Attachment Flashcards
What are Maccoby’s characteristics of attachment?
-Seeking proximity
-Distress on separation
-Joy on reunion
-Orientation of behaviour
Define attachment
A strong lasting emotional and reciprocal bond between two people e.g. between an infant and caregiver
What are the two infant caregiver interactions?
-Reciprocity
-Interactional synchrony
What is meant by reciprocity?
Where the infant caregiver interactions are a two-way process, each party respond to each others signals
What is the procedure of Tronick’s study focusing on reciprocity?
He asked the mothers to engage in reciprical behaviours then asked the mother to stop reacting to the baby
What were the findings of Tronick’s study focusing on reciprocity?
The baby became distressed and started trying to get attention from it’s mother by pointing before starting to cry and show clear signs of distress
What are some positive evaluations of Tronick’s study focusing on reciprocity?
-high internal validity
-high reliability
-standardized procedure
What is Feldman and Eidelman’s supporting study for reciprocity?
Mothers tend to pick up on the baby’s alert phase 2/3 of the time
What are some negative evaluations of Tronick’s study focusing on reciprocity?
-lack of protection from harm
-lack of ecological validity
-social desirability
What is Brazeltons viewpoint on reciprocity?
He describes reciprocity as a dance where each partner responds to the action of the other
What is interactional synchrony?
The co-ordination of movements and gestures.
What study supports interactional synchrony?
Meltzoff and Moore
What was the procedure of Meltzoff and Moore?
Observed infants as young as 2 weeks old
Adults displayed 2/3 chosen facial expressions
The study was recorded
What were the findings of Meltzoff and Moore?
There was a correlation between adult behaviour and infant response - they tended to synchronise.
What are strengths of Meltzoff and Moore?
High Internal Validity - control over what facial expressions were used
Reliability - It was filmed so others can watch it
Practical Application - Explains how you can support families and improve relationship’s
What are the weaknesses of Metzoff and Moore?
-It may be difficult to differenciate between general motion or intentional copying of behaviour
-Other studies have failed to recreate the study
-There are practical issues involved with infants as they spend most of their time sleeping or being fed
-There are ethical issues regarding lack of consent and protection from psychological harm
What study focuses on stages of attachment?
Schaffer and Emmerson
What is the procedure of Schaffer and Emersons study focusing on the stages of attachment?
They conducted a longitudional study on infants of working class households in Glasgow, they asked the children’s mothers to keep a diary of the babies reaction to seven different social situations
What are the 4 stages of attachment according to Schaffer and Emerson ?
-Asocial attachment
-Indiscriminate attachment
-Specific attachment
-Multiple attachments
What is the asocial attachment stage ?
From birth to 8 weeks, there is a similar response to most objects however there is a preference to human interaction
What is the indiscriminate attachment stage?
From 2 months to 7 months old, the child shows a clear preference to human interaction and starts to show a preference towards familiar adults such as family members, they accept comfort from any adult
What is the specific attachment stage ?
From 7-9 months, infants begin to show both separation and stranger anxiety. The child has formed a specific attachment to the primary attachment figure
What is the multiple attachment stage?
About a month after the child has formed a specific primary attachment, they begin to form secondary attachments to familiar adults
What were the findings of Schaffer and Emerson?
-the mother was the primary attachment figure for 70% of infants
-3% of infants formed primary attachments to their father
-27% were joint attachments
-By 18 months old 31% had formed multiple attachments
Different stages of infancy led to different levels of stranger/separation anxiety