caregiver infant interactions

Question 1

define attachment

Answer 1

an emotional bond between two people. it is a two way process that endures over time, leading to certain behaviours such as clinging, and serves the function of protecting an infant.

Question 2

RECIPROCITY

Answer 2

research in the 1970s demonstrated that infants coordinated their actions with caregivers in a kind of conversation.

reciprocity, is responding to the actions of another with a similar action, where the actions of one partner elicit a response from the other partner. the responses are not necessarily similar as in interactional synchrony.

Question 3

what does brazelton say about reciprocity?

Answer 3

brazelton suggested that this basic rhythm is an important precursor to later communications.

Question 4

define interactional synchrony

Answer 4

when two people interact they tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial and body movements. this includes imitating emotions as well as behaviours.

Question 5

study for interactional synchrony

Answer 5

meltzoff and moore 1977 conducted the first systematic study and found that infants as young as 2-3 weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures.

they found that there was an association between the infant behaviour and that of the adult model.

meltzoff and moore 1983 demonstrated the same synchrony with infants only 3 days old; rules out the possibility that the imitation behaviours are learned.

Question 6

info abt study

Answer 6

controll observation.

they selected 4 different stimuli (three different faces plus a hand gesture) and observed the behaviour of infants in response.

each observer was asked to note all instances of infant tongue protrusions and head movements using behavioural categories i.e. mouth opening = abrupt jaw drop opening the mouth across entire extent of lips.

Question 7

evaluation points

Answer 7

• problems with testing infant behaviour
• individual differences

Question 8

weakness point

Answer 8

problems with testing infant behaviour.

there are difficulties in reliably testing infant behaviour. infants mouths are in fairly constant motion and the expressions that are tested occur frequently, making it difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitated behaviours.

COUNTER: meltzoff and moore measured infant responses by filming infants and then asking an independent observer to judge the infants behaviour from the video.

-> highlights difficulty in testing infant behaviour, but also suggests a way of increasing the internal validity of the data.

Question 9

weakness

Answer 9

individaul diffrences

variation between infants.

isabella et al found that more strongly attached infant caregiver pairs showed greater interactional synchrony.

heimann showed that infants who demonstrate a lot of imitation from birth onwards have a better quality of relationship at three months, yet it isnt clear whether the imitation is a cause or an effect of this early synchrony.