Attachment

Question 1

Define attachment

Answer 1

An enduring 2 ways emotional the to a specific other person, normally between a parent and child, which develops in set stages within a fairly set timescale

Question 2

What is precocial?

Answer 2

Animals are born at a fairly advanced stage of development I.e. Horses are able to walk and run at birth

Question 3

What is altricial?

Answer 3

Humans are born at a relatively stage of development

Question 4

What are 5 interactions between caregivers and infants?

Answer 4

International syrnchrony 
Reciprocity 
Caregiver
Mimicking 
Body contact

Question 5

What is interaction synchrony?

Answer 5

Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this In a co-ordinated SYNCHRONISED way. Also Infants move their bodies in tune with the rhythm of careers spoken language, mirroring what the other is doing in terms of their facial expressions and body movement

Question 6

What is reciprocity?

Answer 6

Interactions between caters and infants result in mutual behaviour, where the action is the one elicits a response from the other e.g smiling back at someone who smiles at us. An interaction is reciprocal when each person responds to the other and elicits a response for them

Question 7

What is caregivers?

Answer 7

Adults who interact with infants use a modified form of vocal language that is high pitched, song like, slow and repetitive. This aids communication between carer and infant and serves to strengthen the attachment bond

Question 8

What is mimicking?

Answer 8

Infants have an innate ability to imitate carers facial expressions which suggests it is a biological device to and the formation of attachment

Question 9

What is bodily contact?

Answer 9

Physical interactions between carer and infant help to form the attachment bond, especially in the period immediately after birth

Question 10

What was meltzoff and Moore study in 1977?

Answer 10

Study conducted using an adult model who displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements where the fingers moved in sequence. A dummy was placed in the Infants mouth during the initial display to prevent any response

Question 11

What did Meltzoff and Moore find?

Answer 11

In a controlled observation, an adult model displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or hand gestures. The Infants behaviour was filmed on video. Results showed an association between the infant behaviour and that of the adult model. Infants as young as 2-3 weeks old imitated those specific facial and hand gestures

Question 12

A follow up study of Meltzoff and Moore found the same in infants as young as 3 days old, what does this suggest about interactional synchrony?

Answer 12

Meltzoff and Moore (1983) found that same synchrony with infants only 3 days old, ruling out the possibility that the imitation behaviours are learned

Question 13

Give a strength of caregiver infant interactions regarding practical applications

Answer 13

Klaus and Kennells (1976) research:
Hospital placed mothers and babies in the same room in the days following birth to encourage the formation of attachment (rather than the previous practice of rooming them apart)

Question 14

Is the behaviour demonstrated in these studies of caregiver infant interactions intentional?

Answer 14

Abravanel and DeYoung (1991) observed infant behaviour when interacting with inanimate objects that displayed human like movements
-they found that infants (5&12weeks old) made little response to the objects. They concluded that this shows that infants do not just imitate anything they see- it is a specific social response to other humans, therefore supporting its role in the formation of attachments