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 refers to the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour (Feldman, 2007) and occurs when an infant and caregiver mirror each other’s actions and emotions in a coordinated way. Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed this in infants as young as two weeks old, finding that they imitated facial expressions and gestures displayed by an adult. An association was found between the adult’s behaviour and the infant’s response. Isabella et al. (1989) further demonstrated that higher levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment, highlighting its role in the emotional intensity of the relationship.
What did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) find about the formation of infant attachments?
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that most infants form a primary attachment to their mother by around 7 months. Within a few weeks or months, they develop secondary attachments, including to their father. By 18 months, 75% of infants showed attachment to their father, as indicated by protesting when their father walked away—a clear sign of attachment.
What does research suggest about the role of the father in attachment and child development?
The role of the father in a child’s development has been debated, with some research suggesting a distinct role. Grossman (2002) conducted a longitudinal study examining both parents’ behaviour and its impact on the quality of children’s later attachments. While the quality of infant attachment with the mother was linked to future relationships, father-child attachment was instead associated with children’s adolescent social behaviour, suggesting a different influence. This indicates that fathers have a role that is more focused on play and stimulation rather than nurturing.
How do fathers behave when they take on the role of the primary caregiver?
Research suggests that when fathers take on the role of the primary caregiver, they adopt behaviours more similar to those of the mother. Tiffany Field (1978) found that primary caregiver fathers, like mothers, spent more time engaging in reciprocity and interaction with their infants. This suggests that the level of responsiveness, rather than gender, is the key factor in forming strong attachments.
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.
This means we can’t know for certain that behaviours seen here have a special meaning.
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.
