ATTACHMENT
Role of the father
Bowlby believed that infants had one special and intense attachment, the monotropic bond.
However, Rutter has disagreed and argued that all attachments are equally as important in
helping the child develop an IWM - leading to more research into the role of the father.
A01 - Fathers are less likely to be primary attachment figures than mothers - Schaffer
and Emerson found in a study over half the infants preferred the mother and ⅓ preferred
fathers - role of the father is not as influential as the mother for the majority of infants. They
argued that this was due to them spending less time with their infants or due to traditional
gender roles - an alternative argument is that due to the nature argument - the hormone
oestrogen creates higher levels of attachment behaviour and therefore women could be
biologically predisposed to take on the role as the primary attachment figure.
A01 - Fathers have a role to play as secondary attachment figures - Geiger - fathers are
exciting playmates and provide more challenging situations whereas women are
conventional, IN SUPPORT - White - it may be that a lack of sensitivity from fathers can be
seen a positive because it fosters problem solving by making greater communicative and
cognitive demands on children - develop into a whole individual.
A01 - Fathers can perform the role of a primary attachment figure effectively - single
parent or stay at home dad - they adopt behaviours typical of mothers - they can be
nurturing if the situation requires it. In support - Field - filmed 4 month old babies in face to
face interactions with primary caregiver mothers / fathers, and then secondary caregiver
fathers. Found that primary caregivers mothers and fathers were equal in terms of times
spent smiling and holding the infants - gender plays a little role in differentiating how
effective one can parent.
A03 - Research has shown that in the very least fathers can play a secondary attachment
role, but a criticism of this claim is offered by other studies such as that carried out by
MacCallum et al. They found that children growing up without fathers, such as single mums
or same sex couples do not develop any differently than those who grew up with fathers and
this would seem to suggest that the fathers role is not as important as it may appear.
A03 - A further point is that research indicating that mothers play the primary role and
fathers a secondary one is deterministic Real life examples clearly indicate that fathers have
free will in choosing the amount of involvement in their infant’s lives, and indeed
organisations such a “fathers for justice” campaign for more legal rights for access to their
children which does not indicate a ‘secondary’ role at all.
A03 - Finally, research into the roles of fathers and mothers is clearly socially sensitive
research. It can make parents in families where mothers are returning to full time work
question whether stay at home fathers can create that essential primary attachment with
their infants, and it can equally make fathers question their own abilities. Research must
therefore exercise caution in its recommendations as there are clearly individual differences
that need to be accounted for.
, Animal studies of attachment - Lorenz and Harlow
A01 - Lorenz- investigate imprinting in birds of future attachments.
Lorenz carried out an experiment where he randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs.
Half were hatched with the mother, the other half hatched in an incubator where the first
moving object they saw was Lorenz.
Then observed their behaviour - marked goslings so they knew which one was an incubator
group and which one hatched in a natural environment. Placed them in an upside box and
when lifted he observed where they went.
Findings -
Incubator group - went to lorenz, other group followed mother.
Imprinting would only occur within a brief period of 4-25 hours after hatching.
Affected later sexual behaviour - goslings who imprinted on humans attempted to mate with
other humans later on in adulthood.
A01 - Harlow - investigated whether baby monkeys would prefer a source of food or
comfort.
16 baby rhesus monkeys separated from their mother at birth were placed in a cage with two
monkey-like figures.
One was a metal frame with a teat for the monkey to get fed, the other was a cloth covered
structure.
Amount of time each monkey spent with the structures was recorded
Tested for preference. Startled with loud noise - response was recorded.
Findings -
All monkeys preferred cloth covered structure even if it didn't dispense the milk - fed by
metal monkeys, returned to the cloth covered mother for comfort.
When frightened by loud noise- clung to cloth covered structure - exploring - kept one foot
on cloth.
Socially abnormal - unable to relate to other monkeys.
A03 - Both have been criticised- Lorenz - Guiton criticised his claim that imprinting has a
permanent effect, and found that after spending time with their own species, chickens were
able to interact normally. Harlow - confounding variable , lacking internal validity, different
heads - may not have been the comfort after all - cloth covered had a more monkey like
head.
A03 - Provided basis for the major theories of adult attachment - e.g valuable insight to the
sensitive period as explained by Bowlby in being the critical period.
A03 - Issues with generalisability to humans, Lorenz carried out work on precocial species
that are born with eyes open and can walk straight away - monkeys are clearly more similar
but again the species can be questioned.
A03 - cost benefit analysis - cannot practically or ethically do this on humans - animals have
given us the opportunity to gain useful findings into attachment. Social workers now
understand the risk factors no attachment formed can cause.
Bowlby's monotropic theory
A01 - Attachment is adaptive and innate - adaptive because it increases chances of the
infant's survival and reproduction in adulthood - it is innate because each infant is born with
the instinct to attach - if successful, they are more likely to be kept safe, fed and warm.
Role of the father
Bowlby believed that infants had one special and intense attachment, the monotropic bond.
However, Rutter has disagreed and argued that all attachments are equally as important in
helping the child develop an IWM - leading to more research into the role of the father.
A01 - Fathers are less likely to be primary attachment figures than mothers - Schaffer
and Emerson found in a study over half the infants preferred the mother and ⅓ preferred
fathers - role of the father is not as influential as the mother for the majority of infants. They
argued that this was due to them spending less time with their infants or due to traditional
gender roles - an alternative argument is that due to the nature argument - the hormone
oestrogen creates higher levels of attachment behaviour and therefore women could be
biologically predisposed to take on the role as the primary attachment figure.
A01 - Fathers have a role to play as secondary attachment figures - Geiger - fathers are
exciting playmates and provide more challenging situations whereas women are
conventional, IN SUPPORT - White - it may be that a lack of sensitivity from fathers can be
seen a positive because it fosters problem solving by making greater communicative and
cognitive demands on children - develop into a whole individual.
A01 - Fathers can perform the role of a primary attachment figure effectively - single
parent or stay at home dad - they adopt behaviours typical of mothers - they can be
nurturing if the situation requires it. In support - Field - filmed 4 month old babies in face to
face interactions with primary caregiver mothers / fathers, and then secondary caregiver
fathers. Found that primary caregivers mothers and fathers were equal in terms of times
spent smiling and holding the infants - gender plays a little role in differentiating how
effective one can parent.
A03 - Research has shown that in the very least fathers can play a secondary attachment
role, but a criticism of this claim is offered by other studies such as that carried out by
MacCallum et al. They found that children growing up without fathers, such as single mums
or same sex couples do not develop any differently than those who grew up with fathers and
this would seem to suggest that the fathers role is not as important as it may appear.
A03 - A further point is that research indicating that mothers play the primary role and
fathers a secondary one is deterministic Real life examples clearly indicate that fathers have
free will in choosing the amount of involvement in their infant’s lives, and indeed
organisations such a “fathers for justice” campaign for more legal rights for access to their
children which does not indicate a ‘secondary’ role at all.
A03 - Finally, research into the roles of fathers and mothers is clearly socially sensitive
research. It can make parents in families where mothers are returning to full time work
question whether stay at home fathers can create that essential primary attachment with
their infants, and it can equally make fathers question their own abilities. Research must
therefore exercise caution in its recommendations as there are clearly individual differences
that need to be accounted for.
, Animal studies of attachment - Lorenz and Harlow
A01 - Lorenz- investigate imprinting in birds of future attachments.
Lorenz carried out an experiment where he randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs.
Half were hatched with the mother, the other half hatched in an incubator where the first
moving object they saw was Lorenz.
Then observed their behaviour - marked goslings so they knew which one was an incubator
group and which one hatched in a natural environment. Placed them in an upside box and
when lifted he observed where they went.
Findings -
Incubator group - went to lorenz, other group followed mother.
Imprinting would only occur within a brief period of 4-25 hours after hatching.
Affected later sexual behaviour - goslings who imprinted on humans attempted to mate with
other humans later on in adulthood.
A01 - Harlow - investigated whether baby monkeys would prefer a source of food or
comfort.
16 baby rhesus monkeys separated from their mother at birth were placed in a cage with two
monkey-like figures.
One was a metal frame with a teat for the monkey to get fed, the other was a cloth covered
structure.
Amount of time each monkey spent with the structures was recorded
Tested for preference. Startled with loud noise - response was recorded.
Findings -
All monkeys preferred cloth covered structure even if it didn't dispense the milk - fed by
metal monkeys, returned to the cloth covered mother for comfort.
When frightened by loud noise- clung to cloth covered structure - exploring - kept one foot
on cloth.
Socially abnormal - unable to relate to other monkeys.
A03 - Both have been criticised- Lorenz - Guiton criticised his claim that imprinting has a
permanent effect, and found that after spending time with their own species, chickens were
able to interact normally. Harlow - confounding variable , lacking internal validity, different
heads - may not have been the comfort after all - cloth covered had a more monkey like
head.
A03 - Provided basis for the major theories of adult attachment - e.g valuable insight to the
sensitive period as explained by Bowlby in being the critical period.
A03 - Issues with generalisability to humans, Lorenz carried out work on precocial species
that are born with eyes open and can walk straight away - monkeys are clearly more similar
but again the species can be questioned.
A03 - cost benefit analysis - cannot practically or ethically do this on humans - animals have
given us the opportunity to gain useful findings into attachment. Social workers now
understand the risk factors no attachment formed can cause.
Bowlby's monotropic theory
A01 - Attachment is adaptive and innate - adaptive because it increases chances of the
infant's survival and reproduction in adulthood - it is innate because each infant is born with
the instinct to attach - if successful, they are more likely to be kept safe, fed and warm.
