A01

• Define attachment

  The formation of a strong, two-way emotional bond between two individuals
• Which 3 behaviours indicate an attachment has been formed?

  1. Proximity - child will have a need to be close to caregiver

  2. Separation distress - child will show distress when separated from caregiver

  3. Secure-base behaviour - when playing child will always come back at several points and check in with caregiver before going back off to play again.
• State 2 types of caregiver-infant interactions

  Reciprocity and interactional synchrony
• What is reciprocity?

  The adult and infant communicate by taking turns and one action elicits a response from the partner. The responses are not necessarily similar as in interactional synchrony.
• What are two phases in reciprocity?

  1. Alert phase

  2. Active involvement
• What is the alert phase?

  Babies periodically signal that they are ready for interaction (e.g. making eye contact) and mother typically pick ups and responds around two-thirds of the time. From 3 months these become increasingly frequent - involves both mother and baby paying close attention to each other's verbal signals and facial expressions.
• What is active involvement?

  Both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and take turns in doing so.

  Brazelton et al. (1975) - described this as a 'dance' - each partner responds to the other person's moves.
• What is interactional synchrony?

  When adult and infant mirror what the other is doing in a co-ordinated and synchronised way.
• State one study which shows support for interactional synchrony

  Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
• Describe the procedure of Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

  - Studied 2-3 week olds. Adult model displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or hand movements.

  - A dummy was placed in infant's mouth - prevent any response.

  - Dummy was removed and response was filmed
• Describe the findings of Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

  Infants will imitate the facial and hand gestures of the adult model
• Give one difference between interactional synchrony and reciprocity

  During interactional synchrony the responses are similar
• Why is interactional synchrony important?

  It leads to better quality caregiver-infant attachments