Premium
Preschoolers' Attention to and Memory for Attachment‐Relevant Information
Author(s) -
Kirsh Steven J.,
Cassidy Jude
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01990.x
Subject(s) - psychology , dyad , developmental psychology , ambivalence , set (abstract data type) , task (project management) , attachment theory , affect (linguistics) , social psychology , communication , management , computer science , economics , programming language
This study examined the relation between attachment quality in infancy and attention and memory at 3 1 / 2 years. Sixty‐eight children participated in 2 attention tasks and 1 memory task. In the first attention task, children were shown several sets of drawings; each set depicted a different mother‐child dyad engaged in positive, negative, and neutral interaction. Insecure/avoidant children looked away from the drawings; more than the other children. In the second attention task, children were shown different sets of drawings; each set depicted a mother‐child dyad engaged in positive interaction and an adult dyad expressing neutral affect. Insecure/avoidant and insecure/ambivalent children looked away from the mother‐child drawings more than the secure children; when children did look at a drawing, insecure children were less likely than secure children to look at the mother‐childdrawing. in the memory task, children were read 6 stories in which a mother responds to her child's bid for help. In 2 stories the mother responds sensitively to her child, in 2 stories the mother rejects her child, and in 2 stories the mother provides an exaggerated response to her child. Secure children recalled the responsive stories better than insecure/avoidant children and the rejecting stories better than the insecure/ambivalent children. Findings are discussed in terms of the proposition from attachment theory that attachment experiences influence attention and memory process.