Attachment

Question 1

what are the two types of care giver interactions

Answer 1

reciprocity and interactional synchrony

Question 2

what is reciprocity

Answer 2

this is when the care giver and the infant respond to each others signals.

Question 3

when do infants have alert phases

Answer 3

infants have period alert phases in which they signal that they are ready for a spell of intercation. research ( feldman and eidelman) shows that they normally pick up of their alert two/three times. however this can vary depending on the mothers skills or external factors such as stress. from around three months this interaction tends to be more frequent.

Question 4

what is active involvement

Answer 4

traditional views of childhood have portrayed babies in a passive role, receiving care from an adult. but both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and they appear to take truens in doing so.

Question 5

what is interactional synchrony

Answer 5

this is the mirroring action of facial expressions, emotions between two people.

Question 6

what happens when the synchrony begins

Answer 6

meltzoff and moore observed the beginning of the synchrony in babies as young as two weeks old. an adult diaplayed one of three face expressions and the babies response was filmed and labelled by independent observers.
the babies were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than the chance would predict.

Question 7

why is interactional synchrony important

Answer 7

because isabella observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of the synchrony and the quality of the mother-baby attachment. high levels of synchrony were associated with better uality mother-baby attachement.

Question 8

a strength of interactional synchrony

Answer 8

they are usually filmed in a laboratory
this means that activities that can distract the baby, can be controlled. observations can be recorded and analysed and miss key behaviours. this can establish the inter rater reliability. babies do not known they are being observered so they does not change in observation. this suggests that there should be good reliability and validity

Question 9

a limitation of research into caregiver interaction

Answer 9

it is hard to interpret a babys behaviour
young babies lack coordination and their bodies are immobile. the movements being observed are small expressions and subtle moments. it is difficult to determine whether what is happening from the babies prespective. this means that we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver-infant intercations have a special meaning

Question 10

another limitation of research into care-giver interaction *

Answer 10

simply observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance
feldman points put that ideas like synchrony simply give names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behaviours. these are robus phenomena in the sense that they can be reliably observed, but they still may not be particularly useful in understanding child development. this mean we canno be certainfrom observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a childs development.

Question 11

counterpoint for the limitation *

Answer 11

there is evidence from other lines of research to suggest that early interactions are important. eg isabella found that the achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of good quality of attachemnt. this means that, on balance, care giver infant interaction is probably important in development.

Question 12

what are the different stages of attachement

Answer 12

asocial stage, indiscriminate attachment, specific attachement and multiple attachments

Question 13

who researched the stages of attachment

Answer 13

schaffer and emerson

Question 14

procedure of the schaffer and emersons research

Answer 14

they study involved 60 babies from glasglow from working class families. researchers visited babies and mothers every month for the first year. the researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday situations.

Question 15

what is stage 1 : asocial stage

Answer 15

in the babies first few weeks its observable behaviour towards humand and inanimate objects are similar.
babies can show preference to familar people and are more easily comforted by them. babies are forming bonds through reciprocity and interactional synchrony

Question 16

what is stage 2 : indiscriminate attachement

Answer 16

from 2 to 7 months, babies start to display more obvious and observable social behaviours.
they show a clear preference for being with humans instead of inanimate objects
babies in this stage recognise their caregivers and other familiar people
they will accept closeness from any person and do not show seperation anxiety
they are unlikely to show stranger anxiety at this stage

Question 17

what is stage 3 : specific attachement

Answer 17

from seven months the majority of babies start to display signs of attachement to one particular person. this person becomes known as the primary attachment figure.
babies will show signs of seperation and stranger anxiety particularly when away from their primary attachment figure (babys mother in 65% of cases)

Question 18

what is stage 4 : multiple attachements

Answer 18

from the age of one babies extend their attachment behaviour ( stranger and seperation anxiety) to multiple attachemtns with other people whom they regularly. these are called secondary attachments.
schaffer and emerson observed that 29% of the children formed secondary attahcments within a month of forming a primary attachment.

Question 19

strength of schaffers and emerson research *

Answer 19

good external validity
most of the observations were made by parents during ordinary activites and reported to the researchers.
the observations did not take place in controlled setting therefore the babies were not distracted by unfamiliar researchers.
they were just being their selves in usual environments
this means that it is hightly likely that the pps behaved naturally while being observed

Question 20

counterpoint for strength *

Answer 20

there are issues with asking mothers to be the observers. they were unlikely to be objective. they night have been biased in terms of what they noticed and hwat they reported. this means that even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may have not been accurately recorded.

Question 21

a limitation of schaffer and emersons stages

Answer 21

is the validity of the measures they used to assess attachement in the asocial stage
young babies have poor coordination and are imobile. if babies less than 2 months felt anxiety they may have displayed this in subtle ways.
this made it difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers on signs of attachment and signs of anxiety
this means that babies may actually be quite social but because of flawes methods they appear to be social.

Question 22

another strength of schaffer and emersons stages

Answer 22

they have practical application in day care
in the asocial and indiscriminate stages day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult.
however s and es research shows us that day care, especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult, may be unproblematic during the specific attahcment stage.
this means that parents use of day care can be planned using scaffer and emersons stages.

Question 23

What are the two animal studies of attachment

Answer 23

Lorenzs research with goslings and harlows research with monkeys.

Question 24

Why do psychologists conduct research on animals

Answer 24

To look at the formation of early bonds between non-human parents and their offspring spring.

Question 25

What is imprinting

Answer 25

Is an innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother.

Question 26

What was the procedure of lorenzs research

Answer 26

Lorenz set up an experiment in which he randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs. Half of the eggs were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment and the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was lorenz.

Question 27

What were the findings of Lorenzs research

Answer 27

The incubator group followed lorenz everywhere, whereas the control group followed the mother. When the two groups were mixed up the control group continues to follow the mother and the experimental group followed lorenz. This is called imprinting where bird species that are mobile from birth attach to follow the first moving object they see. Lorenz identifies a critical period which imprinting need to take place. Depending on the species this can be as brief as a few hours after hatching. If imprinting doesnt occur lorenz found that the chicks did not attach themselves to the mother figure.

Question 28

How was sexual imprinting investigated

Answer 28

Lorenz investigated the relationship between imprinting and adult mate preferences. He observed that birds that imprinted on a human would often display courtship behaviour towards humans.

Question 29

Stength of lorenzs research

Answer 29

-research support for the concept of imprinting -a study supports this. Chicks were exposed to simple shape combinations that moved. A range of shape combinations were then moved in front of them and they followed the original most closely. - this supports the view that young animals are born with an innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development, as predicted by lorenz

Question 30

Limitation of lorenzs studies

Answer 30

-Is the ability to generalise findings and conclusions from birds to humans -the mammalian attachment system is quite different and more complex than that in birds -eg in mammals attachments a two way process, so it is not just the young who become attached to their mothers but also the mammalian mothers show an emotional attachment to their young -this means that it is probably not appropriate to generalise lorenzs ideas to humans.

Question 31

What did harlow observe

Answer 31

Harlow had observed that newborn rhesus monkeys died if they were kept alone in a cage but survived if they had a soft cloth to cuddle to He investigated how attachment to a mother was not based on feeding but instead attachment is formed through being comforted

Question 32

The procedure of harlows reasearch

Answer 32

Harlow tested the idea that a soft objects serves some of the functions of a mother . In one experiment he reared 16 baby monkeys with two wired model ‘mothers’. In one condition milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother whereas in a second condition the milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered monkey

Question 33

The findings of harlows research

Answer 33

The baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother and sought comfort from the cloth one was frightened (by a noise mechanical teddy) regardless of which mother dispensed milk. This showed that contact comfort was of more importance to the monkeys that food when it came to attachment behaviour

Question 34

Long term study - maternal deprivation

Answer 34

-harlow observed the monkeys into adulthood to investigate maternal deprivation -both groups of monkeys developed abnormally -the monkeys raised with the plain-wire mother were more dysfunctional (more aggressive, less sociable) - when they became mothers, some of the deprived monkeys negleected their young and others attacked their children, even killing them in some cases

Question 35

The critical period for normal development

Answer 35

Harlow concluded that there was a critival period for attachment formation -a mother figure had to be introduced to a young monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form -after this time attachment was impossible and the damage done by early deprivation became irreversible

Question 36

Strength of harlows research

Answer 36

-its important real world application -e.g it has helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience my be a risk factor in child development allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes. -we now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild -this means that the value of harlows research is not just theoretical but also practical

Question 37

Limitation of harlows research

Answer 37

-the ability to generalise findings and conclusions from monkeys to humans -rhesus monkeys are much more similar to humans than lorenzs birds, and all mammals share some common attachment behaviours -however, the human brain and human behaiviour is still more complex than that of monkeys -this means that it may not be appropriate to generalise harlows findings to humans.

Question 38

What does the learning theory involve (explanations of attachment)

Answer 38

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Question 39

What is classical conditioning

Answer 39

Classical conditioning involves learning to associate two stimuli together so that we begin to respond to one in the same way as we already respond to the other

Question 40

Classical conditioning in attachment

Answer 40

-food serves as an unconditioned stimulus this would give the baby pleasure. This is the unconditioned response. -the caregiver or mother starts of as a neutral stimulus. -when the caregiver provides food over time they become associated with food. -the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus. Then the caregiver produces a conditioned response of pleasire. -then an attachment is formed.

Question 41

What is operant conditioning

Answer 41

Involves learning from the consequences of of behaviours If a behaviour produces a pleasant consequence, that behaviour is likely to be repeated again. This behaviour is said to be reinforced. If a behaviour produces unpleasant consequence it is less likely to be repeated again.

Question 42

Operant conditioning in attachment

Answer 42

Positive reinforcement - increases the likelihood of a behaviour being/operated because it involves a reward for the behaviour Negative reinforcement - this increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated because it involves the removal of / excape from unpleasant consequences

Question 43

Attachment as a secondary drive

Answer 43

refers to the concept that an infant's need for emotional connection with a caregiver is learned through association with primary drives like hunger

Question 44

Limitation of learning theory explanations

Answer 44

-lack of support from studies conducted on animals -for example, lorenzs geese imprinted on the first moving object they saw regardless of whether this object was associated with food -there is no support for the importance of food -this shows that factors other than association with food are important in the formation of attachments

Question 45

Another limitation of learning theory explanations

Answer 45

-lack of support from studies of human babies -e.g schaffer and emerson found that babies tended to form their main attachment to their mother regardless of whether she was one who usually fed them. - in another study isabella et al found that high levels of interactional synchrony predicted the quality pf attachment. -this again suggest that food is not the main factor in the formation of human attachments

Question 46

A strength of learning theory

Answer 46

-elements of conditioning could be involved in some aspects of attachment -it seems unlikely that association with food plays a central role in attachment, but conditioning may still play a role -e.g a baby may associate feeling warm and comfortable with the presence of a particular adult, and this may influence the baby choice of the main attachment figure -the learning theory may still be useful in understanding the development of attachment

Question 47

Counterpoint of the strength

Answer 47

Both classical and operant conditioning explanations see the baby playing a relatively passive role in attachment development, simply responding to associations with comfort or reward. In fact research shows that babies take a very active role in the interactions that produce attachment. This means that conditioning may not be adequate explanation of any aspects of attachment.

Question 48

Why is Bowlbys monotropic theory of attachment important for attachment

Answer 48

Attachment is important for a childs survival. Attachment behaviours in babies and their caregivers have evolved through natural selection

Question 49

How are infants innately programmed

Answer 49

A biological process that takes place during a critical period of around two years. Infants that do not form an attachment in this time will have difficulty forming attachments later on.

Question 50

What activate the innate adult attachment

Answer 50

Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate ‘cute’ features and behaviours that encourage attention from adults called social releasers. These activate the innate adult attachment system - the tendency for adults to care for them. Bowlby recognised that attachment is a reciprocal process. Both the mother and baby have an innate predisposition to become attached and social releasers trigger that response in caregivers

Question 51

What is monotropy

Answer 51

Bowlby proposed that the relationship that the infant has wth his/her primary attachment figure is of special significance in their emotional development and is a more important relationship that the rest for their development.

Question 52

What and how does the internal working model work

Answer 52

A child forms a mental representation of their relationship with their primary attachment figure called an internal working model. This gives the child a model of what relationships are like. In the long term this acts as a template for all future relationships because it generates expectations about what loving relationships are like. The internal working model affects the childs ability to be a parent. People tend to base their parenting behaviour on their own experiences of being parented.

Question 53

One limitation of bowlbys theory

Answer 53

Lacks validity Schaffer and emerson found that although most babies did attach to one person at first, a significant minority formed multiple attachments at the same time. The quality from the childs other attachments provide all the same quality as the primary attachment figure This means that bowlby may not be incorrect that there is a unique quality and importance to the childs primary attachment figure

Question 54

One strength of bowlbys theory

Answer 54

There is evidence supporting the role of social releasers There is clear evidence that cute baby behaviours are designed to elicit interaction from caregivers. Brazelton et al observed babies trigger interactions with adults using social releasers. The researchers then instructed the babies primary attachment figures to ignore their babies social releasers. Babies became increasingly distressed and some eventually lay motionless. This illustrates the role of social releasers in emotional development and suggests that they are important in the process of attachment development.

Question 55

Another strength for bowlbys theory

Answer 55

There is support for the internal working model Bailey et al assessed attachment relationships in 99 mothers and their one year old babies. The researchers measured the mothers attachment to their own primary attachment figures. The researchers also assessed the attachment quality of the babies. They found that mothers with poor attachment were more likely to have poorly attached babies This supports bowlbys idea that mothers ability to form attachments to their babies is influenced by their internal working models.

Question 56

What are the different types of attachment

Answer 56

Secure attachment, insecure avoidant, insecure resistant

Question 57

What was the procedure of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 57

-controlled observation procedure that was designed to measure the security of attachment a baby displays towards a caregiver -it takes place in a room with quite controlled conditions with a two way mirror.

Question 58

What are the behaviours that are used to judge attachment

Answer 58

Proximity-seeking, exploration and secure-base behaviour, stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and response to reunion

Question 59

What are the seven episodes of the procedure

Answer 59

Beginning : caregiver and baby enter an unfamiliar playroom 1. The baby is encouraged to explore- tests exploration and secure base 2. A stranger comes in, talks to the caregiver and approaches the baby- tests stranger anxiety 3. The caregiver leaves the baby and stranger together - tests separation and stranger anxiety 4. The caregiver returns and the stranger leaves- tests reunion behaviour and exploration/secure base 5. The caregiver leaves the baby alone - tests separation anxiety 6.the stranger returns- tests stranger anxiety 7.the caregiver returns and is reunited with the baby - tests reunion behaviour

Question 60

What were the findings for secure attachment

Answer 60

(Type b) These babies explore happily but regularly go back to their caregiver (proximity-seeking and secure-based behaviour) They usually show moderate separation distress and moderate stranger anxiety Securely attached babies require and accept comfort from the caregiver in the reunion stage 60-75% of british babies are classified as secure

Question 61

What were the findings of insecure-avoidant attachment

Answer 61

(Type A) These babies explore freely but do not seek proximity or show secure-base behaviour The show little or no reaction when their caregiver leaves and little stranger anxiety. They make little effort to make contact when their caregiver leaves caregiver returns and may even avoid such contact About 20-25% of British babies are classified as insecure-avoidant

Question 62

What were the findings for insecure-resistant attachment

Answer 62

(Type c) These babies seek greater proximity than others and so explore less. They show high levels of stranger and separation distress but they resist comfort when reunited with their caregiver Around 3% of british babies are classified as insecure-resistant.

Question 63

One strength of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 63

Its outcome predicts a number of aspects of the baby’s later development A large body of research has shown that babies and toddlers assessed as type v tend to have better outcomes than others. In childhood this includes better achievement in school and less involvement in bullying. Securely attached babies also tend to go on to have better mental health in adulthood Those babies assessed as having insecure-resistant attachment and those not falling into types a,b,c tend to have the worst outcomes This suggests that the stranger returns situation measures something real and meaningful in a babys development

Question 64

Counterpoint for strength

Answer 64

The strange situation clearly measures something important that is associated with later development. However, not all psychologists believe this something is attachment. E.g kagan suggested that genetically-influenced anxiety levels could account for variations in attachment behaviour. This meant the the ss may not actually measure attachment.

Question 65

Another strength of ainsworths strange situation

Answer 65

Good inter-rater reliability Bick et al tested inter-rater reliability for the strange situation for a team of trained observers nd found agreement on attachment type in 94% of cases This high level of reliability may be because the procedure takes place under controlled conditions and because behaviours involve large movements and are therefore easy to observe. E.g anxious babies cry and crawl away from strangers This means that we can be confident that attachment type as assessed by the stranger returns situation situation does not depend on subjective judgements

Question 66

One limitation of the strange situation

Answer 66

It may not be a valid measure of attachment in different cultural contexts The ss was developed in britain and the usa. It may be culture bound. One reason for this is that babies have different experiences in different cultures and these experiences may affect their responses to the ss. E.g in one japanese study (by takhashi), babies displayed very high levels of seperation anxiety and so a disproportionate number were classified as insecure-resisitant Takahashi suggests that this anxiety response was due to the unusual nature of the experience in japan where mother-baby seperation is very rare. Therefore it is very hard to know that the stranger returns situation situation is measuring when used outside western europe and the usa.

Question 67

What are cultural variations

Answer 67

Refer to how behaviour of cultural norms and social practices. These variations will affect the development of a child and their behaviour

Question 68

What was the procedure of van ijxendoorn and kroonenbergs research

Answer 68

-A meta analysis (analyisis where researchers review, combine the results of multiple studies) was conducted -they were interested in investigating inter-cultural differences and intra-cultural differences in attachment -the study looked at nearly 2000 children who had been assessed via the stranger returns situation situation from eight different countries : uk, us, sweden, japan, china, holland, germany and israel

Question 69

What were the findings of van and kroonenbergs research

Answer 69

-wide variation between the attachment types in different studies -all countries showed securely attached as the most common classification (varied from 75% in the uk to 50% in china) -in individualist cultures insecure-resistant attachment was under 14% of infants assessed Individualistic countries that support independence such as germany had high levels of resistant-avoidant attachment -In collectivist cultures (such as China and Japan), insecure-resistant attachment was above 25% of infants assessed -Variation in results of intra-cultural studies was 150% greater than in inter-cultural studies where variation was small

Question 70

What were the conclusions of their research

Answer 70

-patterns of attachment across cultures appear to be similar to that of the original data -secure attachment is the most common attachment type These findings supports the ideas that: -secure attachment is required for healthy social and emotional development -attachment is an innate process

Question 71

Other studies on cultural variations

Answer 71

- italian study carried out by simonelli et al -researchers used ss to assess 76 infants aged 12 months -50% were securely attached which is lower than in other studies -36% were insecure-avoidant, this is higher compared with other studies -simonelli et al concluded that there is an increase in the number of hours worked by mothers of infants and the time infants spend away from their mothers in childcare -this suggests that attachment types can vary to reflect a culture and changes that occur over genrations

Question 72

One strength of cultural variations in attachment

Answer 72

-Most of the studies were conducted by indigenous psychologists (those from the same cultural background as the pps) -eg van and kroon included research by a german team and takhashi who is japanese. -this research means that many of the potential probllems in cross-cultural research can be avoided, such as researchers misunderstandings of the language used by pps. This means that there communication between researchers and pps communicated successfully , enhancing the validity of the data collected

Question 73

Counterpoint of strength

Answer 73

This may not be true for all cross-cultural attachment research. E.h morelli and tronick were outsiders from america when they studied child-rearing and patterns of attachment. Their data may have been affected by diffulculties in gathering data from pps outside their own culture Therefore data may have been affected by bias

Question 74

One limitation of cross cultural research-

Answer 74

- impact of confounding variables on findings -studies conducted in different countries are not usually matched for methodology when they are compared in meta analysis or revieqs. -Some characteristics such as poverty, social class and urban/rural make up can confound results as can the age of pps studied in different countries. -environmental variables might also differ between studies and confound results. -less visible proximity this means that looking at attachment behaviour in different non-matched studies conducted in diff countries may not tell us anything about cross-cultural patterns of attachment

Question 75

another limitation of cultural variations in attachment

Answer 75

-trying to impose a test designed for one cultural context to another context -it includes the ideas emic and etic. imposed etic occurs when we impose an idea or technique that works in one cultural context to another. -e.g the use of babies response to reunion with the caregiver in the strange situation. in britain and the usa, lack of affection on reunion may indicate an avoidant attachment. but in germany such behaviour would be more likely intrepreted as independence rather than insecurity. -this suggests that the behaviours measured in the ss may not have the same meanings in different cu;tural contexts, and comparing them across cultures is meaningless.

Question 76

Bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 76

-Refers to the seperation between caregiver and a child -the consequences of maternal deprivation can be emotional and intellectual -was proposed by bowlby in 1953. -it is now understood that there are long term effects of prolonged separation from a primary caregiver - due to the absence of emotional care

Question 77

Procedure of bowlbys 44 thieves study

Answer 77

-88 children who were emotionally maladjusted -half of the children, 44, were accused of stealing (thieves) -the other 44 made up of the control group -all thieves were interviewed for signs of being affectionless psychopaths -bowlby suggested that this characteristic enabled the children to be thieves -families were also interviewed by bowlby to establish whether the thieves had prolonged periods of seperation from their caregivers

Question 78

Findings of bowlbys 44 thieves study

Answer 78

-14 of the 44 thieves were categorised as affectionless psychopaths, of these 12 (86%) had experienced prolonged periods of separation from their caregivers in the first two years of their lives -five (17%) of the remaining thieves had experiences prolonged seperation -40% of the thieves group had experienced early seperation from their caregivers - of the control group, only two had experienced prolonged seperation

Question 79

What is seperation

Answer 79

Separation is when the child is not in the presence of their primary attachment figure

Question 80

What is deprivation

Answer 80

Refers to a lack of emotional care

Question 81

Critical period

Answer 81

-first two years of a childs life are a critical [eriod in emotional and psychological development -prolonged or frequent separation from the primary caregiver during this critical period and experiencing deprivation of emotional care may lead to psychological damage -for the separation and deprivation to have negative effects, it means that no other substitute caregiver meets the emotional needs of the infant

Question 82

What are the two types of effects on development

Answer 82

Intellectual development and emotional development

Question 83

What was the effects on intellectual development

Answer 83

-Bowlby believed that prolonged separation and deprivation would lead to delays in intellectual development, shown by an extremely low iq -goldfarb studied children from orphanages and found that children who were not adopted had lower iqs than those who were either fostered or adopted

Question 84

What were the effects of emotional development

Answer 84

Bowlby characterised those who had delayed or limited emotional development as affectionless psychopaths -affectionless psychopaths lack emotion or affection toward others and lack remorse for their actions -consequences of this is that there may be difficulties in developing normal relationships and are associated with criminality.

Question 85

A limitation of the theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 85

-poor quality evidence it is based on -the 44 thieves study is flawed because it was bowlby himself who carried out both the famil interviews and the assessments for affectionless psychopathy -this left him open to bias because he knew in advance which teenagers he expected to show signs of psychopathy - bowlby was also influenced by the findings of goldfarbs research on development of deprived children in wartime orphanages. -also had problems of confounding variables because the children in goldfarbs study had experienced early trauma and institutional care and prolonged seperation from their primary caregivers.

Question 86

Counterpoint for the limitation.

Answer 86

-a new line of research has provided some modest support for the idea that maternal deprivation can have long-term effects -levy et al showed that seperating baby rats from their mother for as little as a day had a permanent effect on their social development though not other aspects of development -this means that although bowlby relied on flawed evidence to support the theory, there are other sources of evidence to support his ideas

Question 87

Another limitation of bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 87

-undermining research -bowlby used the term critical period becuase he believed that maternal deprivation, inevitably caused damage if it took place within that period -however later research has shown that this damage is not inevitable. Some cases of very severe deprivation have had good outcomes provided the child has some social interaction and good aftercare E.g there was the case of the czech twins who were isolated from the age of 18 months until they were seven years old. Subsequently they were looked after by two loving adults and appeared to recover fully -this suggests that the period identified by bowlby may be a sensitive one rather than a critical one.

Question 88

A strength of bowlbys theory of maternal deprivation

Answer 88

-real world application -bowlbys study and theory had an enormous impact ob post-war thinking about childrearing and also on how children were looked after in hospitals -before bowlbys research, children were seperated from parents when they spent time in hospitals. Visiting was discouraged or even forbidden -bowlbys work led to a major social change in the way that children were cared for in hospitals e.g parents being able to stay overnight with their children -this supports the external validity of the theory as it has important implications for the nhs