Attachment Flashcards
Brazelton et al. (1975)
Caregiver-infant interactions are like a dance, with each person taking turns to reciprocate the other’s signals.
Finegood et al. (2016)
Babies have alert phases in which they signal that they are ready for an interaction. Mothers pick up on this 2/3’s of the time, but this is subject to external factors.
Feldman (2007)
Reciprocity increases in frequency from around three months old.
CP - Synchrony and reciprocity are just patterns of behaviour, not explanations
Meltzoff & Moore (1977)
Performed an observation focussed on interactional synchronisation in infants as young as 2 weeks.
They requested that adults make 2 of 3 pre-set facial expressions, then recorded/filmed the infants reactions.
A correlation was found between infant response and adult behaviour.
Isabella et al. (1989)
Assessed level of synchrony in 30 mother-infant pairs alongside quality of attachment.
High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachments with higher emotional intensity.
Schaffer & Emerson (1964)
⚬ Aim
⚬ Method
⚬ Findings
⚬ Resulting Stages
Sought to identify age at which emotional intensity develops and who it was directed towards.
Studied 60 baby-mother pairs from a majority of working-class families. They visited once a month for a year before doing a final check-up at 18 months. They then interviewed the mothers about the baby’s protesting behaviour in various situations in the context of stranger ad separation anxiety.
At 25-32 weeks, 50% of children had maternal separation anxiety, based on the quality of time spent with her, not the quantity.
At 40 weeks, 80% had a specific attachment and 30% had multiple attachments.
Following this research, The pair created four stages of early attachment
⚬ Asocial Stage (First few weeks)
Familiar adult preference, recognising and forming bonds, treat objects similarly to humans
⚬ Indiscriminate Attachment (2-6 months)
Preference for people and recognition of familiar ones. Will accept comfort from anyone
⚬ Specific Attachment (7-12 months)
Stranger and Separation anxiety from primary caregiver
⚬ Multiple Attachment (1+ years)
Attachment behaviour extended to familiar adults, formation of secondary attachments
