Attatchment: Infant-caregiver Interactions Flashcards
Define Attachment.
An emotional tie or bond between two people (eg. Caregiver and infant).
Outline Reciprocity.
> Occurs when infants and caregivers respond to each other in a form of turn-taking.
E.g one points and the other responds by looking in the direction of the pointing.
Brazleton has linked reciprocity to dance.
Researchers have argued that through this form of communication, both the infant band caregiver and become aware and able to anticipate actions of the other.
Outline Interactional Synchrony.
> This takes place when infants mirror the actions or emotions of another person
E.g imitating facial expressions.
Meltzoff and Moore have argued that infants purposefully engage in interactional synchrony as to communicate with their caregiver. If true, this would suggest infants are actively seeking to communicate with their caregiver and so involved in developing the attachment bond.
Meltzoff and Moore have argued interactional synchrony is an innate ability, meaning the ability is present from birth rather than learner from experience.
Feldman suggests that interactional synchrony serves a critical role in developmental outcomes in terms of self regulation (learning to manage ones own emotions) ,symbol use and capacity for empathy.
What is a Similarity between reciprocity and interactional synchrony?
> Both play a role in the development of attatchment.
What is a Difference between reciprocity and interactional synchrony?
Interactional synchrony involves imitation whilst reciprocity can involve the infant caregiver responding with different actions.
What is a Limitation of research into caregiver- infant interactions?
The reliance on observations. Since infants lack language, researchers cannot question them using self report methods. Instead, researchers have uses observations to study infants behaviour and then interpret the thinking behind these behaviours. This could lead researchers to incorrectly infer motivations behind infant behaviour, leading to an overestimation of the infants abilities (eg. Incorrectly interpreting an infant mirroring an adults facial expressions as a deliberate attempt to communicate). Thus, a limitation with research into caregiver - infant interactions is that it is reliant on a research method prone to errors.
What research has demonstrated that reciprocity is an important feature of infant-caregiver interactions?
In Tronicks Still Face Experiment, an infant is observed interacting with a non-responsive carer (eg. Mum stops responding). In many replications of this study, infants consistently try to engage their carers attention before eventually averting their gaze and reacting with negative emotion. This experiment demonstrates reciprocity is a feature of infant-caregiver interactions as infants plan an active role in seeking a response. Moreover, the infants negative response to the non-reciprocating caregiver suggests that the importance of reciprocity to the attachment bond between infants and caregivers, as if it wasn’t important , we wouldn’t expect to see the infant suffer when the caregiver stops displaying reciprocity. This highlights the dangers posed in modern day society as many caregivers have devices that draw their attention away from their infant. As a result the caregiver may not provide the reciprocity needed for the infant to form a healthy attachment. On the other hand, there is still a danger of rich interpretation in this study, as it’s possible that the infant behaviour does not demonstrate a purposeful attempt to interact with their caregiver.
What research is there as evidence for interactional synchrony?
Melzoff and Moore had adult models display behaviours, like sticking out their tongues to 2-3 month old infants. When they viewed videos of the infants, they found an association between the adults’ and infants’ movements. They found this association occurred even when the infants were only a few hours old. This finding suggests that the infant was imitating the adult. This provides evidence that interactional synchrony is a feature of infant-caregiver interactions. The fact that the infants were able to imitate the adult model within the first few hours of their lives suggests the ability to imitate is present from birth, supporting the claim from Melzoff and Moore that interactional synchrony is an innate ability. However, the only replicated evidence of interactional synchrony involves infants imitating adults when sticking out their tongues, other forms of imitating haven’t been replicated. This suggests that interactional synchrony may be a more limited form of infant caregiver interaction than suggested. Moreover, many researchers have argued that tongue protrusion is an innate ability which occurs when infants are sufficiently aroused by their environment, suggesting the infants may just find the situation exciting. This would suggested that any observed actions are coincidental, thus challenging Melzoff and Moore’s claim that interactional synchrony is purposeful.
