Studies towards attachment

What did Schaffer and Emerson do and when?

• study the development of attachment in infants

• 1964

What was Schaffer and Emerson’s aims?

• to assess whether there was a pattern of attachment formation that was common to all infants

• to identify and describe the distinct stages by which attachments form

How many participants took part in Schaffer and Emersons experiment?

• 60 newborn babies and their mothers

What was the procedure of Schaffer and Emersons experiment?

• babies were studied for the first year of their lives in their own homes

• mothers were interviewed about their observations

How did Schaffer and Emerson measure attachment?

• separation protest

• Stranger anxiety

What is separation protest and how is it assessed?

• distress shown when infant is apart from caregiver

• assessed through several everyday situations: the infant being left alone in a room, left alone with others, left in their pram outside the house etc

What is stranger anxiety and how is it assessed?

• distress shown when an unfamiliar person is present

• assessed by the researcher approaching the infant at the start of each home visit, to see if infant gets distressed

What were Schaffer and Emerson’s findings towards separation protest and stranger anxiety?

• infants at 6-8 months showed separation protest when parted from their attachment figure

• stranger anxiety was shown 1 month later

What were Schaffer and Emerson’s findings multiple attachments?

• at 18 months: 87% hat at least two attachments, 31% having five or more attachments

What is interactional synchrony?

• when an infant mirrors the action of another person

What is reciprocity?

• when an infant responds to the actions of another person

What is bodily contact?

• physical interactions between carer and infant that help to form the attachment bond

What is caregiverese?

• adults who interact with infants using a high-pitched, slow and repetitive voice

• it aids communication between carer and infant

What did Condon and Sander do and when?

• analysed frame-by-frame video recordings of infants’ movements to find they co-ordinated their actions in sequence with adults’ speech to form a turn-taking conversation

• 1974

What did Condon and Sander’s research support?

• interactional synchrony

Strengths and criticisms of Condon and Sander’s research?

• Strengths: Ecological validity (parents and babies in their own environment), ethical study

• Limitations: The behaviour of newborns is open to interpretation e.g. is it a smile or wind?

What did Klaus and Kennell do and when?

• compared mums who had a lot of physical contact with their babies, to mums who only had physical contact when feeding

• 1976

What did Klaus and Kennell discover?

• greater physical contact leads to stronger and closer bond formation

Criticisms of Klaus and Kennell’s research?

• their findings were due to the attention given rather than increased physical contact.

What did Meltzoff and Moore do and when?

• found that infants aged 2-3weeks tended to mimic adults’ specific facial expressions and hand movements

• 1977

What did Meltzoff and Moore’s research support?

• infant mimicry is an innate ability to aid the formation of attachment

Criticisms of Meltzoff and Moore’s research?

• only securely attached infants engage in interactional synchrony

What did Papousek et al do and when?

• found that the tendency to use a rising tone to show an infant that it was their turn in the interaction was cross-cultural

• 1991

What did Papousek et al’s research support?

• that caregiveres is an innate, biological device to facilitate the formation of attachments

Criticisms of Papousek et al’s research?

What did Feldman and Eidelman do and when?

• reported that reciprocity is seen from 3 months of age

• 2007

Criticisms of Feldman and Eidelman’s research?

• infants lack coordinated movements and tend to move their limbs randomly