ATTACHMENT 16 MARKERS
Outline and evaluate caregiver-infant interactions (16 marks)
Attachment is described as a close two way emotional bond between two people where
they see each other as essential to their emotional security. Attachment between care-
givers and infants can be seen in two ways, through reciprocity and through interactional
synchrony. Reciprocity happens between an infant and carer and results in a mutual
behaviour as they both generate a response from each other. For example, if a baby
smiles the mother will smile back or if a baby is alert and signals when it wants to interact
with the caregiver the mother will respond to this two thirds of the time. Brazelton
described reciprocal behaviour as an important precursor for the development of
communication later in life. He also describes reciprocity as a ‘dance’ as it is just like a
couple dancing when each infant and caregiver responds to their moves. Interactional
synchrony is when infants imitate specific hand gestures or facial expressions from an
adult model, i.e. the infant mirrors the adult. Interactional synchrony is defined as temporal
coordination of micro-level social behaviour. Meltzoff and Moore conducted a study into
this, they observed the beginning of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2
weeks old. The adult would demonstrate one of three hand gestures or facial expressions,
such as sticking out their tongue or opening their mouth, and the baby’s response was
filmed.
A strength of this is that the research used well controlled procedures. Meltzoff and Moore
filmed the mother-infant interactions from many different angles. This meant that very fine
details were captured and could be analysed. As well as this, the babies didn’t know that
they were being observed and therefore don’t change their behaviour, which ensures that
natural behaviour is being observed. This is a strength because the research has high
validity which supports interactional synchrony.
Another strength is that there is further research support on intentional behaviour. For
example, DeYoung et al observed infants when they interacted with two objects ; one
stimulated tongue movements and the other stimulated opening and closing of the mouth.
They found that infants aged 5-12 weeks made little response. Therefore this shows that
infants display specific social responses to human interactions, just as reciprocity and
interactional synchrony suggests. This is a strength because it shows that they don’t
simply imitate everything they see.
However, a weakness is that it is difficult to test infant behaviour. This is because their
facial expressions and hand gestures are constantly changing. Meltzoff and Moore’s study
may lack validity as the expressions made occur constantly in babies and it is therefore
difficult to distinguish between general behaviour and actual interactional synchrony. This
means that the study may lack internal validity because we can’t be sure that the
behaviour that occurred had any special meaning. This lowers the validity of the
explanation as the research to support may not actually support it.
, Outline and evaluate the role of the father in attachment (16 marks)
An infant’s primary attachment is usually to the mother, however there are occasions
where the father is the primary attachment figure. This occurs more when the father is the
main attachment figure (3%) or when they are the joint object of attachment along with the
mother (27%). Schaffer and Emerson found that the majority of babies became attached to
the mother first, at around 7 months and in the next few months they formed secondary
attachments to other family members, including the father. They found that 75% of infants
had formed a secondary attachment to their fathers by 18 months. Grossman conducted a
longitudinal study into the role of the father. He looked at both parents behaviour in order
to see the relationship between their behaviour and the quality of attachments into their
teens. The quality of attachments with the other was connected to adolescent behaviour,
and not the father. Grossman claimed that this suggests the role of the father is less
important. However, the quality of the father’s play with the child related to the quality of
adolescent attachments, suggesting that the father has a role more to do with play and
stimulation than nurturing. As well as this, it was found that when fathers take on main
attachment roles they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers. For example, Field
studied 4 month old babies and found that primary caregiver fathers spent more time
smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers. Therefore, the key
to attachment relationships is the level of responsiveness and maybe it isn’t gender.
A weakness of the explanation is that children without fathers aren’t different. If fathers
have a distinct role, children without fathers should surely be affected in later life. For
example, Grossman’s study found that fathers as secondary attachment roles had an
important role in children’s development. However, other studies have found that children
growing up with a single or same sex parents don’t develop any differently. Therefore, this
suggests that the father’s role as a secondary attachment figure is not important.
As well as this, a further weakness is that fathers tend not to become primary attachment
figures as a result of traditional gender roles. This could be because women are generally
expected to be more caring and nurturing. This could also be due to the fact that female
hormones, like oestrogen, create higher levels of nurturing. Therefore, women are
biologically predetermined to be the primary attachment figure.
Outline and evaluate caregiver-infant interactions (16 marks)
Attachment is described as a close two way emotional bond between two people where
they see each other as essential to their emotional security. Attachment between care-
givers and infants can be seen in two ways, through reciprocity and through interactional
synchrony. Reciprocity happens between an infant and carer and results in a mutual
behaviour as they both generate a response from each other. For example, if a baby
smiles the mother will smile back or if a baby is alert and signals when it wants to interact
with the caregiver the mother will respond to this two thirds of the time. Brazelton
described reciprocal behaviour as an important precursor for the development of
communication later in life. He also describes reciprocity as a ‘dance’ as it is just like a
couple dancing when each infant and caregiver responds to their moves. Interactional
synchrony is when infants imitate specific hand gestures or facial expressions from an
adult model, i.e. the infant mirrors the adult. Interactional synchrony is defined as temporal
coordination of micro-level social behaviour. Meltzoff and Moore conducted a study into
this, they observed the beginning of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2
weeks old. The adult would demonstrate one of three hand gestures or facial expressions,
such as sticking out their tongue or opening their mouth, and the baby’s response was
filmed.
A strength of this is that the research used well controlled procedures. Meltzoff and Moore
filmed the mother-infant interactions from many different angles. This meant that very fine
details were captured and could be analysed. As well as this, the babies didn’t know that
they were being observed and therefore don’t change their behaviour, which ensures that
natural behaviour is being observed. This is a strength because the research has high
validity which supports interactional synchrony.
Another strength is that there is further research support on intentional behaviour. For
example, DeYoung et al observed infants when they interacted with two objects ; one
stimulated tongue movements and the other stimulated opening and closing of the mouth.
They found that infants aged 5-12 weeks made little response. Therefore this shows that
infants display specific social responses to human interactions, just as reciprocity and
interactional synchrony suggests. This is a strength because it shows that they don’t
simply imitate everything they see.
However, a weakness is that it is difficult to test infant behaviour. This is because their
facial expressions and hand gestures are constantly changing. Meltzoff and Moore’s study
may lack validity as the expressions made occur constantly in babies and it is therefore
difficult to distinguish between general behaviour and actual interactional synchrony. This
means that the study may lack internal validity because we can’t be sure that the
behaviour that occurred had any special meaning. This lowers the validity of the
explanation as the research to support may not actually support it.
, Outline and evaluate the role of the father in attachment (16 marks)
An infant’s primary attachment is usually to the mother, however there are occasions
where the father is the primary attachment figure. This occurs more when the father is the
main attachment figure (3%) or when they are the joint object of attachment along with the
mother (27%). Schaffer and Emerson found that the majority of babies became attached to
the mother first, at around 7 months and in the next few months they formed secondary
attachments to other family members, including the father. They found that 75% of infants
had formed a secondary attachment to their fathers by 18 months. Grossman conducted a
longitudinal study into the role of the father. He looked at both parents behaviour in order
to see the relationship between their behaviour and the quality of attachments into their
teens. The quality of attachments with the other was connected to adolescent behaviour,
and not the father. Grossman claimed that this suggests the role of the father is less
important. However, the quality of the father’s play with the child related to the quality of
adolescent attachments, suggesting that the father has a role more to do with play and
stimulation than nurturing. As well as this, it was found that when fathers take on main
attachment roles they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers. For example, Field
studied 4 month old babies and found that primary caregiver fathers spent more time
smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers. Therefore, the key
to attachment relationships is the level of responsiveness and maybe it isn’t gender.
A weakness of the explanation is that children without fathers aren’t different. If fathers
have a distinct role, children without fathers should surely be affected in later life. For
example, Grossman’s study found that fathers as secondary attachment roles had an
important role in children’s development. However, other studies have found that children
growing up with a single or same sex parents don’t develop any differently. Therefore, this
suggests that the father’s role as a secondary attachment figure is not important.
As well as this, a further weakness is that fathers tend not to become primary attachment
figures as a result of traditional gender roles. This could be because women are generally
expected to be more caring and nurturing. This could also be due to the fact that female
hormones, like oestrogen, create higher levels of nurturing. Therefore, women are
biologically predetermined to be the primary attachment figure.
