Care-giver infant relationships Flashcards
What is reciprocity?
-how 2 people interact and that both infant and mother respond to each others signals and elicit a response
What are alert phases?
Where an infant signals that they are ready for interaction.
What did Feldman and Eidelman find about how much a mother picks up on their alert phases and signals
-2/3rds of the time mothers pick up on their babies signals/alert phases
What did Finegood say additionally to Feldman and Eidelman’s findings
-That this (2/3rds) varies with the skill of the mother
What did Brazelton describe reciprocity and active involvement as?
Brazleton describes the interaction as a couples dance as each partner responds to each others moves - active involvement: babies not passive
What is interactional synchrony(IS)?
-Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a synchronised way. - doing the same thing simultaneously
What did Russell Isabella claim interactional synchrony was?
-IS important for attachment:
observed 30 babies and their mothers and assessed the degree of synchrony and quality of attachment; high levels of synchrony associated with better quality attachment.
a)When did Meltzoff and Keith observe the beginnings of interactional synchrony and b) what as their procedure?
a) young as 2 weeks old
b)adults displayed a facial expression , or 1/3 distinct gestures whilst baby’s response was filmed and labelled by independent observers
-They found that babies reactions matched the adults
What are the strengths for caregiver and infant interactions?
Filmed observations: Care-giver infant reactions are usually filmed in a lab setting. distractions to babies can be controlled and recordings can be analysed later- makes it unlikely researchers would miss behaviours and inter-rater reliability. Finally, babies dont know they are being watched so it is not like they will change their behaviour. Therefore these studies have good validity and reliability.
What are the weaknesses for caregiver and infant interactions
-Difficulty observing babies: cannot be certain that caregiver-infant interactions have special meaning and it is hard to interpret babies behaviour as they are often immobile and uncoordinated which makes it hard to determine their thoughts and intentions as a face changing or hand twitching might not be due to something a caregiver has done. This means that we cannot be certain that caregiver-infant interactions are significant.
-Developmental importance: cannot tell from observational research that reciprocity and interactional synchrony are good for child development. Feldmann (2012) points out interactional synchrony and reciprocity simply name patterns of observable behaviour and do not offer insight on child development or purpose of behaviours. Therefore unsure if observational research alone is proof it is important for development.
HOWEVER, Isabella et al. (1989) found that achievement of interactional synchrony predict development of good quality attachment.
