Caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

Two Caregiver-Infant Interactions in humans

Answer 1

• Reciprocity
• Interactional synchrony

Question 2

Reciprocity

Answer 2

• Turn-taking interaction
• two-way exchange
• infant and caregiver respond to each other’s signals
• helps infants learn about social behaviour and relationships

Question 3

Reciprocity - Alert Phases

Answer 3

• babies signal they are ready for interaction
• Feldman and Fred (2007)
• mothers typically pick up on and respond to alertness 2/3 of the time.

Question 4

Reciprocity - Active Involvement

Answer 4

• babies and caregivers take an active role in interaction
• from 3+ months interaction tends to be more frequent
• Brazelton (1975)
• described interaction as a ‘dance’ - each partner responds tot he others move.

Question 5

Interactional Synchrony

Answer 5

• the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour
• takes place when infant and caregiver interact in a way where their actions and emotions mirror the other.

Question 6

Interactional Synchrony - Synchrony begins

Answer 6

• Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
• observed beginning of interactional synchrony as young as 2 weeks old
• adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions + distinctive gestures
• babies response was filmed
• babies expression and gestures more likely to mirror those of an adult

Question 7

Interactional Synchrony - Importance for Attachment

Answer 7

• Isabella (1989)
• observed 30 mothers and babies together
• assessed level of synchrony and quality of mother-baby attachment
• found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment

Question 8

What is an attachment

Answer 8

• a close two way emotional bond between individuals where individuals see the other as essential for their own emotional security

Question 9

Evaluation - Strengths

Answer 9

-high reliability and validity
- controlled observation is important
- caregiver-infant interactions are filmed
- activity that can distract a baby can be controlled
- unlikely researchers will miss key information
- reliability - more than one observer can record data

Question 10

Evaluation - Weaknesses

Answer 10

• hard to interpret babies behaviour as they lack co-ordination - lacks reliability
• observations of synchrony and reciprocity fail to tell us its developmental importance - Feldman (2012) points out ideas like synchrony give names to patterns of observable caregiver + baby interactions