Attachment AO1

• Attachment


  A close two-way emotional tie with between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.
• Maccoby (1980) - characteristics of attachment


  1. Seeking proximity

  2. Distress on separation

  3. Pleasure when reunited

  4. General orientation of behaviour towards the caregiver
• Bodily contact


  Physical interactions between carer and infant help to form the attachment bond, especially in the period immediately after birth.
• Mimicking


  Infants seem to have an innate ability to imitate a carers' facial expressions, which suggests it is a biological device to aid the formation of attachments
• Caregiverese


  Adults who interact with infants use a modified form of vocal language that is high-pitched, song-like in nature, slow and repetitive. This aids communication between carer and infant and serves to strengthen the attachment bond.
• Interactional synchrony


  Caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way. Caregiver and baby move in-time with one another mirroring each others behaviour.
• Reciprocity


  A description of how two people interact. Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both infant and caregiver respond to each other's signals and each elicits a response from the other. This is known as turn-taking. The actions are similar but not the same.
• Reciprocity - alert phases


  Babies have periodic "alert phases" in which they signal (e.g. making eye contact) that they are ready for a spell of interaction.
• Reciprocity - active involvement


  Both babies and caregivers can initiate interactions as they appear to take turns in doing so.
• Differences between reciprocity and interactional synchrony


  - Behaviour in reciprocity: similar but not the same.

  - Behaviour in interactional synchrony: the same.

  
  

  - Timing in reciprocity: different times (turn taking).

  - Timing in interactional synchrony: very similar times (synchronised).
• Who conducted research on how mother's respond to their baby's "alert phases" and what did they find?


  Research by Feldman and Eidelman (2007) shows that mothers typically pick up and respond to their baby's alertness around two-thirds of the time.
• How did T. Berry Brazelton et al (1975) describe reciprocity


  He described this interaction as a "dance" because it's just like a couple's dance where each partner responds to the other person's moves.
• What was Meltzoff and Moore's (1977) aim?


  To investigate reciprocity in 2-3 week old infants?
• What was Meltzoff and Moore's research method?


  Controlled observation.
• What was Meltzoff and Moore's (1977) procedure in investigating reciprocity in 2-3 week old infants?


  1. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three gestures.

  2. The baby's response was filmed and labelled by independent observers (who had no knowledge of the adults expressions and gestures).

  3. Observers noted all instances of infant tongue protrusions and head movements using 4 categories: mouth opening, termination of mouth opening, tongue protrusion, termination of tongue protrusion.
• What was Meltzoff and Moore's (1977) findings?


  An association was found between the expression or gesture of the adult and the actions of the baby.

  
  

  Each observer scored the tapes twice so that inter-observer reliability could be calculated. All scored were greater than +0.92 (strong positive correlation).
• What did Russel Isabella et al (1989) research?


  The importance of interactional synchrony and for the development of caregiver-infant attachment.
• How did Russel Isabella et al (1989) conduct their research and what did they find?


  They observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony. The research also assessed the quality of mother-baby attachment.

  
  

  They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment.
• What are the 4 stages of attachment identified by Shaffer and Emerson (1964)?


  1. Asocial stage

  2. Indiscriminate attachment

  3. Specific attachment

  4. Multiple attachments
• What was Shaffer and Emerson's (9164) aim?


  To investigate the stages of attachment in babies.
• What was Schaffer and Emerson's research method?


  Longitudinal study.
• What was Shaffer and Emerson's (1964) procedure?


  They studied 60 babies: 31 male and 29 female. All were from working-class families from Glasgow. Researcher's visited babies and mothers in their homes every month for the first year and again at 18 months.

  
  

  The researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday separations (e.g. adult leaving the room). They also assessed stranger anxiety.
• What was Schaffer and Emerson's (1964) findings?


  50/60 (83%) showed a specific attachment by the age of 40 weeks.

  
  

  By 32 weeks 25/60 (42%) showed a fear of strangers.

  
• Asocial stage


  In a baby's first few weeks of life its observable behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar. At this stage it was seen that babies have a bias to human-like stimuli and prefer to look at faces and eyes.
• Indiscriminate attachment


  From 2 to 7 months babies start to display more obvious observable behaviours and are now showing a clear preference for being with other humans rather than inanimate objects. They are relatively easily comforted by anyone and do not prefer specific individuals yet (no separation anxiety). They also don't show stranger anxiety yet.
• Specific attachment


  From around 7 months the majority of babies start to display the classic signs of attachment towards one particular person. These signs include stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.

  
  

  At this point the baby is said to have formed a specific attachment. The person with whom the attachment is formed is called the primary attachment figure. This person isn't necessarily the person the child spends the most time with but the one who offers the most interaction and sensitivity.
• What are the statistics regarding who the primary attachment figure is?


  65% - mother

  30% - both mother and father

  3% - father

  2% - other
• Multiple attachments


  Shortly after babies start to show attachment behaviour (e.g. separation and stranger anxiety) towards one person they usually extend this behaviour to multiple attachments with people whom they regularly spend time with. These relationships are called secondary attachments.
• What percentage of babies did Schaffer and Emerson observe formed secondary attachments within a month of forming primary (specific) attachments?


  29%
• By what time did the majority of babies in Schaffer and Emerson's study form multiple attachments?


  By the age of one year.
• What percentage of infants formed a secondary attachment with the father, within 18 months, in Schaffer and Emersons study?


  75%
• Whats the difference between the role of the mother and the role of the father?


  Mothers usually adpot a more caregiving and nurturing role than fathers, fathers adopt a more play-mate role than mothers. E.g. fathers are more likelt than mothers to encourage risk taking in their children by engaging them in physical games.
• When will infants prefer contact with their father and their mother?


  Most infants prefer contact with their father when in a positive emotional state and wanting to play. In contrast, most infants prefer contact with their mothers when they are distressed and need comfort.
• What are the three ways Lamb et al (1985) said fathers involvement with their infants can be explained through?


  1. Interaction.

  2. Accessibility.

  3. Responsibility.
• Fathers involvement - interaction


  How much the father engages with the infant?
• Fathers involvement - accessibilty


  How physicically and emotionally accessible he is?
• Fathers involvement - Responsibilty


  The extent to which he takes on "care-taking" tasks.
• What was Lorenz's (1952) aim?


  To investigate the effects of imprinting on goslings.
• What was Lorenz's (1952) procedure?


  Lorenz took a clutch of gosling eggs and divided them into two groups. One group was left with their natural mother, whilst the other was placed in an incubator. When the incubator eggs hatched, the first living (moving) thing they saw was Lorenz and they soon started to follow him around. To test this effect he marked the two groups to distinguish them, and placed them together and observed the behaviour of the Goslings.
• What was Lorenz's (1952) findings?


  The goslings quickly divided themselves up, one group following their natural mother and the other, Lorenz.