Difference between Learning & Evolutionary Theory Flashcards
What is the Learning theory
Biological - According to learning theory, infants learn to be attached to their primary caregiver.
What is the Evolutionary theory
Environmental - Explains attachment is an innate behaviour that has evolved over millions of years bc it increases chances of survival.
Difference between Learning & Evolutionary theory
What is attachment
- A close two-way emotional bond between 2 individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.
- Attachment in humans takes a few months to develop.
Characteristics of attachment
Maccoby (1980) identified 4 characteristics of attachment:
1. Seeking proximity
2. Distress on separation
3. Joy on reunion
4. Orientation of behaviour
Why do attachments form
Survival:
Infants are physically helpless
Short term: need adults for food, comfort & protection (infant less than 2yrs)
Long term: emotional relationships (child 2yrs - adolescence)
What does reciprocity mean
- Caregiver-infant interaction is a two-way, mutual process. The behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other. Each party responds to the action of another’s signal to sustain interaction (turn-taking).
- The responses are not necessarily similar ass in interactional synchronicity.
Research on reciprocity
- Smiling is an eg of reciprocity- when a smile occurs in one person it elicits a response in the other.
- Tronick et al. (1977) asked mothers who had been enjoying a dialogue w their baby to stop moving & maintain a static, unsmiling expression on their face. Babies would try to tempt the mother into interaction by smiling themselves, & would become puzzled & increasingly distressed when their smile did not provoke the usual response.
More research on reciprocity
- Research has demonstrated that infants coordinated their action w caregivers in a kind of conversation. Mothers typically pick up on & respond to infant alertness around 2/3 of the time.
- Feldman (2007): around 3 months this interaction tends to be increasingly frequent.
- From birth babies move in a rhythm when interacting w an adult almost as if they were taking turns.
- Brazelton et al. (1975) suggested that this basic rhythm is an important precursor to later communications. The regularity of an infant’s signals allows a caregiver to anticipant the infant’s behaviour & response appropriately.
- Trevathan suggested that turn taking in the infant-adult interaction is important for the development of social & language skills.
Interactional synchrony
- Psychologists have described a slightly different interaction between infants & caregivers called international synchrony which is when 2 ppl interact in a mirror pattern in terms of their emotional & facial & body movements.
- This includes imitating emotions as well as behaviours.
- Feldman defines it as ‘the temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour’.
Research on synchrony
- Meltzoff & Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks. An adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or one of 3 distinctive gestures.
- The child’s response was filmed & identified by independent observers. An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult has displayed & actions of the babies.
- In a later study, Meltzoff & Moore demonstrated the same synchrony w infants only 3 days old
Observation on babies: PROS
- Controlled observations capture fine detail
- Often observations are video taped from different angles to capture all details.
- Babies do not know or care that they are bing observed - they should not change their behaviour.
- Improves validity.
Observation on babies: CONS
- It is difficult during observations to see the infant’s perspective.
- Is the behaviour conscious & deliberate.
- We cannot assume the interaction has a specific meaning. Therefore it is difficult to observe infant behaviour & assume they are behaving in a specific way.
- Observations do not tell us the purpose of synchrony & reciprocity. Feldman (2012) suggests that synchrony simply describes behaviours that occur at the same time; They do not tell us their purpose.
- HOWEVER, there is ev that reciprocity & synchrony are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment as well as helpful stress responses, empathy, language & moral development.
The role of the father
- Secondary caregiver.
- Quality of fathers’ play w the infants was related to the quality of adolescent attachment, suggesting play & stimulation was an important role for fathers & not nurturing (like the mother).
What is a longitudinal study
A study looking at the same individuals for a long period of time (years, etc)
What did Schaffer & Emerson (1964) find
- Found that the majority of babies became attached to their mothers first (at around 7 months) & within a few weeks or months, formed secondary attachments.
- 75% - attachment was formed w the father by age 18months
Fathers as primary caregivers
- Field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies in face-to-face interaction w primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers & primary caregiver fathers.
- PCF - more likely to smile, hold & imitate baby behaviours than SCF.
- Key to attachment is level of responsiveness not biological sex.
