Caregiver-infant interactions in humans, stages of attachment and multiple attachments.

Question 1

What is reciprocity?

Answer 1

Mother-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other.

Question 2

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 2

Relates to the timing and pattern of the interaction, it is rhythmic and can include infant and caregiver mirroring each other’s behaviour and emotion.

Question 3

When does reciprocity occur?

Answer 3

Around 3 months.

Question 4

Outline Tronick et al (1979) study.

Answer 4

• Asked mothers enjoying exchanges with their babies to stop moving and maintain a static unsmiling expression on their faces.
• Babies would attempt to tempt their mothers into interactions by smiling themselves but they would become distressed that their mother’s were not responding.
• Thus babies expect and anticipate concordant responses to their smiles.

Question 5

Outline Meltzoff and Moore (1977) study.

Answer 5

• Controlled observations, infants 2-3 weeks old were exposed to an adult who made 1 of 3 different facial expressions or hand gestures.
• Researchers watched videotapes of the infants responses in real time, slow motion and frame by frame.
• The video was judged by independent observers who had no knowledge of what the infant had just seen.
• Using behavioural categories, each observer scored the tapes twice so that both intra-observer + inter-observer reliability could be calculated.
• Found an association between the infant behaviour and the model. All scores greater than .92.
• Concluded that infants had imitated specific gestures.

Question 6

Evaluate Interactional synchrony.

Answer 6

I- supported by operant conditioning of matching movement.
I- Filming the infants and not allowing the observers to have no idea led to increased internal validity.
I- Le vine, not found in every culture; Kenyan mothers.

Question 7

What are the stages of attachment as suggested by Schaffer?

Answer 7

1. Indiscriminate attachment.
2. The beginning of attachment.
3. Discriminate attachment.
4. Multiple attachments.

Question 8

What is indiscriminate attachment?

Answer 8

Birth-2 months, infants produce similar attachments to inanimate objects and people. Towards the end, they start to show specific preference for people.

Question 9

what is the beginning of attachment?

Answer 9

4 months, can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people but do not show stranger anxiety.

Question 10

What is discriminate attachment?

Answer 10

7 months, infants show a distinct form of protest when 1 particular person puts them down and joy on reunion. Specific attachment to 1 person.

Question 11

What are multiple attachments?

Answer 11

soon after the main attachment is formed, infants develop a wider circle of multiple attachments.

Question 12

Outline Schaffer and Emerson (1964) study.

Answer 12

• infants aged 5-23 weeks, working class Glasgow, studied 1 year, visited every 4 weeks and again at 18 months.
• Mothers reported their infant’s response to separation.
• Mother asked to rate child on level of protest on a 4 point scale.
• Stranger anxiety was assessed by the infants response to researcher each visit.
• Conclusion- stages of attachment.

Question 13

What were Schaffer and Emerson’s findings to the role of the father?

Answer 13

• 65% Mother.
• 27% Mother and Father’s joined.
• 3% Father over Mother.

Question 14

Why is it that Infants preferred their Mothers over their Fathers?

Answer 14

• Role differences.
• The female hormone oestrogen promotes iterpersonal goals.
• Men were shown to be less sensitive to infant cues than Mothers.

Question 15

Evaluate multiple attachments and the role of the father.

Answer 15

• Rutter model of multiple attachments of equal importance in forming the child’s internal working model.
• 2013, 5.3 million women in employment, 10% males carers, 9% single parents are males.
• Most evidence of fathers role is correlational but numerous factors influence the fathers role and most studies fail to investigate these factors.

Question 16

Evaluate stages of attachment.

Answer 16

• external validity as infants were not harmed by the presence of researchers.
• Could have confounding variable of individual differences as it was carried out longitudinally.
• Sample size makes it difficult to generalise to other types of family in other areas- limited location and demography.