Caregiver-infant interactions Flashcards
What is reciprocity?
Caregiver-infant interactions
How two people interact
Caregiver and baby respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
What are alert phases?
Caregiver-infant interactions
When babies signal that they are ready for a spell of interaction
Feldmen and Eidelman (2007) - mothers pick up on and respond to alertness 2/3 of the time
Finegood et al (2016) - varies according to skill of mother and external factors
Feldman (2007) - from 3 months alert phases become more frequent & involves moth and baby paying close attention to each other’s verbal signals and face expressions
What is active involvement?
Caregiver-infant interactions
Both baby and caregiver can initiate interactions and take turn doing so
Brazelton et al (1975) described this as a dance - just like couples dance where each partner responds to the others moves
What is interactional synchrony?
Caregiver-infant interactions
Caregiver and baby reflect both actions and emotions of the other and do this in synchronised way
When does synchrony begin?
Caregiver-infant interactions
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed beginnings of synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks
Adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or 1 of 3 gestures
Baby’s reponse was filmed and labelled by independent observers
Babies’ expression and gestures were significantly more likely to mirror those of the adults
How is interactiontial synchrony important for attachment?
Caregiver-infant interactions
Isabella et al (1989) observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed degree of synchrony
Also assessed quality of attachment
High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachment
Filmed Observations
Caregiver-infant interactions
Strength
Also lab - control
Filmed observations can be recorded and analysed later
Unlikely researchers will miss key behaviours
More than one observer can record data and establish the inter-rater reliability of observations
Babies don’t know they are being observed so their behaviour doesn’t change
Therefore, data collected in such research should have good reliability and validity
Difficulty observing babies
Caregiver-infant interactions
Limitation
Young babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile
Movements being observed are small hadn movements or subtle changes in expression
Difficult to be sure if baby is smiling or passing wind
Difficult to determine what is happening from babies pov
E.g. we cannot know whether movement such as hand twitch is random or triggered by caregiver interactions
Therefore, we cannot be certain that behaviours in caregiver-infant interactions have special meaning
Developmental importance
Caregiver-infant interactions
Limitation
Feldman (2012) points out that ideas likely synchrony simply give names to patterns of observable caregiver & baby behaviours
Robust phenomena in sense they can be reliably observed but still may not be useful in understanding child development - doesn’t tell us purpose of these behaviours
Therefore, cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development
Counterpoint: Developmental importance
Caregiver-infant interactions
Evidence from other lines of research to suggest that early interactions are important
Isabella et al (1989) found that achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of good quality attachment
Therefore, caregiver-infant interaction has some importance in development
