Caregiver-infant Interactions

Question 1

Outline the term attachment

Answer 1

An emotional bond between two people. A two-way process which endures over time.

Question 2

Outline the term caregiver & caregiver-infant interaction

Answer 2

• Caregiver = Any person who is providing care for a child.
• Caregiver-infant interaction = The way in which an infant engages with and responds to the person who is providing them care.

Question 3

Outline the term reciprocity in regards to conformity

Answer 3

• Responding to an action (mother and infant)
• Turn taking
• Interaction flows both ways between adult and infant.
• E.g. Parent plays ‘peek-a-boo’ with child, child responds by laughing

Question 4

Outline the term Interactional synchrony in regards to conformity

Answer 4

• Imitating an action/emotion at the same time
• Adults and babies respond in time to sustain communication
• The infant imitates the adult’s behaviour
• E.g. Mother and child laugh at the same time

Question 5

Outline research into caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 5

• Aim: To investigate how new-born infants interact with their caregivers.
• Method: Controlled observation - watching and recording something, setting was artificial
• Procedure: Adult model displayed 4 facial expressions
  The four facial expressions were mouth opening, termination of mouth opening, tongue protrusion, termination of tongue protrusion
  ONLY the infants responses to the model were video recorded (adults were not recorded)
  The video recordings were then given to independent judges (do not know the aim of the research), who then decided which facial expression the infants were demonstrating
  They watched the videotapes in real time, slow motion and frame by frame if necessary
• Results: All scores were greater than 0.92, indicating high inter-rater reliability (the extent to which two or more observers agree)
• Conclusion: Based on the findings, Meltzoff and Moore concluded that the infant intentionally responds to the caregivers actions, even at a very young age.

Question 6

Outline one strength of caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 6

Well-controlled procedures
P: The procedure used by researchers is praised for being well-controlled.
Ev: This is because the infants’ facial expressions were recorded and the independent judges could watch the recording in real time, slow motion or frame by frame, meaning that if they miss anything or are unsure of something they can rewatch the recording to fully analyse the infants’ behaviour. The infant was also filmed from multiple angles.
Ex: Furthermore, the infants are unlikely to care that they are being observed, therefore their responses are genuine as there is no observer bias.
L: This increased the internal validity of the study meaning the researchers could assume that the facial expression shown by the adult (the IV) caused the infant’s response (the DV).

Question 7

Outline two/three limitations of caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 7

Do we know the purpose of caregiver-infant interactions?
P: Research into caregiver-infant interaction fails to inform us why these interactions take place.
Ev: Feldman argues that Meltzoff and Moore’s research illustrates the infants displaying synchrony, but does not tell us why the baby does this, thus perhaps their research is not useful.
Ex: However, there is some evidence that reciprocal interaction and synchrony are helpful in the development of mother-infant attachment, as well as helpful in development (we can be sure that the infant is developing correctly).
L: Therefore, perhaps more research in this area is required in order to gain a full understanding of these particular behaviours that are commonly observed between infants and their caregivers.

Is the infant’s behaviour intentional?
P: There is further research which suggests that an infant’s response to their caregiver is intentional.
Ev: Abravanel & Deyoung (1991) conducted an observation similar to Meltzoff and Moore’s observation where they used inanimate objects rather than humans. These objects would display tongue movements and mouth opening or closing. Infants aged 5 to 12 weeks did not imitate the objects.
Ex: They concluded that infants do not imitate everything and anything they see and they intentionally respond to things.
L: The findings suggest that when infants respond to humans it is a specific social response.

Individual differences
P: There are individual differences in the way infants display interactional synchrony.
Ev: Isabella (1989) found the closer the child and mother, the greater interactional synchrony.
Heimann (1989) also found infants that demonstrated imitation at an early age showed a better relationship with their caregivers.
Ex: These findings suggest that the strength of the attachment between infant and caregiver have an effect on their interactions with each other.
L: Therefore, there is variation in the way infants interact with their caregivers.