It’s that time of year (January – yuck! to put it bluntly) when my students are about to embark on mock exams. How nice for them, just after Christmas/Hannukah/Winter Solstice celebrations. But, as I tell them, I don’t schedule these things, don’t blame me, so instead of sinking into gloom, I get them up on their feet, moving about the room and staring at each others’ backs. Erm, why? Because the following is a fun (!) revision game which will get them back into Bowlby.
Easy-peasy instructions:
1 Teacher cuts out and copies each of the Bowlby questions and answers (see below).
2 Each student is given one question from the list below. For a small group, give them two questions each. Each student also has the answer to someone else’s question stuck to their back (make sure they haven’t got the answer to their own question stuck to their back – doh!)
3 Having read their questions, the students walk around the room reading the various answers on the other students’ backs. When they think they have found the answer to their question they rip the answer off the back of their fellow student (gently: watch that pricey cashmere cardigan), hold it aloft and say ‘I’m a genius!’ And then we find out if they actually are when questions and answers are compared.
Here are the questions and answers for the Bowlby-answers-on-backs game:
What side of one of the oldest debates in Psychology does Bowlby’s theory give support to?
Nature.
What is separation anxiety?
The fear of being left alone by your primary care-giver.
What did Bowlby call the schematic representations of the world that a child develops?
Internal working model.
What is interactional synchrony?
When parent and child match each other’s gestures.
What is maternal deprivation theory?
When a child is prevented from developing a bond with its mother.
How does the attachment figure act as a secure base for the child?
By providing security and protection for the child so that they are confident to explore the world.
What is a primary attachment figure?
The main carer for the child; the person who cares for the child physically and emotionally.
What social signals (‘releasers’) does a baby produce?
Smiling, babbling, grasping and crying.
What wider theory is Bowlby’s theory based on?
Evolutionary theory.
What did Bowlby think was a basic biological need?
A close relationship between the child and the mother.
What is stranger anxiety?
The child’s response when an unfamiliar person tries to communicate with them.
Psychology Sorted 