Attachment Flashcards
what’s an attachment ?
an emotional connection or bond between the child and the principle caregiver
what’s attachment characterised by
mutual affection
frequent interaction
desire for proximity
selectivity (child wants to be with caregiver more than anyone else)
what’s proximity
trying to stay physically close to those whom which you’re attached to
what’s seperation distress
becoming distressed when an attachment figure leaves your presence
what’s secure base behaviour
tending to make regular contact with attachment figure despite independence of them
how do babies interact with their caregiver
reciprocity and interactional synchrony
what’s reciprocity
2 way process where each person provides a response
E.g. smiling may elicit a response
Who looks into reciprocity?
Meltzoff and Moore
Meltzoff and Moore sample
6 babies (aged 12 to 27 days) and 12 babies (aged 16 to 21 days)
What is the Meltzoff and Moore procedure?
Controlled observation of babies in a response to 4 stimulus
Videoed and independent observer noted all instances of tongue protrusion and head movements
What were the 4 stimulus?
3 facial gestures
1 manual gesture
How was inter-rater reliability increased?
Each observer scored the tape twice
What were Meltzoff and Moore’s findings?
Babies aged 12-27 days old could imitate both facial and manual gestures
what’s interactional synchrony
actions and emotions are the same as each other
E.g. mirroring one another’s emotions or behaviours
What was the aim of Evans and Porter?
Weather reciprocity and interactional synchrony impact on attachment quality
Evans and Porter sample
Studied 101 infants and their mothers for the first year after birth
53 female and 48 male
What was Evans and Porters procedure?
Invited to lab at 6,9 and 12 months and placed in an observation room with toys and instructed to play as normal for 15 mins (videoed)
What happened at 12 months?
quality of mother-infant attachment was assessed using strange situation
What did Evans and Porter find?
Babies with secure attachment had the most reciprocal interactions and most interactional synchrony
how many stages of attachment did Schaffer suggest
4
what is stage 1 of Schaffer’s stages of attachment
asocial
what is the asocial stage of attachment according to Schaffer
recognising and forming bonds but behave similarly towards objects as they do humans
What is stage 2 of Schaffer’s stage of attachment
indiscriminate
what is the indiscriminate stage of attachment according to Schaffer
more social behaviour and accepts comfort from any animal
What is stage 3 of Schaffer’s stage of attachment
specific
what is the specific stage of attachment according to Schaffer
stranger and separation anxiety with specific attachment with primary caregiver
What is stage 4 of Schaffer’s stage of attachment
multiple
what is the multiple stage of attachment according to Schaffer
formation of secondary attachments
Schaffer and Emerson aim
To investigate the formation of early attachments
Schaffer and Emerson sample
60 babies (31 males and 29 females) from Glasgow and were from skilled working class backgrounds.
What was Schaffer and Emerson’s procedure?
Visited at the babies home every month for the first year and again at 18 months of age (longitudinal study)
researchers told the mother to keep a personal diary to measure the effects of certain characteristics
What did mothers put in there personal diary to measure the effects of?
Stranger anxiety
Separation anxiety
Social referencing
Response to strangers
Distress when carer leaves
What did Schaffer and Emerson find?
Between 25-32 weeks, about 50 % of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult (specific attachment).
By 40 weeks 80% had a specific attachment
What did Shaffer and Emerson find?
Main attachments are with person who is most interactive
suggesting fathers are not as important but could if interacted the most
Who looked into the role of the farther?
Grossman (2002)
Grossman aim
Find out how important fathers are and weather they have a distinctive role
What was Grossman’s procedure?
longitudinal study looking at both parent’s behaviour and its relationship quality of children’s attachments into their teens
What did Grossman find?
Mothers was related to children’s attachments in adolescence attachments
father was more of a play and simulation and less to do with nurturing.
Who looked into the fathers as a primary care-giver?
Field (1978)
What was Fields procedure?
filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.
What did Primary furthers do when interacting with infant?
Primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants.
What were Field findings
fathers can be more nurturing attachment primary figures. The key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.
Who conducted animal studied?
Harlow: Monkeys
Lorenz: Goslings
What were the two things Harlow looked into?
contact comfort
Maternally deprived monkeys as adults
What was the aim of Harlow’s study?
tested the idea that a soft object serves some of the functions of a mother.
What was Harlow’s procedure to studying contact comfort?
In one experiment 8 baby monkeys were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and introduced with two wire model mothers.
What were the two conditions of Harlow’s study?
- milk was dispensed by the plain wire mother
- milk was dispensed by the cloth mother
4 monkeys could get milk from wire and 4 from cloth
How long were the monkeys studied for?
165 days
What did Harlow find in terms of contact comfort?
Monkeys spent more time with cloth mother and would only go to the wire mother when hungry.
What happened if a frightening object was place in?
took refugee with cloth mother as its secure base