attachment: caregiver-infant interactions Flashcards
What is an attachment?
A close two-way emotional bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.
What are the two types of caregiver-infant interactions?
- Reciprocity
- Interactional synchrony
What does reciprocity in caregiver-infant interactions refer to?
An interaction where each person responds to the other and elicits a response.
According to Feldman (2007), what is required for reciprocity?
Close attention to each other’s signals (verbal and visual).
why is reciprocity beneficial
It leads to better social behaviors in adulthood
it prepares children for adulthood eg: taking turns
what is an alert phase
this is when babies signal that they are ready for interaction
What percentage of the time do mothers typically respond to their babies’ alertness?
Around two-thirds of the time.
when do interactions become frequent
at around 3 months the baby and cargeiver start paying close attention to each others verbal signals and facial expressions.
What role do babies play in caregiver interactions according to the new theory?
Babies take an active role alongside mothers.
What does interactional synchrony refer to?
How a parent and infant’s speech and behavior become finely synchronized.
What is mirroring in the context of interactional synchrony?
The infant and caregiver’s behavior matches one another.
How did Feldman (2007) define interactional synchrony?
As the ‘temporal coordination of micro-level social behavior’ and ‘symbolic exchanges between parent and child’.
What is the long-term effect of experiencing increased levels of interactional synchrony?
It increases empathy in adulthood > this is because the child can mirror their parents’ emotions and behaviour
What was the age of babies observed by Meltzoff and Moore for interactional synchrony?
As young as two weeks old.
Outline Meltzoff and Moores study
They filmed babies’ responses to an adult displaying facial expressions or gestures.
results: Babies’ expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adult.
AO3: reliability and validity
was filmed in a lab > other activities that distract babies are controlled
using films means that observations can be recorded and analysed > more than one observer can record the data and establish inter- observer reliability
STRENGTH as theres high validity and reliability
AO3: difficult to interpret behaviour
Young babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile. The movements being observed are just small hand movements or subtle changes in expressions
its hard to establish if a movement such as a hand twitch is random or triggered by something the
caregiver has done.
This means we do not know if the behaviour seen in caregiver-infant interactions have special meaning
or just a coincidence
AO3: purpose is unknown
the purpose of reciprocity and interactional synchrony is unknown
observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance. >Feldman points out that ideas such as synchrony simply give names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behaviours. They are not useful in understanding child development as it does not tell us the purpose of these behaviours.
This means that we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and interactional synchrony are important for the child’s development
COUNTER: there is some evidence to indicate that early interactions are important
Isabella et al found that interactional
synchrony predicted the development of good quality attachment.
This means that caregiver- infant interactions is probably important in development.
