Caregiver-infant Interactions Flashcards
What is attachment
A close emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
What is reciprocity
Mutual responsiveness, type of caregiver-infant interaction where both the infant and caregiver respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
Explain still face by Brazelton
Baby responds positively when mother interacts becomes distressed when no reciprocation of signals
What is interactional synchrony
Type of infant-caregiver interaction where by the caregiver and infant mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial and body movements
Briefly describe Meltzoff and Moore
Controlled observations using babies (6-27 days old), exposed to three facial gestures(sticking tongue out/O shaped mouth and pursed lips), responses were video recorded and observed
-found infants as young as three weeks old imitated specific facial gestures
Strengths of attachment stages studies
-lab study meaning control over EVs eg environment so can catch all elements and angles, high internal validity
-real life application as can promote stronger attachments
-reduces demand characteristics as babies do not know they are part of a study which increases internal validity
Limitations of stages of attachment studies
-lab study so low ecological validity as not in normal setting so should be at home
-make inferences about purpose of interactions as babies cannot communicate why
-artificial task, how often does mother completely stop interacting with baby so reduces mundane realism
Outline Schaffer and Emerson observational study
-study involved 60 babies from Glasgow mostly from working-class families, researchers visited the mothers in their home and asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday separations(eg mother leaving the room to measure separation anxiety) used to measure babies attachment
-identified four distinct stages of development of infant attachment behaviour
Outline asocial stage
-(0-6 weeks)
-baby responds similarly to humans and inanimate objects but preference for people specifically familiar people they are more comforted by
-infant beginning to form bonds with certain people that will form the later relationships
Outline indiscriminate attachments
-2-7 months
-babies start to prefer people to objects but prefer company of familiar people
-happy to accept cuddles and comfort from any adult
-show no separation or stranger anxiety
Outline specific attachment
-from 7 months
-show preference for one adult (mother in 65% of Schaffer and Emerson’s study)
-show separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
-baby said to form specific attachment(primary attachment figure) to the most receptive adult
Outline multiple attachments stage
-up to 1 year
-secondary attachments formed with individuals the baby regularly spends time with
-29% infants in schaffers and Emerson’s study had formed secondary attachments within a month of forming their specific attachment
-by age 1 most babies had multiple attachments
Expand on limitation that there may be issues with generalisability
-only 60 babies from Glasgow and all working class so not a representative sample lacking population validity
-time period 1960s, child rearing practices have changed meaning lacks temporal validity
-in collectivist cultures may have multiple attachments from very early age and this is the norm
Why does the research that the stages are based on have good ecological validity
-recorded baby’s behaviour at home, environment the behaviour would normally happen in day to day environment and during ordinary activities
-observer may have distracted the babies
-recorded behaviour likely to reflect the natural behaviour of the babies
Limitation that researchers asked mothers to record behaviours of babies
-subjective observations as they have biased view
-social desirability bias- may minimise they baby’s bad behaviour or may misremembered baby’s behaviour
-reduces validity of stages as behaviour recorded not accurate
