CONTENTS

Basic skills 1
Overview of Developmental Psychology 7
Definitions in Developmental Psychology 9
Studies
Schaffer & Emerson 11
Ainsworth & Bell 13
VanIjzendoorn & Kroonenberg 16
Takahashi 17
Learning Theory of Attachment 19
Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment 20
Harlow & Zimmerman 21
Hazan & Shaver 22
Robertson & Robertson 23
Bowlby - 44 thieves 25
Bowlby et al - TB study 26
Genie – Curtiss 28
Czech Twins – Koluchova 30
Hodges & Tizard 32
Burchinal et al 35
Andersson 37
Belsky & Rovine 39
Egeland & Hiester 41

Question C
• To what extent is research into the stages of attachment
useful/valid? 44
• Outline and evaluate research (theories and/or studies)
into individual differences and attachment. 46
• To what extent are there cross-cultural variations in
attachment? 48
• Outline and evaluate 1 or more psychological explanations of
attachment/consider the extent to which psychological theories
have been successful in explaining attachment . 50
• To what extent does research (theories/studies) support the
view that maternal deprivation can have long term effects on
individuals? 53
• To what extent does research (theories and/or studies)
support the view that the effects of deprivation and/or privation
can be overcome? 55
• Assess the extent to which research (theories and/or studies)
supports the view that day care has a positive effect on children’s
cognitive and/or social development. 57
• Assess the extent to which research (theories and/or studies)
supports the view that day care has a negative effect on
children’s cognitive and/or social development. 59

iv
References 62
Overview of Cognitive Psychology 64
Definitions in Cognitive Psychology 66
Studies
Miller 69
Peterson & Peterson 70
Baddeley 71
Bahrick et al 73
Multistore Model – Atkinson & Shiffrin 75
Levels of Processing – Craik & Lockhart 77
Waugh & Norman 78
McGeoch & McDonald 80
Tulving & Psotka 82
Levinger & Clark 84
Conway et al 86
Bartlett 88
Loftus & Palmer 90

Question C
• Consider the extent to which the multistore model of memory is
supported by psychological research (theories and/or studies). 92
• Outline and evaluate one alternative to the multistore model
of memory. 94
• Consider the strengths and weaknesses of explanations of
forgetting in STM. 95
• Consider the strengths and weaknesses of explanations of
forgetting in LTM. 98
• Consider what psychological research (theories and/or
studies) have told us about the role of emotional factors
in forgetting. 100
• Consider the extent to which research into memory has
helped our understanding of reconstructive memory/eye
witness testimony. 103

References 105

v
 BOWLBY’S THEORY
• The adult/caregiver is genetically programmed to form an attachment with
the infant in order to protect it. It gives children the opportunity to be
around adults and therefore provides a safe base from which the infant
can explore the world.

• The attachment develops between the infant and caregiver because the
infant displays ‘social releasers’ – these are behaviours that elicit/produce
a reaction from the caregiver and include crying, smiling etc.

• Attachment is a biological (innate) process and there is a CRITICAL

PERIOD of development. This means that if the attachment is not formed
within the first 2.5 years it would not occur at all.

• A ‘monotrophic bond’ is formed – that is a special bond with just one other
person. The mother is therefore unique.

• Bowlby believes that if this bond is not formed, or is broken, then there
would be permanent emotional damage because children only develop
socially and emotionally when an attachment provides them with feelings
of security. High self esteem and emotional and social development is
therefore derived from having a sensitive, emotionally responsive and
supportive caregiver with whom the child has developed an attachment
(the internal working model). If the child does not therefore have an
attachment then they will not develop emotionally. Affectionless
psychopathy may result (see the maternal deprivation hypothesis)

GENERAL CRITICISMS

• Infants display more than one attachment so the concept of monotrophy

can be criticised. Schaffer & Emerson's stages of attachment demonstrate
that multiple attachments can be formed.

• Bowlby assumed that the father had no direct emotional significance but
was only of indirect value (for example, in providing economic support).
This has been criticised by many psychologists who believe that father’s
have their own unique contribution to make.

• The idea of a CRITICAL PERIOD has also been criticised (for example, by
Rutter). Instead a SENSITIVE PERIOD has been suggested. This is
where the child should ideally form an attachment in the first 2.5 years of
life but it can be formed later.

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HARLOW & ZIMMERMAN (1959) – Support for learning
theory of attachment
AIM - to examine if infant monkeys attach because of food.

PROCEDURE

• Young monkeys were removed from their mothers and placed in a cage
which provided them with two wire ‘mothers’.
• One of these ‘mothers’ had a feeding bottle and was made only of the
wire.
• The other ‘mother’ had a bottle but was covered in soft cloth and offered
‘contact comfort’ (was comfortable to touch).
• For some of the monkeys milk was given to them by the wire mother and
for the others by the cloth mother.

FINDINGS

The baby monkeys spent most of their time with the mother who was covered
in material and not the one that offered it food so comfort appeared to be the
key factor in developing attachment at this stage. Later in life, however, these
monkeys found it difficult to adjust, e.g., had problems with mating or
parenting their own offspring.

CONCLUSION - this study therefore supports the learning theory of

attachment as it shows that the infant (monkey) will learn to go to the one that
offers it the most comfort and that attachment is based on interaction.

CRITICISMS

• We must be careful about generalising Harlow’s study to human

behaviour because monkeys and children will not necessarily act in the
same way.

• There was also a confounding variable in the study (something that

may have unintentionally altered the results of the study because of
poor methodology). In the experiment the two wire ‘monkeys’ had
different shaped heads and it is possible that the material mother
simply had a more appealing head rather than the infants finding this
one more soft and comforting.

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 HAZAN & SHAVER (1987) – Support for Bowlby’s
theory of attachment
AIM - to examine if attachment/lack of attachment does have an impact on
later development as Bowlby’s theory had suggested. To test this they were
looking at the styles of adult romantic relationships to see if they could be
related to early attachment experiences.

PROCEDURE

• A ‘love quiz’ was printed in a newspaper to assess:

(i) Early attachment experiences – measured using a

checklist assessing both a child’s relationship with their
parents in childhood and the relationship between the
parents themselves.
(ii) Later experiences of adult romantic love.
(iii) Beliefs about romantic love.

• Readers of a local newspaper sent in their answers to the quiz and

therefore a self-selected sample was used. 620 participants aged 14 -
82 were involved.

FINDINGS

• Respondents who were securely attached as infants had trusting and

lasting relationships.
• Anxious/insecure infants worried that partners didn’t love them and
showed obsessive and jealous behaviour.
• Avoidant/insecure types feared intimacy and believed that they did not
need love to be happy.

CONCLUSION- This supports Bowlby’s theory as it shows that early

attachments do act as a template for the future (in this case in establishing
adult relationships).

CRITICISMS

• The data is correlational – it only assumes a relationship between 2

things and we cannot prove they are related. SO we can’t be certain
that early attachment caused the later romantic style.

• Also the findings may be unreliable because they are retrospective, for
example, people are looking back on their lives and this may mean that
they do not recall information accurately. If they had experienced
unsuccessful adult relationships they may therefore recall negative
childhood experiences as a way of explaining their later difficulties.
- 22 –
ROBERTSON & ROBERTSON (1971) – The short term
effects of deprivation
AIM – to examine if separation of mother and child (often due to
hospitalisation) would have immediate/short term effects. Therefore to look at
the effects of bond disruption/deprivation.

PROCEDURES

• A series of films were made by the Robertsons using an opportunity

sample of children who were experiencing separation. It was a form of
natural observation as the children were naturally experiencing
separation.

• They studied a number of children who had either been placed in short
term nursery/residential care (for example, John) or whom the
Robertsons were fostering themselves (they stayed between 10-27
days and were all aged below 2.5 years). All of the children were
experiencing short term deprivation usually due to the mother being
admitted to hospital. The films were therefore case studies as each
child was recorded individually and their behaviour later coded by the
psychologists.

FINDINGS

• Evidence was found to support the protest-despair-detachment model.

For example when studying just one child ‘John’ it was found that he
clearly showed each phase.

• Protest – he tried to make attachments with the adults in the nursery

but they had little time to spend with him and he started to show signs
of distress.

• Despair – he began to cry more, refused food, became demanding and

had difficulties sleeping. He would be comforted by an adult but was
unable to receive ongoing individual attention due to the nature of the
nursery. He was therefore starting to show signs of despair.

• Detachment – after a period of time he started to show detachment –

for example, gave up trying for attention and when the mother returned
ignored her and refused to be comforted.

• Even the children temporarily fostered by the Robertsons showed

some of these signs of distress, although this was less so than in the
case of John.

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CONCLUSION – even in the short term deprivation has an effect on a child
and Robertson and Robertson concluded that it is therefore crucial that in any
period of separation a child is provided with good substitute care that closely
resembles the child’s familiar routine.

CRITICISMS

• The children filmed represent a very small sample and the findings
cannot therefore be generalised to all children – others may behave
differently when deprived for a short time.

• There are a number of difficulties with methods used to study the

children. If they were aware that they were being observed/filmed then
they may have not behaved naturally. It is also possible that the
findings reported by Robertson & Robertson are biased because they
were likely to have reported findings to support the idea that deprivation
would have an effect, as this is what they were looking for.

- 24 –