1
Q
What is the definition of attachment?
A
A stable bond between two people where both seek to maintain proximity, and separation anxiety may occur when apart.
2
Q
What is ‘infancy’ in the context of attachment?
A
The period before speech begins, where caregiver-infant interactions are non-verbal but still complex.
3
Q
How can you tell if an attachment has been formed?
A
Look for: desire for proximity, distress upon separation, and the person providing a sense of security and comfort.
4
Q
What is interactional synchrony?
A
The coordination of micro-level social behaviour — when a carer and infant mirror each other’s actions and/or emotions simultaneously.
5
Q
What did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) find?
A
Infants as young as 2 weeks (and even 3 days) imitated specific facial expressions and hand gestures, suggesting imitation may be innate.
6
Q
What did Isabella et al. find about interactional synchrony?
A
Observations of 30 mothers and infants found high levels of synchrony were associated with better mother-infant attachment.
7
Q
What is reciprocity?
A
When both caregiver and infant initiate interactions and take turns responding — creating a consistent, anticipatory pattern of exchange.
8
Q
What are ‘alert phases’?
A
Signals babies use to show they are ready for interaction.
9
Q
What did Tronick et al. find in the still face experiment?
A
When mothers stopped responding and held a static expression, babies tried to re-engage by smiling, then became increasingly distressed when this failed.
10
Q
What did Feldman (2007) find about mother-infant interaction?
A
At around 3 months, interactions become more frequent and involve close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions.
11
Q
What did Brazelton (1975) say about reciprocity?
A
He described it as a ‘dance’ — emphasising that babies are active participants, not passive, and both can initiate interaction.
12
Q
What is one strength of research into interactional synchrony and reciprocity? (
A
Observations are conducted in controlled settings, reducing distractions and eliminating demand characteristics (infants don’t know they’re being studied), which increases the validity and precision of findings.
13
Q
What is a strength of research into interactional synchrony in terms of practical applications?
A
Crotwell et al. (2013) found that a 10-minute parent-child interaction session improved attachments in 20 low-income mothers and their pre-school infants compared to a control group, showing real-world benefits.
14
Q
What is one weakness of research into interactional synchrony?
A
It is very difficult to reliably assess infant behaviour — infants’ mouths are in constant motion and the expressions being tested occur frequently, making it hard to distinguish imitated behaviour from general activity.
15
Q
What is a weakness of synchrony/reciprocity research regarding what it actually tells us?
A
Feldman (2012) argues that synchrony and reciprocity only describe behaviours, not their purpose in forming an attachment
16
Q
Why is research into caregiver-infant interaction considered socially sensitive?
A
The findings could be used to argue that mothers returning to work soon after birth risk damaging their baby’s development, which places pressure on mothers and raises ethical concerns about how the research is applied.
17
Q
What are the four stages of attachment identified by Schaffer and Emerson?
A
- Asocial
- Indiscriminate
- Specific
- Multiple
18
Q
When does the asocial stage occur?
A
0-6 weeks
19
Q
What characterises the asocial stage?
A
- Infant behaviour is directed at anyone or anything that gives a positive reaction.
- Infants respond similarly to humans and objects, showing generalised responses like smiling and crying.
20
Q
When does the indiscriminate stage occur?
A
2-7 months
21
Q
What characterises the indiscriminate stage?
A
Infants prefer people over objects but show no preference for a specific person. They smile, babble, and reach out more to people, and get upset when someone stops interacting with them.
22
Q
When does the specific stage occur?
A
7-9 months
23
Q
What characterises the specific stage?
A
Infants prefer particular caregivers and seek comfort and security from them. They show stranger fear and separation anxiety from a specific person.
24
Q
When does the multiple stage occur?
A
10-18 months
25
What characterises the multiple stage?
Infants become more independent and form attachments with multiple people (e.g. grandparents, siblings) who respond sensitively to them.
26
Why does Schaffer and Emerson's sample limit the generalisability of their findings?
The sample was 60 working-class Glaswegian infants - a single demographic from an individualistic culture.
27
Why is Schaffer and Emerson's study praised for good external validity, and what limits it?
It was conducted in a natural setting with the child's own mother, increasing ecological validity.
28
Why is the longitudinal design of Schaffer and Emerson's study a strength?
It allows development to be tracked across time and enables direct comparisons between children.
29
How does reliance on mothers' reports affect the validity of Schaffer and Emerson's study?
Mothers acting as observers were likely to show demand characteristics due to social desirability.
30
Why do Schaffer and Emerson's findings lack temporal validity?
The research was conducted in 1964 when caregiving almost always fell to the mother. In the 21st century, fathers are far more involved in childcare, meaning the findings no longer accurately reflect modern parenting roles.
31
Who was Konrad Lorenz and what did he study?
An ethologist who studied imprinting in goslings.
32
What is imprinting?
The idea that a baby animal will follow the first large moving object it sees after birth.
33
What was the procedure of Lorenz's imprinting experiment?
- He divided 24 gosling eggs into two groups.
- A control group hatched with their mother, and an experimental group hatched in an incubator where Lorenz was the first moving object they saw.
- He then observed which figure each group followed.
34
What were the findings of Lorenz' study?
The goslings that hatched with him did indeed imprint on him as the first large moving object that they saw.
35
How did Lorenz confirm that the goslings that had hatched with him had imprinted on to him?
He put all the goslings in a box together, when the box was lifted, the goslings split into two groups — those hatched with the mother went to the mother, and those hatched in the incubator went to Lorenz, confirming imprinting.
36
What was the critical period for imprinting in goslings?
Imprinting occurred within 4–25 hours of hatching, as goslings need to learn to follow a mother figure for survival.
37
What was the aim of Harlow's study?
To examine whether contact comfort or food was more important in attachment formation in rhesus monkeys.
38
What were the four conditions in Harlow's experiment?
1. Wire mother gives milk, towelling mother gives none.
2. Towelling mother gives milk, wire mother gives none.
3. Wire mother only, gives milk.
4. Towelling mother only, gives milk.
39
What did Harlow find about monkey preferences?
Monkeys preferred the towelling (soft) mother in all conditions, only going to the wire mother when very hungry — showing contact comfort was prioritised over food.
40
What were the long-term effects on monkeys raised with only the wire mother?
- They were chronically distressed and as adults showed aggressive, unskilled social behaviour.
- As mothers, they were neglectful and sometimes attacked or killed their own offspring.
41
What was Harlow's conclusion about attachment?
There is an innate drive for contact comfort, suggesting attachment forms through an emotional need for security rather than through the provision of food.
42
What is a strength of Harlow's study regarding biological similarity to humans?
Green (1994) argues that all mammals, including rhesus monkeys, share the same basic brain structure as humans — differences are only in size and number of connections — suggesting findings may have some relevance to humans.
43
Why can findings from animal studies not be fully generalised to humans?
Human attachment involves complex emotional connections and interactions that are unlikely to be reflected by goslings following a researcher or monkeys clinging to a cloth model.
44
Why are animal studies of attachment considered ethically problematic?
Animals may have a right not to be harmed or used in research - however, this research was conducted before stricter ethical guidelines.
45
What are the practical applications of Harlow's research?
Harlow's findings highlight that meeting a child's physical needs alone is insufficient — early emotional experiences and contact comfort are vital for healthy long-term development, with implications for childcare practice.
46
What is the learning theory of attachment and what is its core assumption?
A nurture theory proposing that attachment is learned rather than innate. It views children as born as "blank slates" (tabula rasa), shaped entirely by experience.
47
How does classical conditioning explain attachment formation?
Food (UCS) → Happiness (UCR)
Food (UCS) + Mother (NS) → Happiness (UCR)
Mother (CS) → Happiness (CR)
48
How does positive reinforcement explain infant attachment behaviour?
When an infant cries, the caregiver feeds them, providing pleasure. The infant is positively reinforced to repeat crying to gain food and attention, strengthening the bond.
49
How does negative reinforcement explain caregiver attachment behaviour?
The infant's crying is an unpleasant stimulus for the caregiver. By feeding the baby and stopping the crying, the caregiver removes the unpleasant experience — negatively reinforcing their response and making them more likely to respond in future.
50
What is a strength of the learning theory of attachment in terms of its scientific basis?
The theory is grounded in well-established behaviourist principles (e.g. Skinner's operant conditioning research), giving it scientific credibility.
51
How does Harlow's (1958) research contradict the learning theory of attachment?
Harlow found that rhesus monkeys consistently preferred the soft, cloth surrogate mother over the wire mother that provided food — directly contradicting the "cupboard love" idea.
52
How does Schaffer and Emerson's (1964) Glasgow study challenge the learning theory?
They found that infants did not necessarily form primary attachments with the person who fed them. Instead, attachments formed with whoever was most interactive and sensitive to their signals.
53
Why is the learning theory criticised for being reductionist?
It reduces the complex, emotionally rich behaviour of attachment down to simple stimulus-response associations and reinforcement.
54
Why is the learning theory criticised for being environmentally deterministic?
It implies that early learning experiences rigidly determine later attachment behaviour, leaving little room for free will or the influence of other factors across a person's life.
55
What does 'monotropic' mean in Bowlby's theory?
The emphasis on a child's attachment to one primary caregiver — the first and most important attachment above all others.
56
What are Bowlby's two laws in monotropic theory?
1. Law of Continuity — the more constant and predictable the care, the better the quality of attachment.
2. Law of Accumulated Separation — every separation from the mother adds up negatively; Bowlby suggested there should be no separation.
57
What are social releasers?
Innate 'cute' behaviours (e.g. maintaining proximity, laughing, crying) that attract adult attention and activate the attachment system in caregivers.
58
What did Bowlby say about the role of social releasers in attachment?
Social releasers work in a reciprocal process — more interaction leads to a closer bond between infant and caregiver.
59
What is the critical period in Bowlby's theory?
A window of two and a half years in which attachment must form. If it doesn't, Bowlby argued it never would, leading to irreversible emotional and intellectual consequences.
60
Why did Bowlby revise the 'critical period' to the 'sensitive period'?
The critical period was too deterministic. The sensitive period suggests it is optimal to form attachment early but it can occur later than two and a half years.
61
What is the internal working model?
A mental blueprint formed from the monotropic attachment that acts as a template for all future relationships.
62
What real-world research supports monotropy?
Ainsworth (1967) - study of a tribe in Uganda found that children formed one primary attachment even when raised by multiple caregivers.
Fox (1977) - studied children raised in Israeli kibbutzim who spent only around 3 hours a day with their biological parents, yet still showed a monotropic attachment.
63
What research supports the internal working model?
Bailey et al. (2007) - studied 99 mothers and found that those who had poor attachments with their own mothers tended to have poor attachments with their babies.
64
How do animal studies support the internal working model?
Monkeys raised with the wire mother (no contact comfort) became neglectful and aggressive parents.
65
How do the Czech twins contradict the critical period and the internal working model?
Koluchová's research found that twins were isolated and severely deprived from 18 months to 7 years, yet after being adopted they went on to have good jobs and relationships.
66
What contradictory research challenges monotropy?
Schaffer and Emerson found that infants form multiple attachments that serve different purposes in the multiple stage.
67
Why is Bowlby's monotropic theory considered socially sensitive?
It places pressure on mothers to be constantly present, which can lead to guilt and parent-blaming. However, Bowlby himself stated he was trying to raise the status of mothers, not make them feel bad.
68
What are the economic implications of Bowlby's monotropic theory?
If mothers stay home full-time, government tax revenue falls, reducing public spending. The childcare sector would also suffer significantly.
69
What is the Strange Situation and who designed it?
A controlled observation designed by Mary Ainsworth to investigate attachment types.
70
What type of observation is the Strange Situation?
An overt, non-participant, controlled observation — overt because the mother knows she is being observed.
71
What four behaviours did Ainsworth measure in the Strange Situation?
1. Proximity seeking
2. Separation anxiety
3. Stranger anxiety
4. Reunion behaviour
72
How long does each episode in the Strange Situation last?
Approximately 3 minutes.
73
What are the rough structure of the Strange Situation episodes?
- Baby plays while parent is seated.
- Stranger enters and talks to parent
- Parent leaves, stranger offers comfort
- Parent returns, stranger leaves
- Parent leaves again
- Stranger enters and offers comfort
- Parent returns and comforts baby.
74
What were Ainsworth's three attachment types?
Type A — Insecure Avoidant.
Type B — Secure.
Type C — Insecure Resistant.
75
How does a Type A (Insecure Avoidant) child behave in the Strange Situation?
Unbothered by the stranger, unbothered when the parent leaves, and unbothered at reunion.
76
How does a Type B (Secure) child behave in the Strange Situation?
Moderate distress with the stranger and when the parent leaves; settles quickly and is happy at reunion.
77
How does a Type C (Insecure Resistant) child behave in the Strange Situation?
Extremely distressed by the stranger and when the parent leaves; seeks comfort at reunion but then rejects it.
78
Which attachment category do most children fall in to?
Type B
79
Why has the Strange Situation been criticised for lacking ecological validity
It takes place in a controlled, artificial environment, meaning mothers are likely to show demand characteristics due to social desirability.
80
Why is the high inter-rater reliability of the Strange Situation a strength?
Ainsworth used multiple observers who could compare results, producing an inter-rater reliability of 94% - this means that experiment was well standardised and was well operationalised.
81
Why has the Strange Situation been accused of being culturally bound?
Ainsworth only studied mothers and infants in the USA, an individualistic culture.
82
What does Takahashi (1990) suggest about the Strange Situation?
Takahashi replicated the study with 60 middle-class Japanese infants and found distinct cultural differences in how infants responded to the episodes, suggesting attachment styles differ across cultures.
83
Why is Ainsworth's three attachment styles problematic, and how did Main and Solomon address this?
Three categories is highly reductionist, reducing complex infant behaviour to oversimplified types. Main and Solomon (1986) proposed a fourth type — disorganised/disorientated attachment.
84
What did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) do?
They conducted a meta-analysis of 32 Strange Situation studies across 8 countries examining nearly 2,000 Strange Situation classifications involving 1,990 children.
85
What countries did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg use in their study?
UK, US, Sweden, Japan, China, Holland, Germany, Israel.
86
What percentage of children were found to be secure in Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's research?
65%
87
What percentage of children were found to be insecure-avoidant (Type A) in Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's research?
21%
88
What percentage of children were found to be insecure-resistant (Type c) in Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's research?
14%
89
What pattern did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg find across cultures?
Secure attachment (Type B) was the mode in all countries studied, consistent with Ainsworth's original findings.
90
Which insecure attachment type was more common in Western individualistic cultures?
Type A - avoidant
91
Which insecure attachment type was more common in Eastern collectivist cultures?
Type C - resistant
92
What did Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg find about intra- vs inter-cultural differences?
There were 1.5 times more differences within cultures (intra-cultural) than between cultures (inter-cultural).
93
How does the large sample size affect the validity of Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's meta-analysis?
The large sample means anomalies can be treated as unique cases and removed without distorting overall results, increasing internal validity and reliability.
94
How was Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg's sample biased?
15 of the 32 studies were American, meaning individualistic cultures were overrepresented. This biases the findings and limits generalisability to collectivist cultures.
95
Why is the methodology of the Strange Situation considered culturally bound?
It was designed in the USA for individualistic cultures where infants form one primary attachment. In collectivist cultures, infants are raised by multiple people across generations (e.g. kibbutzim, tribal groups), meaning the methodology does not fairly measure attachment in those contexts.
96
Why is branding each country with one attachment style problematic?
- There are 1.5 times more differences within countries than between them, meaning labelling a whole nation with one style ignores significant intra-cultural variation.
- Van Ijzendoorn and Sagi (2001) did a follow up study and found that urban Tokyo samples resembled Western distributions, while rural Japanese samples showed more insecure-resistant attachment.
97
What is the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?
Bowlby's theory that the continual presence of maternal care is essential for normal psychological development — deprivation of this care causes intellectual and emotional damage.
98
What is the difference between separation and deprivation?
Separation is simply not being in the presence of the primary attachment figure. Deprivation is extended separation where the child goes without emotional care.
99
What is privation?
When a child is unable to form an attachment with any caregiver in the first place, usually as a result of extreme neglect.
100
What did Bowlby say about the critical period in maternal deprivation?
The first two and a half years are critical. Deprivation of emotional care during this period leads to inevitable psychological damage, with risk continuing up to age 5.
101
What did Goldfarb (1947) find about intellectual development?
Children who remained in institutions had lower IQs than those who had been fostered, demonstrating the impact of maternal deprivation on intellectual development.
102
What is affectionless psychopathy?
The inability to experience guilt or strong emotion towards others.
103
What was the aim of Bowlby's 44 Thieves study?
To examine the link between affectionless psychopathy and maternal deprivation.
104
What was the procedure of the 44 Thieves study?
44 criminal teenagers were interviewed for signs of affectionless psychopathy and their families were interviewed about early separations from the mother. (Results were compared to a control group of 44 non-criminal but emotionally disturbed individuals).
105
What were the findings of the 44 Thieves study in the experimental group?
4 of the 44 thieves were identified as affectionless psychopaths — 12 of whom had experienced prolonged early separation.
106
What were the findings of the 44 Thieves study in the control group?
Only 2 had experienced deprivation as children.
107
What was the conclusion of the 44 Thieves study?
Prolonged early separation/deprivation from the mother causes affectionless psychopathy.
108
Why is researcher bias a weakness of the 44 Thieves study?
Bowlby himself conducted both the assessments for affectionless psychopathy and the family interviews, meaning he may have been influenced by what he hoped to find.
109
What are the real-world applications of Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis?
t changed childcare and hospital policies — maternity units allow more time with newborns, hospitals extended visiting hours for sick children, and orphanages now emphasise consistent key caregivers.
110
How does Lewis (1954) challenge Bowlby's findings?
Lewis partially replicated the 44 Thieves study on a much larger scale with 500 young people and found no link between prolonged early separation from the mother and later criminality.
111
How did Rutter criticise Bowlby's theory regarding deprivation and privation?
Rutter (1972) argued Bowlby failed to distinguish between deprivation and privation. Rutter suggested the severe long-term consequences Bowlby described were more likely due to privation.
112
Why is Bowlby's Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis considered socially sensitive?
It places heavy responsibility on mothers, potentially making working mothers feel guilty about using childcare. It reinforces traditional gender roles and underestimates fathers.
113
What is institutionalisation?
The result of being in institutional care (e.g. an orphanage).
114
What are the four effects of institutionalisation?
PIES:
- Physical: shorter
- Intellectual: lower IQ
- Emotional: disinhibited attachment style
- Social: more likely to have their children taken into care.
115
What is disinhibited attachment?
An attachment style characterised by overfamiliarity and attention-seeking behaviours.
116
What was the aim of Rutter et al.'s study on Romanian orphans?
To investigate the extent to which good subsequent care can make up for poor early experiences.
117
How many Romanian orphans did Rutter study?
165
118
At what ages were the orphans studied by Rutter?
4, 6, 11, 12, and 22-25.
119
What was the control group in Rutter et al.'s study?
52 UK-adopted children who had not been institutionalised, assessed at the same ages (4, 6, 11, 12, and 22–25).
120
What were the intellectual statistics of Rutter's study?
- Adopted before 6 months: IQ 102
- Adopted between 6 months and 2 years: IQ 86
- Adopted after 2 years: IQ 77
121
What were the emotional findings of Rutter's study?
Higher rates of disinhibited attachment were found in those adopted after 6 months.
122
How did Rutter explain disinhibited attachment in institutionalised children?
As an adaptation to having multiple caregivers (up to 50) during the sensitive period — children could not form a specific attachment with any one person.
123
What does Rutter's research suggest about recovery from intellectual damage?
Most children adopted before 6 months caught up with the control group by age 4 — suggesting intellectual and emotional damage is recoverable if adoption occurs early enough.
124
What did Zeanah et al. (2005) find in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project?
- 74% of the non-institutionalised control group were securely attached, compared to only 19% of the institutional group.
- 44% of institutionalised children showed disinhibited attachment, compared to less than 20% of controls.
125
Why does Rutter's study have high internal validity?
The Romanian orphans had not suffered trauma before institutionalisation, so any differences found must be attributable to privation itself.
126
Why is the longitudinal design of Rutter's study a strength?
Children can be compared to their previous selves over time, removing participant variables and allowing genuine developmental change to be tracked.
127
Why is the lack of random allocation a weakness of the Romanian orphan studies?
Children were not randomly selected — those studied were likely the healthiest, most sociable, and best-behaved orphans, meaning the sample is not representative of the wider institutionalised population.
128
Why do Romanian orphanages lack generalisability?
Conditions were exceptionally poor, far below typical institutional standards in terms of care meaning they lack generalisability to other institutions.
129
What are the practical applications of institutionalisation research?
Findings have informed care practices - emphasising the importance of emotional care alongside physical care and improving staff-to-child ratios.
130
Why is research into institutionalisation considered socially sensitive?
It suggests children raised in institutions will achieve less — this risks labelling those children, which could lead to self-fulfilling prophecies where lower expectations cause worse outcomes.
131
What is the proposed pathway linking attachment to later relationships?
Attachment with parents → relationships with peers → later romantic relationships.
132
What does attachment theory predict about later relationships?
Securely attached individuals form the best later relationships, while insecurely attached individuals tend to have more difficult future relationships.
133
What key component proposed by Bowlby is at the centre of the theory that early attachment aid the formation of later relationships?
The internal working model - the first attachment is a blueprint for later attachments.
134
Who did Myron-Wilson and Smith study?
196 London children aged 7–11.
135
What did Myron-Wilson and Smith (1998) find about attachment and bullying?
Type A children were most likely to be victims of bullying, Type B were most likely to be uninvolved, and Type C children were most likely to be bullies.
136
What did Sroufe et al. (2005) find in the Minnesota Parent-Child Study?
Type B (securely attached) children were rated highest in social competence, were less isolated, more popular, and more empathetic in later childhood.
137
What did Kerns find about insecurely attached children?
Insecurely attached children (Types A and C) had difficulty forming and maintaining friendships.
138
What was the procedure of Hazan and Shaver's Love Quiz (1987)?
A three-section questionnaire published in the Rocky Mountain News measuring: most important relationship, general experience of love, and feelings about relationships. 620 responses were collected.
139
What were the findings of Hazan and Shaver's Love Quiz?
56% were securely attached, 25% insecure avoidant, 19% insecure resistant.
- Type B had long-lasting relationships.
- Type A showed jealousy and fear of intimacy
- Type C showed obsessive behaviour.
140
What did Hazan and Shaver conclude?
Early attachment styles do implicate later adult relationships.
141
How does Harlow's research support the link between early attachment and later relationships?
Monkeys deprived of care due to the wire mother became poor parents and sometimes killed their offspring.
142
What are the real-world applications of research into attachment and later relationships?
The theory highlights the importance of early caregiving, influencing parenting programmes and early intervention strategies designed to promote secure attachment.
143
Why is research into early attachment and later relationships methodologically weak?
All the research is correlational — it cannot account for third variables such as personality and temperament.
144
How does Clarke and Clarke (1998) challenge the deterministic view of attachment?
They argued that a poor early attachment does not inevitably lead to poor later relationships — many people with difficult early attachments go on to have healthy adult relationships.
145
Why is the Love Quiz methodologically weak?
It relies on self-report, creating a risk of demand characteristics.
146
What was the traditional role of the father?
No role in the home — working to provide money. Not showing emotion, presenting as strong, often acting as the disciplinarian.
147
What is the modern role of the father?
Involved in their children's lives, with less stigma around showing emotions and discussing feelings.
148
What did Shaffer and Emerson find about fathers and attachment?
Most babies first attached to their mother around 7 months. In only 3% of cases was the father the first sole object of attachment, and in 27% the father was joint first. However, 75% of babies had formed an attachment with their father by 18 months.
149
What did Tiffany Field (1978) find about primary caregiver fathers?
Primary caregiver fathers behaved similarly to primary caregiver mothers — spending more time smiling, imitating, and holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers.
150
How does Hrdy (1999) support biological differences in caregiving?
Fathers have lower levels of oxytocin and prolactin than mothers, making them less biologically equipped to provide sensitive caregiving.
151
How do fathers and mothers differ in style of behaviour with infants?
Fathers tend to engage in more stimulating, physical, unpredictable play (e.g. rough-and-tumble). Mothers offer more nurturing and caregiving behaviours.
152
How do fathers and mothers differ in style of talking to infants?
Fathers' speech tends to be more directive and assertive, potentially supporting children's development of communication and social negotiation skills.
153
What did Lamb et al. (1985) find about time spent with fathers?
The quality of the father-infant relationship depends more on the quality of interactions than the amount of time spent together.
154
What are the real-world applications of research into the role of the father?
Research can help parents make informed decisions about who becomes the primary caregiver, with implications for paternity/maternity leave and custody arrangements in divorce.
155
Why does most research into the role of the father lack generalisability?
It does not account for non-heterosexual partnerships.
- If fathers were essential to attachment, children of same-sex or single parents would be expected to develop differently, there is no evidence for this in lesbian-parent families.
- Similarly no difference is shown in gay-parent families suggesting the role of the mother isn't essential either.
156
Why is research into the role of the father considered methodologically difficult?
Many factors influence the father's role — including work-life balance, age, health, and attitudes toward gender roles making it hard to define a causal relationship.
Psychology
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