Essay About Applied Social Science

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“The term attachment is used to describe an infant’s tendency to seek closeness to particular people and to feel more secure in their presence. ” Ibid, pg. 90 Most work on attachment in human infants began with John Bowlby, his research convincing him that a child’s failure to secure attachment to one or more person in early years is related to an inability to develop close personal relationships in adulthood (Bowlby, 1973).

Bowlby looked at four stages of attachment: Indiscriminate Social Attachment, Discriminate Social Responsiveness, Specific Attachment and Goal Directed Partnership.

Ainsworth’s observations into attachment through ‘strange situation’ studies allowed us to categorise babies into three distinctive groups as a result of behaviours: Securely attached, Insecurely attached – avoidant and insecurely attached – ambivalent, with a fourth category disorganized being later added (Atkinson et al.

, 2000). A baby’s attachment type will remain the same unless a major crisis takes place, as parents’ responsiveness to a baby may be altered when stress levels are high, resulting in the baby’s feelings of security being altered and attachment breakdowns.

Which Among The Social Science And Applied Social Science Is The Most Interesting Essay

The children we work with in the social care field suffer from emotional and behavioural problems, often being taken into care as a result of crisis situations. Having knowledge of the attachment theory helps you recognize, through case histories, the attachment a child has with their parents.

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Many of these children would have experienced traumatic events in their lives, often being exposed to child sexual abuse, domestic violence and neglect. While on placement in a residential unit I could easily identify those who had been securely attached to their mother and those who hadn’t, through the way the children treated members of staff.

One child was extremely verbally abusive in a sexualised manner towards the female staff, never showing male members abuse to the same extent. On the other hand we had a child who had great respect towards female members of staff and would never make offensive remarks or assault a female staff member. Both these children were reflecting their different relationships with their mothers’ towards staff in care. Knowledge of attachment made me better equipped when dealing with these children. I knew to what extent I could challenge each of them and often how they would react towards me in situations.

PLAY “Play provides an organisation for the initiation of emotional relationships and so enables social contacts to develop” Winnicott, 1964 Play is more than what a child does to merely pass time but serves the purpose of helping a child develop physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively. While studying the importance of play, we looked at the different categories of play: Functional and Constructive Play, and the importance of both to the child’s development. We also looked at the social aspects of play through: Parallel, Onlooker, Associative and Co-operative Play.

It is through play that a child practices the skills necessary for them to become a successful adult (Parten, 1932). . Play at different ages and the social and cognitive stages of play, is quite relevant to placement work. Being aware of age-appropriate play is extremely useful when working in a cri? che set-up and also in a special needs environment, knowing by the mental age of the child what form of play they would enjoy, despite their chronological age. While on placement with Focus Ireland I worked with a family who, apart from financial difficulties, were having problems interacting with each other.

The father was only the biological father of the younger child and had no attachment to the older child. He felt their relationship was strained, as he had to make more of an effort to get on with the older child. Having awareness of how beneficial play is, I decided to set up play sessions with the family twice a week in a cri? che while I observed. I took notes from the sessions and gave feedback each week on the relationship dynamics I witnessed. After some time the parents found they began to make time for play in their own home and their relationships were strengthening.

My knowledge of play was an extremely beneficial tool to have when working with this particular family. CONCLUSION As we have seen, all elements of psychology are extremely important when working in the social care field. Different aspects of socialisation, from parenting to peers, gives us an indication as to where children are at with regard to how they see themselves within society. How children become attached to their mother or primary caregiver greatly influences how a child develops with regard to later relationships. Play is extremely useful when working with any child.

I’m sure it is obvious from this paper that my feelings towards psychology being removed from the Social Care course are quite strong. I feel that this subject is one of my classes that I find, and have found through past placements, extremely beneficial to a person who is working in the social care field and therefore should remain on the syllabus.

References:  Atkinson, R. L. , Atkinson, R. C. , Smith, E. , Bem, D. , Nolen-Hoeksema, S. , (2000). Hilgard’s Introduction to Psychology. 13th Edition. USA: Harcourt College Publishers.  Simons, J. A. , Irwin, D. B. , Drinnien, B. A. , (1987).

Psychology – The Search for Understanding, New York: West Publishing Company.  Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Seperation, anxiety and anger (Vol. 2). London: Hogarth Press.  Maccoby, E. E. , Martin, J. A. , (1983). Socialisation in the context of family: Parent-child interaction. New York: Wiley  Baumrind, D. (1973). The development of instrumental competence through socialization, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.  Winnicott, D. W. (1964) The Child, the Family and the Outside World. Harmondsorth: Penguin; Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley, 1987.  Meadows, S.(1986) Understanding Child Development. London: Unwin. Hoffman (1994).

Developmental psychology today. 6th Edition. USA: McGraw-Hill.  Brophy, M. , Dunn, J. (2002) What did mummy say? Dyadic interactions between young “hard to manage” children and their mothers (Abstract) Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. Retrieved from: Social participation among preschool children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27, 243-269. Smart, T. (1994) Collins English dictionary. 2nd Edition. UK: HarperCollins Publishers.

Lakefield House – A Handbook For Newly Appointed Staff (&Students), June 2003, unpublished Brophy, M. , Dunn, J. (2002) What did mummy say? Dyadic interactions between young “hard to manage” children and their mothers (Abstract). Journal of abnormal child psychology. Retrieved from: http://www. findarticles. com/cf_dls/m0902/2_30/85500245/p1/article. jhtml Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our University Degree Social Work section.