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A* Alevel Psychology Notes - Attachment
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AQA AS Psychology Unit 1: AttachmentIntroduction
Caregiver-infant Interactions
Infancy is the period of life before speech begins, usually taken to include the first year of life. One of
the key interactions between infants and their caregivers is non-verbal interaction. The focus of this
research is to explore how this leads to attachment.
Reciprocity
Many researchers in the 70s noticed that infants coordinate with their caregivers; from birth babies
move in a rhythm when interacting with adults, almost as if taking turns. This is an example of
reciprocity, as one partner responds to an action with a similar action. Brazelton (1979) suggested
the basic rhythm is an important precursor to later communication, as the signals give caregivers
anticipation of the infants behaviour. Sensitivity to these signals may lay the foundation for later
attachment.
Interactional Synchrony
This refers to the mirroring of another in facial and body movements, and may include imitating
emotions as well as behaviours. Moore (1977) conducted the first systematic study of this concept,
finding that infants imitated facial and hand gestures at 2-3 weeks of age when viewing the facial
expressions and hand movements of a model. In a later study (1983) the same effect was recorded
in infants of 3 days’ age. This implies the behavioural response is natural.
However, Piaget believed that true imitation does not form in the first year, and that anything
before this would be through operant conditioning. If a caregiver smiles when the infant imitates it,
the infant will repeat this response. Evidence to support Moore’s view was presented by Murray and
Trevarthen (1985). 2-month old infants interacted with their mother via video monitor, before a
phase in which a tape of the mother was played so the image was not responding to facial and body
cues. The result was acute distress in the infants, showing the infant is actively eliciting a response
rather than displaying a response to be rewarded. This further demonstrates the key point of this
topic; that infants are active and intentional partners in infant-caregiver interaction.
Evaluation
One difficulty with this body of research is in reliably testing infant behaviour. Infant’s mouths are
in constant motion, making it difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitation.
However, Moore did overcome this problem by asking observers to judge infants’ behaviour from a
video, without knowledge of what was being imitated.
Another issue is the failure to replicate findings. Marian et al (1996) replicated the Murray and
Trevarthen study and found infants couldn’t actually distinguish between live interaction and video
tapes of their mothers. This suggests that the infants are not actually responding to the adult, and
that there may be questions regarding the original findings due to this lack of reliable results.
, One supporting point is the evidence for imitation specifically in human interactions. Another
method to test intentionality of behaviour is to see how infants interact with inanimate objects.
When faced with objects replicating tongue movements and mouth movements, infants in a age 5-
12 weeks show little response. This suggests that the imitation of these movements is specific to and
thus important in interaction with other humans.
An important further evaluation point is that there is variation between infants. Isabella et al
(1989) found that more strongly attached parent/child pairs showed more interactional synchrony.
This suggests a relationship between the level of synchrony and the strength of attachment, which in
turn supports the notion that this is important in caregiver-infant interactions.
Finally, there are very positive further avenues to this research. The imitative behaviour discussed
appears to form the basis of social development, as infants associate imitated acts with underlying
mental states, then project these experiences onto other to understand what they are thinking and
feeling-this is the famous ‘Theory of Mind’ which explores the basis for social relationships. This
shows a strength of this research field as it has led to important psychological theories and
developments.
The Development of Attachment
The focus of this field was Bowlby’s proposal that your first attachment relationship was the basis for
our learning about how to conduct and be in a relationship. In 1964, Schaffer and Emerson
constructed a description of the development of attachment. 60 infants from largely working-class
Glaswegian homes were studied, ranging from 5-23 weeks old. They were visited every four weeks
until the age of a year, and the mother reported the infant’s response to separation, and to describe
the intensity and target of the protest. The following four stages emerged from the results:
1. Indiscriminate attachment: This first stage lasts from birth until around 2 months. Infants
produce similar responses to both animate and inanimate objects. During the end of the two
months this begins to shift to a preference for people and social interaction. Reciprocity and
interactional synchrony play a role in establishing the infant’s relationships with others
2. Beginnings of attachment: Around the age of four months, infants become more people and
social orientated, and can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people. However,
they are still easily comforted by strangers showing no anxiety. Sociability is a very
distinctive feature.
3. Discriminate attachment: The infant by around 7 months show separation anxiety if out
down by a particular person. Similarly, they show particular joy at reunion with that person;
their primary attachment figure. They also begin to display stranger anxiety, another sign of
a specific attachment. The researchers also found primary attachments were not always
formed with the person who spent most time with the child. Intensely attached infants had
sensitive and interactive mothers, whereas infants who had poor attachment had the
opposite. They concluded quality was more important than quantity of the relationship
when determining the primary attachment figure.
4. Multiple attachments: Very soon after the main attachment is formed, the infant develops a
wider circle of multiple attachments. The study found that within a month of the first
attachment 29% of infants had secondary attachments, where separation anxiety was also
displayed. Within 6 months this had risen to 78%.
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