16 Mark essays covering the whole of attachment in the aqa psychology spec. I used these as essay plans and got an A.
-Discuss research into caregiver infant interactions (16 marks)
-Outline and evaluate research into the stages of attachment (16 marks)
-Outline and evaluate scaffers stages of a...
Discuss research into caregiver infant interactions (16 marks)
An attachment is a close two-way emotional bond between two individuals where they see the
other person as essential for emotional security. Babies have meaningful social interactions with
their carers, and these interactions are important for child social development and the development
of caregiver – infant interactions.
One type of caregiver – infant interaction is reciprocity, which is a way in which two people interact
where a mother and infant respond to each others signals and elicits a response from the other. This
is called ‘turn taking’ and is essential in any conversation so people don’t talk over each other.
Babies have periodic alert phases to signal they are ready for a spell of interaction, such as making
eye contact. Feldman + Eidelman (2007) found mothers pick up and respond to babies alertness 2/3
of the time, but Finegood et al (2016) argues this varies according to skills of mother. Feldman found
this interaction increases from about 3 months old and involves both mother and infant paying
attention to each others verbal signals and facial expressions. Both caregiver and baby can initiate
interactions and take turns in doing so, both taking an active role. Brazelton et al (1975) described
this interaction as a ‘dance’, where each partner responds to the others moves.
Another type of caregiver-infant interaction is interactional synchrony, where caregiver and baby
reflect both the actions and emotions of the other in a co ordinated way. Feldman (2007) describes
this as ‘temporal coordination of micro level social behaviour’. It takes place when caregiver and
baby interact in a way their actions mirror each others. Meltzoff + Moore (1977) observed the
beginning of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old. adult displayed one of three
facial expressions or distinctive gestures, and babies response was filmed and labelled by
independent observers. A significant association was found between the babies expressions
mirroring those of the adults, more than chance could predict. Isabella et al (1989) observed 30
mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony and the quality of their
attachment. they found high levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother-baby
attachment, for example emotional intensity of relationship. This shows that interactional synchrony
is important for development of caregiver infant interaction.
A strength of the research into caregiver-infant interactions is theyre often filmed observations in a
laboratory. This means distracting activity can be controlled, and observations can be filmed and
observed later to avoid missing any details. This also means more than one observer can recor data,
establishing the inter rater reliability of the study to reduce observer bias. Furthermore, babies don’t
know they re being observed so their behaviour doesn’t change in response to observation meaning
the overt observation isn't an issue. This is a strength as it means the data collected in such research
has good reliability and high internal validity.
However, a limitation of research into caregiver-infant interaction is that its hard to interpret a
baby's behaviour. Babies lack co-ordination and are almost immobile, and a lot of the movements
being observed small movements or subtle changes in expression. This means its difficult to be sure
what is taking place from the infants perspective, for example whether a baby is smiling or just
passing wind.We can not be sure whether a movement such as a hand twitch is random or triggered
by the caregiver. This is a limitation as it means that we cannot be certain if behaviours observed in
caregiver-infant interactions have special meaning.
A further limitation is that simply observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental
importance. Feldman(2012) points out that ideas like synchrony simply gives names to patterns of
,observable caregiver and baby behaviour, but these are robust phenomena. they can be reliably
observed but may not be useful in understanding child development as it dos not tell us the purpose
of these behaviours. This is a limitation as it means we cant be certain from observational research
alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child's development. However, other
evidence suggests early interactions are in fact important. For example, Isabella et al (1989) found
the achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of good quality attachment,
meaning caregiver interactions are likely to be important in development
, Outline and evaluate research into stages of attachment (16 marks)
Schaeffer + Emerson (1964) conducted an observational study to investigate the formation of earl
adult-infant attachments. They used a sample of 60 babies, 31 boys and 21 girls, from glasgow and
from skilled working class families. They visited the babies and mothers every month in their first
year of life, and then a follow up at 18 months. They asked the mother questions about the protest
their babies showed in seven everyday situations, for example when she left the room which is a
measure of separation anxiety, and the babies anxiety response to unfamiliar people which was a
measure of stranger anxiety.. This was designed to measure the babies attachment. They found that
between 25-32 weeks,50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually
the mother. This showed a specific attachment to the parent who is most interactive and sensitive to
infants signals, not always the one they spent the most time with. By 40 weeks, 80% had a specific
attachment and 30% showed signs of multiple attachment. This study led them to creating their
theory of the stages of attachment.
A strength of this research is that it has good external validity. Most observations were carried out
by parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researcher. Asking the researchers to be
present while recording observations may have distracted the babies or made them feel anxious.
This is a strength as its highly likely the participants behaved naturally whilst being observed.
However, asking the mothers to be observers may have introduced social desirability bias as they
may have reported false interactions to researchers so they appear a better mother. This is a
limitation as it reduces the internal validity of the study.
A further strength of the research is the use of a longitudinal design carried out over a long period of
time. These tend to have higher internal validity than cross-sectional designs as they are not using
different participants for conditions and can control confounding variables by using the same babies.
However, these studies are costly and time consuming, which may be impractical.
A limitation of this research is the limited sample used. The sample is fairly small, with only 60
participants, and they were all from the same social class. This limits generalisability to other social
classes and places, reducing the external validity of the findings.
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