Caregiver-infant Interactions Flashcards
Attachment define
A close two way bond between two individuals in which each individual sees the other as essential for their own emotional security
Animals are precocial- born at advanced stage of development (can walk/run soon after birth)
Humans are altricial- born at early stage of development so need to form attachment bonds with adults who will protect and nurture them
How are attachments recognised in humans
Proximity- staying physically close to attachment figure
Separation distress- anxiety when attachment figure leaves there presence
Secure-base behaviour- even when independent of attachment figure tend to make regular contact with them (babies do this whilst playing)
Features of caregiver infant interaction
Interactional synchrony- caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a synchronised way
Reciprocity (turn taking)- caregiver and baby respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
Imitation- infant copies careigiver action and behaviour
Sensitive responsiveness- caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant
Motherese- slow high pitched way of speaking to infants
(However no evidence of this influencing strength of interaction)
Interactional synchrony
Interactional synchrony- caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a synchronised way
Meltzoff and Moore- got Independent observer to watch interactions and found babies were likely to mirror expressions and gestures of adults
Condon and sandler- analysed frame by frame recording of infant movements and found it coordinated with adults speech to form a turn taking conversation, supporting IS
Importance of interactional synchrony
Isabella- observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed degrees of synchrony
Also assessed quality of mother baby attachment
Found high levels of synchrony associated with better quality mother baby attachment
Reciprocity
Reciprocity (turn taking)- caregiver and baby respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other
Alert phases- babies have periodic alert phases where they signal when ready for interaction
-Feldman and Eidelman found mothers pick up on this 2/3 of the time
-Finegood found this varied according to skill of mother and external factors like stress
Active involvement- found that babies play an active role
-Brazelton found baby’s and caregiver can initiate interaction and take turns
Like a dance
reciprocity is important in teaching the child to communicate. It also allows the parent to better care for the child as they can detect certain cues from the baby and respond to their needs sooner and more effectively.
Limitation caregiver interaction (replication)
Lack of replication of results/studies finding contrasting results
IS: koepke tried to replicate meltzoff and Moore but could get same results
R: Le Vine found Kenyan mothers have little physical contact or interaction with there offspring but have a high proportion of secure attachment
Strength international synchrony (studies)
Lots of positives to studies
Controlled environments- increase internal validity and reliability and help to capture micro sequences of interaction
Observations recorded allowing inter rater reliability
Babies unaware of observation so natural behaviour
However:
Difficult to interpret a babies behaviour as young babies lack coordination and can’t be certain movements have a specific meaning- relying of inference and assumptions
Limitation interactional synchrony (purpose?)
Feldman
Research gives names to observable behaviours but it doesn’t tell us the developmental purpose of this behaviour
