attatchment gaps Flashcards
Reiprocity
The infant and caregiver are both active contributors in the interaction and are responding to each other.
Both infant and mother respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other.
Smiling is an example of reciprocity – when a smile occurs in the infant it triggers a smile in the caregiver and vice versa.
Interactional synchrony
Interactional synchrony is when caregiver and infant interact and tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial and body movements, in both emotions and behaviours
For example, a caregiver who laughs in response to their infant’s giggling sound and tickles them is experiencing synchronised interaction.
Schaeffer + Emmerson
A01: study
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) studied 60 babies at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life
The children were all studied in their own homes and a regular pattern was identified in the development of attachment. Interactions with their carers were observed, and carers were interviewed. A diary was kept by the mother to examine evidence for the development of an attachment. The following measures were recorded:
Stranger Anxiety - response to arrival of a stranger.
Separation Anxiety - distress level when separated from carer, degree of comfort needed on return
Social Referencing - degree that child looks at carer to check how they should respond to something new (secure base).
Scheaffer + Emmerson
A01: procedure
A diary was kept by the mother to examine evidence for the development of an attachment. The following measures were recorded:
Stranger Anxiety - response to the arrival of a stranger.
Separation Anxiety - distress level when separated from carer, degree of comfort needed on return
Social Referencing - degree that child looks at carer to check how they should respond to something new (secure base).
Schaeffer + Emmerson
A01: Findings
Between 25 and 32 weeks of age, about 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult (usually the mother which signified a specific attachment).
Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (reciprocity). This was not necessarily the person the infant spent most time with.
By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments.
Asocial stage: 0-6 weeks
Similar responses to objects & people. Preference for faces/ eyes.
Indiscriminate attachments 6 weeks – 6 months
Preference for human company. Ability to distinguish between people but comforted indiscriminately.
Specific Attatchments 7 months +
Infants show a preference for one caregiver, displaying separation and stranger anxiety. The baby looks to particular people for security, comfort and protection.
Multiple attachments 10/11 months +
Attachment behaviours are displayed towards several different people eg. siblings, grandparents etc.
Shaeffer + Emmerson findings
The results of the study indicated that attachments were most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the baby’s signals, not the person they spent more time with. Schaffer and Emerson called this sensitive responsiveness.
Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly to their demands and, interacted with their child. Infants who were weakly attached had mothers who failed to interact.
The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child but who plays and communicates with him or her. Therefore, responsiveness appeared to be the key to attachment.
Schaeffer + Emmerson
A03: Population Validity
The Schaffer and Emerson study has low population validity. The infants in the study all came from Glasgow and were mostly from working-class families. In addition, the small sample size of 60 families reduces the strength of the conclusion we can draw from the study.
Schaeffer + Emmerson
A03: Internal validity
However, the accuracy of data collection by parents who were keeping daily diaries whilst clearly being very busy could be questioned. A diary-like this is also very unreliable with demand characteristics and social desirability being major issues. Mothers are not likely to report negative experiences in their daily write up.
Schaeffer + Emmerson
A03: historical validity
The study lacks historical validity. It was conducted in the 1960s when gender roles were different – Now, more men stay at home to look after their children and more women go out to work so the sample is biased.
Role of the father
A01
Western cultures: expectation that the father should play a greater role in bringing up children than before, and number of mothers working full time increased, led to fathers having a more active role.
mothers usually adopt a more caregiving and nurturing role compared to fathers who adopt a more play-mate role. Eg fathers are more likely than mothers to encourage risk taking in their children by engaging them in physical games.
Most infants prefer contact with their father when in a positive emotional state and wanting to play. In contrast most infants prefer contact with their mother when they are distressed and need comforting.
Role of the father
A03: difficult to make generalisations
Numerous factors affect the father’s role and the impact he has on his child’s emotional development. For example, culture, father’s age, and the amount of time the father spends away from home. The existence of so many factors means it difficult to make generalisations about the father’s role.
Role of the father
A03:
It is possible that most men are just not psychologically equipped to form an intense attachment because they lack the emotional sensitivity women offer. Oestrogen underlies caring behaviour and there continue to be sex stereotypes which affect male behaviour.
However, Field found that when fathers have the main caregiver role, they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers therefore the key to attachment is the level of responsiveness, not the gender of the parent.
Role of the father
A03: The Child
Age and gender: Freeman et al. (2010) found that male children are more likely to prefer their father as an attachment figure than female children. He also found that children are more likely to be attached to their father during their late childhood to early adolescence. Infants and young adults are less likely to seek attachment to their fathers.
Role of the father
A03: cultural
In the UK, until 2015 fathers were not given any paid paternal leave so the responsibility for child care was implicitly given to the mothers. This could change the attachment the children make with their fathers. However, this is not the case in every country so the pattern of attachment between father and children might be different.
