Introduction to Attachment Flashcards
Define Reciprocity.
When an infant responds to the actions of another person, with reciprocity the actions of one person (mother) elicit a response from another (child). Brazelton described this as a dance because each person is responding to another person’s moves.
Define Interactional Synchrony.
When an infant mirrors the actions of another person (usually caregiver) in a co-ordinated, synchronised way
What are alert phases?
When babies signal that they are ready for a spell of interaction. Feldman and Eidelman found that mother’s typically pick up on and respond to this 2/3 of the time. From around 3 months this interaction becomes more frequent.
What is active involvement?
It seems babies and caregivers both take an active role by both initiating interactions and appearing to take turns doing so.
Define attachment
A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.
How can we recognise attachment?
· Proximity - people try to stay physically close to their attachment figure
· Separation distress - people show signs of anxiety when an attachment figure leaves their presence
· Secure-base behaviour - even when we are independent of our attachment figures we tend to make regular contact with them, babies display secure-base behaviour when they regularly return to their attachment figure while playing
Why is Interactional Synchrony important for attachment?
Isabella observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony. The quality of mother-baby attachment was also assessed. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment
When does Synchrony begin?
Meltzoff and Moore observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old. An adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or 1 of 3 distinctive gestures. The babies response was filmed and labelled by independent observers. Babies’ expression and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults.
Outline strengths of caregiver-infant interactions.
Caregiver-infant interactions are usually filmed in a laboratory which means that other activities that might distract the baby can be controlled. It also means observations can be recorded and analysed later so it’s unlikely that researchers will miss key behaviours. Filmed observations also means that more than one observer can record data and establish inter-rater reliability. Babies also don’t know they are being observed so their behaviour doesn’t change in response to observation. This means the data should have good reliability and validity.
Has practical applications in parenting skills training. Crotwell found that a 10-minute Parent-Child Interaction Therapy improved Interactional Synchrony in 20 low income mothers and their preschool children
Outline limitations of Caregiver-infant interactions.
- hard to interpret a babies behaviour. Young babies lack coordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile. Movements observed are small hand movements or subtle changes in expression. It’s difficult to determine what’s going on from a baby’s perspective which means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in Caregiver-infant interactions have a special meaning.
- simply observing a behaviour doesn’t tell us it’s developmental importance. Feldman points out that ideas like synchrony simply give names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behaviours. They can be reliably observed but still may not be particularly useful in understanding child development as it doesn’t tell is the purpose of the behaviour.
- socially sensitive because it can be used to argue that when a mother returns to worn soon after having a baby this may risk damaging their baby’s development.
What are the 4 stages of attachment?
Asocial, Indiscriminate, Specific, Multiple
What is the asocial stage of attachment?
In the babies first few weeks of life its observable behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar. However, Schaffer and Emerson didn’t believe that this stage was entirely asocial because babies still show a preference for people and are more easily comforted by familiar people. The baby is forming bonds with certain people and these form the basis of later attachment.
What is the indiscriminate stage of attachment?
Babies show a preference to people rather than objects. They accept comfort from most adults and don’t show stranger/ separation anxiety. Ages 2-7 months
What is the specific stage of attachment?
Babies form a specific attachment to their primary attachment figure. They show separation and stranger anxiety. Aged 7 months
What is the multiple stage of attachment?
Babies form secondary attachments. This is often a month or so after the primary attachment is formed.
