attachment 1 - synchrony and reciprocity (meltzoff and moore)

Question 1

what are babies ‘alert phases’?

Answer 1

when they are open to interaction

Question 2

when do ‘alert phases’ become more frequent and detailed?

Answer 2

from around 3 months old

Question 3

define reciprocity

Answer 3

when a flow of interaction takes place between mother and baby, with both responding to each other (facial expressions + body language)

Question 4

who coined the term ‘reciprocity’?

Answer 4

feldman 2007

Question 5

who refers to reciprocity as a dance? why?

Answer 5

brazleton et al, as it is like the baby and mother are responding to each others moves.

Question 6

what is interactional synchrony

Answer 6

when mother and baby are mirroring each others behaviour

Question 7

who observed interactional synchrony in babies as young as two weeks old?

Answer 7

meltzoff and moore

Question 8

how did meltzoff and moore observe interactional synchrony in babies as young as two weeks old? what was found? conclusion?

Answer 8

an adult made one of 3 expressions/gestures, babies response filmed, video then showed to observers who identified the gesture/expression that the baby was shown. they found that they were able to identify these expressions, therefore there was evidence of interactional synchrony

Question 9

what is it believed that interactional synchrony is important for?

Answer 9

the development of mother-infant attachment

Question 10

what did isabella et al find when observing 30 mothers and infants together?

Answer 10

the better the attachment between the mother and child, the more synchrony was able to be identified between the two

Question 11

who found out when babies tend to become attached to their mothers and fathers?

Answer 11

schaffer and emerson

Question 12

when do babies tend to become attached to their mothers? fathers?

Answer 12

mothers is around 7 months, fathers is around 18 months

Question 13

who carried out a longitudinal study of the quality of relationship between parents and infants throughout time into the child’s teenage years?

Answer 13

grossman 2002

Question 14

what did grossman find out about fathers attachment compared to mothers attachment?

Answer 14

fathers attachment much more focused on the role of play and stimulation rather than nurturing and comfort (mothers)

Question 15

what did field 1978 find out about when fathers were primary care givers? what does it show?

Answer 15

when fathers were primary care givers they spent more time imitating, smiling and holding infants, just like mothers. this shows that quality of attachment is based on level of responsiveness rather than the gender of the parent

Question 16

describe how ‘it is hard to know what is going on when observing infants’ is a weakness when studying parent-infant attachment.

Answer 16

we dont know if their actions are deliberate, they may be by chance, we have no way of knowing what they are seeing and feeling from their perspective

Question 17

describe how ‘controlled observations capture fine detail’ is a strength when studying parent-infant attachment.

Answer 17

the research tends to be well controlled in these cases, the responses and reactions are usually filmed from all angles so they can be analysed later. this shows high levels of validity.

Question 18

describe how ‘observations dont tell us about the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity’ is a weakness when studying parent-infant attachment.

Answer 18

feldman 2012 points out that synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviours that happen at the same time. it shows they reliably occur but it doesnt tell us their purpose. it shows that they are important for attachment to take place, but the process is not fully explained.