Attachment : Caregiver-Infant interactions Flashcards
When does attachment happen?
When a strong emotional connection is formed between two individuals
When does psychosocial development happen?
When children form relationships, interact with others, and learn to understand and manage their feelings
What are developmental psychologists interested in?
How infants reach the milestone of attachment
What is attachment often symbolised by?
An infant’s desire to seek proximity to a particular individual and to display distress when separated from said individual
Are attachment bonds present at birth?
No
Developed as response to interactions between the child and the caregiver
What does a caregiver provide an infant with?
A sense of security
Name 3 ways in which communication between a caregiver and infant happens
Interactional synchrony
Reciprocity
Mimicking
Bodily Contact
Caregiverse
What is this sentence referring to? :
‘the infant moves their bodies in time with the rhythm of the carer’s spoken language, creating a form of turn-taking’
Interactional synchrony
What is reciprocity?
When interactions lead to mutual behaviour between carer and infant, with both being able to produce responses from each other
What is mimicking?
When infants imitate the facial expressions of the caregiver, suggesting an innate biological drive to form an attachment bond
What is meant by ‘bodily contact’?
Physical interactions helping to form the attachment bond in the very early period, particularly immediately after birth
What is ‘caregiverse’?
A form of modified vocal language used by adults as they interact with infants, which includes high-pitched song-like vocals that are slow and repetitive
What is the purpose of caregiverse?
These vocals help with communication between the infant and caregiver whilst also strengthening the attachment bond
what are ‘alert phases’?
babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ where they signal they’re ready for interaction
what did Feldman & Eidelman (2007) claim about a mother’s reaction to their baby’s alert phases?
mothers typically respond to baby’s alertness about 2/3 of the time
What did Finegood et al, 2016 say were influencing factors for a mother’s response?
maternal skill
stress
what stage of development do these interactions become more frequent and focused on verbal/facial cues?
from about 3 months
outline research into caregiver-infant interactions by Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
observed beginnings of international synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks
adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions or one of 3 distinctive gestures
baby’s response filmed and labelled by independent observers
baby’s expression and gestures more likely to mirror adults more than chance would predict
outline research into caregiver-interactions as investigated by Isabella et al (1989)
observed 30 mums + babies together, assessing degree of synchrony
also assessed quality of mother-baby attachment
found higher levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother baby attachment
name a strength of research into caregiver-infant interactions
filmed in lab
lab means distractions minimised for babies
observations on film can be recorded and analysed later, unlikely researchers will miss seeing key behaviours
more than 1 observer can record data and establish inter-rater reliability of observations
babies don’t know they’re being observed so behaviour doesn’t change
good validity and reliability in research
name a limitation of research into caregiver-infant interactions
hard to interpret baby’s behaviour
young babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile
movements being observed are small and subtle
difficult to determine what is taking place from baby’s perspective
means uncertainty around whether certain behaviours seen in caregiver-infant interactions have a special meaning
name a limitation of caregiver-infant interactions (with counter if possible)
simply observing behaviour doesn’t tell us it’s developmental importance
Feldman (2012) - ideas such as synchrony give names to patterns of behaviour
robust phenomena in sense that they can be reliably observed but they may not be useful in understanding child development as it doesn’t tell us the purpose
means cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development
BONUS POINTS!!!
counter - evidence of important of early interactions from research
Isabella et al (1989) found that achievements of intersectional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment
means that care-giver interactions are probably important in development
