Attachment: Caregiver-infant interactions, Schaffer's stages of Attachment, The role of the father and Animal studies of attachment

What are the different stages of attachment according to Schaffer and Emerson:

1. Asocial stage

2. Indiscriminate attachment

3. Specific attachment

4. Multiple attachments

Describe the asocial stage in Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment:

• first few weeks of their life

• they do not have any obvious attachments, but prefer being around people

• forming bonds with certain people

• forming the basis of later attachment

Describe the indiscriminate attachment stage in Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment:

• 2-7 weeks of their life

• clear preference for specific people

• accepts affection from anyone indiscriminately

• no separation/stranger anxiety

Describe the specific attachment stage in Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment:

• 7 months of age

• shows stranger anxiety and separation anxiety

• formed attachment with primary attachment figure

Describe the multiple attachments stage in Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment:

• shortly after stage 3

• formed secondary attachment

• by end of 1 year, multiple attachments are formed

What did Harlow research on to find out about?

Harlow, in 1958, researched on rhesus monkeys in order to understand attachment

When was Schaffer and Emerson’s experiment?

1964

What was Schaffer and Emerson’s sample for their experiment on the stages of attachment?

• 60 babies - 31 boys and 29 girls

• all from Glasgow

• majority of babies from skilled working-class families

What was Schaffer and Emerson’s methods to studying the stages of attachment?

• researchers visited babies and mothers in ther own homes every month for the first year and again at 18 months

• researchers ask mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in 7 everyday seperations (e.g. adults leaving the room) → designed to measure babies’ attachment and also stranger anxiety

• through this they identified 4 distinct stages of development in infant attachment

What are the strengths and limitations of animal studies:

Strengths:

• Lorenz’s idea of imprinting has been supported by other research as well, for instance Regolin and Vallortigara in 1995, who studied imprinting in chicks.

• there have been attempts to link imprinting to human behaviour, for example Seebach(2005), who found computer users form an attachment to thier first computer operating system, rejcting others

• Harlow’s research had many real-world applications, helping social workers and child psychologists understand why a lack of bonding may risk child development.

Limitations:

• It is hard to generalise finidngs from both studies to humans

• ethical issues→ birds permanently scarred and the monkeys suffered from distress from the experiment

Why is it difficult to operationalise and research the role of the father?

• role of the father varies over cultures and personalities

• both mother and father can take on the role of the ‘father’

• father’s role is not just associated with play; other roles involved as well.

What is the role of the father commonly associated with?

• associated with being the secondary attachment figure

• associated with play and stimulation

Why may there be problems with studies about the role of the father?

• preconceptions on how fathers should behave/do, fuelled by stereotypes that may come from meida may cause unintentional observer bias → the observer may expect and therefore only really focus on expected behaviour, rather than recording objective reality.

• most research lacks temporal validity and reflect social norms

Evaluation for Schaffer and Emerson’s experiment:

Strengths:

• good external validity - natural environments, ordinary activities→ therefore natural behaviour however since the mothers reported on behaviour could have changed it to be more ‘ acceptable’

• real world application→ i.e. when to introduce babies to new people/ let them into daycare

• generalisability→ large scale with good design features however is a sample with only culture/ type of people in it

Limitations:

• poor evidence for asocial stage, as babies are immobile and have bad coordination, therefore observations made by mothers may be skewed, if baby is trying to be social but comes across as not

Reciprocity meaning:

• “2 way process” / mutual process

• responses taken in turns, responding to each other

interactional synchrony meaning:

when carer and baby imitate each other

sensitive responsiveness meaning:

adults attending sensitively to infant’s communication

What was Lorenz’s procedure of research:

• a classic experiment

• large group of goose eggs→ half hatched in presence of mother, other hatched in presence of Lorenz(their first moving bject)

When was Lorenz experiment on geese?

1952

What is an ethologist?

a scientist of animal behaviour

Why is it difficult to draw conclusions about the role of caregiver-infant interactions in the development of attachment:

• cannot be certain that observational research/ results found is crucial and plays a role to the development of attachment

• researchers must infer from data→ reduces data’s validity

What did Isabella et al. do to investigate caregiver-infant interaction in humans?

WHat did she conclude?

• in 1989

• observed 30 mothers with their baby, assessing their degree of synchrony together and quality of mother-baby attachment.

• found that high levels of synchrony between mother and baby was associated with better quality mother-baby attachment although hard to interpret babies’ behaviour according to degree of synchrony, as actions/behaviours may be meaningless.

What is the difference between a primary caregiver and the primary attachment figure?

primary caregiver: person who spends the most time with the bay, caring for its needs

primary attachment figure: person who the baby has the strongest attachment to.

Why is the fact that Schaffer and Emerson’s research takes a nomothetic approach a limitation?

• attachment is a complex and varied process

• does not acknowledge the individual differences

• may crete pressure on parents to raise children the right way

What did Finegood et al find?

• in 2016

• the mother’s skill and external factors (e.g. stress) impact their interactional synchrony

How far can what Finegood et al find help us understand caregiver-infant interaction as a form of attachment?

• helps us understand how external factors like stress can affect attachment →a lack of interactional synchrony impacts attachment

• demonstrates variation and multiple factors

• did not really have a link to attachment

What did Brazelton find?

• in 1975

• found and described interaction as a ‘dance’, where both baby and adult respond and interact

How far can what Brazelton found help us understand caregiver-infant interaction as a form of attachment?

• attachment is for both mother and baby; a give and take relationship

• active involvement helps babies identify primary caregivers

• babies no longer seen as passive, now active

What did Isabella find?

• in 1989

• observed 30 mothers and babies together, assessing degree of synchrony and quality of mother-baby attachment

• found that with high levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother-baby attachment

How far can what Isabella et al found help us understand caregiver-infant interaction as a form of attachment?

useful, but did not establish a real cause and effect

WHat did Feldman find?

in 2007→ from approx. 3 moths, caregiver-infant interactions increase as both mother and baby pay close attention to each other’s verbal signs/facial expressions

interactional synchrony = ‘the temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour’

in 2012→ points out ideas like synchrony simply gives names to patterns of observable caregiver+baby behaviours

How far can what Feldman found help us understand caregiver-infant interaction as a form of attachment?

• attachment increases with age and is based off behavioural patterns fro, mother and child

• more frequent interaction means closer attachments (good study)

WHat did Feldman and Eidelman find?

• in 2007

• mothers typically pick up and respond to their baby’s alertness around 2/3 times

How far can what Feldman and Eidelman found help us understand caregiver-infant interaction as a form of attachment?

attachment is impacted by the carers alertness to their babies’ alert phases

not all will pick up 2/3 times and it only focuses on the mother

does not really show the link

What did Meltzoff and Moore find?

• in 1977

• observed babies as young as 2 weeks old for interactional synchrony. the adult displays 1/3 facial expressions/distinctive gestures → baby’s response was filmed and labelled by independent observers.there was a significant association between adult’s actions and the baby mirroring them.

How far can what Meltzoff and Moore found help us understand caregiver-infant interaction as a form of attachment?

• attachment involves the baby and mother mirroring one another

• babies get attached very young → implies that attachment is innate, no need to be learnt.

When did Lorenz first observe imprinting?

when he was a child, when he was given a newly hatched duckling and it followed him around

WHat did Lorenz find in his research?

• incubator group followed Lorenz only

• the control group followed their mother, even when mixed with the experimental group(and vice versa)

• experimental group imprinted on Lorenz, and he identified a critical period for attachment to a figure- around a few hours

• found sexual imprinting too→ later the bird would often display courtship behaviour to humans