attachment Flashcards
What is reciprocity in the context of infant-caregiver interactions?
When an infant responds to the actions of another person in a form of turn-taking.
What did Feldman (2007) find regarding reciprocity?
Reciprocity increases as infant and caregiver pay increasing attention to each other’s verbal and facial communication.
Define interactional synchrony.
When infants mirror the actions/emotions of another person, for example, their facial expressions.
What did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) discover about interactional synchrony?
They found an association between infant and adult behaviour when the infant observed facial expressions from the adult, even in 3-day-old infants.
What are the stages of attachment according to Schaffer?
- Asocial (0-2 months)
- Indiscriminate attachments (2-6 months)
- Specific attachment (7-12 months)
- Multiple attachments (1 year and beyond)
What characterizes the asocial stage of attachment?
Similar responses to people/objects.
What occurs during the indiscriminate attachments stage?
Preference for human company; comforted indiscriminately; no stranger anxiety.
What is specific attachment?
Preference for one caregiver; stranger and separation anxiety.
What happens during the multiple attachments stage?
Attachment behaviors displayed to several people, such as siblings and grandparents.
What is one argument regarding the role of the father in attachment?
Some claim that men are not equipped to form an attachment due to biological differences.
What did Geiger (1996) find regarding fathers’ play?
Fathers’ play is more exciting, but mothers’ play is more affectionate and nurturing.
What is the main finding of Isabella et al. (1989) concerning attachment?
The more securely attached the infant, the greater the level of interactional synchrony.
What did Koepke et al. (1983) fail to replicate?
The findings of Meltzoff and Moore regarding interactional synchrony.
What is the aim of Lorenz’s study?
To examine imprinting in non-human animals.
What was the method used by Lorenz in his imprinting study?
He divided greylag goose eggs into two batches; one hatched by the mother and the other in an incubator with Lorenz as the first large moving object.
What were the results of Lorenz’s imprinting study?
Naturally-hatched goslings followed their mother, while incubator-hatched goslings followed Lorenz, demonstrating imprinting within a critical period of 4–25 hours.
What was Harlow’s aim in his study?
To examine if contact comfort or food influences attachment in rhesus monkeys.
What did Harlow’s study reveal about baby rhesus monkeys?
They preferred the soft ‘cloth mother’ for comfort rather than the ‘wire mother’ that provided food.
What is the learning theory of attachment?
Attachment is learned through operant and classical conditioning.
What does classical conditioning involve in the context of attachment?
The primary caregiver being associated with food.
What role does operant conditioning play in attachment?
When an infant feels hunger, it cries to receive comfort, and feeding reduces the unpleasant feeling of hunger, negatively reinforcing the attachment.
What is Bowlby’s theory of attachment?
Attachment is an innate, evolutionary behaviour that aids survival.
What is the critical period in Bowlby’s theory?
Infants must make a monotropic attachment during the critical period, up to 3 years old.
What does the internal working model refer to?
A template of expectations about how to relate to others, formed by early experiences with the primary caregiver.
