Mateo works as an educational psychologist in a community family centre. He observes that most of the children he works with form a strong emotional connection with their primary caregiver. These children are happy to play with the blocks and puzzles in Mateo’s playroom, but they quickly become distressed if their caregiver steps out of the room.
Mateo is concerned about a six-year-old child, Leo, who frequently displays aggressive behavior and struggles to make friends at school. Leo experienced prolonged, repeated separations from his mother during his first year of life when she was hospitalized for long-term treatment.
Discuss Bowlby's work on attachment with reference to Mateo's observations and the children.
You must make reference to the context in your answer.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Content with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 1,059 questions covering Bowlby's work on attachment, Ainsworth and the Strange Situation, Research into deprivation, Research into privation, Research into day care, Cross-cultural research into attachment, Autism, Individual differences, and Developmental psychology, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
