Introduction to Attachment (Attachment) Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
Development describes the growth of humans throughout the lifespan, from conception to death. The scientific study of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life.
This includes all aspects of human growth, including physical, emotional, intellectual, social, perceptual, and personality development.
Learning Theory
According to learning theory, infants learn to be attached to their primary caregiver.
Evolutionary Theory
Explains attachment is an innate behaviour that has evolved over millions of years because it increases chances of survival.
Attachment
Involves both a baby and a parent who have an emotional link between each other. This ties them together and takes longer to develop than a bond. We can see this when we observe behaviours.
Bond
A set of feelings that tie one person to another. For example, parents feel bonded with their new born babies. We cannot see this.
Maccoby 1980
identified four characteristics of attachment:
-seeking proximity
-distress on separation
-joy on reunion
-orientation of behaviour
Why do attachments form?
-Survival: short term (less than two years old)(need adults for comfort, food and protection), long term (2 years-adolescence)(emotional relationships)
Reciprocity
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 as in interactional synchronicity.
Feldman 2007 (studies on reciprocity)
around 3 months caregiver-infant interaction becomes increasingly frequent. From birth, babies move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult almost as if they were taking turns.
Brazelton et al 1975 (studies on reciprocity)
suggested that this basic rhythm is an important precursor to later communications. The regularity of an infant’s signals allows a caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately.
Trevathan (studies on reciprocity)
suggested that turn taking in the infant-adult interaction is important for the development of social and language skills.
Interactional synchrony
Psychologists have described a slightly different interaction between infants and caregivers called interactional synchrony which is when two people interact in a mirror pattern in terms of their emotional and facial and body movements. Happens with romantic partners also.
Feldman defines it as “the temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour”
Meltzoff and Moore 1977
observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks.
An adult splayed one of three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures.
The child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers.
An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the babies.
In a later study Meltzoff and Moore demonstrated the same synchrony with infants only three days old.
Other Studies on Synchrony
Isabella et al 1989: found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment. Suggests that strong emotional attachments are associated with high levels of synchrony.
Heimann: showed that infants who demonstrate a lot of imitation from birth onwards have been found to have a better quality of relationship at 3 months.
(Evaluation of studies on reciprocity and synchrony) Observing infants
-it is difficult during observations to see the infant’s perspective
-is the behaviour conscious or deliberate
-we cannot assume the interaction has a specific meaning
(Evaluation of studies on reciprocity and synchrony) 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 being observed, no demand characteristics, improving validity
(Evaluation of studies on reciprocity and synchrony) Observations do not tell us the purpose of synchrony and 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 evidence that reciprocity and synchrony are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment as well as helpful stress responses, empathy, language and moral development
(Role of the father) Grossman 2002
Longitudinal study looking at parent’s behaviour and quality of children’s attachment into their teens. Quality of fathers’ play with infants as related to the quality of adolescent attachment, suggesting play and stimulation was an important role for fathers and not nurturing.
(Role of the father)Schaffer and Emerson 1964
the majority of babies became attached to their mothers first (at around 7 months) and within a few weeks or months, formed secondary attachments.
-75% attachment was formed with the father by age 18 months
Father as the primary carer
Field 1978 filmed 4-month old babies in face-to-face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers.
PCF -more likely to smile, hold and imitate baby behaviours than SCF
Key to attachment is level of responsiveness not gender
(Evaluation of Role of the Father) Shouldn’t there be differences?
Grossman- distinct role to do with play/simulation
MacCallum and Golombok (2004) children who grow up in single or same-sex parent families do not develop any differently
(Evaluation of Role of the Father) Why don’t fathers generally become primary attachments?
-traditional gender roles
-Oestrogen- higher levels of nurturing and therefore women are biologically predisposed to be primary attachment figures
(Evaluation of Role of the Father) Socially sensitive research, working mothers
-this research suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices
-mothers who return to work quickly after giving birth, restrict the opportunity for achieving interactional synchrony
-However: Kassamali and Rattani (2014)- results revealed that maternal employment does itself does not enhance or deteriorate attachment with the child. It is a combination of factors that revolve around it impact on their bond
