Caregiver - infant interactions
AO1 AO3
Attachment Research support - interactional synchrony
- A close two-way emotional bond between individuals - Meltzoff & Moore (1977) observed interactional synchrony on
- (infant and caregiver) babies from 2 weeks old - aiming to see if imitation of a
- Each sees each other as essential for their emotional security. caregiver was innate or learned
Both members seek closeness & feel more secure - E: Infants had the ability to reciprocate facial expressions
- Proximity: Staying physically close to the attachment through imitation / filmed gestures & the babies response
- Separation distress: Upset when the figure departs - E: Infants are born with an innate ability to imitate & coordinate
- Secure-base behaviour: Leaving the attachment figure / but their actions in response to others
regularly returning - L: Supports biological & evolutionary theories of attachment &
Feldman’s findings
Early interactions are meaningful -
- Babies & caregivers have intense / meaningful interactions. Real world application
- Quality of these interactions = associated with the success of - Research into caregiver-infant interactions can be used to
attachment improve the quality of early attachments
- 2 main types - E: This has practical application, with the development of PCIT
Reciprocity - Parent Child Interaction Therapy
- Two-way interaction / between a baby and caregiver - Involves play therapy & coaching to improve attachment
- They take turns to respond to cues / & elicit responses quality.
from each other - L: Research has high external validity & importance.
- Like a conversation
- EXAMPLE: Caregiver smiles, baby smiles & laughs back. Reliability of filmed observations
Alert phases: - Mother-baby interactions are filmed from many angles,
- Feldman et al found mothers successfully respond around meaning fine details like audio and gestures can be recorded
2/3rds of the time and analysed. (Melzoff & Moore 1977)
- After 3 months = interaction is more intense & reciprocal - Inter-observer reliability can be confirmed (formula) to exceed
- Babies are active participants… 0.8, clips can be replayed & reanalysed via the footage.
- Traditional views = baby is passive - L: High reliability within the studies
- Both caregiver & baby can actively initiate interactions. - Replaying videos to confirm findings & cross-reference with
more observers (concurrent validity )
Interactional synchrony
- Simultaneous interaction Babies are unaware of observation - high internal validity
- EXAMPLE: Caregiver and baby copy each other’s faces - Mother-baby interactions are often filmed & the babies are
Feldman (2007) unaware of the observations
- Caregiver and baby simultaneously mirror / coordination of - The baby will not elicit demand characteristics
each other’s movements / communications / emotions - Increases the internal validity, usually demand c’s are the main
- Imitation → Infant directly copies the expressions issue in observational research.
- Sensitive responsiveness → adult correctly interprets the - L: Greater validity of observations - reducing impact of
meaning & responds appropriately investigator effects and high control as the baby is naive.
The importance of attachment
- Isabella et al (1989) Difficulty observing babies and inferring developmental
- Observed 30 mothers & babies importance
- Assessing the degree of synchrony - Babies are unco-ordinated meaning we just observe small
- Researchers assessed the quality of the attachment gestures and facial expressions.
- HIGH LEVELS OF SYNCHRONY associated with BETTER - Misinterpretation can occur (random twitch vs response?)
QUALITY MOTHER-BABY ATTACHMENT - Feldman (2012) argues that synchrony & reciprocity describe
behaviours which occur at the same time
- It DOES NOT tell us the purpose or meaning of them.
- L: We can't be certain from observations that they are
important in development - dependent on inference
Socially sensitive area
- Manipulated to argue mothers should not return to work and
just focus on interacting with their baby
- Negative social consequences
- Women may find their life choices criticised
, Schaffer’s stages of attachment
AO1 AO3
Stages of attachment High external validity of S&E’s study
- Most observations made by the parents of the babies were
Schaffer & Emerson (1964) during everyday/normal activities when self-reporting
PROCEDURE - E: Alternative = observers constantly watching in the babies’
- 60 babies from Glasgow / mostly working class families. homes leading to distractions or increased anxiety.
- Visited homes of mothers/babies every month for 1 year & - Mothers would feel insecure with someone watching.
again after 2 years. - L: More likely that ppts behaved naturally, increasing the
Separation anxiety: ecological validity (own home)
- Measured by asking mothers about their child’s behaviour
during everyday separations.
Stranger anxiety: Real world daycare application
- Measured by asking mother q’s about their child’s anxiety in - In the early stages (asocial/indiscriminate) babies can be
response to unfamiliar adults. comforted by any skilled adult - this finding is useful…
- E: If a child starts daycare later, unfamiliar adults may cause
FINDINGS distress and lead to longer-term problems
- Babies developed attachments through a sequence of - EG - stranger fears & anxiety in education due to fear of
stages (asocial/indiscriminate/specific/multiple) abandonment
- Specific attachment = with the person who was most - L: Stages can help inform parents’ decision making towards
interactive/sensitive to the babies’ signals and faces. daycare.
Poor evidence for the asocial stage
Stages of attachment (AISM) - In the asocial stage, babies have poor coordination and are
fairly immobile (0-6 weeks)
Asocial stage - E: This makes it nearly impossible for mothers to accurately
- 0-6 weeks report & interpret signs of anxiety and attachment.
- Babies display innate behaviour towards people vs inanimate - L: Babies may be social later in life, but due to flawed methods
objects = similar of self-reporting they may appear to be asocial.
- No preference for an individual caregiver
- Anyone can comfort them Low internal validity
- Babies are happier with other people. - Mothers may have been subject to social desirability bias or
misremembered behaviours.
Indiscriminate attachment - Self-report techniques are flawed
- 2-7 months Low temporal validity
- Babies display more observable social behaviour - Stages of attachment are based on a single large-scale study,
- Preference for people OVER objects. of working class baby development in 1960s Glasgow
- They recognise and prefer familiar people - Cultural variability in child-rearing practices
- NO SEPARATION OR STRANGER anxiety. - Socio-economic differences and individualist vs collectivist
- Attachment is indiscriminate (the same towards all) views.
Specific attachment
- Around 7 months (7-9m)
- Stranger anxiety & separation anxiety when separated from
the primary caregiver
- Specific attachment with the “primary attachment figure”
- 65% of cases = person who shows the most interaction
Multiple attachment
- Around 1 year
- Secondary attachments form with other people (siblings,
father, etc)
- Stranger anxiety starts to reduce
- 29% of babies = secondary attachments within a month of
forming a primary attachment.
- Age 1 = majority had multiple secondary attachments
AO1 AO3
Attachment Research support - interactional synchrony
- A close two-way emotional bond between individuals - Meltzoff & Moore (1977) observed interactional synchrony on
- (infant and caregiver) babies from 2 weeks old - aiming to see if imitation of a
- Each sees each other as essential for their emotional security. caregiver was innate or learned
Both members seek closeness & feel more secure - E: Infants had the ability to reciprocate facial expressions
- Proximity: Staying physically close to the attachment through imitation / filmed gestures & the babies response
- Separation distress: Upset when the figure departs - E: Infants are born with an innate ability to imitate & coordinate
- Secure-base behaviour: Leaving the attachment figure / but their actions in response to others
regularly returning - L: Supports biological & evolutionary theories of attachment &
Feldman’s findings
Early interactions are meaningful -
- Babies & caregivers have intense / meaningful interactions. Real world application
- Quality of these interactions = associated with the success of - Research into caregiver-infant interactions can be used to
attachment improve the quality of early attachments
- 2 main types - E: This has practical application, with the development of PCIT
Reciprocity - Parent Child Interaction Therapy
- Two-way interaction / between a baby and caregiver - Involves play therapy & coaching to improve attachment
- They take turns to respond to cues / & elicit responses quality.
from each other - L: Research has high external validity & importance.
- Like a conversation
- EXAMPLE: Caregiver smiles, baby smiles & laughs back. Reliability of filmed observations
Alert phases: - Mother-baby interactions are filmed from many angles,
- Feldman et al found mothers successfully respond around meaning fine details like audio and gestures can be recorded
2/3rds of the time and analysed. (Melzoff & Moore 1977)
- After 3 months = interaction is more intense & reciprocal - Inter-observer reliability can be confirmed (formula) to exceed
- Babies are active participants… 0.8, clips can be replayed & reanalysed via the footage.
- Traditional views = baby is passive - L: High reliability within the studies
- Both caregiver & baby can actively initiate interactions. - Replaying videos to confirm findings & cross-reference with
more observers (concurrent validity )
Interactional synchrony
- Simultaneous interaction Babies are unaware of observation - high internal validity
- EXAMPLE: Caregiver and baby copy each other’s faces - Mother-baby interactions are often filmed & the babies are
Feldman (2007) unaware of the observations
- Caregiver and baby simultaneously mirror / coordination of - The baby will not elicit demand characteristics
each other’s movements / communications / emotions - Increases the internal validity, usually demand c’s are the main
- Imitation → Infant directly copies the expressions issue in observational research.
- Sensitive responsiveness → adult correctly interprets the - L: Greater validity of observations - reducing impact of
meaning & responds appropriately investigator effects and high control as the baby is naive.
The importance of attachment
- Isabella et al (1989) Difficulty observing babies and inferring developmental
- Observed 30 mothers & babies importance
- Assessing the degree of synchrony - Babies are unco-ordinated meaning we just observe small
- Researchers assessed the quality of the attachment gestures and facial expressions.
- HIGH LEVELS OF SYNCHRONY associated with BETTER - Misinterpretation can occur (random twitch vs response?)
QUALITY MOTHER-BABY ATTACHMENT - Feldman (2012) argues that synchrony & reciprocity describe
behaviours which occur at the same time
- It DOES NOT tell us the purpose or meaning of them.
- L: We can't be certain from observations that they are
important in development - dependent on inference
Socially sensitive area
- Manipulated to argue mothers should not return to work and
just focus on interacting with their baby
- Negative social consequences
- Women may find their life choices criticised
, Schaffer’s stages of attachment
AO1 AO3
Stages of attachment High external validity of S&E’s study
- Most observations made by the parents of the babies were
Schaffer & Emerson (1964) during everyday/normal activities when self-reporting
PROCEDURE - E: Alternative = observers constantly watching in the babies’
- 60 babies from Glasgow / mostly working class families. homes leading to distractions or increased anxiety.
- Visited homes of mothers/babies every month for 1 year & - Mothers would feel insecure with someone watching.
again after 2 years. - L: More likely that ppts behaved naturally, increasing the
Separation anxiety: ecological validity (own home)
- Measured by asking mothers about their child’s behaviour
during everyday separations.
Stranger anxiety: Real world daycare application
- Measured by asking mother q’s about their child’s anxiety in - In the early stages (asocial/indiscriminate) babies can be
response to unfamiliar adults. comforted by any skilled adult - this finding is useful…
- E: If a child starts daycare later, unfamiliar adults may cause
FINDINGS distress and lead to longer-term problems
- Babies developed attachments through a sequence of - EG - stranger fears & anxiety in education due to fear of
stages (asocial/indiscriminate/specific/multiple) abandonment
- Specific attachment = with the person who was most - L: Stages can help inform parents’ decision making towards
interactive/sensitive to the babies’ signals and faces. daycare.
Poor evidence for the asocial stage
Stages of attachment (AISM) - In the asocial stage, babies have poor coordination and are
fairly immobile (0-6 weeks)
Asocial stage - E: This makes it nearly impossible for mothers to accurately
- 0-6 weeks report & interpret signs of anxiety and attachment.
- Babies display innate behaviour towards people vs inanimate - L: Babies may be social later in life, but due to flawed methods
objects = similar of self-reporting they may appear to be asocial.
- No preference for an individual caregiver
- Anyone can comfort them Low internal validity
- Babies are happier with other people. - Mothers may have been subject to social desirability bias or
misremembered behaviours.
Indiscriminate attachment - Self-report techniques are flawed
- 2-7 months Low temporal validity
- Babies display more observable social behaviour - Stages of attachment are based on a single large-scale study,
- Preference for people OVER objects. of working class baby development in 1960s Glasgow
- They recognise and prefer familiar people - Cultural variability in child-rearing practices
- NO SEPARATION OR STRANGER anxiety. - Socio-economic differences and individualist vs collectivist
- Attachment is indiscriminate (the same towards all) views.
Specific attachment
- Around 7 months (7-9m)
- Stranger anxiety & separation anxiety when separated from
the primary caregiver
- Specific attachment with the “primary attachment figure”
- 65% of cases = person who shows the most interaction
Multiple attachment
- Around 1 year
- Secondary attachments form with other people (siblings,
father, etc)
- Stranger anxiety starts to reduce
- 29% of babies = secondary attachments within a month of
forming a primary attachment.
- Age 1 = majority had multiple secondary attachments
