Attatchment Flashcards
What is attachment?
An attachment is a close two-way emotional bond between two individuals where each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security. It endures over time and serves to protect the infant.
Define proximity
People try to stay physically close to those they are attached to
Define separation anxiety
People are distressed when an attachment figure leaves their presence
Define stranger anxiety
The infant is distressed when in close proximity to strangers / people they don’t know
Define reunion behaviour
The infant shows pleasure when reunited with the attachment figure.
What problems do researchers face when conducting attachment research?
Infants have little control, over their movements when they are that immature and their bodies are almost immobile when they are very small. The movements are just small hand/limb movements or facial expressions. Also difficult to determine what is going on in the baby’s mind. Therefore we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in care-giver infant interactions have a special meaning.
What are caregiver-infant interactions, and why are they important?
Caregiver-infant interactions refers to the communication between a caregiver and infant. It is believed that these interactions have important functions for the child’s social development and form the basis of the attachment between the two. Particularly, the more responsive or sensitive they are to each other’s signals, the deeper the bond.
Give the technical definition of reciprocity.
Reciprocity is a caregiver-infant interaction. It is a two-way or mutual process - each party responds to the other’s signals to sustain (continue) the interaction (turn-taking). An interaction is reciprocal when each person responds to the other and the behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other. Both the caregiver and infant can initiate interactions.
Explain why reciprocity is important for the infant.
Lays the foundation for later attachment and communications
Give the technical definition of interactional synchrony.
Interactional synchrony is when a caregiver and infant reflect the actions and emotions of the other in a coordinated (synchronised) way. They mirror each other in terms of their facial and body movements.
Explain two ways in which interactional synchrony is important for the infant.
For them to begin to acquire an understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling which is fundamental for social relationships.
Important for the development of mother-infant attachments
How is reciprocity different to interactional synchrony?
In reciprocity the responses aren’t necessarily similar.
Describe Meltzoff and Moore’s procedure and results (study of interactional synchrony)
Observed I.S in infants as young as 2 weeks. An adult display one of three facial expressions - inants response filmed and identifed by independent observers (couldn’t see adult showing facial expression). Behaviour is innate (3 day babies) and intentional.
Meltzoff suggested that through interactional synchrony, infants begin to acquire an understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling which is fundamental for social relationships.
What did Isabella et al. (1989) find about interactional synchrony?
Isabella et al. (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony. They found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality of mother-infant attachment.
Studies of caregiver-infant interactions are generally well-controlled. How? Why is this important?
Observations of mother-infant interactions are generally well-controlled procedures, with both the mother and infant being filmed, often from multiple angles. The angles often include those that mean that the researcher analysing the video footage cannot see what the other person in the video is doing. Additionally, babies don’t know or care that they are being observed.
As babies don’t know or care that they are being observed, this reduces the likelihood of demand characteristics and social desirability bias which are normally a problem for observational research. Recording the interactions ensures that fine details can be recorded and later analysed. As angles can be used where the caregiver can’t be seen, this reduces the likelihood of researcher bias. Together, this ensures that the research has good internal validity and so we can make valid conclusions about the importance of caregiver-infant interactions. It also means that the research can be replicated to check reliability of the results.
Counterargument: it is difficult to study infants’ behaviour because their mouths are in fairly constant motion. The expressions being tested in research (e.g. tongue sticking out, yawning, smiling) occur frequently. This makes it difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitated behaviours. As such, we can’t be certain that the interactions are deliberate and so have a special meaning.
Why can’t we be certain that caregiver-infant interactions have a special meaning?
Ignore
Feldman points out that interactional synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviours that occur at the same time. They are robust phenomena that can be reliably observed, but this may not be particularly useful as it doesn’t tell us their purpose (why they are done).
Therefore, we can’t understand why infants reciprocate and imitate their caregivers, so we can’t be certain that they have a special meaning.
Counterargument: there is evidence that reciprocity and interactional synchrony are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment, as well as stress responses, empathy, language and moral development (e.g. Isabella et al.). Therefore, it seems that they may have a special meaning.
What evidence is there to suggest they do have a special meaning?
Meltzoff and Moore’s study along with Isabella et al.’s study support the importance of interactional synchrony in social development and attachment. This suggests that interactional synchrony may have a special meaning as it is important for the development of attachment and to help infants to begin to acquire an understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling, which is fundamental for social relationships.
Pseudo-imitation is a problem for studies of caregiver-infant interactions. What is this and why is it a problem?
Ignore
Many studies involving observation of the interactions between mothers and infants have shown the same patterns of interaction (reciprocity and interactional synchrony). However, what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to know what is taking place from the infant’s perspective e.g. are they doing what they are doing deliberately? Other researchers have suggested that infants may instead be showing pseudo-imitation. This is the idea that the infant isn’t truly imitating the behaviour of the caregiver. Instead, they are repeating a behaviour that has been rewarded (the caregiver often smiles and laughs when they imitate). Therefore, the infant has not consciously translated what they see into a matching movement.
Consequently, we can’t conclude that we fully understand the meaning of caregiver-infant interactions and we can’t know for certain that they have a special meaning.
Counterargument: Abravanel and DeYong (1991) observed infant behaviour when ‘interacting’ with two objects, one simulating tongue movements and the other mouth opening/closing. They found that the infants made little response to the objects. This suggests that infants don’t imitate everything they see; it is a specific social response to other humans. Therefore, the interactions may have a special meaning.
How can research on caregiver-infant interactions be considered socially sensitive?
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 restricts the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony which has been found to be important in developing caregiver-infant attachment. This suggests that mothers should not return to work so soon and as such has socially sensitive implications. It could create guilt in mothers who need to return to work soon after the birth of their child. However, the research is important in that it suggests that the interactions have a special meaning and may have implications later on in life. These two opposing viewpoints need to be carefully considered when conducting and publishing such research.
What is Schaffer’s stages of attachment?
Some psychologists have suggested that attachment isn’t as straightforward as it’s not there and then it suddenly is. They said that it actually develops in stages or steps. This is Schaffer’s stages of attachment. They are a description of how attachment develops that Schaffer developed from his research with Emerson.
What is the asocial stage?
The first stage is called the asocial stage, which isn’t really an asocial stage even though Schaffer and Emerson used that term. Babies in the first few weeks of life are said to be in this stage. During this stage the baby recognises and starts to form a bond with its carers. However, the baby’s behaviour towards non-human objects and humans is quite similar. Babies show some preference for familiar adults, in that those individuals find it easier to calm them. Babies are also happier when in the presence of other humans. During this stage, reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing the infant’s relationship with others.
What is the indiscriminate attachment stage?
From 2-7 months babies display more observable social behaviour. They show a preference for people rather than inanimate objects and recognise and prefer familiar adults. They can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people. At this stage babies usually accept cuddles and comfort from any adult, and they do not usually show separation or stranger anxiety. Their attachment behaviour is therefore said to be indiscriminate because it is not different towards any one person, which is where the name of the stage came from.
What is the specific attachment stage?
The third stage is called ‘specific attachment’ and occurs from 7 months. The majority of babies start to display anxiety towards strangers and to become anxious when separated from one particular adult (the biological mother in 65% of cases). Equally, they show especial joy at reunion with that particular adult and are most comforted by them. At this point the baby is said to have formed a specific attachment. This adult is termed the primary attachment figure. This person is not necessarily the person the child spends most time with them, but the one who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby’s ‘signals’ with the most skill.
What is the multiple attachments stage?
The final stage is known as ‘multiple attachments’. Shortly after babies start to show attachment behaviour towards one adult, they usually extend this attachment behaviour to multiple attachments with other adults with whom they regularly spend time. These relationships are called secondary attachments. In Schaffer and Emerson’s study, 29% of the children had secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment. By the age of 1 year the majority of infants had developed multiple attachments.