A03 Intro to Attachment

• It's hard to know what's happening when observing infants

  Gratier conducted many studies showing same patterns of interactions between moms and infants. But observed hand movements of interaction makes it difficult to be certain what is taking place form the infant's perspective. We cannot know for certain what behaviours have special meaning
• Controlled observations capture fine detail

  Mother and infant interactions are generally well-controlled - mom/infant are filmed often from multiple angles. Ensures fine details are recorded and can be analysed later. Babies do not care they're being filmed/observed so their behaviour does not change; research has good validity
• Observations don't tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity

  Feldman suggests synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviours that occur at the same time. Robust phenomena that can be observed reliably but doesn't tell us the purpose they have. Some evidence that reciprocal interaction and synchrony are helpful in development of mom/infant A
• Inconsistent findings on fathers

  Research into fathers is confusing because different researchers are interested in different research questions. Some psychologists study fathers as secondary A figures and other psychologists study fathers as primary A figures. Thus, psychologists can't answer what the role of a father is
• If fathers have a distinct tole, why aren't children without fathers different?

  MacCallum and Golombok studied single/same-sex parent families do not develop differently from those in heterosexual parents. Father's role as a secondary A figure not important
• Why don't fathers generally become primary attachments?

  Traditional gender roles in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men. Biological factors like oestrogen in women could be involved making them pre-disposed to be primary A figures according to Taylor
• Socially sensitise research: working mothers

  Research into mother-infant interaction is socially sensitive as it suggests children are disadvantaged by restriction of achieving interactional synchrony. This particularly focuses on mothers returning to work after birth. Suggests women shouldn't go back to work so soon. Fox states mothers have plenty of time interaction after working hours.