Caregiver - infant interactions Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is interactional synchrony?
Caregiver and infant respond in time to keep communication going e.g infant smiles, caregiver smiles at the same time
What does interactional synchrony ensure?
It ensures infant and caregiver’s emotions and actions mirror each other’s
What did Meltzoff and more do?
They studies 40 two week old infants to measure caregiver - infant interactions
What did the adult do in Meltzoff and Moore’s study?
The adult displayed one of three facial expressions or distinctive gestures, such as mouth opening or tongue protrusion
What was found in Meltzoff and Moore’s study?
A link was found between gesture/expression of the adult and the response of the infant
What is reciprocity?
This is a two-way mutual process where an infant and caregiver take turns to respond to eachother’s behaviours/signals to sustain interaction. Behaviour from each party gives a response from the other e.g child puts arm around to be held and then infant picks up
What did Brazleton say about reciprocity?
Both mother and infant initiate the interaction and take it in turns to do so. He called this a ‘dance’ where people respond to eachother’s moves
What is one potential criticism of research into caregiver-infant interactions?
The research takes place in controlled environments such as a controlled observation where the caregiver and infant are being filmed.
What is a problem that the research lacks ecological validity?
It is difficult to generalise the findings to real life cases of caregiver-infant interactions as they may not behave how they usually would in the real world, for example they may only interact with the parent more as they are the only familiar person in the room
Why can research into caregiver interations be praised?
They are done in controlled environments so this means the research has high control over extreneous variables.
What is a potential variable that would have been controlled in the research?
Research into care-giver interactions can also be praised for having…
practical applications
Research in to caregiver infant interactions has demonstrated how…
caregivers and infants interact and the importance of early interations on later development
What has the practical application led to psychologists doing?
It has led to them encouraging responsive caregivers and minimise later issues that the child may have
