paper 1 - attachments

Question 1

what is reciprocity?

Answer 1

the infant and their caregiver are able to reliably produce responses in each other.

Question 2

what is infant synchrony?

Answer 2

infant and caregiver coordinate activity to form type of conversation without language (Brazelton 1974).

Question 3

what are forms of caregiver infant interactions?

Answer 3

mimicking, caregiverese, bodily contact.

Question 4

what is mimicking?

Answer 4

infants have innate ability to copy facial expressions which helps to form attachments.
meizoff and moore (1977) found that infants as young as 3 days old could mimick expressions.

Question 5

what is caregiverese?

Answer 5

adults interacting use specific speech patterns and tone which allows infants to develop interactional synchrony by giving simplified conversations.
papousek et al (1991) found this across many cultures suggesting its instinctive.

Question 6

what is bodily contact?

Answer 6

skin to skin helps form and strengthen bond between infant and caregiver.
Klaus and kennell (1976) found extended physical contact after birth developed stronger physical relationships.

Question 7

what did Schaffer and Emerson do?

Answer 7

aim: investigated how attachments are formed
procedure: longitudinal study of 60 babies and mums were visited in homes once a month until babies were 12 months old. then at 18 months. observations took place and interviewed mums. measured on separation protest and stranger anxiety
results: seperation protest was evident in most infants between 6 and 8 months. stranger anxiety developed around 9 months most developed multiple attachments at 18 months.

Question 8

what are the stages of attachment?

Answer 8

pre attachment (birth to 3 months) - little discrimination for humans (6 weeks) after that show more interest and smile at faces
indiscriminate attachment (3 to 8 months) - can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar faces but are still happy to let strangers hold them
discriminate attachment (8 months and beyond) - infants become more attached to specific people will show separation protest and stranger anxiety
multiple attachments (9 months and beyond) - infants have strong bonds with other caregivers, mum is still the strongest, stranger anxiety is less important.

Question 9

evaluate Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Answer 9

• longitudinal design of this study controlled for participant variables that might have affected the development of attachment.
• has high ecological validity and mundane realism as the infants were monitored in their own homes making behaviour more natural
• due to nature of data collection by observation and self report it is possible that some element of subjective bias affected the data.
• data broadly supported the stages of attachment had large individual differences in the timing as some infants developed before others.