Section 3 : Attachment - Attachment

Question 1

define attachment

Answer 1

a strong emotional bond

Question 2

what is attachment

Answer 2

attachment is a close emotional relationship between an infant and their caregiver

Question 3

what do securely attached infants show

Answer 3

a desire to be close to their primary caregiver (biological mother)

Question 4

what do securely attached infants show when seperated and reunited with their caregiver

Answer 4

distress when separated
pleasure when reunited

Question 5

what are the common feature of a caregiver infant interaction

Answer 5

sensitive responsiveness
imitation
interactional synchrony
reciprocity/turn taking
motherese

Question 6

what does sensitive responsiveness refer to

Answer 6

the caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant

Question 7

what does imitation refer to

Answer 7

the infant copies the caregiver’s actions and behaviour

Question 8

what does interaction synchrony refer to

Answer 8

infants react in time with the caregiver’s speech resulting in a ‘conversation dance’

Question 9

what does reciprocity refer to

Answer 9

interaction flows back and fourth between the caregiver and infant

Question 10

what does motherese refer to

Answer 10

the slow high pitched way of speaking to infants

Question 11

what are the 4 different stages of attachment formation

Answer 11

-pre attachment phase
-indiscriminate attachment phase
-discriminate attachment phase
-multiple attachment phase

Question 12

what does the pre attachment phase refer to

Answer 12

during the first 0-3 months the baby learns to separate people from objects but doesn’t have any strong preferences about who cares for it

Question 13

what does the indiscriminate attachment phase refer to

Answer 13

from between 6 weeks - 7 months the infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than strangers. No strong preference about who cares for it

Question 14

what does the discriminate attachment phase refer to

Answer 14

from 7-11 months the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual. shown by being content when that person is around

Question 15

what does the multiple attachment phase refer to

Answer 15

-from about 9 months the infant can form many attachments to many different people.
-some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions.
-Schaffer found that the original attachment is the strongest

Question 16

what was the method of schaffer and emerson 1964

Answer 16

-60 babies observed in their homes every four weeks
-from birth to about 18 months
-interviews conducted with their families

Question 17

what were the results of schaffer and emrson 1964

Answer 17

-Schaffer’s stages of attachment found to occur
-around 8 months, 50 infants had more than one attachment
-20 of them either had no attachment with their mother or had a stronger attachment with someone else even though the mother was the main carer

Question 18

give the evaluations of Schaffer and Emerson 1964

Answer 18

• lot of evidence to support Schaffer and Emerson results and stages of attachment
• limited sample
• evidence of interviews may be biased and unreliable
• cross-cultural differences (Tronick et al 1992)

Question 19

what did Tronick et al find

Answer 19

that infants in Zaire had a strong attachment to their mothers by 6 months old but didn’t have a strong attachment with others even though they had several carers

Question 20

what did schaffer and emerson find that varied across infants

Answer 20

1/2 had strong attachment with mother
1/3 had strong attachment with father
rest had strong attachment with grandparents or siblings

Question 21

what does a lot of initial research into attachment focus on

Answer 21

focused on the mother being the caregiver while the role of the father was ignored

Question 22

what was Goodsell and Meldrum 2009

Answer 22

a large study into the relationship between infants and their fathers

Question 23

what did goodsell and meldurm find

Answer 23

they found that those with a secure attachment to their mother are also more likely to have a secure attachment to their father

Question 24

what did ross et al show

Answer 24

that the number of nappies a father changed was positively correlated to the strength of their attachment

Question 25

what was ross et al supported by

Answer 25

Caldera 2004, Caldera found that when the father was involved in care giving activities they were much more likely to develop a strong attachemnt

Question 26

what research suggests the role of a mother and father plays can be different

Answer 26

geiger 1996

Question 27

what did geiger 1996 suggest

Answer 27

suggested a mothers relationship is primarily nurturing and caring but a fathers relationship is focused more on play

Question 28

What are the economic implications of research into the role of the father in attachment

Answer 28

• increasingly fathers remain at home contribute less to the economy
• more mothers return to work to help economy
• gender pay gap may be reduced if parental roles are regarded as more equal
• bowlby suggests fathers should provide an economic function rather than emotional