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Introduction to attachment - Coggle Diagram
Introduction to attachment
Reciprocity
From birth babies and their mothers spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction. Babies have periodic 'alert phases' and signal that they are ready for interaction. Mothers typically pick up on and respond to infant alertness around two-thirds of the time.
From around three months this interaction tends to be increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each other's verbal signals and facial expressions. A key element of this interaction is reciprocity. An interaction is reciprocal when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them.
Traditional views of childhood have seen the baby in a passive role, receiving care from an adult. However, it seems that the baby takes an active role. Both mother and child can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so. Brazleton et al (1975) described this interaction as a 'dance' because it is just like a couple's dance where each partner responds to each other's moves.
Interactional synchrony
Two people are said to be 'synchronised' when they carry out the same action simultaneously. Interactional synchrony can be defined as the 'temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour. It takes place when mother and infant interact in such as way that their actions and emotions mirror the other.
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks old. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures. The child's response was filmed and identified by independent observers. An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the babies.
It is believed that interactional synchrony is important for the development oof mother-infant attachment. Isabella et al (1989) observed 30 mothers and the infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony. The researchers also assessed the quality of mother-infant attachment. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment.
Condon and Sander (1974): Interactional Synchrony Evidence
Aim
A study to investigate interactional synchrony in new-borns and their parents.
Procedure
Videos of parents talking to their new-borns were analysed frame by frame. The behaviour of the new-born was noted.
Results
They noticed that even new-borns co-ordinate their movements and gestures in time with human speech. There was an element of turn taking and the babies seemed to respond to the one-sided conversation.
Conclusion
This study shows that interactional synchrony starts at an early age. Meltzoff and Moore (1977) say this begins as early as two weeks.
Evaluation
Strengths
Ecological validity - parents and babies in their own environment
Ethical study
Limitations
The behaviour of new-borns is open to interpretation
Attachment figures
Parent-infant attachment
Traditionally we have thought in terms of mother-infant attachment. Schaffer and Emerson (1964) found that the majority of babies did become attached to their mother first (around 7 months) and within a few weeks or months formed secondary attachments to other family members, including the father. In 75% of the infants studied an attachment was formed with the father by the age of 18 months. This was determined by the fact that the infants protested when their father walked away - a sign of attachment.
The role of the father
Grossman (2002) carried out a longitudinal study looking at both parents' behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children's attachment into their teens. Quality of infant attachment with mother but not fathers was related to children's attachments in adolescence , suggesting that father attachment was less important.
However, the quality of fathers' play with infants was related to the quality of adolescent attachments. This suggests that fathers have a different role in attachment - one that is more to do with play and stimulation, and less to do with nurturing.
Fathers as primary carers
There is some evidence to suggest that when fathers do take on the role of being the main caregiver they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers. Tiffany Field (1978) filmed 4-month-old babies in face-to-face interactions with primary caregiver mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and primary caregiver fathers. Primary caregiver fathers, like mother spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers. This behaviour appears to be important in building an attachment with an infant. So it seems that fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure. The key to the attachment relationship is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent.