Caregiver - Infant

• Attachment is a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver.
• Reciprocity is the mutual turn-taking form of interaction where both the caregiver and infant contribute to the interaction by responding to signals and cues.

  
  

  Brazleton demonstrated the importance of reciprocity in attachment where he said children as young as 2 weeks can attempt to copy their caregiver, who in turn can respond to this (2/3 of the time).
• Reciprocity is important in teaching the child to communicate. It allows the parent to better care for the child as they can detect certain cues from the baby and respond to their needs sooner and more effectively.
• Interactional synchrony is a type of interaction where both the caregiver and infant mirror each others actions.
• Strengths of caregiver-infant interactions:

  • Supporting studies - Codon and Sander (1974) recorded interactions between adults and neonates (new born), focussing on movement of the babys response to adult speech. Using detailed frame-by-frame analysis of video recordings, they found evidence of interactional synchrony and coordination between the babys movements and rhythmic patterns of the adults speech, suggesting even from birth, humans have an innate ability for social interaction.
• Limitations of caregiver-infant interactions:

  • Limited explanation - We cannot say whether the infants actions are meaningful or if they are just pure coincidence. This is due to the fact that children as young as 2 weeks have little to no motor coordination. Bremner introduced 'behavioural responses and behavioural understanding' - Just because an interaction appears to be reciprocal doesn't mean the child understands the purpose of either reciprocity / interactional synchrony.
• Stages of attachment:

  Schaffer and Emerson (1964) investigated patterns in the development of attachment in infants.

  • Participants - 60 babies from Glasgow (same estate).
  • Procedure - Analysed interactions between infants and carers. Carried out interviews and asked mothers to keep a diary to track the infant's behaviour based on separation anxiety, stranger anxiety and social referencing. Study was longitudinal, lasting 18 months and they visited the infants on a monthly basis and once at the end of the 18 month period.
• Behavioural types:

  • Separation anxiety - Distress when the carer leaves and how much comforting they require when the carer returns.
  • Stranger anxiety - Distress as a response to the arrival of a stranger.
  • Social referencing - How often infant looks to carer for social cues on how to respond to something new.
• Stages of attachment:

  • Findings - Babies of carers who has 'sensitive responsiveness' (more attentive to the babies signals) were more likely to have formed an attachment. Sensitive responsiveness was more important than the amount of time spent with the baby. Infants who has parents who responded to their needs quickly has more intense attachments compared to those who did not interact with their child at all. Attachments formed when the carer communicated and played with the child rather than when they fed or cleaned them.
• Antisocial stage (0-6 weeks) - Infant responds to objects and people similarly, but may respond more to faces and eyes.
• Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks - 6 months) - Infant develops more responses to human company. They can tell the difference between people but can be comforted by anyone.
• Specific attachment (7+ months) - Infants begin to show a preference to one particular carer and seeks for security and comfort from them. This is also when they tend to show stranger and separation anxiety.
• Multiple (10-11 months) - Infant forms multiple attachments and seeks security and comfort in multiple people. They may also show separation anxiety for said people.
• Limitations of the stages of attachment study:

  • Lacks population validity - Infants all came from Glasgow from working class families. There was also a small sample size which also reduces the strength of the conclusions drawn from the study. This means it cant be generalised and so is a limited explanation of attachment development. The stages lack both temporal and population validity as parenting techniques have changed since the 1950s.
• Limitation of the stages of attachment study:

  • Lacks internal validity - Uses self report techniques (diary of mothers). Accuracy of data may be biased due to social desirability (may alter the truth to make themselves seem better). There also may be demand characteristics as they tailor their responses to fit what they think the aim of the study is. Therefore, caution should be taken when placing confidence in the conclusions of the study.
• Limitations of the stages of attachment study:

  • Antisocial stage cannot be studies objectively - Children as young as 2 weeks lack basic motor coordination so we can't establish whether their actions are meaningful/ deliberate. Bremner drew a distinction between behavioural responses and understanding. Therefore, it is important not to draw casual conclusions.
• The role of the father:

  • Schaffer and Emerson - 75% of infants in their study formed a secondary attachment with their father by 18 months, with 29% doing so within the first month of forming a primary attachment. This suggests the role of the father is important but is unlikely for them to be the first person the child forms an attachment with.
• The role of the father:

  Field (1978) - Observed interactions between infants and their primary caregivers, regardless of gender, and found the carers were more attentive towards the infant and spent more time smiling and holding them. This suggests fathers too can also become primary carers.
• Limitations of the role of the father:

  • Limited explanations - MacCallum and Golombok demonstrated that children growing up in homosexual or single-parent families were not different compared to children with two heterosexual parents. If the father was so crucial in the development of attachment, these findings would not have been found, suggesting the role of the father is still disputed.
• Limitations of the role of the father:

  • Socially sensitive issue - Women are expected to be caring, sensitive and, biologically, they have higher levels of oestrogen and lower levels of testosterone compared to men. Therefore, there are social and biological constraints of who the primary attachment figure is.
• Limitations of the role of the father:

  • Socially sensitive topics - Research into the importance of primary attachment figures is socially sensitive as later abnormalities in development (eg- affectionless psychopathy) are often blamed on the parents. This means a single father / mother may be pressured to return to work at a later point to increase the likelihood that the child forms a secure attachment.
• Strengths of caregiver-infant interactions:

  • Supporting studies - Meltzoff and Moore (1977) investigated interactional synchrony. An experimenter displayed facial gestures (eg sticking tongue out) to 12 infants (21 days old). Recordings of infants responses were rated by people who didn't know about the experiment. Findings showed infant responses matched the experimenters facial expressions, suggesting the ability to observe and reciprocate through imitation is present from an early age.
• Strength of caregiver-infant interactions:

  • Reliability - Many studies used multiple observers, providing inter-rater reliability which increases the reliability of the findings. The complex cameras also used in the studies slowed down micro-sequences of interactions, allowing for more interpretations to be made. The high control of infant studies indicate high internal validity.
• Strengths of the stages of attachment study:

  • Longitudinal study - Allows researchers to produce more accurate results due to them following the participants in real time. This also allows a better 'cause and effect' relationship to be established, increasing the reliability and validity.
• The role of the father - Play:

  • Grossman (2002) - Fathers are often seen to engage babies in active play more constantly than mothers. This emphasises stimulation and their role is to encourage risk-taking behaviours compared to the more comforting style of mothers.
• Strengths of the role of the father:

  • Supporting studies - Verissimo (2011) observed preschool children's relationships with their mothers and fathers and conducted a follow-up assessment when the infant went to nursery. There was a strong attachment to the father related to the ability to make friends, suggesting the father is an important role in socialisation.