3. Attachment Flashcards
What did research in the 1970s demonstrate about infants interacting with their caregivers?
That infants coordinated their actions with caregivers in a kind of conversation
Give an example of a researcher in the 1970s who demonstrated that infants reciprocate caregivers actions
Jaffe et al. (1973)
What is an example of reciprocity relating to babies?
From birth, babies move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult - almost as if they were having a conversation
What did Brazelton (1979) suggest about the rhythms that infants have?
That the basic rhythm babies have is an important precursor to later communications
What does the regularity of an infant’s signals allow a caregiver to do?
To anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately
What does the sensitivity of an infant’s behaviour lay the foundations for?
For later attachment between caregiver and infant
What is attachment?
An emotional bond between two people - it is a two way process that endures over time. It leads to certain behaviours such as clinging + proximity-seeking and serves the function of protecting an infant
What is a caregiver?
Any person who is providing care for a child, such as a parent, grandparent, sibling etc
What is interactional synchrony?
When two people interact they mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial + body movements. Includes limiting emotions as well as behaviours - this is described as synchrony, when 2+ things move in the same pattern
What is reciprocity?
Responding to the action of another with a similar action, where the actions of one partner elicit a response from the other partner - responses are not necessarily similar as in interactional synchrony
Who conducted the first systematic study of interactional synchrony?
Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
What did Meltzoff and Moore’s study of interactional synchrony show?
Found that infants as young as 2 or 3 weeks imitated specific facial and hand gestures
How was Meltzoff and Moore’s study of interactional synchrony conducted?
An adult model displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or hand movements - A dummy placed in the infants mouth to prevent any initial response
Following the display the dummy was removed + the child’s expressions filmed - they found there was an association between the infant behaviour and that of the model
What did Meltzoff and Moore’s second study of interactional synchrony (1983) show?
Infants as young as 3 days old showing interactional synchrony
What did the results of Meltzoff and Moore’s second study of interactional synchrony (1983) show?
The fact that infants as young as 3 days old were displaying the behaviours would appear to rule out the possibility that interactional synchrony are learned
What did Meltzoff and Moore propose about interactional synchrony with infants?
They proposed that the imitation was intentional - the infant is deliberately copying the other person
What did Jean Piaget believe about interactional synchrony with infants?
He disagreed with Meltzoff and Moore - he believed that true imitation only developed towards the end of the first year
What did Jean Piaget think about interactional synchrony with infants before the end of their first year?
Any imitation before the end of the first year was a kind of ‘response training’
What was ‘response training’ talked about by Jean Piaget?
What the infant is doing is repeating a behaviour that was rewarded
Who discussed Pseudo-imitation?
Jean Piaget
How could the data collected in Schaffer and Emerson’s study be unreliable?
It was based off mother’s self reports of their infants
How could the mother’s self reports in Schaffer and Emerson’s study make the data bias?
- Some mothers might have been less sensitive to their infant’s protests + less likely to report them
- Demand characteristics
How would the mother’s self reports affect the validity of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
This would create a systematic bias which would challenge the validity of the data
What is Pseudo-imitation?
Any imitation before the end of the first year was a kind of ‘response training’ - an infant is repeating a behaviour that was rewarded
Why did Piaget think that babies use pseudo-imitation?
The infant had not consciously translated what they see into a matching movement
Who presented Meltzoff and Moore’s view in a study?
Murray and Trevarthen (1985)
What did the first part of Murray and Trevarthen’s study involve?
Two-month-old infants first interacted with their mother via a video monitor in real time
What did the second part of Murray and Trevarthen’s study involve?
The video monitor played a tape of the mother so that the image on the screen was not responding to the infant’s facial and bodily gestures
What did the results of Murray and Trevarthen’s study show?
Showed that the infant is an active and intentional partener in the mother-infant interaction
What did the infant’s response to the mother not reacting in Murray and Trevarthen’s study show?
The result was acute distress for the infant
This shows the infant actively eliciting a response rather than displaying a response that has been rewarded
What are the 5 main evaluations of interactional synchrony etc?
- Problems with testing infant behaviour
- Failures to reciprocate
- Intentionally supported
- Individual differences
- The value of the research
What are multiple attachments?
Having more than one attachment figure
What is a primary attachment figure?
The person who has formed the closest bond with a child, demonstrated by the intensity of the relationship
Who is usually the primary attachment figure? How can this vary?
The biological mother
Other people can fulfil this role ie father or grandparents
What is separation anxiety?
The distress shown by an infant when separated from their caregiver. Not necessarily the child’s mother
What is stranger anxiety?
The distress shown by an infant when approached or picked up by someone unfamiliar
When did Schaffer and Emerson conduct their study?
In the 1960s
Who theorised the stages of attachment?
Schaffer and Emerson
What are the 4 stages of attachment?
- Indiscriminate attachment
- The beginnings of attachment
- Discriminate attachment
- Multiple attachments
When is the indiscriminate attachment stage?
From birth until about 2 months
What is the infant like in the indiscriminate attachment stage?
Infants produce similar responses to all objects, whether they are animate or inanimate
Towards the end of indiscriminate attachment, what is the infant like?
Infants begin showing greater preference for social stimuli (ie a smiling face) and to be more content when they are with people
During the indiscriminate attachment stage, how do infants begin to form relationships?
During this period of time reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing the infant’s relationships with others
What age do infants reach the beginnings of attachment?
Around the age of 4 months the infant becomes more social
What sort of company do infants prefer in the beginnings of attachment stage?
They prefer human company to inanimate objects - they can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people
How easily comforted are infants in the beginnings of attachment?
They are still relatively easily comforted by anyone - do not yet show stranger anxiety
What is the most distinctive feature of the beginnings of attachment?
The infant’s general sociability (enjoyment of being with peeps)
When do infants reach the discriminate attachment stage?
By 7 months
What is a sign of infants reaching the discriminate attachment stage?
Separation anxiety
They begin to show a distinctly different sort of protest when one particular person puts them down - joy at reunion with that person
Which stage do infants form an attachment to their primary attachment figure?
Discriminate attachment
What do infants develop when they reach the discriminate attachment stage?
- Separation anxiety
- Stranger anxiety
What is an infant having stranger anxiety a sign of?
A specific attachment having formed
What did Schaffer and Emerson find with primary attachments?
Primary attachments were not always with the person the child spends the most time with
How did Schaffer and Emerson show how mother’s interaction with their children affected their attachment?
Interactive mothers had v strong bonds with their children
Less interactive mothers had poor attachments to their child
From observing mothers interacting with their children, what did Schaffer and Emerson conclude was most important for a healthy relationship?
They concluded that the quality of the relationship, not the quantity mattered the most in forming an attachment
What % of infants did Schaffer and Emerson find that their first specific attachment was their mother?
65%
What % of infants did Schaffer and Emerson find that their first joint object of attachment was their mother?
30%
What % of infants did Schaffer and Emerson find that their first joint object of attachment was their father?
27%
What % of infants did Schaffer and Emerson find that their first specific attachment was their father?
3%
When does the multiple attachments stage occur?
Very soon after the main attachment is formed
What happens in the multiple attachments stage?
The infant forms a wider circle of multiple attachments depending on how many consistent relationships they have
What did Schaffer and Emerson find about multiple attachments forming in their study?
Within one month of first becoming attached , 29% of infants had multiple attachments to someone else
Within 6 months it rose to 78%
By 1 year majority of infants formed multiple attachments
When was Lorenz’s study on geese?
1935
What was the aim of Lorenz’s 1935 study?
Investigate infant attachment in geese
What are the levels of the IV in Lorenz’s 1953 study?
IV(1) - Chick raised from birth by mother
IV(2) - Chick raised from birth by Lorenz
What is the DV in Lorenz’s 1935 study?
The chicks follow mother or Lorenz
What were the results of Lorenz’s 1935 study?
Chick always followed the first adult they saw - the effect seemed permenant
What were the conclusions from Lorenz’s 1935 study?
There is a critical period just after birth when infants imprint on the first adult they came into contact with
What do animal studies in attachment look at?
The formation of early bonds between non-human parents and their offspring
Why can we use animal studies to understand attachment in humans?
Attachment like behaviour is common to a range of species - through evolution
What is imprinting?
An innate readiness to develop a strong bond with the mother which take place during a specific time in development
If imprinting doesn’t happen what will happen?
It probably won’t happen - there is a critical period. It will be irreversible + long lasting
What is sexual imprinting?
The idea that imprinting can affect adult mate preferences - animals will choose to mate with the same kind of object upon which they were imprinted
When was Harlow’s study with monkeys?
1959
What was the aim of Harlow’s 1959 study?
Investigate infant attachment in memory
What were the levels of IV in Harlow’s 1959 study?
IV(A) - Food on wire mother (4 monkeys)
IV(B) - Food on cloth mother (4 monkeys)
IV(C) - Stranger anxiety/sec. base (scary robot/new toys)
What are the DV’s of Harlow’s 1959 study?
DV 1/2 - time spent with mother
DV 3 - Secure base behaviour + mother choice
What were the results of Harlow’s 1959 study?
All monkeys spent much longer with clothe mother regardless of food location
All used cloth mother for comfort + explored new toys more willingly with cloth mother in room
What were the conclusions of Harlow’s 1959 study?
- Infants seek comfort over food
- There’s a critical period for attachment and attachment is crucial
- Lack of mother resulted in abnormal development
- Recovery only possible if mother attachment formed in the first 3 months
What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association - a neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so that it eventually takes on the properties of this stimulus and is able to produce a conditioned response
What is a learning theory?
The name given to a group of explanations (classical or operant conditioning), which explain behaviour in terms of learning rather than any inborn tendencies or higher order thinking
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through reinforcement
What is a social learning theory?
Learning through observing others + imitating behaviours that are rewarded
What is the learning theory of attachment?
A set of ideas from the behaviourist approach
What do behaviourists believe about attachment?
That we are born as blank slates + so everything can be explained in terms of experiences we have
What do behaviourists prefer to focus on in attachment?
Explanations of behaviour rather than might or might not be going on in their minds because it is more objective + allows more control