Caregiver-Infant Interactions Flashcards
What is an attachment
Defined to be a close 2 way emotional bond between two individuals in which both see each other for emotional security
What ar the 3 ways attachment is recognised from someone’s behaviour
Proximity, separation distress and secure base behaviour
What is proximity
When people try to stay physically close to their attachment figure
What is separation distress
When people show signs of anxiety when an attachment figure leaves their presence
What is secure base behaviour
Even when we are independent of our attachment figures we tend to still make regular contact with them
What is believed to be the importance of caregiver interactions
That interactions between babies and their caregivers have important functions for the child’s social development
What is reciprocity
It is a description of how two people interact and respond to one another, in this case the baby and its caregiver
What is an example of reciprocacy
When a caregiver responds to a baby’s smile by saying something and then this in turn elicits a response from the bay
What is turn taking in reciprocity
When a conversation is consisted of taking turns to communicate and respond
Why is turn taking a good type of reciprocal interaction
This is essential in a conversation as it prevents people from talking over each other
What are alert phases
They are a way that babies signal that they a ready of a spell of interaction and this is usually through making eye contact
What portion of the times do mothers typically catch onto their child’s alertness
2/3 of the times but it varies between the mothers skill and external factors such as stress
What are the names of the researchers that studies babies alert phases
Feldman and Eidelman 2007, Finegood et al 2016, Feldman 2007
What is active involvement
When both the caregiver and the baby are receiving and giving care to each other by initiating interactions
What is active involvement described as by Brazelton
The interaction is between them is like a ‘dance’
What is interactional synchrony
When the caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co ordinated synchronised way
What can interactional synchrony be defined as
The temporal co ordination of micro level social behaviour
Who stated the definition of interactional synchrony
Feldman 2007
When does interactional synchrony take place
When a caregiver and baby interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other
Which psychologists observed the beginning of interactional synchrony (in babies as young as 2 weeks old)
Meltzoff and Moore 1977
What wa the outline of meltzoff and moores study
The caregiver would display one of the three expressions or gestures and the baby would then be recorded an labelled by independent observers
What was the result of meltzoff and moores study
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
What is the importance of interactional synchrony to attachment
It is important for the development of caregiver-infant attachment so there is a better a better quality bond
Who studied the importance oof interactional synchrony to attachment
Isabella et al 1989
What was the procedure of Isabella’s study
She observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony as well as the quality of mother-baby attachment
What was the result of islabellas study
They found hat there was high levels of synchrony that was associated with better quality mother-any attachment
What is a strength of the research on caregiver and infant attachment
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.
What a limitation of the research into caregiver-infant attachment (without counterpoint)
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
What is a limitation of the research between caregiver-infant attachment (with counterpoint)
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
What is the counterpoint of the limitation of the research of caregiver-infant attachment
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.
