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Explanations of Attachment
Bowlby's Theory, EVALUATION - Coggle…
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EVALUATION
Support for IWM
!STRENGTH!
- idea of IWM predicts patterns of attachment will be passed from 1 generation to next
- Bailey et al (2007) assessed attachment relations in 99 mothers & 1 year old baby
- researchers measured mothers attachment to their own primary attachment figures (e.g. parents)
- also assessed attachment quality of babies
- found mothers with poor attachment to own primary figures were more likely to have poorly attached babies
- supports idea that mothers ability to form attachments to their babies is influenced by their IWM (which in turn comes from own early attachment experiences)
HOWEVER
- probably other influences on social development
- e.g. some psychologists believe that genetic differences in anxiety & sociability affect social behaviour in both babies & adults
- these differences could also impact on their parenting ability (Kornienko 2016)
- means Bowlby may have overstated importance of IWM in social behaviour & parenting at expense of other factors
Feminist concerns
!LIMITATION!
- laws of continuity & accumulated separation suggests that mothers who work may negatively affect childs emotional development
- feminists like Burman (1994) point out that this belief sets up mothers to take blame for anything that goes wrong for child in the future
-also gives people excuses to restrict mothers activities
HOWEVER
- prior to Bowlby's time, people didn't think the role of mother was important
- many custody disputes settled in favour of father
- Bowlby's ideas have many real-world applications, such as key workers in day care who built attachment with particular babies
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