Child Psychology - Topic 5: Attachment

Question 1

Background Research - Bowlby

Found 3 things?
Suggested that?

Answer 1

Found that:

• A child has an innate need to attach to one main attachment figure
• A child needs continuous care from the main attachment figure for approx the first two years of life
• Long term consequences of maternal deprivation include:

    - delinquency
    - reduced intelligence
    - affectionless psychopathy

Suggested that:

• attachment has an evolutionary advantage as a caregiver provides safety so it improves the infants chances of survival

Question 2

Key Research - Ainsworth (Aim, Method, Sample, Procedure, Results)

Answer 2

Aim:

• to investigate the interaction between infant attachment behaviour and other behaviours such as exploration, separation anxiety and fear of strangers.

Separation anxiety behaviours include crying when the mother leaves.

Method:

• They used a controlled observation.

Sample:

• consisted of 56 infants mainly from white middle class backgrounds that were contacted through private paediatricians.
• 23 of the children were part of a longitudinal study whereas 33 were chosen independently for this study.
• The children were 49-51 weeks old.

Procedure:

1. The children were subjected to a strange situation where a parent would play with their child in a playroom, over the time the parent would leave, and a stranger would enter, leaving the child in unfamiliar settings.
2. Time sampling was used to record behaviours such as exploratory, proximity and searching behaviours.
3. The other measurement used is that five classes of behaviour were rated on a 7-point rating scale such as proximity behaviour and search behaviours.

Results:

• found that children use their mother as a secure base in which they explore from.
• Exploratory behaviour decreased when the mother left and the stranger entered.
• The children also increased in crying when the mother left.

Question 3

Application - Family Centred Care & Key Worker in Nurseries

Answer 3

Family Centred Care:

• Was introduced following research by Bowlby and Robertson about the effects of hospitalisation on a child
• Means that parental visiting is unrestricted and mothers can stay on the ward
• Parents also engage in the child’s care such as bathing, dressing and reading

Key worker in nurseries

• When a child goes to nursery they are assigned a key worker who is responsible and caring towards the child so the child feels like they belong to someone
• This attachment allows the child to feel more secure and use more exploratory behaviour