1. Attachment, and caregiver infant interactions Flashcards
What is attachment?
Attachment is a strong, enduring emotional bond between 2 people. This can be between an infant and a care giver. The bond is reciprocated (goes both ways)
What is sensitive responsiveness?
Care giver responds to signals from the infant appropriately.
What are the 5 features of care giver infant interactions?
Sensitive responsiveness, imitation, interactional synchrony, reciprocity and motherese.
What is reciprocity?
Interaction flows back and forth between care giver and infant. May also be known as turn talking
What is imitation?
Infant copies care giver’s actions and behaviours
What is interactional synchrony?
Infants react in time with caregiver’s speech. May result in conversational dance. As part of interactional synchrony, infants may also imitate. This occurs in a co - ordinated manner.
Research to support imitation and interactional synchrony ?
Metlzoff and Moore found that infants between 2 and 3 weeks appeared to imitate facial expressions and hand movements of experimenter.
Adult model displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions and hand gestures
Dummy was initially placed in infants mouth to prevent facial expressions, was then removed and the facial expressions were recorded on video
What are alert phases?
Alert phases are short periods in which they signal the care giver (such as through eye contact) that they are ready for interaction
Research to support alert phases?
Feldman and Eldelman found that mothers pick up and respond to the babies alertness around 2/3 of the time.
Finegood argues that this is dependent on the skill of the mother
Feldman argues that this becomes more frequent from around 3 months
How do alert phases link to caregiver interactions?
They link to sensitive responsiveness, as the caregiver quickly responds to the signals from the infant in this period.
Evaluation, strengths of caregiver interactions
Meltzoff and Moore - Research to support
Research high in validity, was filmed, so can be tested using interrater reliability
Babies do not know they are being observed - no demand characteristics
Evaluation, weaknesses of caregiver interactions
Hard to understand and interpret baby’s behaviour accurately as they cannot communicate with us. They are very immobile, make many random movements
Socially sensitive research, suggests that it is important for the mother to be with the child (Isabelle et al 1989)W
What did Isabella et al find in relation to caregiver interactions and why is this socially sensitive?
Achievement of interactional synchrony can predict a good quality attachment
May impact women, and suggest they should stay home to achieve this
