Attachment: Caregiver-infant interactions in humans Flashcards
Why are caregiver-infant interactions important??
- For the formation of an attachment bond
- Development
- Evidence that a bond has formed
What are the 2 forms of caregiver-infant interactions??
- Reciprocity
- Interactional synchrony
What is reciprocity??
Description of how 2 people interact.
Both respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
What are the 3 studies that investigate reciprocity?? (AO1)
- Feldman & Eidelman (2007)
- Feldman (2007)
- Brazelton et al (1975)
What did Feldman & Eidelman (2007) discover?? (AO1)
Babies have ‘alert phases’ which mothers pick up on and respond to 2/3 of the time (reciprocity)
What did Feldman (2007) discover?? (AO1)
Interaction is frequent from 3 months old. It involved close attention to facial expressions and verbal signals. (reciprocity)
What did Brazelton et al (1975) discover?? (AO1)
Baby takes an active role in interaction. Mother-infant are responding to one another (reciprocity)
What is interactional synchrony??
When infant & caregiver mirror one another’s facial expressions & boy movements simultaneously. This helps reinforce the attachment bond.
What is the research support for interactional synchrony?? (AO1)
Meltzoff & Moore (1977):
- 2 weeks old & 3 facial expressions
- Filmed & analysed by independent observers (inter-observer reliability)
What are the 3 evaluation points for caregiver-infant interactions?? (AO3)
- Questionable reliability of testing infants
- Observations are filmed
- Difficulty inferring developmental importance
Elaborate on the evaluation point:
Questionable reliability of infants
Difficult to observe intentional behaviour -> Babies move their mouths & wave their arms constantly
Can’t be certain if babies are actually engaging in reciprocity or interactional synchrony
Decreased reliability
Elaborate on the evaluation point:
Observations are filmed
Fine details are recorded, re-watched and analysed well
Baby can’t show demand characteristics = unaware of filming
Increased validity
Elaborate on the evaluation point:
Difficulty inferring developmental importance
Feldman (2012) said that though it is possible to record reciprocity and interactional synchrony, there is no evidence that these are actually important for development.
Low applicability
