caregiver infant interactions Flashcards
what is the definition of the term attachment?
Attachment is a strong, enduring, emotional and reciprocal bond between two people,
especially an infant and caregiver
what is reciprocity ?
Reciprocity – caregiver-infant interaction is a two-way/mutual process; each party
responds to the other’s signals (turn-taking).
The behaviour of each party elicits a response from the other.
what are the 2 types of caregiver infant interactions?
reciprocity
interactional synchrony
what is interactional synchrony?
adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication. it is the synchronisation of movements and expressions between care giver and infant
defined as co ordination of micro level social behaviour
perfectly in time with eachother
what are the strengths/ supporting evidence for reciprocity ?
tronick et al - still face
feldman and eidelman- mothers respond to babys alertness around two thirds of the time
brazelton- interaction is a dance
validity- recorded
no demand characteristics from baby
real life application
what is tronicks study?
the baby and mother have a reciprocal dialog
the mums stops interacting and responding to the baby, the mum looks at the baby with a still face
what did tronick find ? - how did the babys react to the still face
tronick found that babies seek out further interaction and became distressed when the mums stop interacting and had a still face
this shows that babies need reciprocity to form attachment
what are the strengths of tronicks study?
real life application- reciprocity happens in everyday life
replicable- the study was done again and again
what are the weakness of tronick?
lacks population validity- the research is only done between mums and babies and not the dad. only westernised cultures were used - findings may not be the same for other cultures
ethical issues- protection from harm. babies were distressed at the mums still face
lacks some ecological validity- mums are not asked to put on a still face in real life
feldman and eildman
babies have periodic alert phases and signal that they are ready for interaction
mothers typically pick up on and respond to infant alertness around two thirds of the time.
feldman- reciprocity
from around 3 months the interaction between caregiver and infant tends to be increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each others verbal signals and facial expressions.
This is reciprocity as the interactions are reciprocal and each action elicits a response from the other
brazelton et al
traditional views of childhood have seen the baby as a passive role but brazelton suggests that they have an active role
both mother and child can initiate interactions and they take turns in doing so
brazelton described this interaction as a dance because it is like a couples dance where each partner responds to each others move.
what are maccobys characteristics of attachment?
seeking proximity
distress on seperation (seperation anxiety)
joy on reunion
orientation of behaviour
what does meltzoff and moore support?
interactional synchrony
what is the procedure of meltzoff and moore?
studied interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old
adults displayed gestures : mouth open, mouth closed, tongue in , tongue out and the infants response was filmed and identified.
what are the findings of meltzoff and moore?
there was a strong association between the adults expressions and the infants. they tended to synchronise
why does meltzoff and moore have high internal validity
behaviour was filmed meaning it can be replayed for accurate analysis
the observer was not aware of what the behaviour being immitated by the baby was
what are the practical applications of studying interactions? meltzoff and moore
the principles of interactional synchrony are used in intensive interaction - a way of improving communication skills in children with a learning disability
why is it difficult to categorise behaviour in meltzoff and moores study
infants were used and their mouths are in constant motion so it is difficult to establish what the expressions being shown by infants are a result of
it could be a result of immitation or just general activity
demand characteristics care giver infant interactions research
infants dont know or care that they are being observed so they are displaying natural behaviour meaning that there is no demand characteristics
individual differences- research into care giver infant interactions
isabella
there are individual differences and variation between infants
isabella found that securely attached mother and infant pairs showed more interactional synchrony in the first year of life suggesting that strong emotional attachments are associated with high levels of synchrony
why is research into caregiver infant interactions socially sensetive?
it may have implications on working mothers who might feel guilty about not being able to spend as much time with their children
what are the 2 key researches into care giver infant interactions?
tronick et al- still face
meltzoff and moore
