Caregiver-infant Interactions

Question 1

What is reciprocity

Answer 1

• an interaction has reciprocity when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them
• e.g. caregiver responding to a babies smile by saying something and then this in turn elicits a response from the baby
• also called ‘turn taking’

Question 2

Alert phases and active involvement

Answer 2

Alert phases:
- babies have periodic alert phases, they signal they are ready for a spell of interaction
- research shows; mothers pick up on and respond to the alertness 2/3 of the time, varies due to factors e.g. stress.
- Feldman; 3 months the interaction is frequent & both mother and baby pay close attention to each others expressions and words

Active involvement:
- babies have an active role
- both caregiver and infant can initiate interactions; take turns in doing so

Question 3

Interactional synchonry + study of Meltzoff and Moore

Answer 3

• takes place when the caregiver baby interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other. (Temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour)

Synchrony begins:
- Meltzoff & Moore; observed the beginning of I.S at 2 weeks old, an adult displayed 1 of 3 expressions or gestures. The babies response was filmed by independent observers. Babies expression / gesture more likely to mirror the adults more than chance would predict

Question 4

Importance of interactional synchrony on attachment

Answer 4

• interactional synchrony important in the development of caregiver-infant attachement
• Russel et al; observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony and the quality of mother-baby attachment.
  = found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby A.

Question 5

Evaluate the caregiver-infant interaction.

Answer 5

STRENGTH:
Filmed in a laboratory; so anything that can distract the baby is controlled
- films means it can be analysed later - unlikely that researchers will miss seeing key behaviours
- more than 1 observer can record and establish the inter-rater reliability of observations
- good reliability and validity

LIMITATION:
Hard to interpret a babies behaviour; young babies lack co-ordination, almost immobile
- movements being observed are small hand movements or subtle changes in expression
- hard to be sure e.g. if a baby is smiling or passing wind
- cannot be certain that the behaviours seen have a special meaning

LIMITATION:
Simply observing a beh doesn’t tell us its developmental importance
- Feldman; gave names to the behaviours and patterns in synchrony, BUT aren’t useful in understanding child development, doesn’t tell us the purpose of these behaviours
- cannot be certain from observational R that reciprocity & synchrony are important for child’s development