AQA A Level Psychology Attachment with 100% correct answers

What is an attachment? An emotional link between the child and there primary caregiver, which ties them together. Four ways an attachment can be tested? 1. Seeking Proximity 2. Distress on seperation 3. Joy on reunion 4. General Behaviour 01:04 01:28 What is a bond? A bond is a set of feelings that ties one person to another Benefits of an attachment Survival Food Love Security Two caregiver-infant interactions are... Reciprocity and Interactional Synchrony What is reciprocity? Reciprocity is a description of how two people interact, the mother infant interaction is reciprocal in that they both respond to each others signal and each shows a response from the other. What is interactional synchrony? Where mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of one and other and do this in a co-ordinated manner. Outline research that supports reciprocity Feldman found that both babies have periodic alert phases to signal that they are ready to interact and mothers respond to this on average 2/3rds of the time. He also found that from 3 months of age this interaction is more frequent and involved close attention to verbal signals and facial expressions. Brazleton discovered the 'Dance' in which each partner responds to each others moves. Both the baby and the PCG can initiate interactions and take turns in doing so. Outline research that supports interactional synchrony Meltzoff and Moore conducted a study in which they observed infants at two weeks old and had adults show one of three facial expressions or one of three gestures. The children response was filmed and identified by independent observers. They found an association between the action of the adult and the action returned by the babies. Isabella observed 30 mothers and infants and found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better mother-infant attachment. Evaluate research into infant-caregiver interactions :) - Controlled observations in a controlled experimental setting with standardised procedures and operationalised behavioural categories with filming from multiple angles. High reliability as can be repeated to check consistency. :) - These observations are less prone to demand characteristics as obviously babies are unaware an experiment is taking place and thus will not change their natural behaviours. :( - Observations susceptible to observer bias as they require subjective interpretation from researches who may perceive behaviour as being something else to what it really is, this can lower the validity. :( - Observations only look at the changes in hand movements and gestures. It is very difficult to be certain that the moves or gestures etc, were actually deliberate or accidental, this reduces the value of the insight into caregiver-infant interaction. :( - These studies don't tell us the purpose of synchrony or reciprocity, they simply state that it happens and don't imply anything about why and what the purpose is. Other studies have said that it is important in the development of empathy and morals. :( - Conducting research into mother-infant interactions is controversial as it sates that certain people may be at a disadvantage for certain reasons. ie. Mothers going back to work... Outline three research studies into the role of the father Schaffer found that initially babies become attached to their mother (7 months) and then after this form secondary attachments with others such as the father. 75% of babies had an attachment with their father by 18 months of age, they showed separation anxiety. Lamb indicated that between the ages of 15-24 months they will show a preference towards their father, this suggests that the father may become the PCG. Grossman conducted a longitudinal study and found a direct correlation between the quality of fathers play with infants and the quality of adolescent attachments. This suggests that the father may be more about play and stimulation whereas the mother is more about nurturing. Evaluate research into the role of the father :( - It is very difficult to draw one conclusion from all the research as some psychologists have looked to prove he father as the PCG and others have tried to prove him as the secondary caregiver. :( - MacCallum and Golombrok found contradicting evidence as they found that children growing up in single or same sex parent families did not develop any differently to those in opposite sex parents. :( - Alternative explanations about why fathers don't usually become the PCG could be because of traditional gender roles that people don't like to break as it is not seen as normal and thus they continue with the social norms. :( - Alternatively it could be biological reasons for mothers being the PCG majority of the time. Females have much higher levels of oestrogen and oxytocin and these create higher levels of nurturing behaviour. :( - Socially sensitive research as it suggests children may be at a disadvantage by particular child rearing practices.