Caregiver-infant interactions, stages of attachment and role of the father Flashcards
(19 cards)
What is interactional synchrony?
Mother and in fact reflects both the actions and emotions of the other in a coordinated way
What is meant by reciprocity?
-Interaction is 2 way
-Both mother and infant respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
-Described as a ‘dance’ between mother and baby
What did Metloff and Moore measure in their study?
Interactional synchrony between mothers and 2 week old infants
What did they find?
They found an association between the action of the child and the expression/gesture of adult
Describe Tronick’s still face experiment
The parent and baby are interacting, then the parent stops responding ad chid gets upset
How does this support the importance of caregiver-infant interactions?
Reciprocity is important in the development of high quality attachments
What is a limitation of caregiver-infant interaction research?
-Observations don’t tell us the meaning behind the interactions for example:
Are they important for attachment/development?
Are infants’ actions conscious or deliberate?
What is a strength of caregiver-infant interaction research?
Controlled observations capture fine details
How did Field study the role of the father?
Filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction with mothers and fathers. If fathers are the primary caregiver, they spend as much time smiling, imitating ad holding infants as the mother
What did Field find about the role of the father?
If fathers do take on the primary caregiver role, they are as capable as the mother
What did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) find about the role of the father?
The majority of infants attach to their mothers first at around 7 months and shortly after form secondary attachments to other family members including the father. 75% of the children had formed attachments to their father by the age of 18 months
What did Grossman (2002) find about the father’s role in play?
The quality of a father’s play with infants was related to the quality of a child’s attachment in adolescence
What did MacCallum and Golombok (2004) find about children raised in same sex families?
Children growing up in single or same sex parent (2 female) do not develop any differently from those in two-parent heterosexual families
Why don’t fathers generally become the primary attachments?
Societal expectations of the mother and child and father’s work
Why is it difficult to draw conclusions from research into the role of the father?
They’re not all about the same thing
What happens in the asocial stage?
First few weeks- babies are interested in discovering the world around them, however they have a similar response to objects and humans. They accept comfort from any adult
What happens in the indiscriminate stage?
2-7 months- Show a preference for people. Recognise and prefer familiar adults and usually accept comfort from any adult. They still don’t have 1 primary attachment
What happens in the specific stage?
7 months- Show anxiety towards strangers and separation anxiety from one particular adult (mother in 65% of cases) and have a primary attachment figure
What happens in the multiple attachment stage?
7 months onwards- Children become attached to other people who they have regular contact with (secondary attachments)
