Summary AQA Alevel psychology attachment notes

Attachment
Introduction to attachment
Attachment- A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees
the other as essential for their own emotional security

Caregiver infant interactions

Reciprocity-

 Occurs from about 3 months
 They pay close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions
 When each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them
 Both infant and caregiver initiate interactions and take turns to do this

Interactional synchrony-

 When the caregiver and infant carry out the same actions simultaneously, they mirror one
another
 This is particularly important for the development and quality of attachments between an
infant and caregiver
Meltzoff and Moore

 Babies exposed to 3 facial gesture and babies’ response was recorded
 Independent observer asked to note all instances of tongue protrusion
 Found that the babies did imitate both facial expressions and manual gestures


Attachment figures

Parent-infant attachment



The role of the father

Fathers as primary carers