Attachment Flashcards
(24 cards)
Attachment
A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
Attachment: Proximity
People try to stay physically close to those which they are attached
Attachment: Separation distress
People are distressed when their attachment figure leaves their presence
Attachment: Secure base behaviour
Even when we are independent of our attachment figures, we make regular contact with them
Caregiver Infant Interaction: Reciprocity
A description of how two people interact
- Mother infant interaction is reciprocal in that both infant and mother respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
Conder and Sander’s study into reciprocity
- They analysed frame-by-frame recordings of infants’ movements whilst an adult was talking
- They found that the infants coordinated their actions in sequences with the adult’s speech to form a turn-taking conversation
Caregiver Infant Interaction: Interactional Synchrony
Where the mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a coordinated way
Meltzoff and Moore’s study into interactional synchrony
- Observed beginnings of IS in infants as young as 2 weeks old
- An adult displayed on of 3 facial expressions or distinctive gestures and the child’s response was filmed and identified by an independent observer
- Association was found between the expression/gesture the adult displayed and the actions of the baby
Isabella’s study into interactional synchrony
- Wanted to investigate interactional synchrony in infants
- Observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony and the quality of mother-infant attachment
- Found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment
Caregiver-Infant Interaction Evaluation
- Hard to know what is happening when observing infants
- Studies are highly reliable and well controlled
- Research into caregiver-infant interactions has good validity
Father
Anyone who takes on the role of the main male caregiver
What are the 3 roles of the father?
- Secondary caregiver
- Father as a playmate
- Father as a primary caregiver
The father as the secondary attachment (S&E)
- Schaffer and Emerson: most babies attach to their mothers at 7 months
- 3% of cases: father was the first object of attachment
- 27%: Father was joint first object of attachment with the mother
- 75%: Attachment formed with father in 18 months (determined when infants protested when father walked away)
The role of the father as a playmate (G)
- Grossman: Looked at both parents behaviours and relationship to the quality of children’s attachment in their teens
- Quality of infant attachment with mothers was related to attachments in adolescence (father attachment was less important)
- Quality of father’s play with infants was related to the quality of adolescence attachments // Play and stimulation and less with nurturing and emotional development
The father as the primary caregiver (F)
- Field: Filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with primary caregiver mothers, secondary father caregivers and primary caregiver fathers
- Primary caregiver fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers
- Fathers have the potential to be the more emotion focused attachment figure if required
- Key to attachment is the level of responsiveness, not the gender of the parent
Role of the father Evaluation
- Inconsistent research due to different interests
- Benefits for fathers wanting custody of child
- Nature vs nurture
- Can offer advice
Stages of Attachment: Schaffer and Emerson - Aim
- To investigate the formations of early attachments, in particular the age at which they developed their emotional intensity and to whom their emotions are directed to
Stages of Attachment: Schaffer and Emerson - Procedure
- 60 babies (31 males, 29 females) were all from Glasgow and from WC families
- The babies and mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months
- Researcher asked the mother questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in everyday separations // designed to measure the infant’s attachment
- Also assessed stranger anxiety
Stages of Attachment: Schaffer and Emerson - Findings
- Between 25-32 weeks, 50% showed signs of separation anxiety, usually towards the mother (specific attachment)
- Attachment tended to be the caregiver who was the most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (reciprocity)
- 40 weeks: 80% had a specific attachment and 30% displayed multiple attachments
What are the four stages of attachment?
- Asocial stage (From birth)
- Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months)
- Discriminate attachment (From 7 months)
- Multiple attachments
Asocial stage (4)
- Baby is recognising and forming bonds with carers
- Behaviour towards non-human objects and humans are quite similar
- Shows some preference for familiar adults in that those individuals find it easier to calm them
- Happier in the presence of other humans
Indiscriminate attachment (5)
- Display more observable social behaviour
- Show a preference for people rather than inanimate objects and prefer familiar adults
- Accept cuddles and comfort from any adult
- Attachment behaviour is said to be indiscriminate as it’s not different towards any one person
Discriminate attachment (4)
- From 7 months
- Stranger anxiety
- Become anxious when separated from one particular adult (separation anxiety) - 65% of cases being the adult
- Developed primary development attachment
Stages of attachment (2)
- A stage of qualitatively different behaviours linked to specific ages
- In stages of attachment some characteristics of the infants’ behaviour towards others changes as the infant gets older
