Care-giver Infant interactions

• Attachment is a close emotional bond between two people and mutual affection with a desire to maintain closeness
• 3 characteristics of attachment?

  Proximity, Separating distress, secure base behaviour
• Proximity is tending to stay physically close
• Separating distress is becoming distressed when an attachment figure leaves
• Secure-base behaviour is when we are independent of our attachment figure but still tend to maintain regular contact
• Interactions show the strength of an attachment bond
• Reciprocity is is frequent at around 3 months
• Reciprocity is when the mother and the baby take it in turns to initiate interactions. Both elicit a response from each other and respond to each others signals. This allows a bond to form.
• A mother picks up on a babies alert phrases around 2/3rds of the time
• Interactional synchrony is when the actions of the mother and child are mirrored simultaneously, and are coordinated. This can be observed in infants as young as 2 weeks old
• What is a piece of research for reciprocity and interactional synchrony?

  Tronicks still face experiment
• Describe Tronicks still face experiment

  When the mother was interacting with the baby, it showed signs of reciprocity and synchrony suggesting a strong bond. When the mother turned away and lost her expressions, the bond started to break, no matter how hard the baby would try to elicit a response from the mother
• Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)

  Babies display innate behaviours (crying/smiling) to ensure proximity to a caregiver. They have limited perceptual ability. They do not prefer any individual caregiver
• Indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks-7 months)

  Babies start to gain perceptual abilities and recognise familiar individuals. They do not show stranger or separation anxiety
• Specific attachment (7 months-9 months)

  Babies form a strong attachment to the primary caregiver but start to develop separation and stranger anxiety
• Multiple attachments (9/10 months)

  Infants form attachments with other regular primary caregivers (e.g. siblings, grandparents) and stranger and separation anxiety start to decrease
• What is attachment?

  A strong emotional bond formed between two people, particularly an infant an their primary caregiver
• What are some limitations of research into caregiver infant interactions?

  • babies cannot speak so inferences must be drawn
  • research may be socially sensitive to the mother or father
  • there is uncertainty that the imitative behaviour from the baby is deliberate and intentional
• Why may it be difficult to draw conclusions about the role of care-giver infant interactions in the development of attachment?

  • it is ethically impossible to manipulate the amount or quality of caregiver infant interactions so no cause and effect can be shown
• Define reciprocity

  • the infant and caregiver take it in turns to respond to each other's actions or cues in order to sustain interaction
  • the behaviour of either of them elicits a response from the other
• What are some strengths of research into caregiver infant interactions?

  • studies are well controlled and capture micro-sequences of interactions
  • they contribute to our understanding of the importance of caregiver infant interactions
• What are Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachment?

  1. Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
  2. Indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks - 7 months)
  3. Specific attachment (7 months - 9 months )
  4. Multiple attachment (9 months - 10 months + )
• Outline Emmerson and Schaffer's longitudinal study into stages of attachment

  • studies 60 babies from Glasgow
  • psychologists visited once a month for the first year and again at 18 months in participants homes and interviewed mothers and using observations, tested separation and stranger anxiety.
• What results were shown in Emmerson and Shaffer's research?

  • between 25-32 weeks of age 50% of the babies showed separation anxiety towards adults, usually the mother (specific attachment).
  • attachments were formed with the adults who were the most sensitive to babies signals (reciprocity)
  • By 40 weeks 80% had a specific attachment and 30% showed multiple attachments.
• Outline the asocial stage

  • Babies behaviour towards non-human objects and humans is similar
  • but they show a slight preference to adults and are happier with humans present.
• Outline the indiscriminate attachment stage

  • Begin to show a preference to humans over inanimate objects
  • recognise and prefer familiar adult faces.
  • form attachments with any adults
  • no separation or stranger anxiety is shown.
• Outline the specific attachment stage

  • Start to display stranger anxiety and showed separation anxiety to the primary caregiver
  • this is 65 % the mother
• Outline the multiple attachments stage

  • Baby forms secondary attachments to other adults who they spend time with.
  • stranger anxiety starts to decrease