attachment

• from birth babies and care-givers interact
• care-giver infant interactions are closely observed in a controlled environment and normally recorded
• 2 types of interactions

  1. interactional synchrony - copy expressions and gestures at the same time
  2. reciprocity - respond to each other in a 'turn taking' manner
• Meltzoff and Moore conducted a controlled observation from as young as 2 week old infants
• Meltzoff and Moore seemed to find it was crucial for infant to form a strong attachment
• Brazelton conducted the 'still face' experiment this showed the importance of reciprocity
• Isabella found a correlation in 30 mums between how much interactional synchrony they showed and how strong their bond was
• a positive of care-giver infant interactions is that it's based on scientific and objective research
• a negative of C-G infant interactions is that observing babies is tough as it is hard to know their intentions
• a positive of C-G interactions is that it has useful application for parents to show how important interacting with their infant is
• role of the father has changed from breadwinner to a more equal partner in the family in some cultures and some families
• research is mixed on the role of the father and different psychologists say different things
• 4 studies for role of father

  1. Shaffer and Emerson - 75% have secondary attachment with father
  2. Grossman - dad's role is playmate
  3. Hardy - oestrogen means women are more biologically sensitive
  4. Fields - no difference between male + female only responsiveness and sensitivity matter
• studies of the father have implication for the economy as if men stay at home with baby they will be less likely to work
• Schaffer and Emerson conducted a longitudinal, naturalistic observation to view the stages of attachment
• S + E visited 60 babies once a month for a year than once at 18 months
• 4 stages of attachment

  1. asocial
  2. indiscriminate
  3. specific
  4. multiple
• the asocial stage is from 0-2 weeks and at this point the baby does not distinguish between person and object
• the indiscriminate stage is from 2 weeks - 7 months this is where the infant starts preferring people over objects but not specific people
• specific stage is 7-12 months and it is when the infant gets stranger and separation anxiety
• at the specific stage 65% of infants formed attachment to person who shows sensitivity and responsiveness not who feeds them
• multiple attachment stage is from a year-18 months and is where if an infant has a specific attachment they can make multiple
• positives of the theory of stages of attachment is that it has high ecological validity and is useful as it supports Bolby's research and show how important caregiver attachment is
• negatives of SOA theory is that its hard to know what a babies behaviour is which lowers validity and the studies have methodological issues (specific sample + cultural bias)