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Caregiver Infant Interactions and Scaffer's stage of attachment -…
Caregiver Infant Interactions and Scaffer's stage of attachment
Schaffer's Stages of Attachment
Asocial- birth to two months- Infant shows similar responses to objects and people. Although towards the end of this stage they do display a preference for faces / eyes.
Indiscriminate-2-6 months- Infant now shows a preference for human company over non-human company. They can distinguish between different people, but are comforted indiscriminately (by anyone) and do not show stranger anxiety yet.
Dsicirrminate- 7-12 months- Infant shows a preference for one caregiver, displaying separation and stranger anxiety. The infant looks to a particular person for security and protection. The infant shows joy upon reunion and are comforted by their primary caregiver
Multiple- 1 year old- Attachment behaviours are now displayed towards several different people
Typical pattern of childhood development could be divided within distinct stages
Based on the longitudinal study by Schaffer and Emerson
Studied 60 babies aged between 5 and 23 weeks once every month for 12 months and then one when they were 18 months
Studied in their own homes, therefore showed natural behaviours
Interactions with their carers were observed and also interviewed
Some support for the different stages of developing an attachment
25–32 weeks, 50% of the children showed separation anxiety towards their mothers, expected of the discriminate attachment stage
By 40 weeks, 80% of the children had a specific (discriminate) attachment
30% had started to form multiple attachments
Support for Schaffer’s stages of attachment and suggest that attachment develops through a series of stages across the first year of life
Stranger anxiety- response fo stragners arriving
Separation anxiety – level of distress when parted from caregiver and level of comfort when returned
Limiation of Caregiver Infant Interaction
Hard to interpet a babies behaviour
Young babies lack coordination and much were bodies are almost immobile
The moverments being observed are just small movement or subtle changes in expression
Difficult to be sure, for example, whether baby smiling or just passing wind and what is taking place from the babies perspective
For example, we cannot know whether a movement such as a hand which is random or triggered by something a a caregiver has done
This means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver infant interaction have special meaning
Strengh of Caregiver Infant Interaction
Usually filmed in a laboratory
This means that other activities, that might distract a baby can be controlled
Filming from angels means that observations can be recorded and analysed later
Therefore it is unlikely that researchers will miss seeing key behaviours
Furthermore have filmed interactions means that more than one observer can record data and establish inter-rater reliability of the observations
Finally, babies don't know they're being observed, so their behaviour does not change in response to observations
Therefore the data collected in such research should have good reliability and validity
Interactional Syncrony
When two people Interact they tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of a facial and body movement. This includes imitating emotions as well as behaviors
High syncrony= higher quality of attachment
Isabella observed 20 mothers and infants together and assess the degrees of synchrony and the quality of attachment. Found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment
Reprocity
Responding to the action of another with a similar action by turn-taking, where the action of one partner elicits a response from the other.
Happen as young as 2 weeks old
Behaviour becomes synchronised and symbolic exchanges
Turn-taking
Attachment
A close two way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other is essential for their own emotional security
Mothers respond 2/3 of the time
Proximity- people try to stay physically close to their attachment figure
Separation Distress- people showed signs of anxiety, when an attachment figure leaves her presence
Secure base behaviour- even when we are independent our attachment figures, we tend to make regular contac with them
Meltzoff and Moore
Observed babies- exposed to four different stimulus- three facial and one manual gesture
The infant’s response was filmed- independent observer, noted their actions using a number of behavioral categories
Observer scored the tape twice- allowing for intra-observer and inter-rater reliability
As young a two week old, you can imitate a facial and manual gesture
International synchrony serves as important building blocks for later social and cognitive development
Alert pahses
Signal babies are ready for interaction, which mothers respond to two-thirds of the time.
Strength of Stages of Attachment
High external Valididty
Conducted their observation in each child's own home whihc means that the children and parents were more likely to act naturally
Therefore, the study has good extrnal validity as the results are likely to apply to other children from a similar demogrpahic due to being in their own homes
Limitation for Stages of Attachment
Lacks population validity
Sample consisted of only 60 working class mothers and babies from Glasgow
May form very different attachments with their infants when compared with wealthier families from other countries
Therefore, we are unable to generalise the results of this study to mothers and babies from other countries and backgrounds as their behaviour might not be comparable