AQA A-Level Psychology 4.3 Attachment: caregiver interactions, types and deprivation

What module 4.3 demands

Attachment studies the emotional bond between an infant and its primary caregiver, how it forms, how it varies and how it shapes later life. It is examined in Paper 1. The examiners reward precise knowledge of the classic studies and theories and the ability to evaluate them and apply them.

Early interactions and explanations

Early caregiver-infant interactions include reciprocity and interactional synchrony; Schaffer's stages trace attachment from asocial to multiple attachments, and the father can be a secondary or primary figure. Animal studies (Lorenz's imprinting, Harlow's contact comfort) challenge the idea that attachment is based on feeding. Attachment is explained by learning theory ("cupboard love") and Bowlby's monotropic theory (innate, monotropy, critical period, social releasers, internal working model).

Types, cultures, deprivation and later life

Ainsworth's Strange Situation identifies secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant types; van IJzendoorn's meta-analysis shows secure attachment is the cross-cultural norm. Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory and Romanian orphan studies show the effects of separation and institutionalisation, and early attachment shapes later relationships through the internal working model.

Check your knowledge

1. Outline Schaffer and Emerson's stages of attachment. (4 marks)
2. Explain what Harlow's research showed about attachment. (4 marks)
3. Describe the three types of attachment identified by Ainsworth. (6 marks)
4. Outline Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation. (4 marks)