A03

• What is a weakness? (poor coordination)

  -S and e described first few weeks as asocial.

  -babies this young however have poor coordination and are pretty much immobile

  -therefore it can be difficult to make any judgements about the purpose of behaviour
• What is another weakness (timing of multiple attachments)

  -however there is conflicting evidence on the timing of multiple attachments

  -bowlby argues that infants form a single attachment to their carer rather than multiple attachments (monotropic relationship)

  -therefore may be multiple explanations for attachment formation
• What is another weakness(culture and multiple carers)

  -Van ijzendoorn believes that culture plays a part in how and when we form attachments and with whom.

  -in many non-western societies babies have multiple carers as this is the norm and so multiple attachments are formed from the outset.

  -this contradicts s and e
• what is another weakness (issue in how multiple attachments are measured and assessed)

  -just bc an infant gets distressed when someone leaves the room does not mean that the person is a true attachment.

  -e.g Bowlby states that children have playmates and a chlid might be upset when they leave but that does not indicate attachment.

  -therefore we must be careful in analysis
• What is another weakness (research support)

  -Carpenter (1975) found that two week old infants looked at faces for longer when it was accompanied with the mother's voice rather than an unfamiliar one

  -we also know that babies have some innate abilities to recognise their mother after birth (Kisilevsky et al 2003)

  -this suggests that infants are attached to their mothers at an earlier age than s and e suggested