introduction to attachment

introduction to attachment

1. reciprocity

   • An interaction is reciprocal when each person responds to the other and elicits a response. Feldman and Eidelman 2007 suggested mothers pick up and respond to the child's alertness. the baby can play an active role as both the mother and the child can initiate interactions and take turns doing so

2. interactional synchrony

   • the temporary co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour (Feldman 2007) and occurs when mother and infant interact and their actions and emotions mirror each other
   • Meltzoff and Moore 1977 carried out an observation of the beginnings of IS in2 week old babies. the adult would show 1 of 3 facial expressions and the babies reactions were filmed and identified by independent observers. an association between the action and infant and so suggests IS is important for developing mother infant attachment
   • Isabella et al 1989- 3o babies were assessed on synchrony and quality of mother-infant attachment and found high levels of synchrony which lead to better mother-infant attachment

3. attachment figures

   • Shaffer and Emmerson 1964 suggested babies become attached to mother in first few wees/months and secondary attachment was formed later. It was found 75% of babies formed attachments to the father by 18 months

4. role of the father

   • Grossman 2002 carried out a longitudinal study looking at parents behaviour and relationship to the quality of children's attachment.
     • quality of mothers attachment was related to Childs attachment in adolescence whereas the quality of the father's play was related to the quality of adolescent which suggests the father plays a different role in the attachment which is more through play and stimulation
   • father as the primary caregiver
     • FIeld 1978 filmed interactions between 4-month babies and PCG mothers, PCG fathers and SCG fathers
       • found that PCG fathers smiled, imitated and held the baby more than the secondary which shows that behaviour is important in building attachments and the ey to forming attachments id the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent
   • evaluation
     • inconsistent finding on fathers
       • the role of the father is confusing as researchers are interested in the different roles of the father such as the father as a primary caregiver or a secondary caregiver. the results either show father behaving different or the same as the mother and taking on the maternity role. this is a problem as it doesn't answer the question of what the role of the father is
     • why arent children without fathers different
       • Grassman suggested fathers as SAF had role in the child's development. MacCallum and Golombok 2004- children growing up in same-sex parent families dont develop differenllty than children in heterosexual families. This suggests the role of the father as a SAF isn't important
     • why fathers don't become PCG
       • This could be the result of traditional gender roles where women are expected to be more nurturing. it could also be down to female hormones as oestrogen create higher levels of nurturing and women are biologically predisposed to be the primary attachment figure

5. caregiver infant interactions

   • evaluations
     • dont tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity
       • eildman 2012 suggested that synchrony just describes behaviours taht happen at the same time and is a robust phenomenon as it can be reliably observed but not used or shows a purpose. osme evdience suggests that reciprocal interaction and synchrony are helpful in the development of mother infant atatchment, stress reponses, empathy, lanaguage and moral development
     • controlled observations capture fine detail
       • as both the mother and the child are filmed from multiple angles the fine details can be caught and later analysed . also the babies dont now they are being filmed so there will be no change in their behvaiour which ios sgenerally a problem for observational research. because of this, the research has good validity
     • hard to know what's happening when observing infants
       • gratie 2003 proposed that teh observtaions showed some patterns of atatchment.however only hand movements and expressions are observed so we don't know what's happening from the babies point of view.because of this, behaviours that may have special meaning cant be identified
     • socially sensitive research- working mother
       • It suggests the child may become disadvantaged by particular child-rearing practices such as the mother going back to work soon after giving birth as it can restrict opportunities for attachment. because of this mothers shouldn't return to work so soon and has socially sensitive impliactions