Caregiver-infant interactions in humans

Question 1

Define attachment

Answer 1

a strong emotional and reciprocal bond between an infant and it’s caregiver that develops over time

Question 2

Define caregiver

Answer 2

anyone who cares for an infant, usually one / both parents but could be anyone

Question 3

Define reciprocity

Answer 3

a two way interaction between caregiver and child
both respond to each other’s signals to sustain interaction
the behaviour of each produces a response from the other

Question 4

What is motherese?

Answer 4

the exaggerated sing-song voice often used by adults to talk to babies or animals

Question 5

How does motherese work?

Answer 5

the caregiver will speak and then allow the infant to mumble / gurgle a reply before responding

Question 6

What does motherese teach?

Answer 6

turn-taking in conversations and how to converse

Question 7

Why is reciprocity important?

Answer 7

it develops and maintains the attachment bond between the infant and caregiver

Question 8

What is the still face experiment?

Answer 8

the mother engages with the baby and responds to every behaviour of the child. she then stops and looks blankly at the child. the baby then tries to get a response from the mother by doing things that they wouldn’t normally do.

Question 9

What does the still face experiment show?

Answer 9

that infants are sensitive to disruptions in caregiver-infant reciprocity.

Question 10

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 10

simultaneous co-ordinated sequence of movements / communication / emotions

Question 11

Meltzoff and Moore (1977) sample

Answer 11

very young infants up to 2 weeks old

Question 12

Meltzoff and Moore procedure

Answer 12

-shown 1 of 3 facial expressions to the infant (stuck tongue out, opened mouth, pursed lips) or 1 of 3 gestures with the infants dummy in their mouth
-removed dummy and watched the infants reaction with a blank face
-the babies reactions were recorded and shown to an independent observer to judge the behaviour

Question 13

Meltzoff and Moore findings

Answer 13

babies just days old could imitate both facial expressions and manual gestures

Question 14

Meltzoff and Moore conclusions

Answer 14

-the ability to imitate is important for later social and cognitive development
-interactional synchrony seems to be a genetic trait as it is shown in babies just minutes old

Question 15

How can you evaluate caregiver-infant interactions in humans
(5 ways)

Answer 15

• supportive research
• use of controlled observations
• problems interpreting behaviour
• benefits to society
• socially sensitive

Question 16

Supportive research

Answer 16

Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

Question 17

Use of controlled observations

Answer 17

Meltzoff and Moore
- double blind- the observer and the baby didn’t know the aim, no demand characteristics
- independent observer- does not know the aim, reduced risk of researcher bias

Question 18

Problems interpreting observed behaviour

Answer 18

babies can not talk so we can not ask why they act in certain ways. can not ask if interactional synchrony is deliberate or unconscious.
inferences must be made which may lower the overall validity

Question 19

Benefits to society

Answer 19

-advice for new mothers- encourage to participate in behaviour with their child to benefit future development
-keep mother and baby in the same room to allow attachment behaviour to occur straight away

Question 20

Socially sensitive

Answer 20

research suggests that infants may be disadvantaged due to child-rearing decisions
it suggests that mothers should not go back to work and should take full or extended maternity leave
cause guilt for new mothers when returning to normal life