Caregiver-infant interactions Flashcards
Attachment
Is an emotional bond between two people. It endures over time and leads to certain behaviors such as clinging and proximity-seeking. Attachment serves the function of protecting the infant
Caregiver
Any person who is providing care for the child.
Interactional synchrony
When two people interact and mirror the other person in terms of their facial and body movements. They may imitate emotions as well as behaviors.
Reciprocity
Responding to the action of another with a similar action. The response does not have to be similar.
From the age of around 1 months old the interaction between the baby and the parent becomes increasingly what?
reciprocal
How does the increase in reciprocity between the infant and the parent affect their bond?
It increases the strength of the infant to caregiver bond
How did Tronick et al (1979) demonstrate the importance of reciprocity?
They asked mothers who had been in dialogue with their baby to stop moving and maintain a static, unsmiling expression on their faces. It was found that babies attempted to engage there mother into interactions by smiling themselves , and would become puzzled and increasingly distressed when their smile was not provoke the usual response. We can conclude that babies expect and anticipate reciprocal responses to their smiles.
Why did Brazleton (1975) describe mother-infant interactions as a ‘dance’?
Babies move in rhythm when interacting with adults, taking it in turns reciprocating each other. The regularity of the infants signals allows a caregiver to anticipate the infants behavior; making the caregiver more sensitive.
What did Isabella et al find about interactional synchrony?
That the more strongly attached the infant and caregiver were, the greater the interactional synchrony
How did Melzoff and Moore observe the beginnings of interactional synchrony
They studied infants as young as 2 weeks old. Using independent observers they found that babies could imitate both facial and manual gestures of the adult.
What did Melzoff and Moore believe?
That the ability to imitate serves as an important building block for later social and cognitive development.
What did Jean Piaet believe?
That true imitation only developed towards the end of the first year and anything before this was a kind of ‘response training’.
What is ‘response training’?
The infant repeats a behavior that was rewarded. e.g when the infant smiles the mother smiles (and in this case the mothers smile is rewarding).
What does pseudo-imitation mean?
Fake imitation
