Attatchment

Attachment - caregiver-infant interactions

• Reprocity
• contributors of the interaction are responding to eachother
• Interactional synchrony
• Simultaneous action
• relates to timing and pattern of interaction
• this interaction is rhythmic
• can include infant and caregiver mirroring each others emotion or behavior

Evaluation of care giver-infant interactions

• Supporting evidence
• Meltzoff and Moore
• used 4 different stimuli - adults displayed 1 of 4 facial expressions and a hand gestrure
• childs response was filmed and identified by independent observers who didnt know what the children had just seen
• behavioral categories - mouth opening, termination of mouth opening, tongue protrusion, termination of tongue protrusion
• each observer scored tapes twice - inter observer reliability could be calculated
• all scores were greater than 92
• an association was found between the expression/gesture the adult has displayed and the babies action
• Isabella et al
• observed 30 mothers and infants together
• looked at synchrony and quality of attachment and found an association between high levels of synchrony and better quality attatchments
• This research supports care-giver interactions -
• Meltzoff showed - the existence of reciprocity consistently between mother and child
• isabella found - differences in degree of reciprocity and interactional synchrony shown (infants displaying more synchronicity were more strongly attached - shows us not just about the concepts existence but also the purpose and importance of reciprocity and interactional synchrony

Other Evaluation

• Research methods -
• observation - well controlled procedure , both mother and child were filmed, multiple angles. this ensures - fine detail of behavior can be recorded and later andalysed - improves the validityuse of independent observers improves reliability of research infants dont know/dont care they are being observed = their behavior doesn't change (good validity. However the mothers may be a subject to demand characteristics
• Not universal
• interactional synchrony is not found in all cultures - weakens the support for the idea that it is important in the development of attachmentsLe vine - Kenyan mothers have little physical contact/interactions with their children but have high proportions of secure attachments
• Practical application
• Meltzoff and Moore demonstrated with 3 day old babies - this suggests babies should be placed next to their mothers in the hospital and should remain in close contact for the first 3 months.
• therapists who work with parents and children who have experienced disruption in their attachment formation (adopted children for example) recognize importance of reciprocity and interactional synchrony in their therapeutic work

supporting evidence of attachment

• Shaffer and Emerson - investigate the formation of early attatchment, when they started, their intensity and to whom they were directed to
• Metthod :
• longitudinal study
• 6 babies - 31 male 21 female from glasgow from skilled working class background
• they were vised at home every month for the first year then at 18 months
• mothers were interviewed to measure the infants level of attachment asking questions about how their infants responded to seven situations (e.g. adult leaving the room - separation anxiety. level of distress the presence of a stranger caused - stranger anxiety)
• Findings:
• sings of separation anxiety - 50% of infants by 7 months
• 80% by 40 weeks almost 30% displayed multiple attachment
• by 1 year 78% developed multiple attatchment with 33% having 5 or more multiple attachment figures

Evaluation

• Research methods
• longitudinal study - it can look at the real development and is not jst a snapshot
• validity
• internal validity - babies were in their actual environment so their behavior was unlikely to be effected by observers
• low population validity - limited sample, babies from same area
• generalisablity
• low generalisablilty - in some cultures multiple caregivers are the norm so multiple attachments may develop immediately instead of specific attachments
• links and supports other concepts
• supports the existence of reprocity and interactional synchrony at the indiscriminate stage
• stage theories = inflexible
• if child doesn't fit in to a particular stage they will be seen as abnormal or parents may become worried