Caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

What is attachment?

Answer 1

Attachment is an emotional tie or bond between two people which is reciprocal

Question 2

What is Reciprocity?

Answer 2

Where the actions of one person elicit a response from another person - turn taking / back and forth

Question 3

What is interactional Synchrony?

Answer 3

Where the infant mirrors the actions or emotions of another person - synchronised / mirrored

Question 4

What was Meltzoff and Moore’s study into interactional synchrony?

Answer 4

In a controlled observation, An adult would make a gesture or facial expression. The dummy would then be removed from the baby and the facial expressions were filmed

Question 5

What were the findings of Meltzoff and Moore’s study on interactional synchronicity

Answer 5

Clear correlation even in 3-day-old infants suggesting that interactional synchronicity is innate, not learned

Question 6

Evaluation of Caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 6

• Questionable reliability: if a baby moves all the time how do we know that it is displaying reciprocity or synchronicity and is not just happening by chance
• Methodological issue: Observer Bias, they may be consciously or unconsciously be interpreting data to fit the hypothesis + they did not pass the test-retest counter as they couldn’t replicate results