3. attachment

Question 1

attachment

Answer 1

infants and caregivers develop deep and lasting emotional bonds. both members of this emotional relationship seek closeness and feel more secure when close to their attachment figure

Question 2

reciprocity

Answer 2

a mutual turn-taking form of interaction. both caregiver and infant contribute to the interaction by responding to the other’s signals and cues

Question 3

interactional synchrony

Answer 3

a simultaneous interaction between the infant and the caregiver, who appear to be acting rhythmically, with matching, coordinated behaviour and matching emotional states

Question 4

imitation

Answer 4

the infant directly copies the caregiver’s expression

Question 5

sensitive responsiveness

Answer 5

the adult caregiver correctly interprets the meaning of the infant’s communication and is motivated to respond appropriately

Question 6

caregiver interactions in humans strengths (AO3)

Answer 6

― Meltzoff & Moore:
➥ An experimenter displayed facial gestures to 12- to 21-day-old infants
➥ Recordings of infant responses were rated by people blind to the experiment
➥ Found infant responses matched the experimenter’s facial expressions
➥ Suggets the ability to observe and reciprocate through imitation is present from a young age

― Condon & Sander:
➥ Videotaped interactions between adults and neonates
➥ Thorough detailed analysis of video-recordings and found interactional synchrony
➥ Suggests that even from birth, humans have an innate ability for social interaction

― Many studies use multiple observers, blind to the true aims of the experiment, to provide inter-reliability or even use complex camera systems to document and slow down micro-sequences of interactions between caregivers and infants. This high control of infant studies indicates high internal validity

Question 7

caregiver-infant interactions in humans limitations (AO3)

Answer 7

― Infants cannot directly communicate their thoughts or emotions. Therefore, findings in Caregiver-infant interaction research depend on inferences which are considered unscientific. Inferences could be mistaken; for example, researchers should not claim imitation behaviour is intentional; it may be imitation is an unconscious automatic reflex response

― Social sensitivity is a concern when investigating child-rearing techniques, including norms and caregiver-infant interactions, as some women may find their life choices criticised, such as mothers who decide to return to the workplace shortly after giving birth and cannot develop a high level of interactional synchrony with their infant

Question 8

Schaffer: stages of attachment & age

Answer 8

― asocial (0 to 6 weeks)
― indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks to 7 months)
― discriminate attachment (7 to 9 months)
― multiple attachment (from 9 months)

Question 9

asocial (0 to 6 weeks)

Answer 9

babies display innate behaviours (crying/smiling) that ensure proximity to any potential caregiver. anyone can comfort them, as they do not prefer any individual caregiver

Question 10

indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks to 7 months)

Answer 10

infants develop the ability to tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar individuals, smiling more at the people they see frequently

Question 11

specific attachment (7 to 9 months)

Answer 11

babies form a strong attachment to a primary caregiver, most often their mother. It is in this stage that separation anxiety and stranger anxiety develop

Question 12

multiple attachment (from 9 months)

Answer 12

the infant starts to form attachments with other regular caregivers (like fathers, grandparents, siblings), and stranger anxiety starts to decrease

Question 13

Schaffer & Emerson procedure

Answer 13

Schaffer and Emerson conducted a longitudinal observation
― 60 working class babies and their families from Glasgow were studied. In the first year, data was collected through monthly observations & interviews, with an additional follow-up visit at 18 months. Two types of behaviour were assessed: stranger anxiety (signs of discomfort when left with the researcher) and separation anxiety (discomfort when the primary caregiver moved to another room)

Question 14

Schaffer: stages of attachment strengths (AO3)

Answer 14

― It was found that separation anxiety occured in most babies by 25 to 32 weeks. In the 18-month follow-up, 87% had developed multiple attachments. The strongest attachment was to those mothers with consistent caregiver-infant interaction.

― As infants and their families were observed in their own home, the study had a high level of mundane realism; the experience for the infants were normal. Strangers visiting the family home and the caregiver temporarily leaving the room are normal occurrences. This suggests the behaviour recorded was valid.

Question 15

Schaffer: stages of attachment limitation (AO3)

Answer 15

― The sample in Schaffer’s study may not be generalisable or may have temporary validity as it only included a group of working-class mothers in 1960s Glasgow, and child-rearing practices have likely changed significantly in the past 60 years

Question 16

the role of the father: important of active play

Answer 16

fathers are seen to engage babies in active ‘play’ activities more consistently than mothers. fathers’ interactions emphasise stimulation, and so it is thought their role is to encourage risk-taking behaviours, compared to the more comforting style of mothers

Question 17

the role of the father: as a primary caregiver

Answer 17

in modern Western society, mothers are more likely to take part in the workplace; there is evidence to suggest that if men take on the role of primary caregivers, their interactional style changes to be more like mothers, increasing their capacity for sensitive responsiveness.

Question 18

the role of the father strengths (AO3)

Answer 18

― Field observed primary caretaker mothers, primary caretaker fathers, and secondary caretaker fathers interacting with their 4-month-old infants, finding fathers, in general, focused more on game playing and less on holding. Additionally, the primary caretaker fathers showed more sensitively responsive behaviour, similar to mothers. For example, they used more smiling and child-directed speech than secondary caretaker fathers

― Verissimo observed preschool children’s relationships with their mothers and fathers, then later conducted a follow-up assessment of social interactions when the child started nursery. A strong attachment to the father was the best predictor of the ability to make friends in school, suggesting an important role for fathers in socialisation

Question 19

Lorenz and imprinting

Answer 19

certain animals, such as many species of birds, are known to attach to their mothers strongly; the infant animal will then follow their mother. Lorenz termed this process imprinting and tested this early bond

Question 20

Lorenz procedure

Answer 20

Greylag Goose eggs were randomly divided; half were taken to be hatched by Lorenz using an incubator, and the other half were hatched naturally by the biological mother. In later studies, he varied the time between hatching and when the gosling first observed a moving object

Question 21

Lorenz findings

Answer 21

― The goslings who Lorenz had hatched imprinted on him, following him rather than the Mother Goose. The goslings hatched in a natural environment, imprinted on the Mother goose and followed her. Lorenz placed all of the goslings in a box. When they were released from the box and Lorenz mixed the two groups, the goslings who had imprinted on Lorenz had found him and continued to follow him

― Lorenz found the goslings had a critical period of around 32 hours; if a gosling did not see a large moving object to imprint on in these first few hours, it lost the ability to imprint

Question 22

Harlow and contact comfort

Answer 22

A test of the ‘cupboard love’ theory, that babies love mothes because they feed them

Question 23

Harlow procedure

Answer 23

Infant Rhesus Macaque monkeys were removed from their biological mothes and placed in cages with surrogate mothers.
― One surrogate mother provided milk but not comfort, as its body was constructed of exposed wire
― The other surrogate mother provided warmth and comfort as the wire was covered with a cloth, but did not provide food.
The time spent with the mother was recorded, as well as which surrogate the infant ran to when frightened by a mechanical monkey

Question 24

Harlow findings

Answer 24

― The infant monkeys spent most of their time with the comfort-providing ‘cloth mother’ only visiting the ‘food mother’ when they needed to eat but quickly returning to the cloth mother for comfort
― The infant monkeys returned to the cloth mother when frigtened. And monkeys without access to a cloth mother showed signs of stress-related illness
― In follow-up, Harlow found that the maternal deprivation in his studies had caused resulted in permanent social disorders in the monkeys as adults, including difficulty in mating behaviour and rasing their offspring
― Found that there was a 90 day period for attachment to occur otherwise it would be permanent