CAREGIVER-INFANT INTERACTIONS

Question 1

RECIPROCITY

Answer 1

• mothers tend to pick up on and respond to infant alertness around 2/3 of the time.
• from around 3 months –> interaction tends to be increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions
• an interaction is RECIPROCAL when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them.
• baby takes an active role - both mother and child can initiate interactions and take turns in doing so

Question 2

INTERACTIONAL SYNCHRONY

Answer 2

‘the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour.’
- takes place when the mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions MIRROR each other.

Question 3

Interactional synchrony: MELTZOFF & MOORE (1977)

Answer 3

• observed the beginnings of interaction synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old
• an adult displayed 1 of.3 facial expressions or 1 of 3 distinctive gestures
• child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers
• association found between the expression or gesture the adult displayed and the actions of the babies

Question 4

Interactional synchrony: ISABELLA ET AL (1989)

Answer 4

• observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony
• assessed quality of mother-infant attachment
• found high levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother-infant attachment

Question 5

AO3: CONTROLLED OBSERVATIONS CAPTURE FINE DETAIL

Answer 5

• observations of mother-infant interactions = conducted in a lab –> other activity that may distract babies are generally well controlled, filmed from multiple angles
• ensures very fine details are recorded and analysed
• babies do not know they are being observed –> behaviour does not change –> NO DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS –> HIGH INTERNAL VALIDITY
• filmed interactions means that more than one observer can record data and establish INTER-RATER RELIABILITY of observations
• GOOD RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

Question 6

AO3: DIFFICULTY OBSERVING BABIES

Answer 6

• babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies = immobile
• what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression
• extremely difficult to be certain, based on observations, what is taking place from the infant’s perspective
• is the infant’s imitation of adult signals conscious and deliberate?
• cannot know for sure that certain behaviours seen in mother-infant interactions have a special meaning
• SUBJECTIVE VIEW OF BEHAVIOURS
• LOW INTERNAL VALIDITY

Question 7

AO3: DEVELOPMENTAL IMPORTANCE

Answer 7

• limitation - simply observing behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance
• FELDMAN (2012) points out ideas like synchrony simply give names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behaviours
• these are robust phenomena in the sense that they can be RELIABLY OBSERVED, but they still may not be particularly useful in understanding child development as it does not tell us the purpose of these behaviours
• therefore we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development
  COUNTER –> evidence to suggest that early interactions are important:
• ISABELLA (1989) found that achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment
• this means that caregiver-infant interactions in probably important in development