attachment Flashcards
revision
What is attachment?
Emotional and reciprocal bond between two people, usually being a caregiver and an infant. Interactions between the caregiver and child are crucial when forming the basis of an attachment.
What is interactional synchrony?
Which is when the caregiver and infant mirror one another’s facial expressions and body movements. This can help to reinforce an attachment bond.
Reciprocity?
Description of how two people interact. Mother-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both infant and mother respond to each others signals and each elicits a response from the other.
What is a caregiver?
Any person that provides care for a child e.g. a parents, grandparent, sibling, other family member, childminder etc…
What is an infant?
Taken to refer to a child’s first year of life although some psychologists include the second year.
How can we recognise an attachment?
proximity - people try to stay physically close to those they are attached to.
separation distress - people are distressed when an attachment figure leaves their presence.
secure - base behaviour - even when we are independent, we tend to make regular contact with our attachment figures. We regularly return to them while playing so they are a base from which to explore.
Metzoff and Moore (1977)
Observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as two weeks old. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions/gestures. The babies response was filmed and labelled by independent observers. Babies expression and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than chance would predict i.e. there was a significant association.
Limitations of Metzoff and Moore
- that simply observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance. This means we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development.
- hard to interpret a babies behaviour
- babies cannot give informed consent
