4.1 Caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

What is an ‘attachment’?

Answer 1

An enduring two-way emotional bond to a specific other person, normally between a parent and a child, which develops during a set timescale

Question 2

What is the difference between animals and humans’ development at birth?

Answer 2

• Most animals are precocial (born @ fairly advanced stage of development) e.g. horses can walk soon after birth
• Humans are altricial (born @ relatively early stage of development) and therefore form atts w adults who will protect and nurture them

Question 3

What does an attachment involve?

Answer 3

Att bonds characterised by:

• An infant’s desire to keep close proximity to a particular indiv
• The expression of distress upon separation

This indiv (usually mother but can be anyone) provides security

Question 4

What are alert phases?

Answer 4

Babies have periodic alert phases in which they signal to mothers that they are ready for interaction - mothers respond 2/3 of time

Question 5

How does communication manifest at the early stages of infant development?

Answer 5

• Bodily contact - phys interactions strengthen att bond
• Mimicking - infants seem to have innate ability to imitate facial expressions - suggests it is biological device to help form atts
• Caregiverese - adults interacting w infants use high-pitched form of vocal language to aid communication and strengthen att bond
• Interactional synchrony - infants move their bodies in tune w rhythm of carer’s spoken language - reinforces att bond
• Reciprocity - interactions between carers and infants result in mutual behav that evokes mutual responses - reinforces att bond

Question 6

What research has been done into interactional synchrony?

Answer 6

Meltzoff & Moore:
• Observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks
• Adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or gestures

They found a strong association between expression/gesture of att figure and the action of a child

Question 7

How have views of the role of the baby in its development changed?

Answer 7

Previously the baby was seen in a passive role receiving care - now it is seen to have more active role in initiating interactions

Question 8

Why is interactional synchrony important?

Answer 8

It provides the necessary foundations which the mother-infant connections will be built upon

Question 9

What support is there for infant-caregiver interactions?

Answer 9

• Research validity - observations of mother-infant interactions generally well-controlled - mother and infant often filmed from multiple angles - allows fine details to be analysed later on - babies also aren’t aware they are being observed so removes usual issue of DCs w controlled obs - research is valid

Question 10

What reduces support for infant-caregiver interactions?

Answer 10

• Lack of reliability when testing children - infants move mouths and arms constantly - issue for researchers investigating intentional behav - cannot be certain that infants are engaging in int sync or reciprocity - behav may have occurred by chance - questions validity of research into int sync and reciprocity so psychologists should take caution when analysing findings from such research
• Int sync potentially not universal - recent research found only secure att types engage in int sync - Isabella et al found the more securely attached the infant, the greater the level of int sync - suggests not all engage in int sync and Meltzoff & Moore’s original findings may have overlooked individual differences
• Nat-nurt - psychologists suggest caregiver-infant interactions e.g. reciprocity are present from birth - therefore product of nature to aid att - but such innate behavs don’t act in isolation and interact w env to prompt response - therefore int app to explanation of caregiver-infant interactions perhaps best explains rather than seeing as purely nature