Attachment and joint attention in infants: The role of expectation

Abstract

Previous research highlighted the correlation between parent–infant's attachment quality and joint attention skills. However, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship are still unclear. The aim of this study was to assess whether it is by mediating the expectation component in Internal Working Models that the quality of attachment style can affect joint attention. At first, 12‐ to 20‐month‐old infants were classified into secure and insecure groups using the Strange Situation Procedure. On a following day, using a violation‐of‐expectation paradigm, infants were habituated to two joint attention videos. Finally, the mean looking time duration of secure and insecure infants were compared with each other between two “divergent attention” and “joint attention” videos. Infants looked longer for divergent attention videos suggesting they did have expectation regarding the appropriate response in triadic interactions. In line with our main hypothesis, secure infants, but not insecure ones, looked longer in the divergent attention situation when an attachment‐related context was present, revealing the possible mediating role of “expectations” in the correlation between attachment and joint attention.

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“…Exploration of the link between such a phenomenon and attachment could also benefit from this paper’s arguments as research assessing the link between joint attention and attachment styles has so far not involved children young enough to correspond to ‘proto-attachment’ phases. More concretely, the earliest study we could find in terms of age involved 12-to 20-month-old children ( Mohammadzade Naghashan et al, 2021 ). In a similar vein, literature addressing joint attention in atypically-developing populations such as toddlers with autism warn that most research on the subject involved participants over 3 years-old ( Naber et al, 2007 ).…”