Attachments begin to show separation anxiety.
. measured how long spent w/ each mother + observed response to being scared by mechanical teddy bear.
by 7 months protests when primary attachment figure leaves + joy at return.
. findings:
show stranger anxiety.
- all monkeys spent most time w/ cloth-covered mother; if fed from wire mother, only spent enough time to
Multiplefeed.
Attachments shows attachment behaviour toward several people.
soon
- after main attachment
frightened = all monkey’s clung to cloth-covered mother.
formed
- playing w/ new objects = one foot on cloth-covered mother for reassurance.
-
evaluation: suggests infants form attachments w/ person offering comfort, not person who feeds them.
. long-lasting effects: pros cons
high- ecological
socially abnormal
validity = frozein/ children’s
= conducted fled from other monkeys.
homes. issue with generalisability = pp’s from same social
longitudinal study = conducted over a year; shows the background;
- sexually abnormal = abnormal breeding behaviour inappropriate
+ didn’t comfort to generalise out to other social
own young.
development
- in each
critical individual
period child.
= over classes.
6 months w/ wire monkey meant infants could not recover + under 3 months meant
infants could. potential demand characteristics = observations of mothers
evaluation: interacting with child inaccurate (social desirability bias);
low level internal validity.
pros cons
lacking historical validity = parental care has changed since
Schaffer + Emerson research similar to Harlow’s = infants findings influenced
1960’s; findings may bynot extraneous variables = heads on
be relevant now.
form attachments to those not involved in feeding; 3% of surrogate mothers different; possibility of infants
children’s first specific attachment to father. preferring cloth-covered mothers’ head… lowers internal
Caregiver-Infant Interactions validity.
humans differ from animals = humans can’t be imprinted
on, results generalised to humans with caution.
Lorenz (1935): Imprinting
imprinting innate readiness to develop strong bond w/ mother; takes place during specific time in development (few
hours after birth).
. divided group of gosling eggs into 2 groups; 1 left w/ mother + 1 in incubator (Lorenz = first thing they saw).
. started following him; to test effect of imprinting marked ‘his’ goslings + put back w/ natural mother.
. findings:
- no sign of recognising mother + continued to follow Lorenz.
- imprinting must take place in critical time period (2 days); if not, imprinting doesn’t occur.
. long-lasting effects:
- imprinting irreversible.
- effects mate preferences (sexual imprinting); attempts to mate w/ same object they imprinted on.
evaluation:
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller sophie0graham. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $9.14. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
