Caregiver - infant interactions

Question 1

What is attachment?

Answer 1

a reciprocal emotional bond between two people which endures over time.

Question 2

What behaviours does a strong attachment lead to? What do these behaviours serve the function of?

Answer 2

proximity seeking, separation distress and secure base behaviour protecting an infant

Question 3

How are attachments formed between the caregiver and the infant?

Answer 3

through interaction (two way communication)

Question 4

What is reciprocity?

Answer 4

where an infant responds to the actions of another person. The actions of one person elicits a response from the other

Question 5

What is an example of reciprocity?

Answer 5

a caregiver may say something in response to a baby’s smile and this in turn elicits a response from the baby

Question 6

What did Tronick et al (1979) do?

Answer 6

‘still face’ study, asked mothers enjoying dialogue with their baby to stop moving and maintain static, unsmiling expression. The babies would tempt mother into interaction by smiling and would become distressed when their smile doesn’t provoke the usual response.

Question 7

What is interactional synchrony?

Answer 7

where an infant and caregiver reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in an uncoordinated (synchronised) way.

Question 8

What is an example of interactional synchrony?

Answer 8

when a caregiver smiles, the infant mirrors and smiles also

Question 9

What did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) do?

Answer 9

observed babies as young as two weeks old. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions, or one of three distinctive gestures. The babies’ responses were filmed and labelled. Babies’ expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of adults (a significant association).

Question 10

What did Isabella et al (1989) find?

Answer 10

found that securely attached mother-infant pairs showed more instances of interactional synchrony in the first year of life suggesting that strong emotional attachments are associated with high levels of synchrony.

Question 11

What did Heimann (1989) show?

Answer 11

showed that infants who demonstrate a lot of imitation from birth onwards have been found to have a better quality of relationship at 3 months. However, it isn’t clear whether the imitation is a cause or effect of this early synchrony.

Question 12

What are two other factors involved in attachment?

Answer 12

caregiverese, bodily contact

Question 13

What is caregiverese?

Answer 13

adults who interact with infants use a modified form of vocal language that is high pitched, song like, slow and repetitive. This aids communication and serves to strengthen attachment bond.

Question 14

How does bodily contact aid with attachment?

Answer 14

physical interactions between carer and infant help to form the attachment bond, especially in the period immediately after birth.

Question 15

What is a strength of research into caregiver - infant interactions? (reliability and validity)

Answer 15

interactions are usually filmed in a laboratory - other activity that may distract the baby can be controlled
using films means observations can be recorded and analysed later - unlikely researchers will miss key behaviours, inter-rater reliability
babies do not know they are being observed - no demand characteristics
therefore good reliability and validity

Question 16

What is a limitation of research into caregiver - infant interactions? (interpretation)

Answer 16

it is hard to interpret a baby’s behaviour - movements being observed are small and subtle, it can be difficult to determine what they mean.
this means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver - infant interactions have a special meaning

Question 17

What is a limitation of research into caregiver - infant interactions? (developmental importance)

Answer 17

simply observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance - Feldman (2002) points out that ideas such as synchrony give names to patterns of observable behaviour, they may not be useful in understanding child development as it does not tell us the purpose of these behaviours. This means we cannot be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child’s development.

Question 18

What study contrasts the limitation of research into caregiver - infant interactions in terms of developmental importance?

Answer 18

Isabella et al (1989) found that achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment.