caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

attachment

Answer 1

close two-way emotional bond between 2 individuals (other is essential for emotional security) & it takes a few months to develop

Question 2

what are the 2 types of interactions

Answer 2

• reciprocity
• interactional synchrony

Question 3

define/describe reciprocity

Answer 3

• babies have ‘alert phases’ & signal when they are ready for interaction
• how 2 people interact eg. mother/infant –> respond to each other’s signals/actions & elicits a response from the other

Question 4

what’s reciprocity also known as

Answer 4

‘turn-taking’
dance - brazelton et. al 1975 (responding to others moves)

Question 5

research for reciprocity

Answer 5

• feldman & eldelman (2007) mothers typically respond to alertness 2/3 of the time
  –> varies according to skills of mother/external factors eg. stress (finegood et. al 2016)
• feldman (2007) from 3+ months, interaction becomes more frequent & involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals/facial expressions

Question 6

define/describe interactional synchrony

Answer 6

• mother/infant reflect both actions/emotions of the other –> coordinated/synchronised

Question 7

what’s interactional synchrony also known as

Answer 7

mirroring

Question 8

research for interactional synchrony

Answer 8

condon & sander = as early as day 1, the human neonate (new-born baby) moves in precise/sustained segments of movements synchronous with the caregivers voice (articulated structure of adult speech)

Question 9

aim of meltzoff & moore (1977)

Answer 9

examine interactional synchrony in infants

Question 10

method of meltzoff & moore (1977)

Answer 10

1. child had dummy placed in their mouth to prevent facial response
2. using a controlled observation, an adult model displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or a hand gesture
3. after the display from the adult model, the dummy was removed & the child expression’s were filmed

Question 11

results of meltzoff & moore (1977)

Answer 11

clear association between infant’s behaviour & the adult model

Question 12

conclusion of meltzoff & moore (1977)

Answer 12

suggest interactional synchrony is innate (born with) & reduces strength of any claim that imitative behaviour is learned

Question 13

evaluation of caregiver-infant interactions AO3

Answer 13

+)
P: research is usually filmed in a lab
E: means other activities which could distract the baby are controlled. also, filming means observations can be recorded/analysed later which makes it unlikely that researchers will miss key behaviour
T: data collected has good reliability & validity

-)
P: (in research) it is hard to interpret babies behaviour
E: they lack coordination & much of bodies are immobile. movements being observed are small movements/changes in expression & it is difficult to be sure (eg. if a babies smiling or passing wind)
T: we cannot be certain that the behaviour witnessed has a special meaning

-)
P: simply observing behaviour doesn’t tell us its developmental importance’s
E: eg. feldman (2012) points out ideas likes synchrony simply give names to observable caregiver-baby behaviours. these are robust phenomena as can be reliably observed but still not particularly useful in in understanding child development as it doesn’t tell us the purpose for these behaviours
T: cannot be certain for observational research alone that reciprocity/synchrony are important for a child’s development