Attachment: Lesson 8- Caregjver-infant Interactions

Question 1

What is reciprocity?

Answer 1

• Reciprocity is also referred to as turn-taking. It is a two-way, mutual process, where each party responds to the other’s signals to sustain interaction
• The behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other
• Studies have demonstrated that infants coordinate their actions with their caregiver’s actions in a kind of conversation (Jaffe et al., 1973)
• The regularity of an infant’s signals allows a caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately
• This sensitivity to infant behaviour lays the foundation for later attachment between the caregiver and the infant

Question 2

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 2

• Interactional synchrony is when adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication
• The caregiver and the infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other
• Meltzoff and Moore (1977) found that infants as young as two or three weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures that they saw adults do
• An adult model displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements
• A dummy was placed in the baby’smouth during the display to prevent any response
• Following the display the dummy was removed and the infant’s expression was filmed
• They found that there was an association between the infant’s behaviour and the adult model

Question 3

Evaluation of caregiver infant interactions (Meltzoff and Moore) (+)

Answer 3

+ Interactional synchronyhas been demonstrated in several studies
+ Meltzoff and Moore (1983) found that infants as young as three days old were displaying this behaviour, which seems to suggest that the imitation behavioursare not learned and are innate

Question 4

Evaluation of caregiver infant interactions (urray and Trevarthen, reciprate (video monitor)) (+)

Answer 4

+ Murray and Trevarthen (1985) got mothers to interact with their babies over a video monitor. In the next part of the study the babies were played a tape of their mother so she was not responding to them
+ The babies tried to attract their mother’s attention but when this failed they gave up responding
+ This shows that babies want their mothers to reciprocate.

Question 5

Evaluation of caregiver infant interactions (relying on inferences) (-)

Answer 5

• Babies cannot communicate so psychologists are relying ontheir inferences
• They cannot be sure that infants are actually trying to communicate

Question 6

Evaluation of caregiver infant interactions (tongue sticking out, yawning and smiling are common expressions for infants) (-)

Answer 6

-The expressions tested (tongue sticking out, yawning, and smiling) are ones that infants frequently make so they may not have been deliberatelyimitating what they saw