Attachment - 01 Caregiver-infant interactions, stages of attachment & role of father Flashcards
What is a bond?
-A set of feelings that tie one person to another
-We can not see this as we can not see feelings
What is an attachment?
-A close two-way emotional tie between 2 individuals who see the other as essential for their own emotional security.
-Takes a few months to develop
-we can see this when we observe behaviour
What are the 3 attachment behaviours?
1-Proximity
2-Separation distress
3-Secure base behaviour
What is proximity in an attachment?
When people try to stay physically close to those they are attached to
What is separation distress in attachment?
When people are distressed when an attachment figure leaves
What is secure base behaviour?
When people explore the environment but return back to the attachment figure for comfort
What are the 2 types of caregiver-infant interactions?
1-Reciprocity
2-Interactional synchrony
What is reciprocity?
-when an infant responds to the actions of another person
-A form of turn-taking
the actions of the primary caregiver elicits a response from the infant
What did Brazelton compare reciprocity to?
A dance
When does reciprocity usually start?
From around 3 months
What did the still face experiment by Tronick show?
Shows the importance of reciprocity as the babies became highly distressed when the caregiver gave no reaction despite all of the babies efforts to get a response
What is interactional synchrony?
When infants mirror the actions or emotions of another person in sync.
What does interactional synchrony play a critical role in?
developmental outcomes in terms of self-regulation and the capacity for empathy
Who conducted the key study into interactional synchrony?
Meltzoff & Moore
How did Meltzoff & Moore investigate interactional synchrony?
-controlled observation
-adult model displayed 4 different stimuli and child’s response was recorded and analysed
Meltzoff & Moore found that infants as young as what imitated specific facial and hand gestures?
two weeks
Did Meltzoff and Moore’s results support or disprove the idea of interactional synchrony?
support
What did Meltzoff & Moore find in their study?
An association was found between expressions or gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the baby
What suggests that interactional synchrony is innate?
The fact that the infants as young as two weeks were displaying this behaviour showing it is not learned but natural
One strength of research into care-giver infant interaction
(real life applications + counterargument)
-research found they are important in developing attachments. empathy, language and moral development
-mothers encouraged to participate in such behaviours
COUNTERARGUMENT
-Socially sensitive = suggesting mothers should not return back to work or make them feel guilty for going back to work
One weakness of research into care-giver infant interaction
(difficulties reliability testing infant’s behaviour + counterargument)
-Infants usually in constant motion + expressions tested occur frequently
-difficult to distinguish between general activity + imitated activity
COUNTERARGUMENT
-Abravanel + Deyong found infants had little response to objects and that there is a special social response to humans
One weakness of research into care-giver infant interaction (methodological problems)
-possibly observer bias
-research by Koepke et al (1983) failed to replicate finding of Meltzoff and Moore = unreliable = reduces internal validity
One weakness of research into care-giver infant interaction
(assumes all infants engage in interactional synchrony to the same degree)
-research found only securely attached infants engage in interactional synchrony
-Isabella et al (1989), more securely attached the infant, the greater level of interactional synchrony
-may have overlooked individual differences could be a mediating factor
