Caregiver-Infant Interaction

Question 1

define attachment

Answer 1

close two-way emotional bond between an infant and their caregiver

Question 2

define reciprocity

Answer 2

caregiver and infant responding to each other’s signals in a turn-taking fashion

Question 3

from what age does reciprocity increase in frequency? why?

Answer 3

it is argued that from about 3 months reciprocity increases in frequency as infants and caregivers become more responsive to each other’s verbal and facial communications

Question 4

how do reciprocal interactions benefit children?

Answer 4

responding sensitively to their child’s signals and engaging in reciprocal interactions lays the strong foundations for attachment to develop later between infant and caregiver

Question 5

describe Tronick’s supporting research for reciprocity and what it showed

Answer 5

• asked mothers to interact with babies holding static, unsmiling expressions
• found that babies would try encourage their mothers to smile
• became more distressed when this didn’t trigger a response
• shows the importance of reciprocal interaction

Question 6

describe Belsky’s supporting research for reciprocity and what it showed

Answer 6

• controlled observation of mother-infant interaction when infants were 1, 3 and 12 months old
• at 12 months the attachment type was assessed using the Strange Situation
• found that mothers who engaged in more reciprocal interaction at 1 and 3 months had more secure attachments with their babies at 12 months
• supports the view that reciprocity lays the foundation for secure attachments

Question 7

define interactional synchrony

Answer 7

when caregivers and infants carry out the same behaviour or emotional response simultaneously, essentially mirroring each other

Question 8

describe Meltzoff and Moore’s supporting research for interactional synchrony and what it showed

Answer 8

• conducted experiments on 18 babies who were less than one month old (some as young as 2 weeks)
• babies were shown an adult displaying 1 of 3 facial/manual gestures
• the child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers
• indicated that babies could imitate facial/manual gestures
• means that early signs of interactions synchrony can be seen from birth

Question 9

explain one strength of caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 9

1.
- usually filmed in controlled setting
- means distractions are minimised
- also means it can be rewatched meaning another observer can watch to see if they agree with conclusions
- suggests most research into caregiver-infant interaction should be reliable and have high validity

Question 10

explain two weaknesses of caregiver-infant interaction

Answer 10

1. • practical difficulties studying young infants
   • this is because young babies are often asleep/needing to be fed
   • means recording any meaningful interaction may take several hours
   • may lead to smaller sample size
   • makes it harder to make generalisations about caregiver-infant interactions
2. • babies have limited movement/communication
   • their subtle behaviours can easily be misinterpreted
   • it’s difficult to establish if behaviours are deliberate or random
   • explains why Koepke et al failed to replicate Meltzoff and Moore’s study
   • reduces reliability and validity of research into caregiver-infant interaction