1. Caregiver-infant Interactions AO1 Flashcards
What do you newborn babies have?
Alert phases
What do you babies and their mothers do from birth?
Spend a large amount of time in intense and pleasurable interaction
What is an alert phase?
Babies have periodic alert phases and signal that they are ready for interaction
How often did mothers respond to the childs signals in a supporting study?
Around two-thirds of the time
What is interactional synchrony?
Mirroring, when two people carry out the same action simultaneously
What can interactional synchrony be defined as?
The coordination of micro-level behaviour
When does interactional synchrony take place?
When a mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the others
What did Meltzof and Moore observe?
The start of interactional synchrony in infants can occur as young as two weeks old
What was Meltzof and Moore’s procedure?
An adult displayed one of the three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures and the Childs response was filmed
What did Meltzof and Moore find?
They found an association between expression/gesture and the action of the child
What is synchrony important for?
Synchrony provides the necessary foundation for the mother and infant connection which can be built upon over years
What does higher synchrony lead to?
Higher quality attachment
What are higher levels of synchrony associated with?
Better quality mother-infant attachment
What is reciprocity?
Where one person responds to another
When does reciprocal interaction tend to become increasingly frequent?
Three months old
