caregiver infant interaction

Question 1

What is an attachment?

Answer 1

An emotional tie or bond between two people, usually a primary caregiver and a child. The relationship is reciprocal (shared), meaning it is two way.

Question 2

Importance of attachment in development?

Answer 2

Emotional development
Social development
Cognitive development
Motor development
Language development
Physical development

Question 3

What are the two types of caregiver infant interactions.

Answer 3

Interactional synchrony
Reciprocity

Question 4

What is reciprocity

Answer 4

Reciprocity is when an infant responds to the actions of another person in a
form of turn-taking. With reciprocity, the actions of one person (i.e. the
primary caregiver) elicits a response from the other (i.e. the infant).

Question 5

What is interactional synchrony

Answer 5

Interactional synchrony: takes place when infants
mirror the actions or emotions of another person, for
example, their facial expressions. This mirroring can
also be referred to as imitation or simply copying
the adult’s behaviour.

Question 6

What did Meltzoff and Moore claim?

Answer 6

Babies born with a primitive capacity for matching acts of others.
Intentional interaction is innate, and it helps cognitive development and social.

Question 7

What was the method used for Meltzoff and Moore (1973)?

Answer 7

Method: Using a controlled observation, an adult model displayed one of
three facial expressions, or a hand gesture. To start with, the child had a
dummy placed in his/her mouth to prevent a facial response. Following the
display from the adult model, the dummy was removed and the child’s
expressions were filmed. The responses were labelled by independent
observers.

Question 8

Results and conclusion

Answer 8

Results: There was a clear association between the infants’ behaviour and that
of the adult model.
Later research by Meltzoff and Moore (1983) found the same findings in
three-day-old infants.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that interactional synchrony is innate and
reduces the strength of any claim that imitative behaviour is learned

Question 9

Limitation?

Answer 9

-Methodological problems using observational methods
-Observer bias, where the researcher interprets behaviour to support findings. e.g opening mouth for food may be seen as interaction
-One or more observer should be used.

Question 10

Strength?

Answer 10

-Well controlled procedure.
-Filmed so can be analysed
-Allows for inter-rater reliability
-Therefore increase validity.