Caregiver-infant interactions in humans Flashcards
What is attachment
A close emotional bond between two people shown in their behaviour that is a two way reciprocal process that endures over time
Define Altricial
Undeveloped and in need of significant care eg newborn babies
Define Precocial
Being able to move around freely and be alone after birth eg newborn foals
What is reciprocity
Infant and caregiver are both active contributors in the interaction and are responding to each other. Brazelton described this as a dance.
What is interactional synchrony
A simultaneous action where the infant and caregiver are mirroring each others behaviour and emotion at the same time
How do you know if a mother and infant have good interactions (3 factors)
Secure base behaviour - wanting to be close to mother in presence of stranger
Separation distress - upset when the mother leaves the room
Proximity - wanting to be close and held
Meltzoff and Moore study of reciprocity and interactional synchrony
40 babies less than 72 hours old were held by mothers and were controlled when last fed. It involved an adult model (unknown to the baby) displaying one of of 3 facial expressions or a hand gesture to the baby. The child had a dummy to prevent a facial response. The dummy was then removed and the child’s expression was filmed and observed. The observers noticed opening mouth, closing mouth, sticking their tongue out and putting their tongue back in. The observers didn’t know what behaviours the baby had been shown. 16/40 did the behaviour frequently after the adult compared to 1/40 who did not match the adult.
Evaluation : Do babies make attachments when they are first born?
1 - research to support interactional synchrony is highly scientific and controlled - Meltzoff and Moore using video footage and a single blind - unlikely to miss things and and observers didn’t know behaviour which reduces bias - however study used strangers so how does this prove attachment
2 - babies also lack communication and cannot express their feelings and why they make attachments. We have to infer from their behaviour and we could argue imitation wasn’t deliberate as infants constantly make different faces. However we have to study babies as they have more nurture when they are older ans even older children like 5 year olds also can’t explain their behaviour
3 - other ways that attachments form? Reciprocity and Interactional Synchrony are not seen in babies all across the world eg Kenyan mothers have little interaction but the children are securely attached. This means it is not valid across the world and they are not universal attachment behaviours. Despite this it has proved useful to study early attachment as it allows us to spot disorders such as autism or even neglect from parents.
Schaffer and Emerson Stages of Attachment study
Studied 60 babies in Glasgow visiting them monthly for the first year and then again at 18 months. They collected data on two types of behaviour - separation anxiety and stranger distress. They used a triangulation method by using observations and interviews. During each visit they would approach the baby and see if they cried or showed signs of distress. They interviewed the mother asking them about baby’s response to various situations. They used a 4 point scale. Mother was main attachment figure (65%) only 3% were attached to father and by 18 months 32% has multiple attachments.
What are the four stages of attachment according to Shaffer and Emerson
Asocial - similar responses to people and objects, do not prefer specific people, discriminate familiar people by smell and voice
Indiscriminate - become more sociable, easily comforted by anyone, no fear of strangers yet, recognise difference between people and objects.
Specific - 7 months + begin to show separation anxiety and stranger distress. Formed attachment to main caregiver (mother)
Multiple - multiple attachments from soon after the first is made eg to grandparents or childminders
Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson study on stages of attachment
Mother could have shown social desirability by wanting to seem like a good mum and acted differently when observed and interviewed however it is done in the baby’s home which jncreasss validity as it makes it more natural and a normal setting for mother and baby.
Cultural bias - would have been more distressing for a baby in Japan than in the UK as they are hardly separated from their mother so it would be unethical and shows that attachment is different across the world and may not be a completely universal concept as there are different experiences. There was also a lack of looking into non nuclear families such as same sex and single parent families where we would see potentially different attachments which haven’t been studied
Research that fathers do have a role in attachment
Schaffer and Emerson - at 18 months 75% of babies form a secondary attachment to their father
Field - fathers can actually be more nurturing and the key is level of responsiveness rather than the gender
Grossman / Bowlby - fathers have a greater role in play rather than nurturing so they are important but in a different way
Gender roles have changed so fathers are looking after children now more than they used to
Still face experiment showed that the baby reacted the same to the mother ans the father showing that they have the same importance to the baby
Research that suggests the father doesn’t have a role in attachment
Grossman - suggests quality of attachment with mother and not father was related to the early attachments as a baby
MacCallum and Golombok - found children growing in single parent families and same sex families do not develop differently from two parent heterosexual families
Could argue they are not important because they do not have enough oestrogen to make them sufficiently nurturing to form attachments.
Economic implications of research on role of the father
More fathers may stay at home and therefore contribute less to the economy and the family.
There could be a change in paternity laws which is government funding which will affect the economy and impact employers who will need to find new employees.
