Caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

What is attachment?

Answer 1

a close, two-way emotional bond between individuals, wehre each person sees the other as essential for their own emotional security

Question 2

What does attachment look like?

Answer 2

• proximity seeking (physical closeness)
• separation distress (anxiety when parted)
• secure-base behaviour (regular contact maintenance once independent)

Question 3

What is reciprocity?

Answer 3

a description of how two people interact- giving signals, receiving signals and responding to the other person’s signals
basically turn-taking

Question 4

What are alert phases?

Answer 4

Babies will periodically signal that they are ready for some interaction

Question 5

How does frequency of alert phases change as the baby gets older?

Answer 5

0-3 months: sporadic alert phases
3 months+: increasing frequency

Question 6

What is the traditional vs contemporary view of babies’ interaction?

Answer 6

traditional: babies are passive recipients of care

contemporary: babiesactively engae in initiating interations

Question 7

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 7

doing the same actions or reflecting the same emotions as another person in unison
basically mirroring

Question 8

Describe Isabella et al’s procedure

Answer 8

• observed 30 mothers & babies together
• assessed the degree of synchrony

Question 9

Describe Isabella et al’s findings

Answer 9

• they found high levels of synchrony were associated with better mother-baby attachment
• there was a positive correlation
  (-) correlation doesnt mean causation

Question 10

Describe Meltzoff and Mooree’s procedure

Answer 10

-observed beginning of interaction synchrony in 2 week old babies
- an adult displayed one of three facial expressions/gestures
- Babies’ responses were filmed + labelled by independent observers

Question 11

Describe Meltzoff and Moore’s findings/conclusions

Answer 11

• Babies’ expression and gestures were more likely to mirror those of adults more than predicted
• Therefore interactional synchrony is innate (installed from birth)

Question 12

Supporting evidence of this theory (+)

Answer 12

One strength of this theory is that there is reliable supporting evidence
- Meltzoff and Moore’s research was filemd and conducted in a lab setting
- Any distractions are can be controlled
- Observations are all recorded enabling them to be analysed later- babies behaviour wont change because they don’t know they are being recorded

Question 13

Criticisms of the supporting evidence (Meltzoff and Moore’s study) (-)

Answer 13

-Hard to intepret baby’s behaviour- difficult to determine what is taking place from a baby’s perspective
- We cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver-infant interactions have a special meaning

Question 14

Application of this research (+)

Answer 14

findings from this research can be applied to the real world
- parent skills training and to help identify children ‘at risk’ of developing poor attachments
- Improving general quality of attachments in society