Explanations of Attachment

Created by: RobynBraun1
Created on: 21-05-22 13:32

Tick two of the boxes below to indicate which of the following statements relate to Bowlby's evolutionary theory of attachment.

A - Attachment takes place during a critical period or not at all.
B - Infants become attached to the person who feeds them.
C

A - Attachment takes place during a critical period or not at all.
C - Infants are innately programmed to form an attachment.

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Learning theory provides one explanation of attachment. It suggests that attachment will be between an infant and the person who feeds it. However, the findings of some research studies do not support this explanation.

Outline research findings that chal

Harlow's research with rhesus monkeys became attached to the cloth-covered mother, rather than the wire mother than fed them. He found that the monkeys would show attachment behaviours towards the cloth mother when frightened, rather than the wire mother.

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Abi had a happy, secure childhood with parents that loved her very much. She now has children of her own and loves them very much too. The two children make friends easily and are confident and trusting.

Referring to Abi and her family, explain what psyc

Bowlby suggests that a child's attachment to a primary caregiver provides the child with an internal working model of relationships. Abi's secure childhood relationships would have ensured a positive internal working model. The model represents a view of

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Two researchers wanted to investigate the influence of early
attachment on later relationships. They asked 20 teenagers aged
14-16 to write an essay on the importance of family and friends.
Ten of the teenagers had been raised by their mother and father.

Inter-rater reliability could be sued to check if the data is reliable. The consistency between the recordings of two researchers would be assessed by asking each researcher to categorise the essays independently for ‘references to love’. The data would t

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The researchers decided to interview some of the teenagers about their early life experiences.

Explain how the data collected from the interview might have improved upon the data collected from the content analysis.

The interviewer could have asked follow-up questions to gain greater insight into some of the points raised in the essay, and therefore the interview would produce more detailed information than the participant would have written in the essay.

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Explain Bowlby’s monotropic theory. Refer to the data from the table in part (a) in
your answer.

Bowlby's monotropic theory of attachment suggests that attachment is important for a child's survival. Attachment behaviours in both babies and their caregivers have evolved through natural selection. This means that infants are biologically programmed wi

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Explanations of Attachment