PS220 Unit 5 Attachment and Temperament Paper Example

Course	PS220 Child and Adolescent Psychology
Unit	Unit 5
Paper type	Infancy attachment and temperament paper
Length	About 540 words, 4 pages double-spaced
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	Purdue University Global
Program	BS in Psychology
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for PS220 Unit 5

Slow to Warm Up and Securely Attached: A PS220 Unit 5 Infancy Attachment and Temperament Paper

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

PS220: Child and Adolescent Psychology

Unit 5 Infancy Attachment and Temperament Paper

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Maya, her family and the observations are composite; the research cited is real.

What this part is doingPairing a temperament description with an attachment observation in the lead shows the paper distinguishes the two concepts.

Maya at Twelve Months

At twelve months, Maya watched new people for a long time before approaching them, cried at her first swimming class and needed several visits before she would let a new babysitter hold her. Once comfortable, she was playful and curious. Her mother returned to hospital shifts when Maya was four months old, and her grandmother cared for her during the day.

Temperament: The Style She Brought

Temperament refers to early-appearing differences in emotional reactivity and self-regulation. In the New York Longitudinal Study, Thomas and Chess (1977) described three common patterns: easy children, who adapt readily; difficult children, who react intensely and irregularly; and slow-to-warm-up children, who are initially wary of new situations but adapt gradually with repeated exposure. Maya fits the third pattern well: her wariness was mild, and it faded with familiarity.

Temperament is fairly stable but not fixed. Thomas and Chess emphasized goodness of fit, the match between a child's temperament and the demands of her environment. A slow-to-warm-up child who is rushed may become more anxious; one given time adapts.

Maya's caution was her temperament; how her family responded to it is what shaped her attachment.

Attachment: The Relationship She Built

Attachment is the emotional bond between an infant and a caregiver. Bowlby argued that infants are biologically prepared to seek closeness to caregivers when distressed, and Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation to observe individual differences in that bond (Ainsworth et al., 1978). In the procedure, a toddler experiences a series of short episodes in an unfamiliar room: with the caregiver, with a stranger, alone and then reunited. The reunion episodes are most revealing. Securely attached infants may be upset by separation but seek comfort on reunion and settle quickly enough to return to play. Avoidant infants show little distress and ignore the caregiver on return; resistant infants are very upset and mix seeking comfort with anger.

Maya took part in a similar procedure at a university child study center at twelve months. She cried when her grandmother left and stayed wary of the stranger, consistent with her temperament. When her grandmother returned, Maya stretched her arms up, quieted in under a minute and crawled off to the blocks again. That reunion pattern is the mark of secure attachment.

What this part is doingUsing the reunion, not the separation, as evidence shows the paper reads the procedure correctly.

Why Caution Did Not Become Anxiety

Maya's grandmother and mother responded to her caution with patience. They gave her time to warm up, stayed nearby in new situations and did not force interactions. That sensitivity is associated with secure attachment in Ainsworth's research, and it is a good fit for a slow-to-warm-up temperament. A temperament that might have been labeled shy instead became a careful, confident style.

Cultural Context

Attachment research has been criticized for assuming one caregiver and one cultural ideal of independence. Maya had two primary caregivers in a three-generation household common in her community. Her secure base included both, which fits research showing that infants form attachments to several caregivers (Berk, 2013).

What this part is doingAddressing the cultural critique with the family's own arrangement keeps the theory honest about its limits.

References

Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Lawrence Erlbaum.

Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development (9th ed.). Pearson.

Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. Brunner/Mazel.

PS220 Unit 5 instructions, in plain terms

Unit 5 in PS220 typically asks you to explain attachment and temperament in infancy using research and an example. Distinguish the two concepts clearly: temperament is the child's own style of reacting, while attachment describes a relationship. Describe Thomas and Chess's temperament patterns and the idea of goodness of fit. Explain the Strange Situation accurately, including which episodes reveal attachment quality and how the classifications differ. Apply both to an infant, real or composite, and explain how temperament and caregiving together shaped the outcome. Address at least one criticism, such as cultural assumptions in attachment research. Cite Ainsworth's work and a temperament source, along with a developmental text, in APA style.

How the PS 220 Unit 5 example is put together

The paper opens with Maya at twelve months: watching strangers, crying at swimming class, adapting with repetition, and cared for by her grandmother after her mother returned to work. A temperament section presents Thomas and Chess's three patterns and goodness of fit, under a highlighted line separating her caution from what shaped her attachment. The attachment section explains Bowlby's idea and Ainsworth's procedure, emphasizing reunion behavior and the classifications, then reports Maya's separation and reunion. A section explains how patient caregiving fit her temperament, and the close takes up the cultural critique with her two primary caregivers, citing Berk. Throughout, observations of Maya come first and the research explains them, which keeps the paper about one infant rather than about infancy in general.

PS220 Unit 5 rubric: what earns full points

Infancy papers earn credit for keeping temperament and attachment distinct and for describing the Strange Situation correctly. Instructors look for reunion behavior identified as the key evidence of attachment quality, since separation distress alone is often misread. Goodness of fit explains how temperament and caregiving interact and shows integration. Applying research to a specific infant demonstrates understanding beyond definitions. Addressing a criticism of attachment research shows balance. Careful, nonjudgmental language about caregivers is expected. Ainsworth's original work and a temperament source should be cited accurately, alongside a developmental text, and claims about later outcomes should be framed as tendencies rather than certainties. Explaining why a cautious baby can still be securely attached is often the deciding point.

PS220 Unit 5 help: mistakes that cost points

The most frequent error treats a baby who cries at separation as insecurely attached, when distress at separation is common in secure infants and reunion behavior is what matters. Another is using temperament and attachment as if they meant the same thing. Students often present attachment classifications as fixed predictions of adult relationships. Cultural variation is usually ignored. Some papers blame working parents for insecure attachment without evidence. Before submitting, check that your paper uses reunion behavior as the evidence, define temperament and attachment in separate sentences, add one sentence on goodness of fit and include one limitation of attachment research. Those checks prevent the most common misreading of this research.

Get a PS220 Unit 5 example written to your instructions

Send the instructions and the rubric. A custom paper applies attachment and temperament research to an infant. The first one costs nothing, back within 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.

More PS220 papers and BS in Psychology samples

PS220 Unit 5 questions, answered

What is the Strange Situation?

Ainsworth's laboratory procedure observing how infants respond to separations from and reunions with a caregiver.

What are the attachment classifications?

Secure, avoidant, resistant and, added later, disorganized.

Is temperament fixed?

It is fairly stable but shaped by experience and how well it fits the environment.

Where can I find a free PS220 Unit 5 sample paper?

This page holds the complete PS220 Unit 5 paper on a composite infant's slow-to-warm-up temperament and secure attachment.

Which part of the Strange Situation matters most in the PS220 Unit 5 sample?

The reunion: seeking the caregiver and settling quickly marks secure attachment, even if the infant cried at separation.