attachment Flashcards
what is reciprocity?
when both caregiver and baby respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
how many times do mothers pick up on babies ‘alert phases’?
2/3 of the time
what is the interaction of the mother and baby described as?
A dance
do babies take an active or passive role in reciprocity?
active
what is interactional synchrony?
caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way
what did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) find?
found that babies’ expression and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than chance would predict
what was the Isabella et al. (1989) experiment?
- observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony and the quality of mother-baby attachment
- They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment
Evaluation of Caregiver-infant interactions
Filmed observations:
- checked by other researchers so high inter-rater reliability
- babies didn’t know they were being observed
Difficulty observing babies:
- hard to interpret a babies behaviour
Developmental importance:
- reciprocity and IS don’t tell us the purpose of these behaviours
Counter:
- Isabella et al
what was Schaffer and Emerson (1964) procedure?
- 60 babies from Glasgow
- mostly working-class families
- researchers visited mother and baby every month for 18 months
- investigated separation anxiety by asking mothers about behaviour during everyday separations
- investigated stranger anxiety by asking mothers questions about child’s response to unfamiliar adults
what were the 4 stages of attachments Schaffer and Emerson found?
- Asocial
- Indiscriminate attachment
- Specific attachment
- Multiple attachment
Schaffer and Emerson evaluation
- has external validity Counter: mothers may have been biased
- poor evidence for the asocial stage
- RWA to day care
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what percentage of cases was the father the sole and joint first object of attachment
sole object - 3%
joint first object - 27%
what percentage of secondary attachments were the father?
75%
What did Grossmann et al 2002 find?
- quality of attachment with the father was less important for adolescent attachment than the quality of attachment with the mother
- the quality of the fathers play with babies was related to quality of adolescent attachments
- fathers have a different role
what did Field (1978) find?
- primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding babies than secondary caregiver fathers
- fathers can be primary attachment figures
- level of responsiveness is the key to the attachment relationship, not the gender of the parent
role of the father evaluation
- confusion over research questions
- conflicting evidence
- using findings in parenting advice
Lorenz findings and conclusions
- incubator group followed Lorenz, Control Group followed the mother
- identified a critical period in which imprinting takes place
- if imprinting did not occur during this time, Chicks did not attach themselves to the mother figure
- Sexual imprinting also occurs whereby the birds acquire a template of the desirable characteristics required in a mate