ATTACHMENT: Caregiver Interactions

Question 1

What is attachment?

Answer 1

An emotional relationship between two people in which each seeks closeness and feels more secure when in the presence of the attached figure

attachment is a strong enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people, especially and infant and a caregiver

Question 2

What are caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 2

From an early age babies have meaningful social interaction with their carers
- these interactions have important functions for the child’s social development
- in particular the developments of the caregiver-infant attachment

babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ and signal that they are ready for interaction
- mothers typically pick up and respond to infant alertness 2/3s of the the time
(Feldman and Eidelman 2007)

• from around 3 months, this interactions becomes more frequent and involves close attention to each other’s verbal signal and facial expressions (Feldman 2007)

Question 3

Two types of interactions

Answer 3

• interactional synchrony
• reciprocity

Question 4

Interactional synchrony : definition

Answer 4

Occurs when adults and baby carry out the same action simultaneously to sustain communication. It usually takes place when mother and infant interact in such a way that they mirror each other.

Question 5

Interactional synchrony: Research

Answer 5

meltzoff and Moore (1977)——
- observed the beginning of international synchrony in infants as young as 2 years old
- an adult displayed 1/3 facial expressions or distinctive gestures
- the child’s response was filmed and identified by an independent observer (inter-rater reliability
an association was found between the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the babies

isabella et al (1989)——
- observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony
- research also assessed caregiver-infant attachment (e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship)
- they found that high levels of synchrony = better quality mother-infant attachments
it is therefore widely believed that interactional synchrony is important for the development of mother-infant attachment

Question 6

Reciprocity : definitions

Answer 6

a two way, mutual interaction between caregiver and child where they take turns to respond to each others interactive signals. The behaviors of each person elicits a response from other**

Question 7

Reciprocity : research

Answer 7

• traditional views of childhood have seen the baby in a passive role, receiving care from an adult.
  —> however its seems that the baby also takes an active role. both mother and child and initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so
• brazelton et al 1975 described the interaction as a dance, as it mirrors how a couple dance where each partner responds to each others moves
• Jaffe et al (1973) suggested that infant co-ordinated their actions which caregivers (like a conversation)

Question 8

Caregiver interactions: evaluations negatives

Answer 8

(-) hard to understand what is happening when observing infants
- many studies involving interactions between mothers and infants have shown that the same patterns of interaction (Gratier 2003)
- it is hard to be certain based of observation, what is really taking place from the infant’s perspective

(-) observations don’t tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity
- Feldman 2012
- pointed out that synchrony (and by implication reciprocity) simply described the behaviors that occurred. T
- these are robust phenomena in the sense that they can be reliably observed, but this isn’t useful was it doesn’t tell us its purpose.
- however there is emerging evidence saying that the interactions are helpful to the development of mother-infant attachment.

(-) there are economic implications
- as mothers read this research they become more and more pressured to stay at home and look after their children
- driving them away from a working life.

Question 9

Caregiver interactions: evaluations positives

Answer 9

(+) controlled observations capture fine detail
- well controlled procedure, both mother and infant filmed from multiple angles
- fine detail of behaviors and be recorded and later analyzed
- babies are not subject to demand characteristics.
- good validity

(+) further research
- Tronick et al, 1979 (still-face experiment)
- found that mothers who had been engaged in dialogue with their babies, were asked to stop moving and remain static
- babies would become puzzles and distressed when their faces were unable to provoke a response.
- showed how babies engage and anticipate reciprocal responses to their behavior

(-)
- used 2-12 month old babies (do the babies know what’s going on)
- lab setting makes generalisabitly hard
BUT follow up toddlers show similar results