1. Infant Caregiver Interactions Flashcards
What type of interactions do infants display?
Non-verbal communications such as reaching, smiling etc.
What is reciprocity?
Described as ‘turn-taking’ where the infant/caregiver interacts and the other responds. Both the caregiver and infant are active contributors.
Give an example of reciprocity
E.g. caregiver smiles, then infant smiles back
What is the ‘alert phase’?
The point at which infants signal that they want to interact
Does a child have an active or passive role in attachment?
Despite popular opinion, researchers have found infantry are both active and passive in infant-caregiver interactions and can initiate behaviours.
What is the ‘still face’ study?
A study into reciprocity (and lack of) by Tronick et. Al
Describe the procedure of the ‘still face’ study.
- Mother responds to baby
- Mother asked to stop responding
- Baby’s response observed
What did Tronick et. Al find in the still face study?
- Negative response
- Multiple attempts to gain attention (pointing, screaming, laughing)
- Eventually became distressed
What does the still face study emphasise?
The importance of reciprocity in caregiver-infant interactions
What is interactional synchrony?
Described as ‘mirroring’, where infant and caregiver interact in unison with each other
Give an example of interactional synchrony.
Imitation by an infant of a facial expression or gesture
Who’s study links to interactional synchrony?
Meltzoff and Moore’s study
Outline Meltzoff and Moore’s study on interactional synchrony.
- Aim to examine interactional synchrony in infants
- Controlled observation
- Male model displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or hand gesture while infant had dummy in mouth
- Infant’s expressions then recorded & independent observers were asked to record behaviours in categories
- Clear association between adult and infant behaviour as young as 2 weeks old
- Another study by them found similar results in 3 day olds
Evaluate Meltzoff and Moore’s study into interactional synchrony.
+Observer bias prevented as researchers weren’t told what baby was looking at
+Demand characteristics not an issue as infants unaware of filming
+Repetition of experiment shows replication is possible which increases reliability
+96% inter-observer reliability increases internal validity
+ Internal validity increased due to controlled procedure and filming which can be replayed in slow motion etc.
- Low ecological validity as it took place in a lab which can’t necessarily be generalised t other settings
-Doesn’t give an understanding f hw attachment is linked as stranger was used
Describe the study by Isabella et. Al
- 30 mothers and infants
- Assessed for degree and synchrony and quality of attachment
- High synchrony linked to better quality attachment (e.g. emotional intensity)
