caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

what is attachment?

Answer 1

a close two- way emotional bond between two individuals. in which both individuals see eachother as essential for their own emotional security

Question 2

behaviours that are displayed when there is attachment

Answer 2

-proximity: people try to stay as physically close to their attachment figure
-separation distress: people show signs of anxiety when attachment figure leaves their presence
-secure-base behaviour:even though we are independent from our attachment figure, we still make regular contact with them

Question 3

reciprocity

Answer 3

both caregiver and baby respond to eachothers signals and each elicits a respond from each other. E.g moether might respond from a babies smile which elicit another respond from a baby. this is called ‘turn taking’

Question 4

reciprocity: Alert phases

Answer 4

babies have alert phases to signal when they are ready for a spell of interaction. according to research morthers can usually pick up a babies alertness two-thirds of the time. however this varies depending on the skill of the mother and external factors like stress. at around three months old, this kind of interaction becomes increasingly more common as both mother and baby interact with each other usung gestures and facial expressions

Question 5

Reciprocity: Active involvement

Answer 5

babies as well as caregivers actually take quite an active role. both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so. Brazelton et al. described this interaction as a dance.

Question 6

interactional synchrony

Answer 6

caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a coordinated (synchronised way) - ‘the temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour’

Question 7

Interactional synchrony: synchrony begins

Answer 7

Meltzoff and Moore: observed the beginnings of interactrional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old. an adult displayed 3 distinct facial features and 3 distinctive gestures. the babies response was filmes and labelled by observers. babies expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than chance would predict

Question 8

importance of attachment

Answer 8

isabella et al. observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed degrees of synchrony and then also assessed quality of the mother-baby attachment. found that hugh levels of synchrony was associated with better quality mother- baby attachment.