Attachment

Question 1

Attachment

Answer 1

A close emotional two-way bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their emotional security

Question 2

Strengths of studying attachments

Answer 2

• Control experiments
  
  • Extraneous variables controlled
  • Good inter-rater reliability
• Early interactions are vital
  
  • Isabella et al. suggest that interactional synchrony predicts the quality of a good quality attachment

Question 3

Limitations of studying attachments

Answer 3

• Hard to interpret baby’s behaviour
  
  • Can’t be certain interactions have special meanings due to babies’ lack of co-ordination, which means that movements could be stimulated by an unknown stimuli
• Doesn’t explain developmental importance
  
  • Names are given to patterns of observable behaviours but they may not be exactly useful in understanding child development as it doesn’t tell us about the purpose of behaviour