Читать книгу Lifespan Development - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 340

A friendly lab assistant escorts 12-month-old Cassie and her mother into a research playroom containing special mirrors and hidden equipment to videotape their interactions. After providing instructions, the lab assistant leaves the mother and Cassie alone, beginning a short procedure to study the security of their attachment relationship. A female stranger enters the room to play with Cassie. Soon after, the mother leaves and Cassie is alone with the stranger. The mother returns briefly, then leaves again; finally, the stranger leaves the room and Cassie is left alone. During each short separation from her mother, Cassie cries and wails. Surprised and disturbed to find Cassie so upset, her mother returns almost immediately. She cannot soothe Cassie, who alternates between clinging to her mother and pushing her away angrily, crying all the time.

“Is Cassie upset today?” asks the lab assistant.

“No, she’s always this way,” her mother smiled softly, “My Cassie is quite a handful. She’s what my mother calls spirited. She’s unpredictable and strong-willed. She’ll eat and nap when she’s ready—and that changes all the time. My mother says I was the same way. I love my little girl, but sometimes I look forward to her growing up.”

What was this procedure intended to study? How? Why?

What might Cassie’s behavior indicate about her security of attachment relationship to her mother and her emotional development? Why?

What do we know about the stability of infant attachment? What is the likelihood that these observations will influence Cassie’s attachment in childhood? Adulthood?

Comment on the goodness of fit between Cassie’s temperament and the parenting.

Laboratory methods such as this are intended to place participants, infants, under distress. The parent’s behavior is the source of that distress, and the procedure also is distressful to parents. From your perspective, what do researchers learn from such research? Should researchers use procedures that elicit distress from children and parents? If you were a parent to an infant, would you be willing to participate in such an experiment?