Caregiver-infant interactions

Question 1

AO1: Intro

Answer 1

It is believed the early social interactions between an infant and carer play an important role in the child’s social development.

Question 2

What are the two features?

Answer 2

1) International synchrony
2) Reciprocity

Question 3

AO1: Interactional synchrony

Answer 3

Caregiver and infant respond in time to keep communication going e.g. the infant smiles and the caregiver smiles back at the same time. This ensures the actions/emotions of the caregiver and infant mirrors each other.
Meltzoff and Moore conducted a controlled observation on 40 two week old infants to measure caregiver-infant interactions. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions/gestures such as mouth opening or tongue protrusion. The Childs response was filmed and identifies by an independent observer. A link was found between the action/gesture of the caregiver and the response of the infant.

Question 4

AO1: Reciprocity

Answer 4

This is a two way mutual process where infant and caregiver takes turns to respond to each other behaviours to sustain interaction. The behaviour from each party elicits a response from the other e.g. child putting out arms to be held and caregiver picks up. Infants have ‘alert phases’ and signals when they are ready for interaction. Mothers pick up and acts on these signals 2/3 of the time. Brazelton said both mother and infant initiate the interaction and take turns in doing so. He called this the dance like when a couple dance together and respond to each others moves.

Question 5

What are the evaluations?
- PEEL + discussion
- PEEL
- PEEL

Answer 5

1) Ecological validity
- Discussion - infant is young

2) High control over EV

3) Practical applications

Question 6

AO3: Ecological validity

Answer 6

The research into caregiver infant interaction can be criticised for having low ecological validity as the research takes place in a controlled environment, such as a controlled observation where the caregiver and infant are being filmed. Therefore it is difficult to generalise the findings of CII to real life cases as the infant may not behave how they usually do in the real world. For example they may interact with the caregiver more as they are the only familiar person in the room or interact less as they are uncomfortable or shy in an unfamiliar setting. This lowers the external validity of the research into caregiver infant interactions.

Question 7

AO3: Discussion

Answer 7

However some would argue that the infant is young and won’t recognise the change in environment so it won’t affect the validity.

Question 8

AO3: Extraneous variables

Answer 8

The research into caregiver infant interactions can be praised for having high control over extraneous variables as the research took place in a controlled environment, controlled observation. A potential EV that would be controlled is not having other adults in the room, during the observations as it may distract the infant. Therefore cause and effect can be established between the interactions of the caregiver and infant. This increases the internal validity of the research into caregiver-infant interactions.

Question 9

AO3: Practical application

Answer 9

The research into caregiver infant interactions can be praise for having practical applications. Research into CII has shown how caregiver and infants interact and the importance of these early interactions on later development. Therefore psychologists can use this information to encourage responsive caregivers and minimise any later issues an infant may have. Therefore the research into CII is an important part of applied psychology.