attatchment - caregiver infant interactions Flashcards
what is reciprocity ?
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.
what is interaction synchrony ?
coordination of infant and caregiver they mirror each other
who researched reciprocity ?
meltzoff and moore
who researched interactional synchrony and reciprocity?
evans and porter
what did meltzoffe and moore do ?
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.
what did evans and porter do ?
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.
evaluate reaserch into caregiver-infant interactions
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
what are schaffers stages of attachment ?
asocial stage , indiscriminate stage , specific attachment and multiple attachments
when is the asocial stage and what happens?
0-2 months - infant shows similar behavior to objects and humans BUT have a preference for familiar adults and feel happier around them
what is the indiscriminate stage and when is it ?
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
when is specific attachment and what is it ?
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.
what is multiple attachment and when ?
after developing first attachment - babies usually extend this behavior to another person forming secondary attachments with people they regularly see.
what was schaffers research ?
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
evaluate Schaffer and Emersons research?
- 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
who researched caregiver - infant interactions ?
Evans and peter
meltzoff and Moore
what was Grossmans view on the role of the father?
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.
what was Fields view on the role of the father?
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.
Schaffers view on the father?
75% of infants developed secondary attachments to their fathers.
Evaluate Schafers stages of attachment
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.
what was schaffer and emersons aim?
Schaffer and Emerson aimed to investigate the formations of early attachment, specifically, what age they developed and to who
findings of schaffer and emerson
before 32 weeks of ages 50% of ifnats showed sepeartion anxiety
by 40 weeks 80% displayed a specific attachment
evaluate research into role of the father
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
what was grossmans research
longitudinal study
looked at both parents role in parenting and the relationship between the childs development
what was fields research?
filmed 4month old babies babies with primary mum and dad and secondary dad
what did field find?
primary caregiver fathers took on the expected role of mothers = more smiley and happy sugesting fathers can be nurturing
who said fathers can be nurturing?
FIELD
WHAT WERE GROSSMANS FINDINGS?
quality of mothers attachment was important in adolescence but nt the fathers attachment suggesting they are less important attachments
outline research into the role of the father
- 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
economical impliations of research into the role of the father
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.
