Attachment - Introduction To Attachment Flashcards
What is the definition of reciprocity?
Reciprocity is a description of how two people interact. Mother–infant interaction is reciprocal in that both infant and mother respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other.
What is the definition of interactional synchrony?
Interactional synchrony is when mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated synchronised way.
What is reciprocity in caregiver–infant interactions?
From birth, babies and their mothers (or other carers) spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction. Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ and signal that they are ready for interaction, which mothers typically pick up and respond to around two-thirds of the time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007). From around three months this interaction tends to be increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions. A key element of this interaction is reciprocity.
What is interactional synchrony in caregiver–infant interactions?
Interactional synchrony can be defined as ‘the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour’. It takes place when mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other’s. Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks old. An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the babies.
What are attachment figures?
One of the important questions attachment research has to answer concerns who infants become attached to. Traditionally we have thought in terms of mother–infant attachment. Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies become attached to their mother first (around 7 months) and within a few weeks or months formed secondary attachments to other family members, including the father. In 75% of the infants studied an attachment was formed with the father by the age of 18 months – this was determined by the fact that the infants protested when their father walked away – a sign of attachment.
What is one evaluation point about the difficulty of observing infants?
It is hard to know what is happening when observing infants. Many studies involving observation of interactions between mothers and infants have shown the same patterns of interaction (Gratier 2003). However, what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression. It is difficult to know, based on these observations, what is taking place from the infant’s perspective.
What is one evaluation point about controlled observations?
Controlled observations capture fine detail. Observations of mother–infant interactions are generally well-controlled procedures, with both mother and infant being filmed, often from multiple angles. This ensures that very fine details of behaviour can be recorded and later analysed. Babies don’t know they are being observed, so their behaviour does not change in response to controlled observation – which is generally a problem for observational research.
What is one evaluation point about the role of fathers?
Inconsistent findings on fathers. Research into the role of fathers in attachment is confusing because different researchers are interested in different research questions. Some psychologists are interested in understanding the role fathers have as secondary attachment figures, but others are more concerned with fathers as primary attachment figures.
What is one evaluation point about socially sensitive research?
Research into mother–infant interaction is socially sensitive because it suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices. In particular, mothers who return to work shortly after a child is born restrict the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony, which Isabella et al. (1989) showed to be important in the developing infant–caregiver attachment.
