Caregiver-infant Interactions Flashcards
When is an interaction said to show reciprocity?
When each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them.
What happens during babies alert phases?
They signal they are ready for a spell of interaction.
What does research show that mothers typically pick up on and respond to?
Their babys alertness around 2/3 of the time although this can vary depending on the mother’s skill and external factors like stress.
What happens to the interaction between babies and mothers at around 3 months?
It becomes increasingly frequent and involves mother and baby paying close attention to each others verbal signals and facial expressions.
How have traditional views of childhood portrayed babies?
In a passive role receiving care from an adult.
What can both the baby and caregiver initiate?
Interactions and take turns doing so.
How did Brazleton et al describe the interaction between mothers and babies as?
‘A dance’
When are two people said to be synchronised?
When they carry out the same action simultaneously
What is interactional synchrony?
The temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour.
When does interactional synchrony take place?
When caregivers and babies interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other.
What age did Meltzoff and Moore observe the beginnings of interaction synchrony?
As young as 2 weeks
How did Meltzoff and Moore research interactional synchrony?
Adults displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or gestures and the babies response was filmed and labelled by independent observers.
What were babies expression and gestures more likely to mirror in Meltzoff and Moores study of interactional synchrony?
More likely to mirror adults more than chance would predict.
What is interactional synchrony thought to be important for?
The development of caregiver-infant attachment.
What did Isabella et al observe?
30 mothers and babies and assessed the degree of synchrony and the quality of mother-baby attachment finding high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment.
Evaluation:
Hard to know what’s happening when observing infants
Studies have shown patterns of interaction - Grattier. However hand movements and changes in expression are observed which means it’s hard to know what is going on in the infants POV therefore we cant be certain that behaviours seen have a special meaning.
Evaluation:
Controlled observations catch fine details
Observations are well-controlled with mothers and infants being filmed from multiple angles ensuring fine details can be recorded and later analysed.
Evaluation:
Babies dont know they’re being filmed
This means the babies behaviour is natural and doesnt change giving the research ecological validity.
Evaluation:
Observation doesn’t tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity
Feldman suggested synchrony and reciprocity described behaviours that happen at the same time and although this can be observed we cant know why this happens.
