attachment

    Cards (213)

    • Babyface hypothesis
      Big eyes, large forehead, squashed up nose
    • Babyface hypothesis
      • These features act as a trigger for parenting behaviour which is essential to the young animals survival
    • Attachment
      A strong reciprocal emotional bond between 2 individuals usually infant and caregiver-proximity is sought as both see the other as essential for their emotional security
    • How to recognize attachment
      • Proximity- try to stay physically close
      • Separation distress- panic when apart from each other- distress in both infant and caregiver
      • Secure base behaviour/ proximity- regularly return to caregiver while playing
    • Meltzoff and Moore (1977) study

      1. Videotape 12-21 days old babies as they watch an adult experimenter
      2. An adult displayed one of 3 hand movements or one of 3 facial expressions
      3. The child's response was filmed and identified by observers
      4. They found that babies as young as 2 weeks will attempt to imitate the behaviour of the adult showing that they will intentionally respond to the signals of others
    • Meltzoff and Moore's findings show that this behaviour isn't learned and is possibly due to survival and show the importance of it
    • Criticisms of Meltzoff and Moore's study
      • Koepke et al (1983) failed to replicate these findings questioning their reliability
      • Piaget argued this was not true evidence of intentional interaction- he argued that behaviour of the infant was a result of conditioning- positive reinforcement has conditioned the infant to response however research has found evidence of reciprocity in infants as young as 3 days old too young for conditioning to take place suggesting infants are able to engage in intentional interaction
    • Reciprocity
      The mutual exchange of responses between infant and caregiver
    • Interactional synchrony
      Refers to the temporal coordination of behaviours between an infant and their caregiver- timing matter
    • Reciprocity and interactional synchrony
      They each describe different aspects of the relationship between infants and their caregivers and are important for the child's development and the formulation of an attachment
    • While reciprocity and interactional synchrony are related and occur together they are different concepts
    • Reciprocity
      The mutual exchange of responses between infant and caregiver, from around 3 months of age caregiver and infant become aware of the signals that mean they want to interact, involves responding to the signal of another, both can initiate or respond to each other's signals, information flows both ways to sustain interaction
    • Interactional synchrony
      Requires a degree of mutual focus understanding of intention empathy and mirroring of emotions, establishes a strong bond between infant and caregiver as both are able to become attuned and mirror each others behaviour and emotional states
    • Murray and Trevarthen (1985) study

      1. 2 month old infants first interacted via a video monitor with their mother in real time
      2. When the tv monitor played a recording of the mother (mother not interacting with infant) the infant showed acute distress
      3. At first the infants tried to get the mother's attention and gained no response they turned away
      4. This shows that the infant is actively provoking a response rather than displaying a response that has been rewarded therefore the infant is an active and intentional partner in the mother infant interaction
    • Methodological issues with studying caregiver-infant interactions
      • Ethical issues- causing harm disrupting interaction intentionally for the purpose of the research causing distress to mother or infant by disrupting the interactions
      • Practical issues- infants sleep for prolonged periods of the day and need short but frequent feeding sessions makes studying prolonged periods of infant interaction difficult
      • Observer bias- incorrect categorisation or interpretation of infant behaviour by single observer
      • Presence of the researcher- having a physical person observing the interaction taking place behaviour may become less natural (less valid)
      • Context affecting behaviour- observations usually take place in lab settings an unusual and strange place for an infant this unnatural environment can influence the infant and effect the naturalness of the interaction issues with ecological validity
    • Tronick et at (1978) still face study
      1. Mother interact like normal but then fold to stop and stay still- show a mutual face
      2. At first the babies are smiling to involve the mother and try to illicit a response
      3. Then they become distressed and turn away from the mother
    • If there is a lack of interaction between the infant and the caregiver it might have a negative impact on their attachment and relationship in the future and the child's ability to understand the effects their behaviour has on others
    • Behaviour during the still face procedure (SFP)

      Predictive of future attachment type
    • Punitive interaction prior and negative responses to the still face often secure attachment in late infancy, negative interaction and no responses to still face indicative of insecure attachment in later infancy the findings support that infants are able in intentionally interaction and sensitive to its disruption also supports that interaction between infant and caregiver is the foundation for later attachment
    • Isabella and Belsky (1991) study

      1. Studied 153 mothers with their first- born child
      2. First observed them when child was 3 months old and then again when 9 months old
      3. Secure attachment- mother-child relationship at 9 months interacted in a well timed and mutually rewarding manner
      4. Insecure attachment- mother-child relationship were less synchronous- the mothers were minimally involved and unresponsive to the infants
    • The Isabella and Belsky study shows the importance of the timing of caregiver-infant interactions due to distress
    • Controlled observations
      • Highly controlled observations eg Meltzoff and Moore made use of technology to capture the micro-sequences of behaviours that the infants displayed, this involves filming the very fine details of expressions and movements that can be recorded and analysed later which increases the validity of the research, there is also no problem with demand characteristics as the baby doesn't know there being observed so their behaviour is natural, the studies into attachment are often lab experiments- this allows up to be replicated so they can test reliability and possibly falsify
    • It is difficult to draw conclusions about the role of caregiver-infant interactions in the development of attachment because it is difficult to determine the infants intention- limited communication so have to use inference as they don't really know what the baby is thinking or feeling, there is also observer bias as they may interpret the behaviour as a direct response as that is what they want it to mean which decreases validity, there is also limited research due to the unpredictability of babies as you can't control their behaviour so have to wait for the time
    • Practical application of caregiver-infant interaction research
      • Has been useful in drawing attention to the important behaviours needed to help the development of an infant, such as encouraging mothers to respond to child in an appropriate and timely manner
    • Research into caregiver-infant interactions can be socially sensitive as it emphasises the importance of synchrony and could put pressure on caregivers who need to return to work and/or have other children to take care of
    • High internal validity of caregiver-infant interaction research

      • The use of advanced filming technologies during observations increases the internal validity of the findings, use of video recording allows psychologists to study facial expressions in micro-detail from multiple angles and at slower speeds, furthermore the use of tech within observational design means that it does not influence the behaviour of the infant as no familiar adult observer is present the infant does not alter their behaviour and interacts in a more natural manner with the caregiver
    • High validity and reliability of caregiver-infant interaction research
      • The footage can be rewatched by the same by the same or a different observer to assess for reliability (inter or intra-observer bias), this is a strength as the removal of the observer and use of video recording technology increases the internal validity of the findings into reciprocity and synchrony as well as allowing these interactions to be rewatched to assess the reliability of the findings
    • Much of the research on caregiver-infant interactions has shown patterns of interaction but cannot establish if infants are producing a behaviour to intentionally interact with the caregiver, it relies heavily on inferences, it is extremely difficult to establish if the responses given by the infant have specific meaning or if they are unconscious and unintentional, new born babies haven't fully learned to control their bodies so can't control their behaviour, it is difficult to establish if the behaviour has any communicative and interactive value
    • Condon and Sander analysed videos of infant caregiver interactions and found that infants synchronised their movements with the sound of an adult's voice, Brazelton et al demonstrated that young infants can reciprocate the displayed distinctive facial expressions or gestures, the way the 2 interact changes slightly according to the rhythm, pitch, volume etc of the adults speech, this has been found the lead to better communication between the parent and child when the child is older
    • Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
      • Infants respond to people and objects with positive reaction eg smiling and cooing
      • Does not discriminate or show any preference for a particular adult
      • No attachment
    • Pre-social stage (indiscriminate) (6 weeks to 7 months)

      • Demonstrates more observable social behaviour and distress when interaction is disrupted
      • Infant shows preference for familiar human interaction over object
      • Behaviour of infant same towards any adult- doesn't discriminate
      • Don't show separation or stranger anxiety towards their primary care giver
    • Specific attachment/ discriminate stage (7 months to 9 months)

      • Infant can discriminate between adults
      • Shows preference for specific individual primary care givers
      • Shows separation anxiety- crying when left, being put down, proximity seeking
      • Shows stranger anxiety- avoid reject strangers, crying
      • Signs attachment formed
    • Multiple attachment stage (10 plus months)
      • Occurs after formation of a discriminated attachments
      • Infants forms attachment figures eg father siblings grandparents
      • Shows separation anxiety towards secondary attachment figure
      • Display stranger anxiety to there where not primary/ secondary attachment figure
    • Schaffer and Emerson 1964 aim
      To investigate the formation of infant attachment including the ages at which attachments began the intensity of these attachments the person to whom the child was attached as well as the total number of different attachments for an individual child
    • Schaffer and Emerson method

      Adopting a longitudinal design
      Studied 60 infants (31 males, 29 female) from Glaswegian working class families
      They visited the baby and mother every month for the first year and again at 18 months
      The mothers were asked questions about the kind of behaviour their babies showed during several everyday separation episodes (eg adult leaving room separation anxiety)
      They also assessed stranger anxiety (the infants anxiety response to unfamiliar adults)
      These behaviours were used to assess the development of the infant's attachment
    • Schaffer and Emerson results
      Between 25-32 weeks of age 50% of the infants displayed separation anxiety to a particular adult (usually the mother)
      Suggesting the formation of specific attachment
      By 40 weeks old 80% of infants had formed specific attachments and 30% displayed multiple attachments
    • Schaffer and Emerson conclusions
      Discriminate and secure attachments formed more intensely with those who interacted with the infant in a sensitive and responsive manner not always the one who fed them or spent the most time with the infant Infant attachment changes and develops with age
    • evaluation stages of attachment- issues with validity
      use of self-report Shaffer and Emerson interviewed mothers about their infants behaviour possibility of social desirability bias in their responses- researcher bias
    • evaluation of stages of attachment- bias sample 

       only working class Glaswegian infants- lacks representativeness so can't generalise stages of infant attachment to other populations and social groups
    • evaluation of stages of attachment- cultural bias
      study of western infants in individualistic cultures - in other cultures eg Uganda formation of multiple attachments earlier (Ainsworth) influence of communal childcare  on the nature of stages of infant attachment
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