attachment Flashcards
what is meant by attachment?
- a close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
- we can recognise an attachment when people display the following behvaiours:
1) proximity- staying physically close to the attachment figure
2) separation distress- being upset when an attachment figure leaves
3) secure-base behaviour- leaving the attachment figure but regularly retuning to them when playing
what are the 2 types of caregiver-infant interactions?
1) reciprocity
2) interactional synchrony
what is meant by reciprocity?
- this is when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them, sometimes called ‘turn-taking’ e.g. the mother smiles and the baby smiles after
- reciprocity contains an ‘alert phase’, in which a baby signals (e.g. by making eye contact) to show that they are ready to interact and are active in their role as they don’t just respond to interactions, they also initiate it
what is some supporting research for reciprocity?
- Feldman, 2007 found that from around 3 months old reciprocal interaction becomes more frequent and involves close attention to each others verbal signs and facial expressions e.g. when reciprocity stops the baby will notice and try’s to engage with the caregiver e.g. screeching and pointing, before reacting with negative emotions and becoming stressed and beginning to cry
what is meant by interactional synchrony?
- this is when a caregiver and an infants signal synchronises and occur together together (mirroring) e.g. they both smile at the same time
what is the supporting research for interactional synchrony?
1) Meltzoff and Moore, 1977 who observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old
- adults displayed one of 3 facial expressions or one of 3 gestures in which the babies response was filmed
- an association was found between the expression and the action of the child, therefore the babies expression and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults than chance would predict
2) Isabella et al 1989, observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony, the researcher also assessed the quality of mother-baby attachment
- they found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship
what is a positive evaluation of research into caregiver interactions?
P- one strength is that the research is usually filmed in a lab
E- this means that it takes place in an environment where any distractions for the baby are controlled and any observations can be analysed later
E- therefore, it is unlikely that researchers will miss seeing any key behaviours so the studies have good reliability and validity
- furthermore having filmed interactions means that more than one observer can record data and establish the inter-observer reliability
what is a limitation of research into caregiver-infant interactions?
P- A limitation is that it is difficult to interpret a baby’s behaviour
E- it is hard to observe babies behaviour because they are not very co-ordinated, we just observe small gestures and small changes in expression
- it is also hard to interpret the meaning of babies movements, e.g. deciding if a hand movement is a response to the caregiver or a random twitch
E- This means we cannot be certain that any particular interactions observed between baby and caregiver are meaningful
what is another limitation?
P- another limitation is that simply observing a behaviour does not tell us it’s developmental importance
E- For example, Feldman (2012) points out that synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviours that occur at the same time, they do not tell us the purpose of these behaviours
E- this means we cannot be certain from observational research alone that synchrony and reciprocity are important for a child’s development
however, there is evident from other sources e.g. Isabella et al, to suggest that good levels of reciprocity and synchrony are associated with good quality attachments
- this means that, on balance, these early interactions are likely to have importance for development
who studied the stages of attachment?
- Schaffer and Emerson (1964) studied the attachment behaviours of infants
- their findings led them to develop an account of how attachment behaviours change as a baby gets older, so they proposed 4 identifiable stages of attachment, a sequence which is observed in all babies
what was the procedure of Schaffer and Emersons study?
- the study involved 60 babies: 31 boys and 29 girls, all from Glasgow and majority from skilled working-class families
- researchers visited babies and mothers in their own homes every month for the first year and again at 18 months
- the researchers asked the mothers questions, about the kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday separations
- this was designed to measure the babies’ attachment
what are the main stages of attachment?
stage 1- asocial stage
stage 2- indiscriminate attachment
stage 3- specific attachment
stage 4- multiple attachment
what happens in stage 1 (asocial attachment)?
- in a baby’s first few weeks of life it’s observable their behaviour towards people and inanimate objects is quite similar
- also babies tend to show a preference for the company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them
- at this stage the baby is forming bonds with certain people and these form the basis of later attachments
what happens in stage 2 (indiscriminate attachment)?
- from 2 to 7 months babies start to display more obvious and observable social behaviours
- they now show a clear preference for being with other humans rather than inanimate objects and recognise and prefer the company of familiar people
- however, at this stage babies usually accept cuddle and comfort from any person and they do not usually show separation anxiety when caregivers leave their presence or stranger anxiety in the presence of unfamiliar people
what happens in stage 3 (specific attachment)?
- from around 7 months the majority of babies start to display the classic signs of attachment towards one particular person
- these signs include anxiety directed towards strangers (stranger anxiety), especially when their attachment figure is absent, and anxiety when separated from their attachment figure (separation anxiety)
- the baby has said to have formed a specific attachment who is called their primary attachment figure
- this person is not necessarily the individual the child spends most time with but the one who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby’s signals with the most skill (this is the baby’s mother in 65% of cases)
what happens in stage 4 (multiple attachment)?
- by one years old babies start to show attachment behaviour (e.g. stranger and separation anxiety), towards one person they usually extend this behaviour to multiple attachments with other people whom they regularly spend time, these are called secondary attachments
- Schaffer and Emerson observed that 29% of the children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment
- by the age of one year the majority of babies had developed multiple attachments (fathers were the secondary attachment 75% of the tine)
what is one strength of Schaffer and Emersons study?
P- one strength is that the study has high external validity
E- most of the observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers
- the alternative would be to have observers present in the babies homes and this may have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious
E- this means it is highly that the participants behaved naturally while being observed
what is a counterpoint to this evaluation?
- mothers may have been biased in what they reported e.g. they might not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety or may have misremembered it
- this means that even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded
what is another strength of this research?
P- another strength is real-world applications to day care
E- in the early stages (asocial and indiscriminate attachments) babies can be comforted by any skilled adult
E- this means that Schaffer and Emerson’s stages can help parents making day care decisions
what is one limitation of this research?
P- one limitation is that the study lacks generalisability
E- Schaffer and Emerson based their stages on a single but large-scale study of babies’ development conducted in working-class Glasgow in 1960
E- This means the study lacks temporal and population validity and we cannot assume that the same stage pattern would apply universally
what is another limitation of this research?
P- one limitation is that there is poor evidence for the asocial stage
E- as of their stage of physical development babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile
- this makes it difficult for mothers to accurately report signs of anxiety and attachment for this age group
E- this means the babies might actually be quite social but, because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial
what 2 researchers investigated animal studies of attachment?
- Lorenz (1952), investigated imprinting
Harlow (1958), investigated importance of contact comfort
what was Lorenz’s procedure?
- Lorenz randomly divided a large clutch of goose eggs and one half were hatched with the mother goose in their natural environment and the other half hatched in an incubator where the first moving object they saw was Lorenz
- he mixed all the goslings together to see whom they would follow and he observed their later courtship behaviour
what were the findings and conclusions of Lorenz’s study?
findings- he found that the incubator group (experimental group) followed Lorenz and the control group followed the mother
- Lorenz identified a critical period in which imprinting needs to take place e.g. a few hours after hatching
- if imprinting did not occur within that time, chicks did not attach themselves to the mother figure
- he found that geese who had imprinted on Lorenz often shower courtship behaviour towards other humans
- Lorenz also reared a peacock who had imprinted on giant tortoises at birth and this peacock showed courtship behaviour towards giant tortoises