Debates - psychology

• Mother is primary caregiver(20)- intro

  Intro- 26% of mothers stay home as the primary caregiver. So why are others perceived as the only option for a primary caregiver.
• Mother as primary care giver - para 1


  agreeing- mother should be primary caregiver in terms of healthy development for child.

  Bowlby demonstrated that early separation is likely to lead to an affection character, more likely to become a thief difficulty informing relationships. Separation from mother has long lasting emotional effects.

  Problems for the child in the future lead to believe that mother mother should be the primary caregiver. However, Bowlby research was potentially biased and based on a sample of people who were already emotionally disturbed.
• Mothers don't need to be primary caregivers in terms of feeding
• Behaviourist view in the 1950s

  Infants associated their mother with a sense of pleasure, they were associated with feeding and became a conditioned response of pleasure
• Studies argued food doesn't equal love
• Harry Harlow's studies on monkeys


  • Monkeys placed with two mothers, one had feeding bottles the other was covered in soft cloths
  • Monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth covered one, especially when frightened
• Food doesn't create an emotional bond, but contact comfort does
• Primary attachments weren't formed with the person who fed or spent more time with the infant, showing mother doesn't need to be primary caregiver
• Mother is primary caregiver
• Mother should be natural caregiver

  With regards to natural feeding
• The NHS recommends infants are breastfed for at least six months
• Breastfeeding offers the healthiest start as it protects them from numerous diseases
• Breastfeeding builds a strong physical and emotional bond between mother and baby that's important in subsequent emotional development
• This means the infants mother is the individual who is going to need to be available to feed the infant
• Practical and essential to the infants survival

  Mother is the primary care giver
• In anyone else Including the father is limited to a supporting caregiving role
• Mother is primary caregiver
• There's evidence given by Freud to show mothers don't need to be the primary caregiver of an infant
• It's important to consider the historical context of Freud's views
• At the time, women didn't have the right to vote and the mother would not work to stay home with the child
• Freud's ideas about different roles played by mother and father may reflect the views held by society at that time
• Freud recognised the importance of the father in 1930 he claimed, "I cannot think of any need in childhood, a strong as the need for a fathers protection"
• Freud recognised the importance of a father in a boy's development
• If Freud was writing today, he would portray quite a different picture of the father's role
• Neuroscience findings need to be treated with caution (20)- intro


  Neuroscience techniques have been used for years, but does this mean we can trust them?
• New findings, don't need to be treated with caution as shown in the following research
• Impulsivity


  The tendency to act on a whim, displaying behaviour characterized by little or no forethought, reflection, or consideration of the consequences
• Cherek et al 2002 study


  1. Investigated levels of impulsivity and aggression in males with a history of conduct disorder in criminal behaviour

  2. Half received a placebo for 21 days

  3. Other half administered paroxetine

  4. Those who received paroxetine had a significant decrease in impulsive response

  5. Aggression declined by the end of the study
• There are pharmacological treatments to offer to criminals to reduce recidivism and make society safe for all
• Placebo poses an ethical issue, as no one should be given an inferior treatment