AQA A Level Psychology Quick Notes
Attachment
Paper Reference - 7182/1
Attachment - Enduring, 2 way emotional bond between an infant and their caregiver.
Feature - Selective, separation anxiety, comfort and security, proximity seeking.
Reciprocity - “turn-taking” the actions of one party elicits a response in the other in order to
sustain interaction.
Interactional Synchrony - “mirroring” coordination of movements and actions between the
speaker and the listener.
Tronick “Still Face” -
- Told mothers to act normally with their children and to then dp a “still face”, the infant’s
reactions were observed and recorded.
- The children did anything to try and get their mother’s to respond as normal e.g pointing,
screaming.
- Shows children are capable of reciprocal interaction and it is important for development.
Melzoff and Moore:
- Gave infants 4 different stimuli - 3 facial gestures and one manual gesture- and recorded
their behaviour.
- Found that babies aged 14-21 days were capable of mimicking the gestures.
- Shows they are capable of interactional synchrony
Isabelle et al:
- Assessed the level of interactional synchrony between mother and infant
- Assessed the quality of attachment between them
- Found a correlation between high levels of interactional synchrony and high quality
attachment
● Studies to support - Melzoff & Moore, Tronick, Isabella et al.
● Uses video footage - can be assessed for inter-rater reliability.
● Babies cannot verbally communicate- issue of intentionality.
● Children are too young to comprehend what is happening - no demand characteristics.
● Ethical issues - informed consent.
Attachment
Paper Reference - 7182/1
Attachment - Enduring, 2 way emotional bond between an infant and their caregiver.
Feature - Selective, separation anxiety, comfort and security, proximity seeking.
Reciprocity - “turn-taking” the actions of one party elicits a response in the other in order to
sustain interaction.
Interactional Synchrony - “mirroring” coordination of movements and actions between the
speaker and the listener.
Tronick “Still Face” -
- Told mothers to act normally with their children and to then dp a “still face”, the infant’s
reactions were observed and recorded.
- The children did anything to try and get their mother’s to respond as normal e.g pointing,
screaming.
- Shows children are capable of reciprocal interaction and it is important for development.
Melzoff and Moore:
- Gave infants 4 different stimuli - 3 facial gestures and one manual gesture- and recorded
their behaviour.
- Found that babies aged 14-21 days were capable of mimicking the gestures.
- Shows they are capable of interactional synchrony
Isabelle et al:
- Assessed the level of interactional synchrony between mother and infant
- Assessed the quality of attachment between them
- Found a correlation between high levels of interactional synchrony and high quality
attachment
● Studies to support - Melzoff & Moore, Tronick, Isabella et al.
● Uses video footage - can be assessed for inter-rater reliability.
● Babies cannot verbally communicate- issue of intentionality.
● Children are too young to comprehend what is happening - no demand characteristics.
● Ethical issues - informed consent.
