Caregiver-Infant Interactions Flashcards
What is attachment?
Attachment refers to a two way emotional bond between two individuals in which the individual sees the other as being essential for emotional security.
The infant and carer interact in a type of non-verbal communication, coordinating their actions as if taking turns. The action of kneeling elicit ls a response from the other. Important for later communication.
Reciprocity
The carer and infant reflects both the action and emotions of the other in a synchronized wait (Mirrors each others action)
Interactional Synchrony
Key Study
Meltzoff and Moore (1977)
What type of experiment did Meltzoff and Moore carry out?
Controlled Laboratory Observation
Aims of the study
Investigate interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old.
Procedure
Adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions (mouth opening, termination of mouth opening, tongue protusion, termination of tongue protusion) or 1 of 3 distinctive gestures. Infants response was filmed and labeled/judged by independent observers.
Findings
Infants expressions and gestures were significantly more likely to mirror those of the adults than predicted
Evaluation: what problems are there with testing infants behaviour?
Limitation - Infants mouths are in fairly constant motions and the expressions that are tested occur frequently. This makes it difficult to distinguish between general activity and specific imitated behaviour. To control for this, M&M measured infants responses by filming infants and then asking an observer to judge the infants behaviour from the video.
What research support is there?
Strength - Abravenal and DeVongy (1991) - observed how infants respond to inanimate objects. One stimulating tongue movements and the other mouth opening/closing. They found that infants of median age 5 and 12 weeks made little response to the objects. Suggests that infants do not just imitate anything they see - it is a specific social response to other humans.
What research is there to show that there is individual differences when it comes to testing infants behavior?
Limitation - Isabella et al (1989), more strongly attached infants showed greater interactional synchrony. Heimann (1989), infants who demonstrated a lot of imitation from birth onwards have a better quality of relationship at 3 months. Isn’t smear whether the imitation is a cause or an effect of this early synchrony. Research shows that there are significant individual differences but doesn’t indicate the cause of difference.
