Everything you need to know about attachment in A-Level psychology. 27 pages long, evaluations included.
Page 1: caregiver-infant interactions
Page 2: reciprocity and interactional synchrony
Pages 3+4: Stages of Attachment
Pages 5+6: Role of The Father
Pages 7-10: Animal Studies
Pages 11+1...
When we refer to infancy, this is generally understood to mean the first year of a child’s life and the
period before they begin to learn to speak.
One of the main key interactions between caregivers and infants is their non-verbal communication,
for example, how they communicate without words or sounds.
It is believed that it is these interactions that form the basis of how attachment occurs between the
caregiver and infant. The manner in which each responds to one another through how sensitive they
are to one another’s signals determines the formation of attachment and how deep the relationship
is.
, Psychology, Attachment, AQA A-Level
Reciprocity and Interactional Synchrony
Reciprocity occurs between infants and carers resulting in mutual behaviour where both parties are able to generate a
response from one another almost like a conversation e.g smiling by the parent results in smiling by the baby. Such
interactions between the infant and carer facilitate and strengthen the attachment bond.
Brazelton (1979) suggested reciprocal behaviour was an important precursor for the development of communication later.
Signals the infant gives allows the carer to anticipate the child’s responses and respond appropriately. It is this sensitivity to
the child’s needs and behaviour which lays the foundation for attachment to develop.
Tronick et al. (1979) found that when mothers who had been engaged in dialogue with their babies were asked to stop
moving and remain static, the babies would become puzzled and distressed when their smiles were unable to provoke a
reciprocal response. This highlights how babies engage and anticipate reciprocal responses to their own behaviour.
Interactional synchrony involves infants imitating specific hand and facial gestures from an adult model and broadly refers
to a finely tuned coordination of behaviours between the child and parent during speaking and listening. Infants and parents
are seen to develop a shared sense of timing and rhythm which develops into a flow of mutual behaviours. Meltzoff &
Moore (1983) demonstrated that interactional synchrony occurred with infants imitating facial expressions, tongue
protrusions and mouth openings from an adult model when only three days old. This suggests the behaviour was innate
rather than learned.
EVALUATION
• OneCaregiver-Infant
major issue intoInteractions in Humans
observing caregiver-infant interactions is testing infant behaviour is incredibly difficult as their
facial expressions are almost continuously changing. Behaviours observed in the Meltzoff & Moore study may lack
When
validity as we refer to infancy,
expressions involvingthis is generally
sticking their tongue out, yawning, smiling, opening their mouths and movements
understood to mean the first year
of hands occur constantly in young babies. of a child’s life it incredibly difficult to distinguish between general
This makes
and theand
behaviour period before
actual they begin
interactional to learn to
synchrony. speak. such theories may lack internal validity due to not
Therefore
necessarily measuring interactional synchrony.
One of the main key interactions between
• caregivers
Meltzoff and infants
& Moore’s study isalso
their non-verbal
lacks reliability as successive attempts to replicate the findings have failed. For
communication, for example,
example, Koepke et al (1983) was unable how theyto recreate the same findings although one weakness claimed by Meltzoff
andcommunicate without
Moore was their studywords
lackedorcontrol
sounds. and thus had validity.
It is believed that it is these interactions that form
• Onethe basis of
practical how attachment
application for suchoccurs between
findings the can be placed in the same rooms with their children instantly
is mothers
caregiver
so they and infant.
can begin to formThe manner inbonds
attachment whichunlike
each previous practice where they were kept separate.
responds to one another through how sensitive
• theyet
Deyong arealto one another’s
(1991) observed signals
infantsdetermines the
when they interacted with two objects. One simulated tongue movements
formation
while the otherofsimulated
attachmenttheand how deep
opening the of the mouth. They found infants within the median age of 5 to
and closing
relationship
12 weeks is. interactional synchrony or response to the objects. This suggests infants do display specific
made little
social responses to human interactions as reciprocity and interactional synchrony suggests as they do not simply
imitate everything.
• Interactional synchrony does not have cross-cultural support which weakens the idea that it is innate and necessary
for attachment as it is not universal. Le Vine et al (1994) found that Kenyan mothers had little interactions with their
infants yet a high proportion of them were still classed as securely attached.
• Condon & Sander (1974) analysed infant video recordings to find they did co-ordinate their behaviour in sequence
with the adults speech almost as if were a conversation involving taking turns. This supports the idea of interactional
synchrony having validity as Isabella et al (1989) also found that infants with secure attachments also demonstrated
such behaviour in their first year.
, Psychology, Attachment, AQA A-Level
Schaffer and Emerson’s Stages of Attachment
Rudolf Schaffer and Peggy Emerson conducted a landmark study into attachment in the 1960s
which they used to help them construct a description of how attachment develops in humans.
Stage 1: Indiscriminate attachments: From birth until approximately the 2-month stage, infants
produce similar responses to all objects regardless of whether they are inanimate objects or not.
Towards the end of this stage, they may begin to show a preference for social stimuli, such as a
smiling face. t is during this stage that reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in
establishing the infant’s relationships
.Stage 2: Attachment begins: The second stage occurs between 2 months to 6 months with babies
becoming more sociable and able to distinguish people with a preference for their company over
inanimate objects. They do not display stranger anxiety allowing themselves to be comforted by
anyone.
Stage 3: discriminate attachment: The third stage takes place from 7 months with babies beginning
to display separation anxiety from their main attachment figure through protesting when separated.
They also begin to show stranger anxiety and a sense of relief and joy when reunited with their
primary caregiver showing a specific attachment towards them. The attachment bond is not always
with the person who spends the most time with them but rather with the person who is most
sensitive to the child’s needs with the quality.
Stage 4: Multiple attachments: Stage four occurs from around 10 months onwards with the infant
displaying multiple attachments after the first attachment has formed with their primary caregiver.
Schaffer and Emerson found that 29% of infants had formed secondary attachments within one
month of forming their first attachment. At six months the infant will show multiple attachment
behaviours to many people within their social circles such as siblings, the other parent,
grandparents. They may have five or more secondary attachment figures at this point. Schaffer &
Emerson found 78% of infants at six months had multiple attachments and almost all displayed
multiple attachments at the age of one year
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