Attachment

• The three ways we can identify attachment are: Proximity, separation distress, and secure base behavior
• Proximity is when the infant seeks out their caregiver to be close to them.
• Separation distress is when an infant becomes distressed if they are separated from their primary caregiver.
• Secure base behaviour is where the child uses their parent as a safe place to explore the environment around them.
• Reciprocity is when a caregiver and their baby respond to one another

  e.g: A caregiver responds to their baby's smile by saying something and this in turn elicits a response in the baby
• Alert phases are where a child signals to their caregiver that they're ready for interaction (reciprocity)

  e.g: Making eye contact or crying
• Feldman and Eidelman (2007) showed that mothers pick up on alert phases around two thirds of the time
• Finegood et al (2016) said that a mother's ability to pick up on alert phases differs as a consequence of factors such as a heavy workload, stress, and poor mental health.
• Active involvement is when babies play an active role in caregiver-infant interaction. (reciprocity)
• Brazelton et al (1975) have shown that babies play an active involvement in interactions. Both baby and caregiver can initiate interactions and take turns in doing so.
• Interactional synchrony is when the infant and the caregiver interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror one another
• Meltzoff and Moore(1977) said that interactional synchrony begins early, the child can be as young as 2 weeks old.

  In their research, an adult displayed one of three facial expressions. The baby's response was filmed and later observed. They found that baby expressions or gestures were likely to mirror those of the adults.
• Isabella et al (1989) suggested that interactional synchrony was essential for the development of caregiver-infant interactions. They observed 30 mothers and babies and assessed the levels of synchrony displayed, as well as the quality of mother-baby attachment. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better-quality attachments.
• Tronick (1975) conducted a still-face experiment where mothers suddenly stopped interacting with their babies and they observed that babies reacted with negative emotions and did anything to get their mother to notice them.
• Evans and Porter (2009) wanted to see how reciprocity and interactional synchrony could impact the quality of attachment.
• Evans and Porter studied 101 infants and their mothers for the first year after birth; 53 babies were girls and 48 were boys and all were recruited in an American suburb.
• In Evans and Porters study mothers and babies were invited into the laboratory on 3 occasions

  
  

  At 6 , 9, and 12 months mother and baby pairs were provided with toys in an observation room and were instructed to play as normal for 15 mins. They were videoed and the extent of reciprocitty and degree of interactional synchrony were assessed

  
  

  At 12 months, the quality of mother-infant attachment was assessed using the strange situation. Babies who were securely attached were those who had the most reciprocial interactions and the most interactional synchrony.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) studied the attachment behaviors of babies and came up with the 4 stages of attatchment
• The asocial stage occurs within the first few weeks of a baby's life
• In the asocial stage baby's act the same way to humans as they do inanimate objects. However, Schaffer and Emerson did recognise that babies showed signs that they preferred to be around other living things
• In the asocial stage babies also show a slight preference in this stage of being comfortable with those who are familiar to them.
• The indiscriminate attachment stage is from 2 to 7 months
• when is the asocial stage of attachment

  the first few weeks of a baby's life
• In the indiscriminate stage babies begin to show a preference of being with humans rather than inanimate objects
• In the indiscriminate stage babies show a preference for familiar people such as their primary caregiver
• During the indiscriminate stage babies normally accept cuddles and comfort from any person
• During the indiscriminate stage it is unlikely that babies will display separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
• The third stage of attachment is specific attachment
• Specific attachment is from around 7 months
• In the specific attachment stage, babies show signs of attachment to their primary caregiver
• In the specific attachment stage babies show signs of separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
• In the specific attachment stage 65% of the time the primary caregiver is the mother
• The 4th stage of attachment is multiple attachments
• The multiple attachment stage is from around 10 months
• In the multiple attachment stage babies begin to form secondary attachments
• Schaffer and Emerson observed that 29% of children have formed secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachments
• In Schaffer and Emerson's study they used 60 babies - 31 boys and 29 girls. All babies were from Glasgow and the majority were from a skilled working class background
• In Schaffer and Emerson's study, researchers visited babies and mothers in their own homes every month for the first year of their lives. They visited again once the babies reached 18 months
• In Schaffer and Emerson's study the researches asked the mothers questions about what kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday separations . The aim of this was to measure the babies attachment. The researchers also tested levels of stranger anxiety.
• Schaffer and Emerson, as a result of their findings, identified 4 distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour