Attachment Flashcards
List the different features of caregiver interaction
- Sensitive responsiveness
- Imitation
- interactional synchrony
- reciprocity/turn-taking
- motherese
What is sensitive responsiveness
- the caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant.
What is imitation (Meltzoff and Moore)
- the infant copies caregiver’s actions and behaviour.
-> Meltzoff + Moore: infants between 2 + 3 weeks of age imitated the facial expressions and hand movements of the experimenter.
What is interactional synchrony (Condon + Sander)
- infants react along the caregiver’s speech -> ‘conversation dance’.
-> Condon + Sander: showed babies moving in time with adult conversations.
What is reciprocity/turn-taking
- interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and the infant.
What is motherese (also child directed speech CDS)
- the slow high-pitched way of speaking to infants -> but there is no evidence that this influences the strength of the attachment.
List Schaffer’s 4 stages in attachment formation
1) the pre-attachment/asocial phase (0-3 months)
2) indiscriminate attachment phase (6 weeks - 7 months)
3) discriminate attachment phase (7-11 months)
4) multiple attachment phase (from about 9 months)
what is the pre-attachment/asocial phase
- stage 1
- 0-3 months
- the baby learns to separate people from objects but does not have any strong preferences of who cares for it.
What is the indiscriminate attachment phase
- stage 2
- (6 weeks - 7 months)
- infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than at strangers.
-> however, there are still no strong preferences about who cares for it.
what is the discriminate attachment phase
- stage 3
- (7-11 months)
- infant able to form a strong attachment with an individual.
- shown by being content when that person is around, distressed when they leave and happy when they return.
-> it may be scared of strangers and avoid them.
What is the multiple attachment phase
- stage 4
- from about 9 months
- the infant can form attachments to many different people.
- some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions, e.g. for play or comfort.
-> there does not seem to be a limit to the number of attachments it can make.
Explain Schaffer and Emerson’s research on evidence for the attachment stages
- method: 60 babies observed in homes in Glasgow (working-class) -> interviews were conducted with their families.
- results: at 8 months old about 50 had more than one attachment.
-> 20 had no attachment with the mother or had stronger attachment with someone else. - conclusion: Infants can eventually attach to many people.
-> the quality of care is important -> infant may not attach to the mother if others respond more accurately to signals.
evaluate staffer and Emerson’s on evidence for the attachment stages
(+) lots of evidence to support
(-) used a limited sample and evidence from observation may be biased, subjective and unreliable.
(-) cross-cultural variation -> Tronick et al: infants in Zaire (Congo) had strong attachment with mother by 6 months age but didn’t have attachments with others although had other carers.
-> means there are cultural differences.
(-) temporal validity -> findings may differ in the current age.
Explain Schaffer and Emerson’s research on the role of the father
- attachment varied across infants.
- mother was primary attachment for only half of the infants.
-> 1/3 of infants preferred the father while the rest attached to grandparents and siblings.
Explain Goodsell and Meldrum’s research on the role of the father
- infants with secure attachment with the mother also more likely to have a secure attachment to the father.
