Leiden University Student Repository

Elstgeest, Aranka A.M. (2014)

Infants' monitoring of social interactions: The effect of attachment

Bachelor thesis | Pedagogische wetenschappen (BSc)

It has been hypothesized that infants create, based on earlier experiences, expectations about the behavior and responsiveness of caregivers (Bowlby, 1982). We tested whether attachment security has an influence on 12-month-old infants’ monitoring patterns of social interactions. We showed them animations which involved a separation of a small oval figure and a large oval figure. During this separation and the following response (returning or leaving) either a crying or a laughter sound was played. Eye-tracking was used to examine infants’ looking pattern at the large figure, only during the separation segment. It showed that attachment security influenced the monitoring pattern of infants. Securely attached infants tended to look longer at the large figure than insecurely attached infants. We also found that securely attached infants fixated longer at the large figure during the separation in the last four movies than insecurely attached infants, but only when the large figure was...Show moreIt has been hypothesized that infants create, based on earlier experiences, expectations about the behavior and responsiveness of caregivers (Bowlby, 1982). We tested whether attachment security has an influence on 12-month-old infants’ monitoring patterns of social interactions. We showed them animations which involved a separation of a small oval figure and a large oval figure. During this separation and the following response (returning or leaving) either a crying or a laughter sound was played. Eye-tracking was used to examine infants’ looking pattern at the large figure, only during the separation segment. It showed that attachment security influenced the monitoring pattern of infants. Securely attached infants tended to look longer at the large figure than insecurely attached infants. We also found that securely attached infants fixated longer at the large figure during the separation in the last four movies than insecurely attached infants, but only when the large figure was unresponsive. These results suggest that secure and insecure infants have differential experiences with, and expectations about, the behavior and responsiveness of caregivers, which reflects in their monitoring of social interactions.Show less

Eye-tracking

Attachment

Information-processing

Infant social cognition

Author

Elstgeest, Aranka A.M.

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Gezinspedagogiek

Supervisors

Biro, Szilvia

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en