3. Attachment

Question 1

What is reciprocity?

Answer 1

Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to each others signals and each elicits a response from the other

Question 2

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 2

Caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way

Question 3

What are alert phases?

Answer 3

• Period phases in which babies signal (e.g eye contact) that they are ready for interaction
• From around 3 months this becomes increasingly frequent and involves mother and baby paying close attention to each other

Question 4

What is active involvement?

Answer 4

Both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns performing an active role

Question 5

Describe the research on how synchrony begins

Answer 5

• Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
• Measured the beginning of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks
• Adult displayed one of three facial expressions/gestures
• The baby’s response was filmed and labelled by independent observers
• Babies expressions/gestures more likely to mirror those of the adults frequently

Question 6

Describe the research on the importance of synchrony on attachment

Answer 6

• Isabella et al (1989)
• Observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed degree of synchrony
• Also assessed quality of mother-baby attachment
• They found high levels of synchrony associated with better mother-baby attachment

Question 7

AO3 for caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 7

1. Filmed observations: activity that might distract a baby can be controlled, observations can be recorded and analysed later, unlikely that researchers will miss key behaviours, more than one observer can record data and establish inter-rater reliability, babies not aware of observation so behaviour does not change in response, therefore research has good reliability and validity

2. Difficulty observing babies: hard to interpret babies behaviour, babies lack co-ordination and parts of their body immobile, the movements being observed are small hand movements or subtle changes in expression, difficult to determine what is taking place from baby’s perspective, cannot be certain behaviours seen in caregiver-infant interactions have special meaning

3. Developmental importance: Feldman (2012) states ideas like synchrony give names to observable caregiver and baby behaviours, robust phenomena as can be reliably observed, but not useful in understanding child development as it does not share the purpose of the behaviours, cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for development
Counterpoint: Insabella et al (1989) fund that interactional synchrony predicted the development of good quality attachment

Question 8

Who suggested the stages of attachment?

Answer 8

Schaffer and Emerson

Question 9

Name the four stages of attachment

Answer 9

1. Asocial stage
2. Indiscriminate stage
3. Specific attachment
4. Multiple attachment

Question 10

Describe the asocial stage

Answer 10

• Observable behaviours towards humans and objects fairly similar
• Preference for the company of familiar people/form a bond with certain people

Question 10

Describe the indiscriminate stage

Answer 10

• From 2-7 months babies display more obvious and observable social behaviours
• Accept affection and comfort from any person
• Do not show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety

Question 11

Describe the specific attachment stage

Answer 11

• Around 7 months babies start to display the classic signs of attachment towards one person
• Show signs of separation and stranger anxiety

Question 12

Describe the multiple attachment stage

Answer 12

• Babies start to extend their attachment behaviour to multiple attachments (other people whom they regularly spend time)

Question 13

What do the stages of attachment suggest?

Answer 13

Different infant behaviours are linked to specific stages, and all babies go through them in the same order

Question 14

Describe Schaffer and Emerson’s research on the stages of attachment

Answer 14

• 60 babies from working-class families in Glasgow
• Researchers visited babies and mothers in their own homes every month for a year and again at 18 months
• Researchers asked mothers about babies behaviours in everyday separations
• Researchers also assessed separation and stranger anxiety
• Between 25-32 weeks 50% showed signs of separation anxiety
• Babies were more attached to caregiver that was interactive and sensitive to infant signals
• By 40 weeks, 80% had formed specific attachment and 30% formed multiple

Question 15

What is attachment?

Answer 15

A close 2 way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual views the other as essential for their own emotional security

Question 16

AO3 for stages of attachment

Answer 16

1. Good external validity: most observations made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers, if researchers were present during observation babies may have been anxious or distracted, likely that participants behaved naturally while observed
Counterpoint: mothers unlikely to be objective observers, may have been bias, babies behaviour may not have been accurately recorded

2. Poor evidence for antisocial behaviour: lack of validity in measures used to assess attachment in asocial stage, young babies have poor co-ordination, babies less than 2 months may display anxiety in subtle hard-to-observe ways, difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers on signs of anxiety, due to flawed methods babies may seem asocial

3. Real-world application: practical application in daycare, in asocial and indiscriminate stages daycare likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any adult, however daycare may be problematic during the specific stage as baby cannot be comforted by unfamiliar adults, use of daycare can be planned using the four stages

Question 17

Describe Schaffer and Emersons findings on the role of the father

Answer 17

• 75% of the babies formed an attachment with their father by 18 months (babies protested when father walked away)

Question 18

Describe Grossmann et al (2002) longitudinal study on the distinctive role of fathers

Answer 18

• Observed both parents behaviour and its relationship to their baby’s later attachments
• Quality of attachment with mothers, but not fathers related to attachments in adolescence
• Suggests attachment to father less important than attachment to mother
• However, found quality of fathers play related to quality of attachment in adolescence
• Fathers have different role than mothers, one to do with play and stimulation and less emotional development

Question 19

Describe Field’s (1978) research on fathers as primary caregivers

Answer 19

• Filmed 4-month babies in interaction with primary caregiver mothers, fathers and secondary caregiver fathers
• Primary caregiver fathers, like mothers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers
• Fathers have the potential to be the more emotion-focused primary caregiver

Question 20

AO3 for the role of the father

Answer 20

1. Confusion over research questions: lack of clarity over question asked, ‘What is the role of the father?’ complex question, some focused on father as secondary attachment figure and tended to see fathers having a distinct role, behaving differently from mothers, whereas others more concerned with father as primary attachment figure claiming they take on a more ‘maternal’ role, difficult to answer the simple question, depends on what specific role is being discussed

2. Conflicting evidence: findings vary with methodology, Grossmann’s study suggests fathers as secondary attachment have more distinct role in development, means that those in same-sex household would develop differently, however McCallum and Golombok (2004) consistently show that these children do not develop differently than two-parent heterosexual households
Counterpoint: parents in single-mother or same-sex parent families may simply adapt to accommodate the roles played by fathers

3. Real world application: useful when offering advice to parents, some may agonise over primary caregiver decisions, mothers may feel pressured to stay at home or fathers to focus on work due to stereotypical views on roles, research can be used to offer reassuring advice, inform that fathers can become primary attachment, and same-sex/single-parent families informed that not father does not affect development, parental anxiety about role of fathers can be reduced

Question 21

Describe Lorenz’s research on imprinting

Answer 21

• Randomly divided a clutch of goose eggs
• Half the eggs were hatched with the mother in their natural environment and the other half were
• The other half were hatched in an incubator, with Lorenz being the first moving object they saw
• The incubator group followed Lorenz everywhere whereas control group (those hatched with the mother), followed her

Question 22

What is imprinting?

Answer 22

When species that are mobile e.g geese or ducks attach to and following the first moving object they see

Question 23

What was the critical period of imprinting suggested by Lorenz?

Answer 23

A time period where imprinting needs to take place (typically a few hours after birth) otherwise imprinting does not occur

Question 24

Describe Harlow’s (1958) reasearch on attachment

Answer 24

• Reared 16 baby rhesus monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’
• In one condition, milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother whereas in the second milk was dispensed by the cloth-covered mother
• The baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother in preference to the plain-wire mother
• The baby monkeys sought comfort from the cloth one when frightened regardless of which mother dispensed milk
• Showed that contact comfort was more important to monkeys than food

Question 24

Describe Lorenz’s case study into sexual imprinting

Answer 24

• Observed that birds that imprinted on a human often later display courtship
• A peacock was reared in a reptile house where the first moving objects seen were giant tortoises
• As an adult, the bird would only direct courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises
• The peacock had undergone sexual imprinting

Question 25

What did Harlow discover about maternally deprived monkeys following his study?

Answer 25

• Monkeys reared with plain-wire mother were most dysfunctional
• Deprived monkeys were more aggressive and less sociable than other monkeys
• They bred less often that is typical for monkeys, being unskilled at mating
• When they become mothers some of the deprived monkeys neglected their young and others attacked their children

Question 26

What was the critical period of normal development and its consequence suggested by Harlow?

Answer 26

A mother figure had to be introduced to a young monkey within 90 days for an attachment to form. After this time attachment was impossible and damage of early deprivation is irreversible.

Question 27

AO3 for Lorenz’s research

Answer 27

1. Research support: Regolin and Vallortigara (1995) supports imprinting, chicks exposed to simple shape combinations that moved, when shown a range of combinations they followed the original most closely, shows that young animals born with innate mechanism to imprint during critical period

2. Generalisability to humans: mammalian attachment system quite different and complex than in birds, a mammals attachment is a two-way process so both mother and child become attached, not appropriate to generalise findings

Question 28

AO3 for Harlow’s research

Answer 28

1. Real-world value: helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in development, allows them to intervene and prevent poor outcomes, can also understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos, findings both theoretical and practical

2. Generalisability to humans: rhesus monkeys similar to humans compared to Lorenz’s birds, all mammals share some common attachment behaviours, HOWEVER human brain and behaviour still more complex than monekys, may not be appropriate to generalise findings