Attachment, Attunement, Emotion, Self-Regulation

Question 1

What is attachment?

Answer 1

an emotionally based relationship between an infant and a caregiver

Question 2

What is the role of a caregiver?

Answer 2

To provide for the needs of an infant while making them feel safe and secure.

Question 3

How can a caregiver attune with an infant?

Answer 3

by consistently succeeding at calming the infant by providing the infant with his or her needs while making him/her feel safe and secure

Question 4

What results from attunement by a caregiver?

Answer 4

An infant will prefer and seek assistance from that particular caregiver.

Question 5

What develops between an infant and a caregiver as a result of attunement?

Answer 5

a secure attachment will develop

Question 6

In order to calm an infant if a new stimulus triggers a negative emotion from the infant. What should a caregiver do?

Answer 6

The caregiver should calm the infant.

Question 7

Give 3 rationales for why a caregiver should calm an infant if a new stimulus triggers a negative emotion?

Answer 7

Because:

1. Emotions provide meaning and motivation for activity and participation
2. Emotions help organize the brain
3. Emotions are linked to memories.

Therefore, a positive socio-emotional interaction should occur.

If positive activity and participation are provided from the caregiver during a negative emotion caused by a new stimulus, then the infant will remember a positive interaction from the caregiver when the stimulus occurs again. The child will remember that the caregiver was calm when the stimulus occurred, allowing the infant to remain calm during future occurrences of the stimulus (without the caregiver present).

Question 8

Through what kind of interactions do children learn about their emotions and learn to self regulate independently from their caregivers?

Answer 8

Through socio-emotional interactions

Question 9

In order for a child to attune to a caregiver the child and the caregiver must establish what?

Answer 9

a positive and secure attachment (an emotionally based relationship)

Question 10

What does a secure attachment provide an infant?

Answer 10

the confidence in feeling safe enough to explore his or her surroundings

Question 11

How is emotion related to attunement and attachment?

Answer 11

A child associates the emotional reactions of his or her caregiver with memories of new stimuli to decide how he or she should react to new stimuli when the caregiver is not around.

Question 12

How is self-regulation related to attachment, attunement, emotion, and self-regulation?

Answer 12

Self-regulation occurs once a child has developed a secure attachment with a caregiver so that he or she can attune with the caregiver to learn from from socio-emotional interactions with the caregiver to learn how to self-regulate his or her emotions based of of how the caregiver emotionally reacts to certain stimuli.

Question 13

Name 3 kinds of processes attachment to a child’s caregiver is meant to influence and organize.

Answer 13

1. motivational processes
2. emotional processes
3. memory processes

Question 14

Name 2 things attachment motivates?

Answer 14

1. proximity

2. communication

Question 15

Attachment depends on a caregivers ability to do what during a positive emotional state?

Answer 15

to amplify a positive emotional state

Question 16

Attachment depends on a caregivers ability to do what during a negative emotional state?

Answer 16

to modulate a negative emotional state

Question 17

How can a child benefit when a caregiver modulates a negative emotional state?

Answer 17

The child can learn how to regulate during negative situations and develop a schema for how to feel safe and secure. It is a foundation to build upon.

Question 18

At what age does attachment begin?

Answer 18

2-3 months

Question 19

At what age does the infant fall in love with the caregiver?

Answer 19

3-4 months

Question 20

When does object permanency occur in an infant?

Answer 20

7-9 months

Question 21

At what age does a child have a mental representation of the caregiver?

Answer 21

12 months

Question 22

When one has the ability to anticipate responses to stress to regulate emotion and one self, what does this lead to?

Answer 22

specific organizational changes in behavior and brain function

Question 23

Describe how a child with a “resistant/ambivalent” attachment might react to a mother after she left him or her in a room alone for a short period of time.

Answer 23

The child may want his/her mother back but the child may remain angry, frustrated, or saddened with the mother. The child will want to re-unite but the child will not be easy to soothe. The child might experience feelings of vulnerability, anxiety, and shame. They child will ultimately feel abandoned.

Question 24

Describe how a child with an “avoidant” attachment might react to a mother after she left him or her in a room alone for a short period of time.

Answer 24

The may refuse to re-engage with the mother. They child will not make eye contact. The child will continue on as if the mother did not leave the room. This circumstance will have little affect on attunement and verbal expression. The facial expressions of the child will be mismatched.

Question 25

Describe how a child with an “disorganized-disoriented” attachment might react to a mother after she left him or her in a room alone for a short period of time.

Answer 25

The child will freeze to resist the mother’s departure. When the mother returns the child will not know whether or not he or she should approach mom or not. The child may not want to be friendly with mom anymore (estrangement). The child will be hesitant, have an averted eye gaze, and may begin to rock. The child will also show a sudden shift in mental states that are not independent of child signals.

Question 26

Which kind of attachment is very predictive to later problems? What might those problems be?

Answer 26

“disorganized-disoriented”

1. aggressiveness
2. lashing out
3. control issues
4. helplessness

Question 27

What kind of attachment might be associated with a parent that appears emotionally unavailable?

Answer 27

“avoidant”

Question 28

Describe a “secure-autonomous” adult.

Answer 28

They are coherent (logical and consistent)

Question 29

Describe a “dismissing” adult.

Answer 29

They are brief with children and dismiss the problems of others.

Question 30

Describe a “preoccupied” adult.

Answer 30

They are not logical or consistent. They are preoccupied with the past. They are vague.

Question 31

Describe an “unresolved-disorganized” adult.

Answer 31

They lapse in reasoning and discourse. They tend to be silent for long periods of time.

Question 32

How can one foster a secure attachment?

Answer 32

through positive communication

Question 33

How does one provide positive communication?

Answer 33

By reflecting the mental state of another by emotionally engaging in words and nonverbal reflection of emotional states.

Question 34

When using verbal talk as a positive communication strategy, what can one talk about? (List 4)

Answer 34

1. perceptions
2. thoughts
3. feelings
4. intentions

Question 35

When one’s intervention focuses on positive communication, what are some tips you can give the parents to achieve secure attachment with their child?

Answer 35

1. be sensitive and responsive to the child’s signals
2. align and match experiences and state of mind
3. amplify positive affective states
4. reduce negative affective states