Psychology: Attachments
Caregiver- infant interactions:
Attachment is a strong and emotional bond between two people especially between an
infant and its caregiver of primary attachment figure.
From an early age, babies have meaningful social interactions with their carers. It is argued
that these interactions are important for a child’s social development.
Reciprocity:
Reciprocity is the description of how two people interact. Mother-infant interaction is
known to be reciprocal as infant and mother respond to each other’s signals and each elicits
a response from the other.
From birth, babies and mother spend a lot of time in intense interaction. Babies have alert
phrases and signals when they are ready for an interaction.
According to Feldman and Eidelman, mothers tend to respond to babes two thirds of the
time. From around 3 moths, the interaction tends to be stronger as it involves close
attention to signals. Traditional views of childhood see babies in a passive role however, it
seems that babies take an active role.
Interactional synchrony:
Interactional synchrony is the mother and infant that reflect the actions and emotions of the
other and do this in a synchronised way.
Meltzoff and Moore observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony with a child as
young as 2 weeks old. An adult displayed one of three gestures of facial expressions. The
child’s response was filmed and associations were found between the expression or gesture
the adult displayed and the actions of the babies. It is believed that interactional synchrony
is important for the attachment of a mother and infant.
Evaluation on Caregiver-infant interactions:
One strength of care-giver interactions is that observations of mother-infant
interactions are well-controlled procedures with both mother and infant being
filmed. This ensures that every detail is recorded and later analysed by various
observers. This is a strength because it means the research has high validity.
One weakness of care-giver interactions is that it is hard to know what is happening
when observing infants. Many studies involving observations of mothers and infants
have shown the same patterns of interaction. However, only hand gestures and
expressions are being observed and these cannot be certain that behaviour in
mother-infant interaction have a special meaning.
Attachment figures:
Psychologists are interested as to who infants become attached to.
Parent-infant attachments:
Schaffer and Emerson did a study on parent-infant attachment and found that majority of
babies did become attached to their mother first and within a few weeks or months they
form secondary attachments to other family members including the father. In 75% of the
infants studied an attachment was formed with their father by the age of 18 months.
Caregiver- infant interactions:
Attachment is a strong and emotional bond between two people especially between an
infant and its caregiver of primary attachment figure.
From an early age, babies have meaningful social interactions with their carers. It is argued
that these interactions are important for a child’s social development.
Reciprocity:
Reciprocity is the description of how two people interact. Mother-infant interaction is
known to be reciprocal as infant and mother respond to each other’s signals and each elicits
a response from the other.
From birth, babies and mother spend a lot of time in intense interaction. Babies have alert
phrases and signals when they are ready for an interaction.
According to Feldman and Eidelman, mothers tend to respond to babes two thirds of the
time. From around 3 moths, the interaction tends to be stronger as it involves close
attention to signals. Traditional views of childhood see babies in a passive role however, it
seems that babies take an active role.
Interactional synchrony:
Interactional synchrony is the mother and infant that reflect the actions and emotions of the
other and do this in a synchronised way.
Meltzoff and Moore observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony with a child as
young as 2 weeks old. An adult displayed one of three gestures of facial expressions. The
child’s response was filmed and associations were found between the expression or gesture
the adult displayed and the actions of the babies. It is believed that interactional synchrony
is important for the attachment of a mother and infant.
Evaluation on Caregiver-infant interactions:
One strength of care-giver interactions is that observations of mother-infant
interactions are well-controlled procedures with both mother and infant being
filmed. This ensures that every detail is recorded and later analysed by various
observers. This is a strength because it means the research has high validity.
One weakness of care-giver interactions is that it is hard to know what is happening
when observing infants. Many studies involving observations of mothers and infants
have shown the same patterns of interaction. However, only hand gestures and
expressions are being observed and these cannot be certain that behaviour in
mother-infant interaction have a special meaning.
Attachment figures:
Psychologists are interested as to who infants become attached to.
Parent-infant attachments:
Schaffer and Emerson did a study on parent-infant attachment and found that majority of
babies did become attached to their mother first and within a few weeks or months they
form secondary attachments to other family members including the father. In 75% of the
infants studied an attachment was formed with their father by the age of 18 months.
