Caregiver-Infant interactions Flashcards
Definition of Attachment
A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each person sees each other as essential for their own emotional security
What are 3 features of attachment?
- Separation anxiety
- Selective
- Stranger anxiety
Definition of Reciprocity
When each person responds to the other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
What does Brazelton describe reciprocity as being like?
He describes it as being like a ‘couples dance’ as they dance in response to each other
What is an ‘Alert phase’?
A phase that a baby has to signal that they are ready for an interaction
How often do mother’s pick up on their baby’s alertness?
2/3 of the time however this can be effected by external factors such as stress
What is an example of reciprocity between a Caregiver and Infant?
If a caregiver responds to the baby’s smile by saying something and then this in turn elicits a response
Definition of Interactional Synchrony
Temporary coordination of micro-level social behaviour
How can we link Interactional Synchrony to a caregiver-infant interaction?
When infants and their mothers mirror each other’s actions and emotions and do this in a coordinated way
What did Meltzoff and Moore do to observe Interactional Synchrony?
- An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three gestures
- Baby’s response was filmed and labelled by observers
- Babies expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than chance would predict
How did Isabella et al observe that Interactional Synchrony was important for attachment?
- Studied 30 mothers and babies
- Also assessed the quality of mother-baby attachment
- Found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment
What is a strength of the research on this topic?
- Filmed observations
- Any activity that could distract a baby can be controlled
- Observations can be analysed later
- Establishes the inter-rater reliability
- Research has good reliability and validity
A limitation of research into caregiver-infant interaction is that it is hard to interpret a baby’s behaviour. (Elaborate this point)
- Babies lack coordination and movements observed are small
- Difficult to determine what is taking place from a baby’s perspective
- Can’t be sure if a movement is random or triggered by something the caregiver has done
A limitation is that simply observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance. (Elaborate this point)
- Feldman points out that ideas like synchrony simple give names to patterns of behaviours
- May not be useful when understanding child development
- Doesn’t tell us purpose of the behaviours
What behaviours help us to recognise an attachment?
- Proximity
- Separation distress
- Secure base behaviour
