Caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

What is attachment?

Answer 1

A close two-way loving/emotional bond between 2 individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security

Question 2

What are the 3 things that attachment can be recognised by?

Answer 2

1) Proximity
2) Seperation distress
3) Secure-base behaviour (making regular contact even when apart)

Question 3

What is reciprocity?

Answer 3

A description of how two people interact, in which they exchange things for a mutual benefit

Question 4

When is an interaction said to show reciprocity?

Answer 4

When each person responds to the other, and elicits a response from them

Question 5

What is an example of reciprocity?

Answer 5

E.g: a caregiver might respond to a baby’s smile by saying something, which elicits a response from the baby, such as laughter

Question 6

What are the characteristics of reciprocity?

Answer 6

• Two-way street
• Based on trust
• Informal or formal
• Promotes cooperation

Question 7

Why is reciprocity important?

Answer 7

It promotes positive social interactions and fosters trust and cooperation between groups and individuals

Question 8

What are alert phases?

Answer 8

Phases in which babies signal that they are ready for a spell of interaction

Question 9

What did Feldman and Eidleman say about alert phases?

Answer 9

• Mothers pick up and respond to babies’ alertness 2/3 of the time
• Feldman- from 3 months, the interaction becomes increasingly frequent and involves mother and baby paying attention to the other’s verbal signals and facial expressions

Question 10

What is active involvement?

Answer 10

• Both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and take turns in doing so
• Babies take on an active role
• Brazelton- describes this intercation as a ‘dance’, in which partners respond to the other’s moves

Question 11

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 11

Caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a synchronised way- coordinated, rhythmic interactions. Carrying out an action simultaneously

Question 12

When does interactional synchrony occur?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What are the characteristics of interactional sycnhrony?

Answer 13

• Nonverbal communication
• Bidirectional (each person influences the other)
• Rhythmic
• Occurs in different contexts

Question 14

When do Meltzoff and Moore say synchrony begins?

Answer 14

• Observed beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies 2 weeks+
• Adults displayed one of three facial expressions
• Baby’s response was filmed and labelled
• Babies’ expressions ands gestures were likely to mirror those of adults

Question 15

What do Isabella et al say about the importance for attachment?

Answer 15

• Observed 30 mothers and babies and assessed the level of synchrony and quality of mother-baby attachment
• Found high levels of synchrony was associated with better quality mother-baby attachment

Question 16

STRENGTH-
I= Observations were filmed

Answer 16

D= Caregiver-infant interactions usually carried out in lab settings. This means distracting activities can be controlled. Observations recorded for later analysis. Inter-observer reliability. Babies unaware they’re being observed, so no demand characteristics
E= Data collected has good reliability and validity

Question 17

LIMITATION-
I= Difficult to observe babies

Answer 17

D= It is hard to interpret a baby’s behaviour. Babies lack coordination and much of their body is immobile. Only minor movements are observed (e.g: expression changes). Hard to determine what is taking place from the baby’s perspective
E= Means we cannot be certain the behaviours have special meaning

Question 18

LIMITATION-
I= Observations do not tell us its developmental importance

Answer 18

D= Feldman- ideas like synchrony give names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behaviours. Can be observed in a reliable manner, but are not useful in understanding child development
E= Means we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development

Question 19

STRENGTH-
I= Observations DO tell us about developmental importance

Answer 19

D= Research evidence to suggest importance of early interactions. Isabella et al- found achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment
E= Means caregiver-infant interaction is important in development

Question 20

Practical value vs ethics

Evaluation extra

Answer 20

STRENGTH-
- Practical applications of research. Crotwell et al- 10 minute parent-child interaction improves interactional synchrony in 20 low income mothers and babies

LIMITATION-
- Research is socially sensitive- when a mother returns to work, this may damage baby’s development