3.1 - Attatchment

Question 1

What is attachment ?

Answer 1

A strong reciprocal emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security

Question 2

What behaviours are displayed when there is an attachment ?

Answer 2

• seeking proximity
• distress on separation
• joy on reunion
• orientation of behaviour

Question 3

What is a bond ?

Answer 3

Set of feelings that tie one person to another

Question 4

What are some features of caregiver- infant interaction ?

Answer 4

• sensitive responsiveness - caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant
• imitation - infant copies the caregiver’s actions and behaviour for eg. MELTZOFF AND MOORE (1977) found that infants between 2 and 3 weeks of age appeared to imitate the facial expressions and hand movements of the experimenter
• interactional synchrony - infants react in time with the caregivers speech = in conversation dance
  CONDON AND SANDER ( 1974 ) provided evidence for this concept by showing how babies do appear to move in time with adult conversations
• reciprocity - interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant
• mothered - slow high pitched way of speaking to infants

Question 5

What are the benefits of an attachment ?

Answer 5

Survival
Food
Love
Security

Question 6

What is reciprocity ?

Answer 6

Description of how two people interact the mother infant interaction is reciprocal in that they both respond to each others signal and each shows a response from the other , the behaviour of each party ELICTS a response from the other

Question 7

What is a example of reciprocity ?

Answer 7

Smiling - when a smile occurs in one person it elicts a response in the other

Question 8

Explain Tronick et al. (1977 ) research on reciprocity

Answer 8

• asked mothers who had been enjoying a dialogue with their baby to stop moving and maintain a static, unsmiling expression on their faces
• babies would try to trot the mother into interaction by smiling themselves and would become puzzled and increasingly distressed when their smile did not provoke the usual response

Question 9

What did FELDMAN (2007) propose in regards to reciprocity ?

Answer 9

Around 3 months this interaction tends to be increasingly frequent

Question 10

What did BRATZELTON ET AL. (1975) suggest in regards to reciprocity ?

Answer 10

• Suggested that the basic rhythm in which babies move in is an important precursor to later communications
• the regularity of an infants signals allows a caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately

Question 11

What did TREVATHAN suggest In regards to reciprocity ?

Answer 11

Suggested that turn taking in the infant adult interaction is important for the development of social and language skills

Question 12

What is interactional synchrony ?

Answer 12

When two people interact in a mirror pattern in terms of their emotional and facial and body movements

Question 13

Explain MELTZOFF AND MOORE (1977) research on synchrony

Answer 13

• observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks
• an adult displayed one of the three facial expressions or one of the three distinctive gestures
• child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers
• an association was found between the expression or gesture the adult has displayed and the actions of the babies

Question 14

What did ISABELLA ET AL. (1989) suggest in regards to synchronicity ?

Answer 14

Found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother infant attachment

Question 15

Evaluate the research into infant- caregiver interactions

Answer 15

:) = controlled observations in a controlled experimental setting with standardised procedures and operationalised behavioural categories with filming from multiple angles
High reliability as can be repeated to check consistency

:) = these observations are less prone to demand characteristics as obviously babies are unaware an experiment is taking place and thus will not change their natural behaviours

:( = observations susceptible to observer bias as they require subjective interpretation from researches who may perceive behaviour as being something else to what it reall is this can lower the validity

:( = studies don’t tell us the purpose of synchrony or reciprocity they simply state that it happens and don’t imply anything about why and what the purpose is —> other studies have said that it is important in the development of empathy and morals

Question 16

What are the stages that Schaffer identified as stages in attachment formation ?

Answer 16

1. Pre- attachment phase = during the first 0-3 months of life the baby learns to separate people from objects but doesn’t have any strong preferences about who cares for it
2. Indiscriminate attachment phase - between 6 weeks and 7 months the infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people smiling more at people it known than at strangers - no strong preferences about who cares for it
3. Discriminate attachment phase - 7-11 months the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual —> this is shown by being content when that person is around distressed when they leave and happy when they return = may be scared of strangers and avoid them
4. Multiple attachment phase - from 9+ months the infant can form attachments to many different people
   - Some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions eg. For play or comfort but there doesn’t seem to be a limit to the number of attachments it can make

• although Schaffer found that after 18 months approx. 32% of babies had at least 5 attachments the original attachment is still the strongest

Question 17

Outline Schaffer and Emerson (1964) evidence for attachment stages

Answer 17

• 60 babies wee observed in their home in Glasgow every 4 weeks from birth to about 18 months
• Interview were also conducted with their families
• separation anxiety was measured by asking the mothers questions about their children’s behaviour during everyday separations
• stranger anxiety was measured by asking mother’s questions about their children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults

Question 18

What are the results of Schaffer and Emerson’s study ?

Answer 18

• schaffers stages of attachment formation were found to occur
• between 25-32 weeks of age 50% of the babies showed separation anxiety towards adults usually the mother ( specific attachment)
• also found that attachments were formed with thr adults who were the most sensitive to babies signals ( reciprocity)
• by 40 weeks 80% had a specific attachment
• 30% showed multiple attachments

Question 19

What is the conclusion of Schaffer and Emerson’s research ?

Answer 19

• Infants form attachments in stages and can eventually attach to many people
• quality of care is important in forming attachments so the infant may not attach to their mother if other people respond more it’s signals

Question 20

What are some evaluation points of Schaffer and Emerson’s study ?

Answer 20

• used a limited sample
• evidence from interviews and observations may be biased and unreliable
• there are some cross cultural differences that should be considered
• Tronick et al. (1992) found that infants in zaire had a strong attachment with their mother by 6 months of age but didn’t have strong attachments with others even though they had several carers
• the study was a longitudinal study

Question 21

Outline 3 research studies into the role of the father

Answer 21

• Schaffer found that initially babies become attached to their mother
• Up to 7 moths and then after this form secondary attachments with others such as the father
• 75% of babies had an attachment with their father by 18 months of age they showed separation anxiety
• lamb indicated that between the ages of 15-24 month they will show a preference towards their father this suggests that the father may become the PCG
• Grossman conducts a longitudinal study and found a direct correlation between the quality of fathers play wire infants and the quality of adolescent attachments = suggest that the father may be more about play and stimulation whereas mother is more about nurturing

Question 22

What % of babies are attached to their fathers at the age of 18 months ?

Answer 22

75%

Question 23

Evaluate research into the role of the father

Answer 23

:( = very difficult to draw one conclusion from all the research as some psychologists have looked to prove the father as the PCG and others have tried to prove him as the secondary care giver

:( = MacCallum and Golombrok found contradictory evidence as they found that children growing up in single or same sex parent families did not develop any differently to those in opposite sex parents

:( = due to gender roles that people don’t like to break as it is not seen as normal and thus they continue with the social norms may be a explanation on why fathers don’t become the PCG

:( = females have much higher levels of oestrogen and oxytocin and these can create higher levels or nurturing behaviour

Question 24

What was the aim of the Schaffer and Emerson 1964 study ?

Answer 24

To investigate the formation of early attachments in a particular age at which they are developed , their emotional intensity and to whom they were directed at