this includes every attachment 16/16 marker essays marked by an examiner to be full marks coming from a student who scored full marks in every essay in the real exam in 2024. i have essays for every topic in psychology so check them out too
‘Outline and evaluate caregiver-infant interactions influence on attachment’ (16 marks)
During infancy, a child’s life before speech begins is crucial as key interactions during this period
tend to be non-verbal. This can help form a basis of attachment and how they respond to each
interaction can determine types of attachment formed such as secure or insecure. The first
interaction is reciprocity which is when infants coordinate their actions with their caregivers; often
viewed as a type of conversation. This was studied by Brazelton and said that the infant and
caregiver may take it in turns to move in a rhythm as if taking it in turns having a conversation. This
basic rhythm is suggested as a precursor to conversations as signals allow the caregiver to
understand and anticipate the infant’s behaviour which lays foundations of attachment. A second
type of interaction is interactional synchrony in which is the idea that infants can imitate specific
facial and hand gestures such as sticking out their tongue or opening hands.
One advantage of interactional synchrony is that there is supporting research for it. For example,
Meltzoff and Moore conducted a study with adult models and asked them to display certain facial
expressions or hand gestures and during this, the infant would watch with a dummy in their mouth
to prevent any response. Afterwards the dummy was removed and response was filmed. They found
an association between infant behaviour and adult model, therefore indicating that behavioural
responses must be innate not learnt which in turn increases the external reliability of this theory.
However, on the contrary, Meltzoff and Moore’s study is quite difficult to replicate with the right
conditions and control variables. For example, Koepke tried to replicate it but found no similar
results to Meltzoff and Moore which raises issues because it means that there isn’t a wide range of
studies conducted on this theory to establish it further. Therefore, there is a lack of consistency and
comparable data to conclude a true cause and effect thus some may argue that the reliability is low.
One advantage of the research by Meltzoff and Moore is that it has practical applications. For
example, they developed a ‘like me’ theory which is the idea that imitative behaviour forms the basis
for social development as it helps a child to understand what others are thinking and feeling.
Therefore, research such as this has allowed for theories to be developed to help understand the
influence of early childhood behaviours on future interactions thus proving a positive impact and
benefit for psychology and developments of theories.
Another disadvantage of Meltzoff and Moore’s study is that it doesn’t take into account any
individual differences which could influence the results. For example, Isabella et al had suggested
that those who had responded or imitated more strongly in these studies were more likely to have a
better relationship with their caregivers than those who didn’t respond as well. Therefore, this
means additional factors need to be considered as they may influence the findings thus creating the
emphasis that attachment type might imitation not innate mechanisms.
Furthermore, another disadvantage of studying infant interactions is that it is difficult to determine
what was interaction and what was just moving around naturally as an infant. For example, in
Meltzoff and Moore’s study, we are unsure whether the child was sticking their tongue out as an
imitation or whether the infant was just moving around as they don’t tend to have as much control
over their muscle movement. Therefore, this makes it difficult to distinguish between general
expressions and specific imitated behaviours thus reducing the internal reliability of the study.
,‘Outline and evaluate stages of attachment’ (16 marks)
Bowlby proposed the idea that the relationship you form with your mother or primary
attachment figure is unique as it forms a template in the IWM on future relationships. The
development of this attachment was studied by Schaffer and Emerson who conducted a
study on 60 infants in a Glaswegian working class family from age 5 weeks to 1 year. The
mothers were visited every 4 weeks to discuss how their child responded to separation in
everyday situations such as being left alone with other people. They were asked to rate the
intensity of each protest on a 4 point scale. They found that with infants, there were 4 main
stages of attachment, the first being indiscriminate which is when infants produce similar
responses to inanimate and animate objects. The second stage is beginnings of attachment
which is when infants become more social and prefer human company rather than
inanimate objects but don’t show much stranger anxiety. The third stage is discriminate
which is when the infant begins to show separation and stranger anxiety as they have
formed a specific attachment to one person (PAF). However, after forming one attachment,
a fourth stage called multiple attachment occurs which is when forming other attachments
with other people other than your main attachment figure such as siblings.
One advantage of research into stages of attachment is that it was conducted in a
longitudinal basis. For example, they were studied for just under a year which allowed for
researchers to gather more data on a period of time about the child and the way they had
changed, which therefore means that a wider understanding on attachment behaviours can
be made which in turn increases the chance of concluding and validating the stages of
attachments formed.
However, one disadvantage of Schaffer and Emerson’s study is that it relied on parental
report on their child’s behaviour which can increase participant bias. This is an issue because
it means that the parent may not want to speak badly about their child’s behaviour so the
data collected may be false due to wanting to fit in with social norms of a good mother and
child relationship. Therefore, this study’s results may be influenced by social desirability
thus lacking internal validity as we are unsure if these results are true and representative of
the child’s behaviour.
Another disadvantage of the study is that the sample Schaffer and Emerson used was biased
because all families sampled were from working class backgrounds so traditionally wealthier
families have nannies and so the infant may actually form an attachment with them instead.
Therefore, more research needs to be conducted to see whether different social class
backgrounds can produce different primary attachment figures which in turn makes the
sample used less representative of the whole population so results can’t be generalised.
Additionally, the sample used were only from Glaswegian families which is an issue because
they come from individualistic western backgrounds so attachment may be different I the
societal norms of a collectivistic culture. Therefore, research into stages of attachment need
to consider cultural variations thus making the study sample unrepresentative and
ethnocentric.
, Furthermore, a disadvantage of the stages of attachment is that the theory needs to
consider if all attachment types are equivalent. For example, when the infant forms multiple
attachments it needs to consider the different types of attachment figures and their
significance such as the role of the father. Therefore, the study and theory heavily focus on
the mother being the primary attachment figure whereas the role of the father may be
equally as important thus additional research needs to be conducted to further understand
the significance of different attachment types and figures.
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