Divisions of the Nervous Systems - A Level Psychology
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The Diagnosis and Classification of Schizophrenia
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Attachment
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Caregiver-infant interactions
Attachment: a strong, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people that endures over
time, especially between a caregiver and infant. Leads to certain types of behaviours such
as clinging and proximity seeking. Attachment can be recognised through the following
characteristics:
Seeking proximity
Separation distress
Secure base behaviour – needing to make regular contact with attachment figures.
Infants regularly returning to their attachment figures whilst playing.
Pleasure when reunited.
Attachment begins with the intense and pleasurable interactions between infants and their
caregivers. These interactions have an important role in the child’s social development, and
for the development of caregiver-infant attachment.
Reciprocity: for an attachment to form successfully between a caregiver and infant,
interactions must be reciprocal. This involves mutual responsiveness, with each person
responding to the other and eliciting a response from them. For example, when a
caregiver laughs in response to their infants giggling sound and tickles them. According
to Feldman (2007), reciprocity can be seen in interactions from 3 months of age.
Baby takes an active role. Reciprocity is important in teaching the infant how to
communicate and allows the parent to better take care of the child as they can detect
certain cues from the infant and respond to their needs sooner and more effectively.
According to Feldman reciprocity increases in frequency as caregivers and infants pay
increasing attention to each other's verbal and facial communications. It is said that
showing this sensitive responsiveness will lay strong foundations for attachments to
develop later between the caregiver and infant.
Interactional synchrony: when a caregiver and infant reflect both the actions and
emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way. For example, a
caregiver poking out their tongue and the infant mirroring this by also poking out their
tongue. This is only possible by responding to each other's cues; therefore, it includes
reciprocity.
Is a form of rhythmic interaction. From birth, babies move in a rhythm when interacting
with the primary caregiver. Infant and caregiver can anticipate how the other will behave
and anticipate a particular response from the other. This interaction serves to sustain
communication between two individuals and has been found to lead to better
communication between the infant and caregiver when the infant is older. Isabella et al
observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony and
observed the quality of mother-infant attachment. They found that high levels of
synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment.
Interactional synchrony is most likely to occur if the caregiver attends fully to the baby’s
state, provides playful stimulation when the child is attentive, and avoids pushing things
when the infant is tired.
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