Attachment

• Attachment


  A close two way emotional bond where each person sees the other as important for their own emotional wellbeing
• Reciprocity


  Both the infant and mother respond to each others needs and each elicits a response
• Babies signalling readiness for interaction

  1. Alert phases

  2. Crying etc.
• Mothers responding to infant signals

  Respond ~⅔ of the time
• Interaction becomes increasingly frequent; involves close attention to verbal signals and facial expressions


  Around 3 months
• Traditional views - baby has a passive role, receiving care from the adult
• Despite this the baby takes an active role; both mother and child initiate interactions
• Interactional synchrony


  Mother and infant reflect the actions and emotions of each other in a synchronised way
• Beginnings of interactional synchrony observed


  As young as 2 weeks old
• Filmed observations difficult to observe and produce the same pattern of interaction
• What is observed is hand movements/change of expressions
• Hard to analyse and be certain of the footage and what is taking place from the infants perspective - we cannot be sure of the meaning of these interactions
• Interactional synchrony and reciprocity may not explain the purpose of these behaviours
• Interactional synchrony can be reliably observed, but may not be particularly useful - does not tell us the purpose
• Evidence suggests interactional synchrony and reciprocity are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment
• Attachment figures


  Attachment - close two-way emotional bond between 2 individuals which each sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
• Attachment


  • Takes months in humans to develop
  • Involves proximity, separation distress, and secure-base behaviour
• Majority of babies became attached to their mothers


  Within ~7 months
• 75% infants had an attachment with the father established


  By 18 months
• Role of the father

  Associated with stimulation, less so with nurturing
• Fathers taking on primary caregiver roles displayed behaviours more commonly associated with mothers
• Primary caregiver fathers were found to be more nurturing and would respond more to infant signals
• They spent more time smiling and interacting with the infant like primary caregiver mothers than fathers did
• Inconsistent findings on the role of the father
• Role of father as a secondary caregiver differs from the role of the father as primary
• Inconsistent findings, not sure what the distinct role of the father is
• Children growing up in single/same sex parent families do not develop any differently than those in heterosexual relationships
• Suggests fathers role as a secondary caregiver is not important
• Why fathers don't become primary attachments

  May be due to traditional gender roles; women expected to be caring/nurturing, men expected to not behave in that way
• Research indicates that working mothers may disadvantage children through not being able to have high levels of interactional synchrony/reciprocity
• This may be due to the presence of work; may restrict opportunities or believed to be an interference with the child's development
• Suggests mother shouldn't work after having a child - socially sensitive implications
• Schaffer's stages of attachment

  Asocial stage (first few weeks), Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months), Specific attachment (~7 months), Multiple attachments (~1 year old)
• Between 25-32 weeks of age ~50% of babies shown signs of separation anxiety
• By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of babies had a specific attachment and 30% multiple attachments
• Attachments tended to be the caregiver who was the most interactive and sensitive to the babies signals - interactional synchrony and reciprocity
• Not necessarily who they spent the most time with
• Good external validity - carried out in families homes and observation was done by parents during ordinary activities, and then self reported
• Limited sample size - 60 families, all from the same district, skilled working class families and all lived in Glasgow - also outdated
• Difficult to observe baby behaviour during the first few weeks of asocial stage due to poor fine motor skills and coordination