Attachment Flashcards
Social Releasers
Behaviours/ characteristics that trigger a caregiver response.
Reciprocity
Caregiver responds to signals given by baby- e.g. baby cries and caregiver comforts.
Brazelton 1975- reciprocity
Reciprocity like a dance, caregiver and infant respond to each move.
Interactional Synchrony
Synchronisation/ mirroring of behaviours and expression between child and caregiver.
Dyad
Individuals regarded as a pair.
Infant Attachment Characteristics
- Selective
- Seek comfort
- Proximity seeking
- Separation anxiety
Shaffer and Emerson 1964- Stages of Attachment
Studied 60 babies monthly for 18 months at their homes in Glasgow. Observed their behaviour and how they responded to caregivers (caregivers also interviewed). Attachment is not who feeds and changes the child, but who plays and communicates with them.
Stage 1- Birth to 6 weeks- Pre-attachment/ asocial- doesn’t recognise or interact with anyone.
Stage 2- 6 weeks to 7 months- Indiscriminate attachments- preference for people
Stage 3- 7 months to 1 year- Specific attachment- clear preference for single figure, separate/ stranger anxiety
Stage 4- From 1 year- Multiple attachments
Cernoch and Porter 1977- Breast Pads
Breast pads either side of baby’s head in stage 1. One pad had the mother’s scent, the other someone else’s: the baby turned to the pad with the mother’s scent.
Bowlby- Father
Father should provide financially for mother and baby.
Christensson 1996- Father
Fathers engaged in rougher play, mothers in gentle play.
Paquette 2004- Father
Fathers engaged in riskier play and talked about active play, mothers engaged in more emotional dialogue.
Verissimo 2011- Father
Relationship with father impacts number of friends in school: those who played rougher with their father could make more friends at school.
Precocial
Animals born late into development can move after birth- e.g. horses
Altricial
Animals who continue to develop- e.g. primates and humans
Lorenz 1935- imprinting
Separated 12 eggs (left 6 with mother). When they hatched, the goslings immediately followed Lorenz as they imprinted onto the first moving thing they saw.
Kangaroo Care
Skin to skin contact after birth with premature babies to aid attachment.
Harlow 1958- Monkeys
Separated rhesus monkeys from their mothers and reared them in a cage with two ‘surrogate’ mothers. One was made of wire and held a bottle, the other was made of a soft towel. The monkeys spend 17-18 hours of the day on the soft monkey and clung to it when scared.
Animal Study Evaluation
+ More ethical than humans
+ Kangaroo care
+ Against cupboard love theory
+ Lab and field experiment
- Ungeneralisable to humans
- Unethical
- Long lasting affects
Freud- Cupboard Love/ Learning Theory
Baby attaches to whoever feeds it
Dollard and Miller- Learning Theory Behaviourism
Classical conditioning occurs when the baby associates the caregiver with food, leading to pleasure. Operant conditioning occurs when parents attend to the child to stop it crying (negative reinforcement) or the baby smiles when interacted with (positive reinforcement).
Learning Theory Evaluation
- Ignores nature
- Quality of care affects attachment
- Person who interacts positively according to Schaffer.
- Based on animals
- Reductionist