Evaluation on the role of the father

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P - Field’s research has positive implications for the economy

Ev - understanding that fathers can take on the primary-caregiver role will help 2 parent families to maximise their earning. if mother had a higher paying job might choose to go back to work sooner while the father stayed at home

Ex - the family would then earn more, be able to spend more then pay more in tax. this would be beneficial for the economy

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P - the inconsistent findings on the role of fathers in attachment, this may be due to researchers being interested in different research questions

Ev - some psychologists are interested in understanding the role of fathers as secondary attachment figures whereas others are more concerned with fathers as primary caregivers

Ex - this is a problem as it means many psychologists cannot easily answer a simple question people of ask: what is the role of the father?

P - it does not explain why children without fathers develop no differently

Ev - MacCallum and Golombok found children growing up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently from those in two parent heterosexual families

Ex - this would seem to suggest that the father’s role as secondary figure is not important

P - it doesn’t explain why fathers dont generally become primary attachment figures

Ev - this could be due to the result of traditional gender roles, in which women are expected to be more caring and nurturing than men, therefore fathers simply don’t feel they should act like that. on the other hand, it could be that female hormones create higher levels of nurturing and therefore females are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figure

Ex - therefore it may in fact be a combination of nature and nurture

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