Attachment

• •We can recognise an attachment when people display:

  –Proximity––Separation distress––Secure-base behaviour
• •We can recognise an attachment when people display:

  Therefore, the infant seeks closeness and feels more secure when in the presence of the attachment figure.
• –Proximity – people try to stay physically close to those they are attached to
• –Separation distress – people are distressed when an attachment figure leaves their presence
• –Secure-base behaviour – even when we are independent, we tend to make regular contact with our attachment figures. We regularly return to them while playing so they are a base from which to explore.
• •Caregiver-infant interactions refers to the communication between a caregiver and infant.
• It is believed that these interactions have important functions for the child’s social development, and form the basis of the attachment between the two.
• Interaction 1: Reciprocity


  •Reciprocity is a caregiver-infant interaction. It is a two-way or mutual process - each party responds to the other’s signals to sustain (continue) the interaction (turn-taking).
• Interaction 1: Reciprocity


  •An interaction is reciprocal when each person responds to the other and the behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other.•as infant signals are regular, this enables the caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately. This sensitivity lays the foundation for later attachment.
• Interaction 1: Reciprocity


  •Infants have alert phases and signal that they are ready for interaction. From around three months, these become more frequent and involve close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions (Feldman, 2007)
• Interaction 2: interactional synchrony


  •Interactional synchrony is when a caregiver and infant reflect the actions and emotions of the other in a coordinated (synchronised) way.  They mirror each other in terms of their facial and body movements.•
• Interaction 2: interactional synchrony


  •Meltzoff and Moore conducted the first study of interactional synchrony and found that infants as young as 2 to 3 weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures.The study was conducted using an adult model who displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements where the fingers moved in a sequence.
• Interaction 2: interactional synchrony


  •A dummy was placed in the infant's mouth during the initial display to prevent any response.•Following the display the dummy was removed and the child's expression was filmed on a video. They found that there was an association between the infant behaviour and that of the adult model.
• Interaction 2: interactional synchrony

  •In a later study Meltzoff and Moore demonstrated the same synchrony with infants only three days old. The fact that infants as young as this were displaying the behaviour would appear to rule out the possibility that the imitation behaviours are learned, i.e. the behavioural response must be innate