PEEL paragraphs

• Children without fathers


  P: Grossman found a secondary attachment with the father is very important, this is refuted by MacCallum & Golombok's research.

  E: They found that growing up in single or same-sex parent families did not develop differently to those in nuclear families.

  E: This suggests that fathers as secondary attachment figures are not important.

  L: Therefore, this limits Grossman's theory on the role of the father in attachment as it suggests that a child's development is not affected by the absence of a father.
• Inconsistent findings on fathers

  P: The explanation for the role of fathers in attachment is limited by the inconsistent findings.

  E: Different researchers have been interested in different aspects of father's role, some have focused on the father as a secondary caregiver and others have focused on the father as a primary caregiver.

  E: The different researchers have suggested that there is a distinct role of the father in secondary caregiving and fathers are able to adopt a maternal role as a primary caregiver.

  L: Therefore, this suggests that there is not a simple answer to the role of fathers in attachment.
• Fathers aren't normally primary caregivers

  P: A limitation of the role of father is that it is socially sensitive.

  E: Grossman research implies that mothers are more important in attachment, however, this may be due to simply to tradition. It may also be biologically explained as female hormones result in a more nurturing personality and therefore women are predisposed to being primary attachment figures.

  E: This suggests that the majority of primary caregivers may be females due to predisposed biological characteristics.

  L: Therefore, research into the role of father implies that women are biologically determined to be the infants primary caregiver - this is is socially sensitive as it may be used to prevent women returning to work after having a child.
• Purpose of reciprocity & synchrony

  P: A limitation of caregiver-infant interaction explanation of attachment is that it is unclear what the purpose of reciprocity & synchrony is.

  E: Feldman simply describes it as the behaviour that occurs at the same time. The concept was a phenomenon that could be reliably observed, however, it is not useful for explaining the purpose of reciprocity & synchrony.HOWEVER, there is evidence that suggests that reciprocity & synchrony are helpful in mother-infant attachment. It also found it helped the development of empathy, language and morality.

  E: This suggests that reciprocity & synchrony are crucial int eh development of vital behaviours.

  L: Therefore, despite the purpose of reciprocity & synchrony being unclear, they aid in both caregiver-infant interaction and the development of other important behaviour.
• Socially sensitive: Working Mothers


  P: A limitation of research into mother-infant interactions is that it is socially sensitive.

  E: The research suggests that children are disadvantaged if they are separated from their mothers as mothers who choose to return to work restrict the opportunity for interactional synchrony.

  E: This suggests mothers should not return to work.

  L: Therefore, this is a limitation of research into mother-infant interaction as it restricts the choices of mothers.
• Controlled observations

  P: A strength of caregiver-infant interactions explanations is that it is based on controlled observations.

  E: Both Meltzoff & Moore and Feldman & Eidelman's research is that it was filmed from multiple angles, this meant that very fine details were recorded and analysed later. Furthermore, babies do not care if their behavior is being observed, this overcomes the social desirability bias which normally affects observational validity

  E: This suggests that the explanation for caregiver-infant interactions have good validity.

  L: Therefore, this gives use confidence that caregiver-infant interactions explanations for attachment are valid and not affected by extraneous variables.
• Uncertainty about what is happening when observing infants


  P: Despite, many studies observing patterns in mother & infant interactions. The explanation for caregiver-infant interaction is limited.

  E: As the observed behaviour is merely hand movements or changes in expression.

  E: This suggests that there is uncertain of what is taking place from the infant's perception.

  L: Therefere, researchers cannot really know if behaviour seen in mother-infant interaction has a special meaning.