attachment

• what is attachment?

  a two way emotional bond or relationship to a specific person.
• attachment behaviour includes(4)?

  stranger anxiety

  separation anxiety

  secure base behaviour

  seeking proximity
• why is attachment important?

  it a form of survival

  as well as a form of human development for cognitive skills, emotional, social and future relationships
• how do caregivers and infants interact?

  body language

  mimicking

  caregiveresee

  reciprocity

  interactional synchrony
• what is reciprocity?

  reciprocity is a two way process where each party responds through taking turns.

  Brezelton et.all compared it to a dance where each partner responds to the others move
• what is interactional synchrony?

  rhythmic interactions where each person mirrors each others behaviour and emotions in time with each other.
• What are the four stages of Schaffer's and Emerson's study (1964)?

  1. asocial stage
  2. indiscriminate stage
  3. specific stage
  4. multiple attachment
• what was said to be happening in Schaffer's and Emerson's study during the asocial stage?

  within the first week baby's responded to all stimuli in a similar way with no prefferences
• what was said to be happening during Schaffer's and Emerson's study during the indiscriminate?

  between 2-7 months

  infants started to show a preferance but responded to all people in a similar way.

  at this stage they usually did not show signs of stranger anxiety or separation anxiety either
• what was said to happen during the Schaffer's and Emerson's study during the specific stage?

  between 7-8 months

  majority of babies(50%) had a specific attachment towards their primary care giver, usually the mother, and showed signs of stranger and separation anxiety.
• what was said to happen during Schaffer's and Emerson's study during the multiple stages?

  majority of infants(70%) had a specific attachment and 30% displayed multiple.

  by 18 months most infants(87%) had developed multiple attachments
• who were the participants of the Schaffer's and Emerson's study?

  60 infants and their mothers from the working class areas
• what type of study was the Schaffer's and Emerson's studies and why?

  they were longitudinal as the participants were visited everyday at home till they were one and then again at 18 months.
• how did Schaffer and Emerson measure their study for Stanger and separation anxiety?

  separation anxiety- was measured through interviews( mothers answered Q about the child's reaction to everyday situations where the child was left alone)

  stranger anxiety- was measured through observations( researchers visited family, approached infants and recorded their reaction when getting distressed)
• what is the three types of external validity?

  .ecological validity

  .temporal validity

  . population validity
• what does mundane realism mean?

  reflects real life
• what is a disadvantage of a longitudinal study?

  people might drop out
• What is are methodological strength of Schaffer's and Emerson's study?

  findings have a high mundane realism because participants used were real life mothers and their infants who were studied at home in there natural settings. This increases the generalisability of the findings. this gives high external validity
• what are the methodological limitations of Schaffer's and Emerson's study?

  . its an unrepresentable sample as all the participants were from the same district and social class

  .child-rearing practises may differ between social class

  .therefore results may not be generalized well to people from other classes.

  .this threatens the external validity

  .longitudinal studies are prone to attrition, which may leave an unrepresentable sample. this reduces the external validity of the findings
• what is the difference between internal validity and external validity?

  .internal validity is the accuracy of the result in a study.

  .while external validity is the generalisability of the results.
• what is Meltzoff and Moore (1977) study?

  . found that infants aged 2-3 weeks old can imitate specific facial expressions and hand gestures.

  . this was done by adults demonstrating a facial expression.

  . the researcher initially blocked the infants from responding by placing a pacifier in their mouth during display and removing it when they imitated the action back
• a limitation of Meltzoff and Moore's study?

  .it may lack internal validity within its interactional synchrony since some behaviour is natural within the child such as tongue movements
• what was the procedure of Grossmann's (2002) study?

  .a longitudinal study consisting of 44 families. they looked ta the behaviour of the parents and its relationship towards the quality of the child's attachment at 6,10, and 16 years old
• findings of Grossmann's study

  .the mother was the best predictor of the child's attachment type at the different ages studied.

  .while the quality with the father was not.

  .the fathers play style was not related to the child's attachment type when younger, but was related to the child's attachment type when older- 16 years
• conclusion of Grossmann's study

  .mothers have the nurture role while fathers have the play role.

  .role of the mother has a greater influence on the child's development
• strength of Grossmann's study

  .supporting evidence that fathers have a different role to play in attachment than the mother