pyschology

What is attachment

The two way bond between child and caregiver, shown through secure base behaviour, seperation distress, and proximity

What is reciprocity

Two way communication between child and caregiver, where both parties are active contributors and imitate similar responses to each other

What is interactional synchrony

When a mother and child’s emotions mirror each other in a synchronised way. Synchronised= moving in a similar pattern at the same time

Supporting research for reciprocity

Condon and Sander. Analysed frame by frame recordings of 16 infants (12hrs-2weeks old) interacting with their caregiver. In response to the adult’s voice, the infants coordinated their actions to form a ‘turn taking’ conversation

Supporting research for interactional synchrony

Meltzoff and Moore. 12-21 day old infants watched an experimenter doing tongue/lip protrusion and mouth opening. Observers who were blind to the aim coded the infant’s expressions, and found that they matched with the adults expressions more often than would happen by chance

Deyong et al

Infants do not show interactional synchrony with non human objects. Shows that they have specific social responses and do not imitate everything. Leads to real life application of babies being placed with their mothers after birth so that they may form their attachment bonds

Le Vine

Kenyan mothers rarely interact with their children, yet still from strong secure attachments with them.

Isabella et al

Strongly attached infants display more interactional synchrony

Shaffer and Emerson aim

To identify if there are patterns and distinct stages to attachment formation in infants.

Shaffer and Emerson procedure

60 newborn babies and their mothers, working class area in Glasgow

Longitudinal study- Babies and mothers studied in their homes each month for first year and then again at 18 months

Observations as well as interviews

Interview questions: “Who does the baby smile at?” “Who causes the baby distress?”

Shaffer and Emerson measures

Seperation anxiety- (Infant has formed attachment to caregiver) Assessed using everyday situations like baby is left alone in a room

Stranger anxiety- Measured when infants approached by researcher at the start of each visit

Shaffer and Emerson findings

Attachment behaviour forms in stages loosely linked to age.

Strongly attached infants had mothers who responsed to their needs quickly and had more interaction

65% of their first attachments to mother

3% of first attachments to father

39% of attachments not to person who gave food/spent the most time with infant

Multiple attachments could be formed, at 18 months 87% had at least 2 and 31% has 5+

Shaffer and emerson conclusions

There is a pattern of attachment formation with all infants, suggesting that the process is biologically controlled

Attachments are made better with those who have sensitive responsiveness, recognising and responding appropriately to the infant’s needs, rather than those spending the most time with the infant

Multiple attachments are the norm. (Opposing bowlby monotropic theory)

Stages of attachment and who studied it

Shaffer and Emerson.

Pre attachment/Asocial stage- 0-6 weeks

Indisriminate attachment- 6 weeks- 7 months

Discriminate/specific attachment- 7-9 months

Multiple attachments- 10 months

Pre attachment (ascocial stage)

0-6 weeks

Babies show similar responses to all people and non human objects

show some preference for familiar adults

happier in the presence of people

indiscriminate attachment

6 weeks- 7 months

more social

preference of people over objects

accept comfort off of anyone

no seperation or stranger anxiety yet

Discriminate/specific attachment

7-9 months

Primarily attached to main caregiver

Separation and stranger anxiety

Looks to particular people for security comfort and protection

Multiple attachments phase

10+ months

Secondary attachments start to form e.g grandparents, siblings

ecological validity

The validity of the setting, for example if a study was done in a lab it would also be applicable to situations outside the lab

Generalisability shaffer and emerson

Generalisability- Bad because study was done on one culture only (glasgow working class)

Replicability shaffer and emerson

Replicability- Good becuase of simple premise of observing babies over a fixed timespan and conducting interviews with parents

application shaffer and emerson

Application- Good, can inform parents of when children can attend nurseries without risk of contaminating who their primary attachment is to

Validity shaffer and emerson

Validity- good internal and ecological bc of longitudinal study. Internal could be considered bad due to poor operationalisation of behvaioural categories e.g seperation anxiety becuase a playmate could leave the room making the child distressed, but this doesnt nessesarily mean the child is attached to the playmate

Bad temporal validity- conducted in 1964

Ethics shaffer and emerson

Ethics- Potential psychological harm caused to infants when testing seperation and stranger anxiety. Full parental consent given.

What did shaffer and emerson say about the role of the father

3% of first infant attachments are to the father. Though 65% of first attachments are to the mother, 87% of infants had 2 or more attachments by 18 months old, most of which were to the father

What did field say about the role of the father

Analysed 4 month old infants interacting with PCG mothers, fathers, and SCG fathers.

They found that all PCG showed more sensitive responsiveness, as they spent more time smiling, imitating, and holding the infant than SCG

The key to relationship is sensitive responsiveness, not gender

grossman

Longitudinal study

Affect parents have on infant’s later attachments.

The quality of infant attachment with their mothers affected this, but not fathers, suggesting fathers are less important.

Fathers were more important to infants in terms of play/ stimulation instead of nuturing. They helped develop social skills and attachments in adolecence.

Geiger

Father’s play and interactions were more exciting to infant’s than mothers, who were more nurturing.

how does grossman and geiger help in real life

shows that there is a distinctive role of fathers. Adults in single parent or lesbian relationships could use this research to inform their parenting choices, such as being more playful, acting as the child’s playmate to compensate for the lack of a father.

how does shaffer and emerson have bad temporal validity for analysing the role of the father

it was conducted in 1964. During that time it was the norm for mothers to stay home and look after the children. Nowadays, fathers are more involved in raising children, so the 3% of first attachments being to the father could lack temporal validity

Hardy

found that fathers were less able to detect levels of infant distress than mothers, and said this was due to lower levels of oestrogen.

what is the term for an infant forming an attachment due to food

cuboard love

Bowlby monotropic theory ASCMIC

Adaptive, social releasers, critical period, monotropy, internal working model, continuity hypothesis

A in ASCMIC

Adaptive. infants have a higher likelihood of survivial if they are attached to their caregiver, who can protect them from danger and provide food.

Bowlby monotropic theory aim

Attachment is an innate system which gives an evolutionary advantage

S in ASCMIC

Social releasers. Infants display this to unlock innate tendancies in adults to care for them.

Physical- “Baby face”, features and proportions

Behavioural- Crying, cooing

1st C in ASCMIC

Critical period.

Between birth and 2.5 years old

If babies do not form an attachment during this time, ther will be social, emotional, and intellectual consequences

M in ASCMIC

Monotropy. Babies form a special bond with their mother. Attachment is a heirarchy with the mother as the primary caregiver, and the father, grandparents, etc as secondary caregivers.

I in ASCMIC

Internal working model.

People use their relationship with their mother (monotropic ‘special’ attachment) as a template to base future relationships off of

2nd C in ASCMIC

Continuity hypothesis

Babies will use their relationship with their special attachment to form a basis for their emotional relationships in adulthood

e.g if attachment with mother is secure, baby will go on to have a secure attachment style

Hazan and Shaver

Love quiz.

Questionare which is designed to figure out how attachment style (secure, avoidant, resistant) transfers from how someone was treated as a child by their parents, into adulthood

How does hazan and shaver support Bowlby monotropic theory

Supports internal working model and continuoty hypothesis

found correlation between attachment type as infants to relationships in later life

Bailey et al

supports internal working model in Bowlby monotropic theory

analysed 99 mothers and infants.

Found that if the mother’s attachment to their own mother was poor, then their attachment with their infant would be poor as well

How does rutter support Bowlby monotropic theory

Supports critical period

Rutter did romanian orphans study

showed that infants adopted after 6 months of age would show signs of reduced cognitive and emotional capabilities

shows that attachments during critical period are important

How does shaffer and emerson provide evidence for bowlby monotropic theory

Multiple attachments stage after 10 months disproves monotropy

Asocial and indiscriminate stage disprove critical period as these are stages before 2.5 years old where children are not able to form a special attachment

discriminate stage is the only part that supports monotropy and critical period