attatchment - caregiver infant interactions

Question 1

what is reciprocity ?

Answer 1

its like a conversation of body language between caregiver and infant. each person responds to the other evoking a response. It works back and forth.

Question 2

what is interaction synchrony ?

Answer 2

coordination of infant and caregiver they mirror each other

Question 3

who researched reciprocity ?

Answer 3

meltzoff and moore

Question 4

who researched interactional synchrony and reciprocity?

Answer 4

evans and porter

Question 5

what did meltzoffe and moore do ?

Answer 5

lab study- 18 infants aged 12-27 days old - they were recorded and observed. The observer was unaware of the aims of the study. The babies were exposed to 4 different stimuli - sticking tongue out waving, opening mouth and pouting. The findings showed that the babies can copy and respond to both manual and facial gestures.

Question 6

what did evans and porter do ?

Answer 6

101 infants and their mothers from an American suburb were asked to be observed in a lab at 6, 9, 12 months. they were provided with toys and instructed to play for 15 minutes whilst been recorded. the extent to which babies performed interactional synchrony and reciprocity was recorded. At 12 months the babies were assessed using the strange situation. It was found that securely attached babies show more interactional synchrony and reciprocity.

Question 7

evaluate reaserch into caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 7

took place in a lab
lacks ecological validity
babies probably wouldnt care or know theyre being filmed and act normally
hard to accurately interpret babies
research was filmed and can be checked

Question 8

what are schaffers stages of attachment ?

Answer 8

asocial stage , indiscriminate stage , specific attachment and multiple attachments

Question 9

when is the asocial stage and what happens?

Answer 9

0-2 months - infant shows similar behavior to objects and humans BUT have a preference for familiar adults and feel happier around them

Question 10

what is the indiscriminate stage and when is it ?

Answer 10

2-7 months - babies start to show some obvious signs of preference towards humans and familiar adults but do not have a specific attachment who they interact with and don’t show separation anxiety

Question 11

when is specific attachment and what is it ?

Answer 11

from 7 months - babies start to attach to one person they may experience stranger anxiety and separation anxiety from the person they have attached to. this person is called the primary attachment figure.

Question 12

what is multiple attachment and when ?

Answer 12

after developing first attachment - babies usually extend this behavior to another person forming secondary attachments with people they regularly see.

Question 13

what was schaffers research ?

Answer 13

6o babies from Glasgow were visited every month up until they were 18 months old and the mothers were asked questions to measure separation anxiety and asses stranger anxiety

Question 14

evaluate Schaffer and Emersons research?

Answer 14

• took place at home meaning that the behaviour observed is unlikely to be effected by the observation. This means it was more accurately measuring ^ validity
• however, the observations may be invalid because lots of the observations were conducted by the parents = social desirability bias
• longitudinal - fewer individual differences
• sample bias

Question 15

who researched caregiver - infant interactions ?

Answer 15

Evans and peter
meltzoff and Moore

Question 16

what was Grossmans view on the role of the father?

Answer 16

After conducting a longitudinal study concluded that fathers have an inferior role in attachment and instead their role is play and stimulation orientated rather than nurturing.

Question 17

what was Fields view on the role of the father?

Answer 17

They studied both primary mother and fathers as well as secondary fathers. They found that primary fathers adopt the behaviours associated with primary mothers. Suggesting that fathers can be primary caregivers.

Question 18

Schaffers view on the father?

Answer 18

75% of infants developed secondary attachments to their fathers.

Question 19

Evaluate Schafers stages of attachment

Answer 19

problems with the asocial stage - babies are young and have very little poor coordination making it hard to reach conclusions about their behaviour and cognitions.

Question 20

what was schaffer and emersons aim?

Answer 20

Schaffer and Emerson aimed to investigate the formations of early attachment, specifically, what age they developed and to who

Question 21

findings of schaffer and emerson

Answer 21

before 32 weeks of ages 50% of ifnats showed sepeartion anxiety
by 40 weeks 80% displayed a specific attachment

Question 22

evaluate research into role of the father

Answer 22

inconsistent findings such as he is maternal or he is secondary attachment so we cannot reach a helpful conclusion
socially sensistive - places pressure on mothers and devalues the role of the father
studies have suggested that children raised in same sex families or single parent do not suffer from the lack of father role suggesting he is not important

Question 23

what was grossmans research

Answer 23

longitudinal study
looked at both parents role in parenting and the relationship between the childs development

Question 24

what was fields research?

Answer 24

filmed 4month old babies babies with primary mum and dad and secondary dad

Question 25

what did field find?

Answer 25

primary caregiver fathers took on the expected role of mothers = more smiley and happy sugesting fathers can be nurturing

Question 25

who said fathers can be nurturing?

Answer 25

FIELD

Question 26

WHAT WERE GROSSMANS FINDINGS?

Answer 26

quality of mothers attachment was important in adolescence but nt the fathers attachment suggesting they are less important attachments

Question 27

outline research into the role of the father

Answer 27

• Schaffer and emmerson -> 75% of secondary attachments at 18 months were with the father
• Grossman -> fathers attachment has less of an effect on adolsence and is less important
• fathers may have a more playful role instead in which is still important
• fathers can be caregiivers -> they adopt behaviours associated with motherhood - field

Question 28

economical impliations of research into the role of the father

Answer 28

increasingly fathers remain at home and therefore contribute less to the economy consequently more mothers may return to work and contribute to the economy
changing laws on paternity leave – government-funded so affects the economy; impact upon employers
gender pay gap may be reduced if parental roles are regarded as more equal
early attachment research, e.g. Bowlby suggests fathers should provide an economic rather than an emotional function.