How do we form Attachments (Attachments) Flashcards
What’s the 1st stage of attachment?
Pre-attachment stage.
What’s the 2nd stage of attachment?
Indiscriminate attachment.
What’s the 3rd stage of attachment?
Discriminate attachment.
What’s the 4th stage of attachment?
Multiple attachment.
Define the pre-attachment stage:
Babies show no attachment to any adult.
When does the pre-attachment stage start?
0 - 3 months.
Define the indiscriminate attachment stage:
Babies begin to prefer familiar people but don’t yet form strong attachments to one particular person.
When does the indiscriminate attachment stage start?
Between 3 - 7 months.
Define the discriminate stage:
Babies form a preferable attachment one specific person, usually their main caregiver.
When does the discriminate attachment stage start?
7 - 9 months.
Define multiple attachment stage:
Babies form attachment with others than their main caregiver.
When does the multiple attachment stage start?
9 months onwards.
Who studies the formation of attachments?
Schaffer and Emerson.
What did Schaffer and Emerson aim to investigate?
How babies develop attachment to their parents over time.
What type of study did Schaffer and Emerson conduct?
A longitudinal study.
What type of observation did Schaffer and Emerson use?
Naturalistic.
What sample did Schaffer and Emerson look into?
Followed 60 babies and their families.
How long did Schaffer and Emerson follow their sample size for?
From birth to 18 months.
What did Schaffer and Emerson assess?
Babies were observed with their caregivers to assess stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.
What additional research method did Schaffer and Emerson use?
They conducted interviews with family members, asking the behaviour of the baby + their relationship.
What is a strength to Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
It has high ecological validity due to the naturalistic observation.
What are the two limitations of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
Research may have been prone to observer bias as the researchers may already of had a hypothesis that greater sensitivity responsiveness would lead to stronger attachment.
- Expectations were created.
The results may have been prone to social desirability bias as participants may give inaccurate answers that they think are socially desirable to avoid judgment.
- Through interview technique.
What are the two behaviours within caregiver-infant interactions?
- Reciprocity
- Interactional synchrony
What is reciprocity?
The infant and caregiver take turns in an interaction, so they respond to eachothers actions.
- Increases attachment bond.
What is interactional synchrony?
When caregivers and infants perform similar actions in time with eachother.
- Increases attachment bond.
Who studied caregiver-infant interactions?
- Condon + Sander
- Isabella et al
Outline Condon + Sanders study:
- Analysed frame-by-frame movements made by babies when with their mothers.
What were Condon + Sanders findings?
Baby’s timed their actions to occur in time with their mother’s speech.
What was Condon + Sander study an example of?
Interactional synchrony.
- Their observational study provided evidence that caregiver and infants display interactional synchrony + reciprocity in interactions.
Outline Isabella et al study:
- Used frame-by-frame analysis of caregiver interactions.
- Investigated the strength of the bond between mothers and babies.
- Measured amount of separation + stranger anxiety that babies displayed.
- Observed on a longitudinal basis (to see how their interactions developed over time).
What were Isabella’s findings?
Mothers and babies who showed more interactional synchrony + reciprocity had stronger attachment bonds (positive correlation).
- Supporting that interactional synchrony helps strengthen caregiver + infant bond.
What were the strengths for Condon and Sander + Isabella’s study?
Using frame-by-frame video analysis = high detailed, reliable observations.
What were the weaknesses of Condon and Sander + Isabella’s study?
- Observer bias = gestures + movements over-interpreted by researchers.
- Difficult to establish a causal relationship between interactions + strength of attachment (research was correlational).
