attachments Flashcards
what is attachment?
an emotional tie or bond between 2 people, usually a primary caregiver and a child
their relationship is reciprocal
which behaviours demonstrate attachment?
proximity - people try and stay close to their attachment figure
separation distress - people show signs of anxiety when an attachment figure leaves their presence
secure base behaviour - people tend to make regular contacts with their attachment figures
what is reciprocity?
how 2 people interact
caregiver infant interaction is reciprocal in the way that both respond to each others signals and each elicits a response from the other
how is reciprocity demonstrated in caregiver infant interactions?
alert phases
active involve,ent
what are alert phases?
babies have periodic alert phases in which they signal that they are ready for interaction (e.g making eye contact)
mothers typically pick up on and respond to their baby’s alertness 2/3 of the time (varies according to skill of the mother and external factors such as stress (finegood et al. 2016)
from 3 months this interaction becomes increasingly frequent
what is active involvement?
traditional views portray babies as having an passive role (receiving care from an adult) but they take an active role as they both initiate interactions and take turns
Bradenton et al. (1975) described the interaction as a dance where each partner responds to their partners moves
what is interactional synchrony?
caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a synchronised way
when does synchrony begin and what was the experiment conducted by meltzoff and moore (1977)
they observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies at 2 weeks old
adult displayed 3 facial expressions and the baby’s response was filmed and labelled by independent observers
babies’ expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than chance would predict
what is the importance of interactional synchrony for attachment?
important for development of caregiver infant attachment
Isabella et al. 1989 observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony and the quality of the mother baby attachment
they found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother baby attachment
evaluation: what is the strength of caregiver interactions being filmed in a laboratory?
- Means that other activities that might distract a baby can be controlled therefore it is unlikely researches will miss seeing any key behaviours
- having filmed interactions means that more than one observer can record data and establish the user-rated reliability of the observation
- babies don’t know their being observed therefore their behaviour does not change in response to observation
THEREFORE GOOD RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
evaluation: how is it a limitation that it is hard to interpret a baby’s behaviour?
babies lack coordination and their bodies are almost immobile
it is difficult to be sure whether a baby is e.g smiling or passing wind
It is also difficult to determine what is taking place from a baby’s perspective e.g we cannot know whether a move,ent such as a hand twitch is random or triggered by something the caregiver has done
this means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver interactions have a special meaning
evaluation: how does only observing behaviour not tell us about its developmental importance?
feldmen (2012) points out that ideas like synchrony and reciprocity simply give names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behaviours
they still may not be useful in understanding child development as it does not tell us the purpose of these behaviours
means we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development
what is the counterpoint that observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance?
there is evidence from other lines of research that early interactions are important
e.g Isabella et al. found that achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment
Meaning on balance caregiver interaction is probably important in development
what are the 4 stages of attachment proposed by schaffer and emerson (1964)?
- asocial stage
- indiscriminate attachment
- specific attachment
- multiple attachments
how is stage 1 of attachment described by schaffer and emerson (1964)?
- asocial stage
baby’s first few weeks of life: behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects are fairly similar
- show preference for the company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them
- forming bonds with certain people and these form the basis of later attachment
how is stage 2 of attachment described by schaffer and emerson (1964)?
- indiscriminate attachment
from 2 to 7 months display more obvious n observable social behaviours e.g clear preference for being w other humans rather than inanimate objects
- recognise and prefer company of familiar people, also accept comfort from any person
- do not usually show separation anxiety when caregivers leave their presence or stranger anxiety in the presence of unfamiliar people
how is stage 3 of attachment described by schaffer and emerson (1964)?
- specific attachment
from 7 months: babies start to display signs of attachment towards one particular person (stranger anxiety and separation anxiety)
- formed specific attachment to primary attachment figure (one who offers most interaction and responds to babies signals) (mother in 65% of cases)
how is stage 4 of attachment described by schaffer and emerson (1964)?
- multiple attachments (by age of 1 year+)
start to show attachment behaviour to other people (multiple attachments) with whom they regularly spend time with called secondary attachments
- observed 29% of children form secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachment
what procedure and findings were the stages of attachment based on? (schaffer and emerson)
procedure: 60 babies (31 boys, 29 girls, from glasgow, mostly for skilled working class families)
- researchers visited them and their mothers every month for one year and again at 18 months
- asked mother questiosn about kind of protest babies showed in 7 everyday separations (measure of separation anxiety e.g mother leaving room)
findings: between 25-32 weeks of age 50% showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult
by 40 weeks most infants developed specific attachment and some developed multiple attachments
evaluation: how does schaffer and emerson’s experiment have good external validity?
- most observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researches, eliminated the possibility of distracting babies or making them anxious if the researcher had done it instead
- highly likely that ppts behaved naturally while being observed
evaluation: what is a counterpoint to schaffer and emerson’s experiment having good external validity?
mothers = unlikely to be objective researchers, may have been biased in what they noticed and reported
e.g may not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety or misremembered it
meaning if their babies behaved naturally it may not have been accurately recorded
evaluation: how is the validity of the measures used in schaffer and emerson’s experiment a limitation?
young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile
babies less than 2 months old may have shown signs of anxiety in subtle hard to observe ways, making it difficult for mothers to observe and report back
means that babies might be quite social but because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial
evaluation: how is schaffer and emerson’s experiment applicable to the real world?
in the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages, day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult
their research tells us that starting day care with an unfamiliar adult may be problematic during the specific attachment stage
means parents’ use of day care can be planned using the attachment stages
what is the definition of a father in attachment research?
anyone who takes on the role of the father (not necessarily the biological father)