Attachment Flashcards
(179 cards)
Around how many times do mothers respond to babies periodic alert phases
Two thirds of the time
What is interactional synchrony
The coordination of micro-level behaviour (Feldman)
When does interactional synchrony take place
When mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other
Who did a study on interactional synocrhony
Meltzof and Moore
What did the Meltzof and Moore study entail
Observed interactional synchrony in infants as young as two week old.
An adult displayed one of three facial expressions and the child’s response was filmed and an association was found between these
Why is synchrony important for the development of mother/infant attachment
Provides the necessary foundation for the connection which cns br built upon in subsequent years
What is reciprocity
Each person responds to the other and elicits a response form them like a conversation
When in a babies life do interactions become reciprocals
Around three months
How are traditional views of childhood changed in recent years
Have seen the baby in a passive role recieving cafe from the adult but it seems the baby takes an active role.
Limitation of observing infants
Hard to know what it happening when observing children. It is difficult to be certain what is taking place from the infants perspective like if their immitation or adult signals is conscious and deliberate or not. Means we can not know for certain if behaviours seen in mother infant interactions have special meanings
Strength of research into mother infant interactions
Involved well controlled procedures. They are usually filmed from multiple angles to ensure the fine details of behaviour can be recorded and analysed. Also babies don’t know they are being observed do their behaviour does not change in response to controlled observation. A strength because it means the research has good validity
Limitations of observations in mother infant interactions
Observations don’t tell us the purpose of interactional synchrony and reciprocity. It simply describes behaviours that occur st the same time but it does not tell us what the infant is learning. However there is evidence that they are helpful in the development of mother infant attachment.
What did Schaffer and Emerson find
The majority of babies became attached to their mother first and this happens around the age of 7 month.
In only 3% of cases the father was the first sole object of attachment.
In 27% the mother and father were joint.
75% of infants had a secondary attachment to their father by 18 months
Key study in mother infant interaction
Schaffer and Emerson
What is a sign of attachment
Protesting when someone walks away
What did Grossman find
Carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and it’s relationship to the quality of children attachment into their teens. Research suggest e that the father attachment was less important to the attachment type of teenagers
What suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment
The quality of fathers play with infants was related to the children’s attachments so their role is more to do with play and stimulation rather than nurture
When a father does take on the role of main caregiver what happens
They adopt behaviours more typical of mothers
What is the key to the attachment relationship
Level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent
What seem to be important actions in building an attachment with an infant
Smiling
Imitating
And holding infants
Limitation of the role of mothers in caregiver interactions
Important economic implications. Mothers feel pressured to stay at home because of research that says they are vital for healthy development. In some families this is not economically viable. Social implications.
Limitations of the role of fathers in caregiver interactions
Socially sensitive. The idea that fathers have distinctive roles is undermined by the evidence. Gross man found that fathers as a secondary attachment figure had important roles but other studies found that children with same sex families do not develop any differently. Suggest that a fathers role is not important
Limitation of fathers becoming primary attachment figures
They can become them but the answer of why they don’t remains unanswered. Could be result of traditional gentler roles therefore fathers may feel they shouldn’t act in a nurturing ways or it could be female hormones create higher levels of nurturing and therefore woman are biologically pre-disposed to be the primary attachment figure
Key study into the stages of attachment
Schaffer and Emerson