attachment (paper 1) Flashcards
What is attachment?
A close, two way emotional bond between two individuals who deem each other essential for emotional security.
What are the 3 attachment behaviors?
proximity:
trying to stay physically close to attachment figures
separation distress:
anxiety when attachment figure leaves
secure-base behavior:
making regular contact with attachment figure even when independent
What is reciprocity?
Describes how two people interact, eg both mother and infant respond to signals and each elicit a response
What is interactional synchrony?
When mother and infanta reflect the actions and emotions of each other in a co-ordinated and synchronized way.
What did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) find? (interactional synchrony)
Found an association between the expression and gestures of an adult and the actions of babies.
What did Isabella et als research suggest?
That higher levels of interactional synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment.
What is a strength of research into care-giver infant interactions?
Observations can be used to capture fine details. Mother-infant interactions are controlled and usually filmed. In addition babies are unaware of filming and so act naturally. Therefore research is highly valid.
What is a weakness of research into care giver infant interactions? (deliberate behavior)
It is hard to judge if infant behavior is deliberate as behavior is usually mere hand movements/changes in expression. This makes it difficult to judge is there imitations are conscious/deliberate. We are therefore unsure if mother-infant interactions have deeper special meaning.
What is a limitation of research into care-giver infant interactions? (what not why)
Observations show us what is happening not why. Fieldman points out that synchrony only describes behavior occurring at the same time. Despite these being a robust phenomena due to the reliability of observations, they are not useful for explaining why.
Describe Schaffers study?
Aimed to investigate formation of early attachment. Consisted of a longitudinal study of 60 babies from working class families who were visited every month for a year and then again at 18 months. Mother were questioned on separation and stranger anxiety.
What did Schaffers study find?
- 25-23 weeks 50% of babies showed separation anxiety, to one adult usually mother
- attachment directed at more interactive care-giver
- By 40 wks 80% had specific attachments
What are the 4 attachment stages?
1) Asocial (0-8wks) treat objects and humans similarly,
