Attachment

• Definition of attachment:


  It is an emotional bond between two people that endures over time.
• Attachment can lead to certain behaviours 


  Proximity seeking

  Separation Anxiety

  Secure-base behaviour
• Proximity Seeking 


  Infants try to stay physically close to people they are attached to.
• Separation Anxiety 


  Upset when attachment figure leaves them.
• Secure-base behaviour 


  Even when independent, infant makes regular contact with attachment figure.
• Reciprocity 


  A caregiver infant interaction; two way mutual process where each party responds to the other's signals to sustain interaction. The behaviours of each party elicit a response from the other.
• Is the interaction reciprocal?


  An interaction is reciprocal when each person responds to the other and draws out a response from them. For example, smiling back at the baby when she/he smiles; picking them up and giving them a cuddle when they cry.
• Research:

  Researchers analysed frame by frame video recordings of infants movements and found that infants moved in a way that response to the caregivers speech to form a kind of turn-taking conversation.
• Interactional Synchrony 


  This is where mother and infant reflect both he actions and emotions of each other and do this in a co-ordinated way.
• Research:

  Isabella et al observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed their degree of synchrony. They found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother -infant attachment.