Caregiver-infant interactions Flashcards
What is attachment?
A strong, reciprocal, emotional bond between an infant and a caregiver that endures over time
What is a caregiver?
Any person who is providing care for a child
What is reciprocity?
When an infant responds to the action of a caregiver with a similar action
What is reciprocity likened to?
A conversation
Why is reciprocity important?
It allows the caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately
What is interactional synchrony?
When the infant mirrors the actions of their caregiver
Who conducted a study on interactional synchrony?
Meltzoff and Moore
At what age did Meltzoff and Moore find that interactional synchrony begins (in their first study)?
As early as 2-3 weeks
What was the procedure of Meltzoff and Moore’s study?
They had an adult model display one of three facial expressions or a hand movement whilst the infant had a dummy in, and then removed the dummy and recorded the infant’s behaviour
What did Meltzoff and Moore find in their secondary study?
That there was evidence of interactional synchrony in children as young as 3 days old
What did Meltzoff and Moore’s findings suggest about imitation behaviours?
That they are innate, not learned
What type of study was Meltzoff and Moore’s?
A controlled observation
What type of sampling was used in Meltzoff and Moore’s study?
Event sampling
How many times did each observer in Meltzoff and Moore’s study score the video?
Twice
What type of reliability did Meltzoff and Moore’s study have?
Intra-observer and inter-observer
What were the intra-observer and inter-observer reliability scores of Meltzoff and Moore’s study?
Both over 0.92
What did Piaget suggest about true imitation?
That true imitation only developed towards the end of the first year
What did Piaget suggest was the cause of imitation in young infants?
Response training (the result of operant conditioning)
What are the 4 AO3 points of caregiver-infant interactions?
1) Problems with testing infant behaviour
2) Intentionality supported
3) Failure to replicate
4) Individual differences
What may Meltzoff + Moore’s findings lack?
Reliability
Why may Meltzoff + Moore’s findings lack reliability?
Infants mouths tend to be in constant motion + the measured expressions tend to occur frequently
What cannot be established from Meltzoff + Moore’s findings?
A cause and effect relationship between the facial expression of the caregiver and the imitation by the infant
How did Meltzoff + Moore overcome reliability issues?
They filmed the infants and caregivers and then had observers determine the infant’s behaviour from the video
How has the intentionality of infant behaviour been measured?
By exposing infants to inanimate objects
What findings have supported the intentionality of infant behaviour?
When interacting with inanimate objects, infants aged 5-12 weeks had little response to the objects
What have other studies investigating caregiver-infant interactions failed to do?
Replicate Meltzoff + Moore’s findings
Who failed to replicate Meltzoff + Moore’s findings?
Koepke et al
Why did Meltzoff + Moore criticise Koepke’s study?
They said it was less controlled than theirs
What has research found about live and recorded caregiver interactions found?
Infants couldn’t distinguish between live and recorded interactions with their mothers
Which infant-caregiver interaction may be affected by individual differences?
Interactional synchrony
Which type of infant showed greater interactional synchrony?
More strongly attached infant-caregiver pairs
What is the longitudinal effect of early imitation?
Infants who displayed high levels of imitation in the first few weeks went on to have a better quality attachment at 3 months
