Attachment Flashcards
What is an attachment?
Attachment is a close emotional relationship between an infant and their caregiver
What does “securely attached” mean?
Infants will show a desire to be close to their primary caregiver (usually their biological mother) and they will show distress when they’re separated and pleasure when they’re reunited
What are the 5 common caregiver-infant interactions?
Bodily contact Mimicking Caregiverese Interactional synchrony Reciprocity
What are the 5 common caregiver-infant interactions involved in?
Developing and maintaining the attachment
What is bodily contact?
Physical interactions between carer and infant
Research conducted about bodily contact?
Klaus and and Kennel (1976) compared mums who had extended physical contact with their babies lasting several hours a day with mums who only had contact during feeding in the first three days after birth. One month later the mums who had greater contact cuddled their babies more and made greater eye contact with them
Evaluation of bodily contact?
A practical application of this was that hospitals placed mothers and babies in the same room in the days following the birth rather than the previous practice of rooming them apart to encourage the formation of attachment
What is mimicking/imitation?
Infants seem to have an innate ability to imitate carer’s facial expressions. It is a biological device to aid the formation of attachments
Research conducted into mimicking?
Melzoff and Moore (1977) found that infants aged 2-3 years tended to mimic adults’ specific facial expressions and hand movements, supporting the idea that infant mimicry is an innate ability to aid the formation of attachments
What is caregiverese?
Adults using a modified form of vocal language which is high pitched, song-like and slow
Research conducted into caregiverese?
Papousek et al (1991) found that the tendency to use a rising tone to show an infant that it was their turn in the interaction was cross cultural as American, Chinese and German mothers all exhibited the behaviour
Evaluation of caregiverese?
Caregiverese has been seen to be used by adults to all infants, not just those they have an attachment with, which suggests that although its usage aids communication between adults and infants it cannot be claimed to be specifically help form attachments
What is interactional synchrony?
The co-ordinated rhythmic exchanges between carer and infant
Research conducted into interactional synchrony?
Condor and Sander (1974) analysed frame by frame video recordings of infant’s movements to find they co-ordinated their actions in sequence with adults’ speech to form a kind of turn taking conversation
Evaluation of interactional synchrony?
It is not found in all cultures. Le Vine et al (1994) reported that Kenyan mothers have little interactions with their infants but such infants do have a high proportion of secure attachments.
