part 1

• what is an attachment

  a 2 way enduring emotional tie to another specific person, the other person is essential for their emotional security
• what are the 3 characteristics of attachment

  1. proximity - staying physically close

  2. separation distress - stressed when apart

  3. stranger distress - distress in the presence of an unknown person
• how do attachments form

  1. bodily contact

  2. mimicking

  3. cargiverese (baby-talk)

  4. interactional synchrony

  5. reciprocity
• what is reciprocity


  when each person responds to the other in a turn-taking conversation (usually non-verbal)

  both infant and mother respond to each others signals and elicit a response, even the babies play an 'active role' in the interactions
• what research is there to support reciprocity

  Tronick (1979) asked mothers to stop moving and maintain an unsmiling expression: babies would tempt the mother into interactions by smiling, they became distressed when there was no response

  This supports the importance of reciprocity and maintaining attachment bonds, because the child became distressed when they didn't experience it
• what is interactional synchrony

  parent and infants interact so that their actions/emotions mirror each other and they develop a shared sense of timing for both emotional and physical behavior
• what is the research to support interactional synchrony


  Meltzoff and Moore (1977) had adults show face expressions and gestures to a 2-week old, they found an association between infant responses and adult gestures

  It shows the early signs of interactional synchrony, as they imitated the actions of the adults in time.

  It could also show it is innate rather than a learned behavior as the infants are so young
• What's the difference between reciprocity and interactional synchrony?

  reciprocity is where the mother and infant respond to each other's signals and each elicits a response from the other - a conversation.

  Interactional synchrony - mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other AND they do this in a co-ordinated, synchronised way.
• what did Evans and Porter research show


  they studied reciprocity, interactional synchrony and attachment quality in 101 infants and their mothers for 1 year after birth.

  At 6, 9 and 12 months they were observed for 15 minutes in a room containing toys and were instructed to play, at 12months the attachment was measured using the strange situation test: babies with secure attachments had the most reciprocity and interactional synchrony
• what are 2 weaknesses of the research into infant-caregiver interactions

  - difficult to draw conclusions when studying infants: hard to know when a movement is random or triggered as a response to a caregiver, as babies lack co-ordination

  Therefore it lacks objectivity with conclusions drawn

  
  

  - research is socially sensitive: mothers have to leave the child (for work/money) so can't spend enough time with their child whilst knowing the importance of attachment

  This is an issue as it leads to stress/guilt for the mother
• what are the strengths of research into infant-caregiver interactions

  + there are benefits of using controlled observations when researching infants: other activities that may distract them are controlled (control of EV's) film recordings are also used to record behavior and analyse it later - unlikely to miss behavior

  This increases validity as the data is more accurate because other variables won't influence.

  Also using babies reduces demand characteristics and social desirability bias

  
  

  + Practical applications: parents being taught the importance of interactions with their child, research shows those with secure attachments with parents will grow to form secure attachments later in life - a cycle of good attachments with parents
• what did Schaffer's study show

  Schaffer showed how there is a common pattern in the development of infants attachments
• summarize Schaffer and Emerson's study

  Schaffer & Emerson (1964) studied 60 babies at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life (a longitudinal study)

  Evidence for the development of an attachment: the baby showed separation/stranger anxiety
• what were the findings of their study

  - most infants showed separation anxiety at about 6-8 months

  - stranger Anxiety often followed a month later

  - most infants went on to develop multiple attachments of a similar nature to the primary attachment.

  - many of the infants primary attachment figure was not the main care giver.

  - the study results suggested 4 key stages of attachment
• what are the 4 stages of attachment

  1. Asocial stage

  2. Indiscriminate attachment

  3. Specific attachment

  4. Multiple attachments
• what is the asocial stage

  0-8 weeks

  - babies treat humans and objects in a similar way

  - from 6 weeks babies prefer humans and will smile at anyone
• what is the indiscriminate stage

  2-7 months

  - babies start to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people

  - allow strangers to handle them, but smile more at people they know
• what is the specific stage

  7-12 months

  - babies form specific attachments, usually to a primary caregiver

  - stay close to this person, become distressed if separated

  - show some stranger distress
• what is the multiple attachments stage

  1 year onwards

  - form strong emotional ties with other caregivers (grandparents) and non-caregivers (other children)

  - show reduced stranger and separation anxiety
• why was it important to conduct a longitudinal study

  by following the same participant it ensures there are no participant variables so the changes in behaviour show progression
• what different methods of collecting data did they use in Schaffer's study and why


  observations - see actual behaviour

  interviews - checks observations, more insight

  ensures no observer bias and gives a whole view of the data/its accuracy
• how were situational variables controlled, what were the benefits of this

  babies were studied in their own home: reduces situational variables as their behaviour will not be altered by a changed environment - maintains high ecological validity
• mothers rated their babies' responses to a range of everyday situations - why is this a problem

  parents would be subjective and have social desirability bias as they see the best in their child

  However, it's overcome by multiple methods
• the father was the main attachment figure for only 3%, what is the temporal validity of these findings

  when the study was done there would be more stay at home mums (1960s) and the dad goes to work - now that isn't the norm and that same structure is different now, so lacks temporal validity
• all babies came from the same area/economic background - how does this affect population validity

  the sample may not generalise to all babies as they all experienced similar upbringings causing low population validity
• what are multiple attachments

  emotional bonds with several people
• what did Bowlby believe about multiple attachments


  children have 1 primary caregiver, children are capable of forming multiple attachments but they are of minor importance compared to their main attachment figure
• what did Rutter propose


  Rutter (1995) proposed a model of multiple attachments that saw them all as equally important (grandparents, siblings...)
• what are the 2 weaknesses of research into multiple attachments

  - the way multiple attachments are assessed

  - unclear when children are capable of forming multiple attachments, in Western cultures research suggests they form a primary caregiver first, then multiple ones later

  However, other research shows babies forming multiple from the outset: collectivist cultures in China
• Geiger's evidence for whether fathers are important in attachment (type of play)


  Geiger (1996) found that father's play interactions are more exciting then mother's who are more nurturing/affectionate

  This supports fathers have a role as being playmates rather than caregivers
• Hrdy evidence for whether fathers are important in attachment (detecting distress)

  Hrdy (1999) reported that fathers are less able to detect low levels of infant distress, compared to mothers

  This suggests fathers are less suitable as a primary attachment figure
• contrasting evidence from Lamb for whether fathers are important in attachment


  Lamb (1987) found that fathers who became main care providers where able to quickly develop more sensitivity to children's needs and act as a safe base

  This suggests that sensitive responsiveness is not a biological ability linked to women and fathers can develop it
• what is the effect of absent fathers

  children without fathers: often do less well at school, have higher levels of risk taking/aggressive behaviour - especially in boys

  This suggests fathers can help to prevent negative development outcomes
• what is a weakness of the research into absent fathers

  most studies that looked at developmental outcomes were focused on single mothers fro poor socio-economic backgrounds, so the outcomes may be due to social factors related to poverty, rather than the result of absent fathers
• whilst some studies suggest fathers are secondary attachment figures, what research contradicts this

  children that grew up in single or same sex families did not develop any differently

  This suggests that the father's role as a secondary attachment figure is not important

  However, this is highly socially sensitive to make these assumptions and makes fathers feel worthless
• what was initially found in early studies when the father was absent

  long term effect for sex-role development: boys = less assertive behaviour
• what was the criticism to research into paternal deprivation

  - oversimplified and doesn't include other important factors (father,mother relationship)
• how was father involvement measured - what is an issue with this way

  large questionnaire surveys using representative samples

  - vast range in results, father-child time varied from 1minute to 8hrs per day
• what did lamb believe the 3 categories of involvement were

  1. engagement = direct interactions

  2. accessibility = stay close to be available

  3. responsibility = wide range of tasks as a parent
• what was consistently found in heterosexual families

  fathers do less than mothers and had less of a role - but still spent longer with them than previous generations