introduction to attachment

introduction to attachment

1. caregiver infant interactions

   • reciprocity
     • babies and mums spend a lot of time together
       • mother responds to babies actions - by picking them up
     • reciprocal when the person responds to the other
     • babies have an active role
       • baby and mum initiate interactions
   • basics
     • babies have social interaction from birth
       • important for child's development
   • interactional synchrony
     • the temporal co-ordination of micro level social behaviour
       • mother & babies actions mirror each other
       • as young as 2 weeks
       • important for attachment
         • Isabella
           • studied interactional synchrony and attachment
             • high levels of synchrony = stronger attachment
   • feldman

2. attachment figures

   • parent - infant
     • Schaffer & Emerson
       • mother is primary attachment
         • 7 months
       • father is secondary attachment
         • 18 months
   • role of the father
     • Grossman
       • looked at both parents behaviour then quality of attachment in the child's teens
       • quality of attachment with mother was greater than with fathers
       • however quality of fathers play was important
         • fathers have a different role
           • not nurturing but playing
   • fathers as primary carers
     • field
       • if father is the primary caregiver they do nurture more
       • primary caregiver fathers smile, imitate and hold more
   • with attachments it is the level of responsiveness not the gender

3. evaluation - caregiver infant reactions

   • hard to observe infants -
     • hard to be certain what the baby means
       • we look at hand and facial movements
         • what if it's just copying the mother
   • controlled observations +
     • most of these observations are controlled
       • fine details can be seen and recorded
       • babies don't know they are being watched so no artificial behaviour
         • so goo validity
   • observations don't tell use why (purpose) -
     • synchrony and reciprocity only describe the behaviour
       • don't know why
       • however are helpful with the development of attachments
         • also help: stress responses, empathy, language and moral development

4. evaluation - attachment figures

   • inconsistent findings -
     • different researchers look at different things
       • some as fathers as the primary care giver
       • some as fathers as the secondary care giver
         • both find different results which contradicts
   • if fathers have a distinct role why aren't fatherless children different? -
     • children growing up with a single or same sex male parent families
       • are not different
         • even though research says they should be
           • so fathers role is not important
   • why don't fathers generally be the primary attachment? -
     • is it traditional gender roles
       • women more nurturing
     • female hormones
       • higher levels of nurturing
       • biologically more nurturing

5. evaluation +

   • working mothers
     • socially sensitive research
       • some children may be disadvantaged
         • if the mother goes back to work soon after giving birth
           • interactional synchrony won't happen
             • important for developing attachments

6. what is attachment?

   • a close two way emotional bond between 2 individuals
     • each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
   • behaviours
     • proximity
       • people try and stay close to whom they are attached to
     • separation distress
       • distressed when attachment figure leaves
     • secure base behaviour
       • returning to attachment figure
     • stranger
       • feeling uncomfortable when a stranger is present