Attachment Flashcards
What is reciprocity?
Where a mother will respond to infant alertness
(Like a conversation)
When does reciprocity begin?
From 3 months close attention between mother and infant
What is interactional synchrony?
Interactions become co-ordinated
(In sync)
What did Isabella et al say about interactional synchrony?
That the quality of attachment is related to synchrony
Disadvantage of caregiver infant interactions
Hard to know what is happening by observing simple gestures
What did Feldman say about purpose of caregiver interactions?
Just observations, the purpose is not entirely understood yet
Advantage of caregiver infant interaction experiments?
Highly controlled- capture fine detail of interaction
What did Grossman do research into?
The role of the father
What did Grossman find?
Attachment to fathers less important
Fathers play a different role (play and stimulation)
What did Feild say?
Fathers as primary caregivers adopt attachment behaviour more typical of mothers
Disadvantage of research into attachment figures
Inconsistent findings- overall picture unclear
Why are fathers not usually primary caregivers?
May be due to traditional roles or even biological differences
What would suggest fathers are not important?
Children without fathers are not different
What did Schaffer and Emerson study?
Stages of attachment
What were Schaffer and Emersons aims?
Investigate the age of attachment formation and who attachments are formed with
What was Schaffer and Emersons method?
Mothers of 60 babies reported monthly on separation anxiety
What did Schaffer and Emerson find?
Most babies showed attachment to a primary caregiver by 32 weeks and developed multiple attachments soon after this.
Advantage of Schaffer and Emersons study?
Good external validity- observations in PPS natural environment
Disadvantage of Schaffer and Emersons study?
Limited sample characteristics
All families from Glasgow- and over 50 yrs ago
So may lack generalisability
Why was the longitudinal design an advantage for Schaffer and Emerson’s?
Same PPS observed at each age, eliminating individual differences as a cofound.
What were the 4 stages of attachment identified by Schaffer and Emerson?
Asocial stage
Indiscriminate attachment
Specific attachments
Multiple attachments
What was observed in the asocial stage?
Little observable social behaviour
What was observed in the indiscriminate attachment stage?
More observable attachment behaviour, accept cuddles from any adult
What was observed at the specific attachment stage?
Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety in regard to one particular adult
What was observed at the multiple attachment stage?
Attachment behaviour directed towards more than one adult (secondary attachments)
Evaluation of the asocial stage
Social behaviour is hard to observe in the first few weeks but this doesn’t mean the baby is asocial
Disadvantage of measuring multiple attachments
Just because a child protests when an adult leaves does not necessarily mean attachment
What is the conflicting evidence linked to Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachment research?
Van LJzendoorn: research in different cultural context found that multiple attachments may appear first
What did Lorenz do research on?
Baby Gozlings
What was Lorenzes procedure?
Split a group of gozling eggs in half
Half hatched under a lamp
Half hatched with Lorenz as the first moving thing
What did lorenz find?
Newly hatched chicks attach to the first moving object the see (imprinting)
What is sexual imprinting?
Adult birds try to mate with whatever species or object they initially imprinted on (someone tested it with rubber gloves) LOL
Disadvantage of Lorenzes research?
Lacks generalisability as birds and mammals have different attachment systems
Lorenz not relevant to Humans
What did Guiton find (conflicting on Lorenz)
Found that birds whom initially imprinted on rubber gloves later preferred their own species
Who did Harlow do research on?
Baby monkeys
What was Harlow’s procedure?
Baby monkeys put in a cage with one wire mother covered in a towelling cloth, and one wire mother with a feeding bottle attached.
The monkeys were then scared by the experimenter.
Time spent on each mother was recorded