Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Question 1

What is an attachment

Answer 1

Defined to be a close 2 way emotional bond between two individuals in which both see each other for emotional security

Question 2

What ar the 3 ways attachment is recognised from someone’s behaviour

Answer 2

Proximity, separation distress and secure base behaviour

Question 3

What is proximity

Answer 3

When people try to stay physically close to their attachment figure

Question 4

What is separation distress

Answer 4

When people show signs of anxiety when an attachment figure leaves their presence

Question 5

What is secure base behaviour

Answer 5

Even when we are independent of our attachment figures we tend to still make regular contact with them

Question 6

What is believed to be the importance of caregiver interactions

Answer 6

That interactions between babies and their caregivers have important functions for the child’s social development

Question 7

What is reciprocity

Answer 7

It is a description of how two people interact and respond to one another, in this case the baby and its caregiver

Question 8

What is an example of reciprocacy

Answer 8

When a caregiver responds to a baby’s smile by saying something and then this in turn elicits a response from the bay

Question 9

What is turn taking in reciprocity

Answer 9

When a conversation is consisted of taking turns to communicate and respond

Question 10

Why is turn taking a good type of reciprocal interaction

Answer 10

This is essential in a conversation as it prevents people from talking over each other

Question 11

What are alert phases

Answer 11

They are a way that babies signal that they a ready of a spell of interaction and this is usually through making eye contact

Question 12

What portion of the times do mothers typically catch onto their child’s alertness

Answer 12

2/3 of the times but it varies between the mothers skill and external factors such as stress

Question 13

What are the names of the researchers that studies babies alert phases

Answer 13

Feldman and Eidelman 2007, Finegood et al 2016, Feldman 2007

Question 14

What is active involvement

Answer 14

When both the caregiver and the baby are receiving and giving care to each other by initiating interactions

Question 15

What is active involvement described as by Brazelton

Answer 15

The interaction is between them is like a ‘dance’

Question 16

What is interactional synchrony

Answer 16

When the caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co ordinated synchronised way

Question 17

What can interactional synchrony be defined as

Answer 17

The temporal co ordination of micro level social behaviour

Question 18

Who stated the definition of interactional synchrony

Answer 18

Feldman 2007

Question 19

When does interactional synchrony take place

Answer 19

When a caregiver and baby interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other

Question 20

Which psychologists observed the beginning of interactional synchrony (in babies as young as 2 weeks old)

Answer 20

Meltzoff and Moore 1977

Question 21

What wa the outline of meltzoff and moores study

Answer 21

The caregiver would display one of the three expressions or gestures and the baby would then be recorded an labelled by independent observers

Question 22

What was the result of meltzoff and moores study

Answer 22

That the babies expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the the adults more ha the chance would predict which means there was significant association

Question 23

What is the importance of interactional synchrony to attachment

Answer 23

It is important for the development of caregiver-infant attachment so there is a better a better quality bond

Question 24

Who studied the importance oof interactional synchrony to attachment

Answer 24

Isabella et al 1989

Question 25

What was the procedure of Isabella’s study

Answer 25

She observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony as well as the quality of mother-baby attachment

Question 26

What was the result of islabellas study

Answer 26

They found hat there was high levels of synchrony that was associated with better quality mother-any attachment

Question 27

What is a strength of the research on caregiver and infant attachment

Answer 27

That the interactions are usually filmed in a laboratory and this means that there is a controlled environment so there is a lower chance of distractions. Using films means the observations can be later analysed. More than one observer can record data and establish the inter-rater reliability. Babies also don’t know they are being observed so there aren’t demand characteristics.

Question 28

What a limitation of the research into caregiver-infant attachment (without counterpoint)

Answer 28

It is difficult to interpret a baby’s behaviour because they lack coordination and their bodies are immobile so it is difficult to understand if there is a genuine emotion expressed or a different act, such as if they are smiling or just passing wind . This means we can’t be certain with the behaviours seen in c-i interactions and if they have a special meanings

Question 29

What is a limitation of the research between caregiver-infant attachment (with counterpoint)

Answer 29

Simply observing a behaviour doesn’t tell us it’s developmental importance because Feldman addressed that the ideas such as synchrony are simply names given to patters of observable behaviours however they may not be useful in understanding child development as it doesn’t say the purpose of these behaviours

Question 30

What is the counterpoint of the limitation of the research of caregiver-infant attachment

Answer 30

The counterpoint of the limitation of there being a lack of possible developmental importance is that there is evidence from other lines of research to suggest that early interactions are important. E.g Isabella found that achievement in interactional synchrony predicted the development of good quality attachment. Which means that it probably is important in development.