Lesson 1 Caregiver - Infant Interactions

Question 1

Development Psychology

Answer 1

Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with the progressive behavioural changes that occur in individuals across their lifespan.

Question 2

Attachment

Answer 2

Attachment is an emotional bond between two people. It is a two-way process that endures over time.

Question 3

Two types of caregiver-Infant Interactions

Answer 3

Reciprocity
Interactional synchrony

Question 4

Reciprocity

Answer 4

is also referred to as turn-taking. It is a two-way, mutual process, where each party responds to the other’s signals to sustain interaction. The behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other. Studies have demonstrated that infants coordinate their actions with their caregiver’s actions in a kind of conversation. The regularity of an infant’s signals allows a caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately. This sensitivity to infant behaviour lays the foundation for later attachment between the caregiver and the infant.

Question 5

Interactional synchrony

Answer 5

is when adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication. The caregiver and the infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other. Research has found that infants as young as two or three weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures that they saw adults do. An adult model displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements. A dummy was placed in the baby’s mouth during the display to prevent any response. Following the display the dummy was removed and the infant’s expression was filmed. They found that there was an association between the infant’s behaviour and the adult model.

Question 6

Advantages of Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Answer 6

+ Murray and Trevarthen (1985) got mothers to interact with their babies over a video monitor. In the next part of the study the babies were played a tape of their mother so she was not responding to them. The babies tried to attract their mother’s attention but when this failed they gave up responding. This shows that babies want their mothers to reciprocate.

+ Abravanal and DeYong (1991) observed infant behaviour when interacting with a puppet that looked like a human mouth opening and closing. Infant’s made little response to this, which shows they are not just imitating what they see; interactional synchrony is a specific social response.

Question 7

Disadvantages of Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Answer 7

• Babies cannot use language to communicate so psychologists are relying on their inferences. They cannot be sure that infants are actually trying to communicate with their caregiver.
• The expressions tested (tongue sticking out, yawning, and smiling) are ones that infants frequently make so they may not have been deliberately imitating what they saw.

Question 8

Difficulties Investigating Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Answer 8

1. Studies have found that babies’ attachment behaviours are much stronger in laboratory settings than they are in their home environment. Therefore, studies should take place in a natural setting (e.g. the child’s home) to increase validity.
2. Most studies into caregiver-infant interactions are observational so there may be bias in the observer’s interpretation of what they see (observer bias). This can be countered by using more than one observer (interrater reliability).
3. There are practical issues when investigating caregiver-infant interactions. Infants are often asleep or feeding when psychologists want to observe them. Researchers need to use fewer but shorter observation periods because of babies limited waking periods.
4. Extra care needs to be taken is relation to ethics when investigating caregiver-infant interactions so as not to affect the child or parent in any way e.g. protection from harm, confidentiality etc