Attachment - CII: Interactional synchrony and reciprocity

Question 1

What is an attachment?

Answer 1

An emotional connection/bond between child and principle caregiver which is characterised by mutual affection, frequent interaction, a desire for proximity and selectivity. It is a strong bond.

Question 2

Explain interactional synchrony

Answer 2

When the baby and caregiver reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do it in a synchronised way, they mirror eachother.

Question 3

What are the 2 studies linked to interactional synchrony?

Answer 3

• Condon and Sanders 1974: Observed babies as young as 2 weeks old and filmed babies responses to adult’s facial expressions, they found the babies commonly mirrored the adult’s expressions
• Isabella 1989: Observed 30 mothers and babies and assessed the degree of synchrony and quality of attachment.Found that higher levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachment.

Question 4

Explain Reciprocity

Answer 4

This happens when the baby or mother responds to eachother’s actions. For example the caregiver could make a facial gesture to attract the infants attention and then pauses allowing the infant to take it’s turn and to do the same thing. This can be seen as the start of modelling how conversations take place - laying down the rules of conversation.

Question 5

What are the 2 studies linked to reciprocity?

Answer 5

• Brazleton 1975: Described interaction of caregiver and infant taking turns of doing actions as ‘dancing’ because it’s like a couples dance where each partner responds to the other’s moves.
• Feldman and Eidelman 2007: Infants make eyecontact from birth to signal they need intimate interactions during periods of alertness and the caregiver responded to the alertness 2 out of 3 times.