4 - Attachments Flashcards
What is caregiverese?
adults who interact with infants using a modified form a vocal language which is high-pitched & song- like, slow & repetitive
Define bodily contact.
act of touching physically
What is interactional synchrony?
infants move their bodies in ryhtm with cares spoken language
What is reciprocity?
interactions between carers & infants results in mutual behaviour
What are the 5 types of caregiver-infant interactions?
- bodily contact
- mimicking
- caregiverese
- interactional synchrony
- reciprocity
What did Codon & Sander find out about interactional synchrony?
babies would coordiante their actions in time with adult speech, taking turns to contribute to the conservation
What was Murray & Travrthen’s basis of their experiment into interactional synchrony?
deliberately interfered with this interaction turn-taking by getting mothers to adopt a ‘frozen face’ expression with their babies
What were the results of the Murray & Travrthen ‘frozen face’ experiment?
- babies showed serious distress by turning away from their mother’s face
- made attempts to draw the mother back into interaction
By making deliberate attempts to draw mother back into interaction, what does this suggest about the infant?
infant is an active and intentional partner in communication
Define attachment.
special bond between a caregiver & a child, which can cause separation anxiety when 2 individuals are not together
What are the 4 stages of attachements?
- Pre-attachment
- Indiscriminate
- Discriminate
- Multiple
When does the pre-attachment stage form?
6 weeks
When does the indiscriminate stage form?
from 6 weeks - 6 months
When does the discriminate stage form?
7 months
When does the mutiple attachments stage form?
at 9 months
What happens at the pre-attachment stage? What is evidence for this?
infants aren’t biased to a particular human, but do prefer human-like stimuli -
What happens during the indiscriminate attachment stage? What is evidence for this?
Babies become more sociable & can tell people apart - Schaffer & Emerson found that infants did not show a fear of strangers
What happens during the discriminate attachment stage?
infant begins to show separation anxiety & protests, usually crying, when their primary attachmnt figure leaves. also begins to show fear of strangers
What happens during the multiple attachments stage?
infant begins to make multiple attachments towards friends, grandparents, childminders etc.
Who came up with the 4 stages of attachment?
Schaffer & Emerson
What was Schaffer & Emersons’ study into the Stages of Attachments?
- studied 60 babies from Glasgow at monthly intervals for first 18 months of life
- studied in their own home & regular pattern was identified in development of attachment
- infants’ interactions with carers observed & what happened when carer left
What are 2 strengths of Schaffer & Emerson’s study?
- naturalistic observation - real life look at way infants respond to caregiver
- longitudinal - not just a snapshot of infant behaviour as infants followed for 18 months
What are 3 weaknesses of Schaffer & Emerson’s study?
- low internal validity (social desirability bias) - parents may have given untruthful responses in interviews to appear to be a good parent
- small sample size - may only study infants from one area where certain parenting techniques may be present
- some factors affecting attachment means that every infant does not go through the stages outlined
What is it called when attachments are most likely to form with those who respond to baby’s signals, not the person they spend most time with?
sensitive responsiveness
What is the most important factor in forming attachments?
playing & communicating with infant
Which individual does majority of caregiver research focus on?
the mother
In the modern era, how is the primary caregiver role changing? What impact does this have?
more women are returning to work after having a child & fathers are increasingly seen as primary caregiver = positive impact on economy
What is meant by multiple attachments?
relationships called secondary attachments, formed with other adults infants regularly spend time with
In Schaffer & Emerson’s study, what percentage of children had formed a secondary attachment within a month of forming a primary attachment?
29%
What did Ross (1975) find out about the role of the father?
no. of nappies a father was positively correlated to strength of their attachment?
What did Caldera (2004) find out about the role of the father?
investigated 60 fathers & mothers w their 14months old infants - found that the father was more likely to form a strong attachment with child if they were involved in caregiving activities
What did Geiger (1996) find out about the role of the father?
the roles mothers & fathers play differ - mothers are nuturing whereas fathers are more focused around play
What are 2 strengths of the research into multiple attachments & role of father?
- generalisable - researched used to focus solely on attachment an infant forms with mother
- up to date - as family life as changed nature of attachment studies has changed too
What are 2 weaknesses of the research into multiple attachments and the role of father?
- correlations do not prove cause & effect - does not show changing nappies cuases father to have stronger attachment with their child
- cultural bias - the samples are made of Western families, so parenting may be more similar unlike families in the East where role of father may be different
What are indiscriminate attachments also called?
diffuse attachments
What is the pre-attachment stage also known as?
asocial stage
What is the discriminate attachment stage also know as?
specific attachment
What is the critical period?
a period during someone’s development in which a particular skill or characteristic is believed to be most readily acquired
What is the sensitive period?
time or period in a person’s development when they are more responsive to certain stimuli & quicker to learn particular skills
What is the method of Lorenz’s animal study?
- divided a clutch of goose eggs into 2 groups
- one group hatched by the mother - goslings followed her around
- second group hatched in an incubator & on hatching first thing they saw was Lorenz - set of goslings followed Lorenz
- He then marked each so he would know which group they were from & mixed them in a box
- both sets of goslings followed their original leader
When the goslings followed their original leader, what did Lorenz call this? What is it?
imprinting - directs goslings to attach themselves to first moving thing they see
What was the critical period for the imprinting of the goslings?
2 hours after hatching
What are the 2 effects of institutionalisation?
- disinhibted attachment
- low IQ
What is disinhibited attachment?
where children are equally affectionate to familiar people & strangers
What did Rutter find about disinhibited attachment?
DA is an adaptation to living with multiple caregivers during the sensitive period
eg. a Romanian orphan may have 50 carers
In Rutter’s study, what was found regarding the intellectual ability of the children?
- most children showed signs of a learning disability when they arrived in Britain
- however, Rutter also found that those who were adopted before 6 months of age, caught up with the control group by age 4
What was the criticial period for attachment formation in Harlows’ monkeys?
90 days
Which animal did Harlow conduct his research on?
monkeys
What was the procedure of Harlow’s research into animal attachment?
reared 16 baby monkeys with two wire model ‘mothers’
2 conditions:
1. milk was dispensed by the plain-wire mother
2. cloth-covered mother
What were the findings of Harlow’s research into animal attachment?
- baby monkeys preferred to cudddle the cloth-covered mother rather than the plain-wire mother, regardless of which mother dispensed milk
- contact comfort was more important to the monkeys than food when it came to attachment behaviour
What were the adulthood consequences for the maternally deprived monkeys?
- they were more agressive & less social than other monkeys
- they reproduced less often than is typical for monkeys
- some of the monkeys who became mothers, neglected their children
What was the phenomenon that Lorenz researched?
imprinting
What was the procedure of Lorenz’s research into animal attachment?
- Randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs
- 1/2 were hatched naturally by the mother goose
-1/2 were hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz
What were the findings of Lorenz’s research into animal attachment?
- the experimental group imprinted onto Lorenz
- the control group imprinted onto the mother goose
- when the 2 groups were mixed up, the control group continued to follow the mother goose & the experimental group contined to follow Lorenz
- there was a critical period in which imprinting has to take place
