care-giver & infant interactions

Question 1

definition of attachment

Answer 1

close emotional two-way bond between two individuals. Each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security.

Question 2

how is an infant classed?

Answer 2

• before speech begins
• interactions with care-giver is non-verbal

Question 3

4 features of attachment behaviour

Answer 3

• seeking proximity
• distressed if separated
  -secure based behaviour
• pleasure when reunited

Question 4

what is seeking proximity

Answer 4

infants wanting to be near to their care-giver

Question 5

what is secure based bahaviour

Answer 5

Making regular physical contact.
E.g returning to the attachment figure while playing

Question 6

what is reciprocity/ reciprocal interactions

Answer 6

two way interactions
both caregiver and infant are active contributors
take it in turns to elicit responses from each other

Question 7

what is interactional synchrony

Answer 7

when two people interact they tend to mirror each other with their actions and emotions.

Question 8

who performed research into interactional synchrony and when?

Answer 8

Meltzoff and Moore in 1977

Question 9

method for Meltzoff and Moore experiment

Answer 9

1. 2-3 week old infants exposed to adult model
2. dummy placed in infant mouth
3. adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions
4. dummy was removed from infant and baby mirrored face (was also videoed)

Question 10

findings for Meltzoff and Moore experiment

Answer 10

They found that the infants often mirrored the facial expression displayed by the adult model. This was repeated in 1983 with three day old babies.

Question 11

conclusions for Meltzoff and Moore experiment

Answer 11

These findings demonstrate interactional synchrony in caregiver-infant interactions. This response must be innate

Question 12

example of reciprocity

Answer 12

care-giver smiles at infant, infant smiles back

Question 13

what are strengths of Meltzoff and Moore experiment

Answer 13

Filmed in a lab
- extraneous variables can be controlled
- observations can be recorded and analysed later
- more than one observer- better inter-rater reliability
- babies dont know they are being observed (no observer effects)
data should have good reliability + validity

Question 14

what are weaknesses of Meltzoff and Moore experiment

Answer 14

hard to interperate baby behaviour
- lack of coordination
- immobile
- hard to know what meaning for movement is
doesn’t tell us about developmental importance
- just giving names to patterns of behaviours
- dont know purpose of behaviours
- observational research alone can’t tell us whether the behaviours are important for development or not

Question 15

procedure Isabella et al 1989

Answer 15

• assessed degree of sycnhrony in 30 infants and their mothers
• assessed quality of attachment between mothers and infants

Question 16

findings of Isabella et al 1989

Answer 16

higher levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachments

Question 17

real or pseudo?

Answer 17

• meltzoff and Moore proposed this imitation was intentional
• Jean Piaget said it was only ‘response training’
• Murray and Treavthen experiment supported M + M

Question 18

what did ruth feldman say

Answer 18

that behaviours may not be helpful in understanding the purpose of behaviour in development of the child as we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and interactional synchrony are important for a child’s development.

Question 19

what is response training

Answer 19

where an infant repeats a behaviour that was rewarded

Question 20

example or response training

Answer 20

caregiver sticks their tongue out infant sticks tongue out caregiver smiles (reward)