caregiver-infant interaction

Question 1

Human babies as altricial. What does this mean?

Answer 1

-they are born at a relatively early stage of development meaning that they need to form bonds with adults who will protect and nurture them

Question 2

Short Term Benefits of Attachment?

Answer 2

survival

Question 3

Long Term Benefits of Attachment?

Answer 3

emotional relationships which then act as a template for future relationships

Question 4

What is sensitive responsiveness?

Answer 4

-it is the way each person responds to the other’s signals

Question 5

What does sensitive responsiveness determine?

Answer 5

• the formation of attachment, so the more sensitive each is to the other signals, the deeper the relationship

Question 6

What is reciprocity known as?

Answer 6

Turn Taking

Question 7

What is reciprocity?

Answer 7

-at two-way process between infant and caregiver
-when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them

Question 8

What did Brazelton (1975) say about reciprocity?

Answer 8

-a ‘dance’ where each partner responds to the
other persons moves.

Question 9

What is Interactional Synchrony?

Answer 9

-when care-giver and baby interact in such a way that their emotions and actions mirror each other, so that they’re doing the same thing at the same time.

Question 10

What is Interactional Synchrony also known as?

Answer 10

mirroring

Question 11

What did Isabella et al (1989) find about Interactional Synchrony?

Answer 11

-that securely attached mother-infant pairs had shown more instances of
interaction synchrony in first year of life.
-This means that high synchrony=better quality attachment

Question 12

What is the correlation between interactional synchrony and quality of attachment according to Isabella (1989) et al?

Answer 12

-positive
-high synchrony=better quality attachment

Question 13

Who carried out the first systematic study of Interactional Synchrony?

Answer 13

-Meltzof and Moore (1977)

Question 14

What was the Procedure of Meltzof and Moore (1977)’s study?

Answer 14

-An adult model displayed multiple facial expressions (tongue out, shock, pout).
-A dummy was placed in the infant’s mouth during the initial display to prevent any response
-the dummy was removed and the child’s expression was filmed

Question 15

What were the findings of Meltzof and Moore (1977)’s study?

Answer 15

-infants as young as 2/ 3 weeks old imitated specific facial expressions.
-This supports interactional synchrony because babies expressions were more likely to mirror those of the adult more than chance would predict.

Question 16

What is the strength of caregiver-infant interaction?

Answer 16

-use well-controlled
procedures

Question 17

What are the weaknesses of caregiver-infant interaction?

Answer 17

-hard to interpret infants behaviour
-socially sensitive
-nothing about developmental importance

Question 18

Explain the limitation of caregiver-infant interaction: It is socially sensitive

Answer 18

Isabella et al found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant interaction. This suggests that mothers should not return to work so soon, as they may be considered a ‘bad mother’ or may be made to feel guilty for returning to work.

Question 19

Explain the limitation of caregiver-infant interaction: It doesn’t tell us developmental importance

Answer 19

-They don’t tell us the purpose of interactional synchrony and reciprocity.
-We are able to describe these terms and reliably observe them, but this may not be very useful as it does not tell us their purpose.
-However, there is some evidence that reciprocal interaction and synchrony are helpful in the development of attachment (e.g. Isabella’s findings that the achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment).

Question 20

Explain the limitation of caregiver-infant interaction: It’s hard to interpret their behaviour.

Answer 20

-you might observe hand movements or changes in expression, but it is difficult to know if this imitation of adult signals is
deliberate or not.
-This means we cannot really know for certain that behaviours seen in caregiver-infant interaction have a special
meaning.

Question 21

Explain the strength of caregiver-infant interaction: they use well-controlled
procedures

Answer 21

-This ensures the very fine details of behaviour can be recorded and
later analysed.
-Furthermore, babies don’t know or care that they are being observed, so their behaviour does not change in response to
controlled observations.
-Therefore, these filmed interactions mean
that more than one observer can record data and establish the inter-rater reliability of observations.
-This means the research has good reliability and validity.