Caregiver infant interactions, Animal studies, Stages of attachment, attachment styles

- Caregiver infant interactions - Animal studies - Stages of attachment

Reciprocity

How two people interact. Caregiver-infant interactions are reciprocal as both respond to one another’s signals and elicit a response.

Interactional synchrony

The temporal coordination of microbehaviour.

Proximity

When people try to stay physically close to their attachment figure.

Separation distress

Showing signs of anxiety when attachment figure leaves their presence.

Secure base behaviour

When independent of an attachment figure, people still try to keep regular contact.

Example of secure base behaviour in children

Returning to attachment figure regularly while playing.

Who found that mothers pick up on baby’s ‘alert phases’ 2/3 of the time?

Feldman and Eidelman 2007.

Who found that the capability of a mother to pick up on alert phases depends on external factors such as stress and experience?

Finegood et al 2016.

Who found that alert phases become more common after 3 months?

Feldman 2007.

How does Feldman define interactional synchrony?

The temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour.

Who observed the beginning of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old?

Meltzoff and Moore 1977.

Who researched that more interactional synchrony lead to a higher quality of attachment?

Isabella et al 1989.

Why is filming interactional synchrony, alert phases and reciprocity in their natural environment good?

• High inter-rater reliability

• High ecological validity

• Results are more reliable and valid

What are the challenges when observing babies?

• Lack of coordination in babies means behaviours have to be recorded based on inference

• Which can be subject to bias

When did Schaffer and Emerson study stages of attachment?

1964.

What were the 4 stages of attachment according to Schaffer and Emerson?

1. Asocial stage

2. Indiscriminate attachment

3. Specific attachment

4. Multiple attachments

What takes place in the asocial stage?

• Forming the basis of future attachments

• Prefers people

When is the asocial stage?

First few weeks

What takes place during indiscriminate attachment?

• Clear preference for humans

• Accept affection from anyone

• No separation/stranger anxiety

When does indiscriminate attachment take place?

2-7 months

What takes place during specific attachment?

• Show stranger and separation anxiety

• Has formed attachment to primary attachment figure

When does specific attachment take place?

7 months.

What takes place during multiple attachments?

• Shows attachment behaviour to secondary attachment figures

• Schaffer and Emerson found 29% of babies formed secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment.

How did Schaffer and Emerson carry out their study?

• 31 boys, 29 girls

• Glasgow working class families

• Asked mother questions about separation/stranger anxiety

What are the advantages of Schaffer and Emerson’s method?

• Good external validity

• Results used to help parents decide when child is ready for day-care

What are the disadvantages of Schaffer and Emerson’s method?

• Mothers can be biased

• Not a diverse sample, cannot be generalised

When did Lorenz conduct his study?

1952.

How did Lorenz conduct his study?

• Randomly divided goose eggs

• Half were raised normally as a control

• Half were raised by Lorenz

What was the critical period Lorenz discovered? (definition)

Period in which imprinting must occur.

What were Lorenz’s finding on sexual imprinting?

Birds raised by Lorenz showed mating behaviours towards humans.

When did Harlow carry out his study?

1958

How did Harlow carry out his study?

• 8 rhesus monkeys

• Kept in captivity with a cloth mother and wire milk dispensing mother

What were Harlow’s findings?

All monkeys clung to soft cloth mothers when frightened.

What effect did maternal deprivation have on Harlow’s rhesus monkeys?

• Monkeys reared with just wire mothers were most dysfunctional

• More aggressive

• Less sociable

• If they became mothers, they neglected and sometimes even killed their children

Strengths of Lorenz’s research

Other studies support his research like Regolin et al 1995

Weaknesses of Lorenz’s research

Low generalisability

Strengths of Harlow’s research

Helps social workers do what is best for child development

Process of strange situation

1. Baby encouraged to explore

2. Stranger enters

3. Caregiver leaves

4. Caregiver returns and stranger leaves

5. Caregiver leaves

6. Caregiver returns

How do securely attached babies respond to strange situation?

Explore happily but return frequently to attachment figure

Moderate stranger and seperation anxiety

Accept comfort from caregiver on reunion

How do insecure avoidant attached babies respond to strange situation?

Explore freely and don’t return to caregiver

No seperation distress or stranger anxiety

No reaction to caregiver returning, may avoid caregiver

How do insecure resistent attached babies respond to strange situation?

Explore a little, seek proximity to caregiver

High levels of seperation distress and stranger anxiety

Resist comfort on reunion

Strength of attachment styles

Good predictive validity

Good reliability

Research support for good predictive validity of attachment styles

Ward et al found securely attached babies had better mental health later on

Research support for good reliability of attachment styles

Bick et al found strange situation had 94% inter-rater reliability

Limitation of strange situation/attachment styles?

Culture bound - Takahashi found disproportionate insecure resistent in Japan