caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

define attachment

Answer 1

a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary care giver

Question 2

what are the 2 types of c-i interactions?

Answer 2

• reciprocity
• interactional synchrony

Question 3

what do researchers suggest about c-i interactions in attachment?

Answer 3

research suggests that caregivers and infants take part in 2 important non-verbal communications which may form the basis of attachment

Question 4

what is reciprocity?

Answer 4

• the interaction is reciprocal
• the infant and caregiver take turns in getting the attention of each other and responding to each others actions
• action-reaction

Question 5

how does reciprocity help attachment?

Answer 5

• important for later communication
• innate way to form attachment

Question 6

when does reciprocity develop?

Answer 6

about 3 months

Question 7

what is interactional synchrony?

Answer 7

• the infant and caregiver mirror the actions of the other in a synchronised way
• same response (expression)

Question 8

when does interactional synchrony develop?

Answer 8

can occur from3 days old

Question 9

who researched interactional synchrony?

Answer 9

Meltzoff and Moore

Question 10

outline Meltzoff and Moore’s procedure

Answer 10

• controlled observation (cameras)
• adult model displayed 1/3 facial responses, or hand gesture
• child had dummy in mouth to prevent facial responses until all gestures were finished
• dummy was then removed
• child’s expressions were filmed

Question 11

outline Meltzoff and Moore’s findings

Answer 11

• clear association between infant and adult behaviour
• child copied all actions of adult
• later research by Meltzoff and Moore found same findings in 3 day old infants

Question 12

what does Meltzoff and Moore’s research suggest about IS

Answer 12

• interactional synchrony is innate
• reduces strength of claim that behaviour is learnt

Question 13

evaluation M+M: issues studying infant behaviour

Answer 13

ID: issues with studying infant behaviour
Q: this is due to behaviour of infants leading to withdrawal from the experiment
EX: for example, testing began on 53 additional infants who did not complete the study for the following reasons: crying (36%), falling asleep (23%), spitting or choking (19%), bowel movements (9%)
AN: this is a limitation of observations of caregiver-infant interactions as the small range of ppt means that the research has low population validity, and therefore can’t be generalised to a wider population.

Question 14

evaluation M+M: controlled experiment + ELAB (Koepke)

Answer 14

ID: much of the research used controlled observations
Q: this enables inter-rater reliability, due to experiments being filmed from multiple angles to capture detail
EX: for example, in Meltzoff and Moore’s research, the mother and infant were filmed from multiple camera angles, also the babies are unaware of observation and therefore won’t change their behaviour
AN: this is positive as it ensures a high level of detail and accuracy
in the observations, but also allows valid conclusions to be drawn as independent observers can rewatch the tapes and compare their findings
ELAB: however, despite controlled procedures, Koepke et al. failed to replicate the findings of Meltzoff and Moore
AN: the lack of research support may suggest that the results are unreliable and further research is required to validate their findings

Question 15

evaluation: research support I.S: Deyoung

Answer 15

ID: there is research to support interactional synchrony
Q: this evidence comes from Deyoung who carried out research on infants’ responses
EX: for example, he found that infants made little response to inanimate objects that stimulated facial expressions, in comparison to human interaction
AN: this is positive as the research is supporting the view that interactional synchrony is an intentional social response, increasing external validity

Question 16

evaluation: research support reciprocity (Murray)

Answer 16

ID: there is research to support reciprocity
Q: this comes from Murray, who researched infants responses to reciprocity
EX: for example, Murray conducted research using 2 conditions, in the first condition 2 month old infants interacted with their mothers via video call, in the second condition the mothers did not respond with reciprocity. they found that this caused acute distress in the infants. the child tried to attract their mothers attention, but gaining no response, turned away
AN: this is a positive as it adds credibility to the view that reciprocity is innate, and reciprocity develops this attachment between caregiver and infant