Caregiver infant interactions Flashcards
What is attachment?
a two-way enduring emotional tie to a specific other person
What are two types of evidence for attachment?
Separation anxiety
Stranger anxiety
What is bodily contact?
Physical interactions between carer and infant
What did Klaus and Kennel (1976) investigate?
Bodily contact
compared mums who had extended physical contact with their babies lasting several hours a day with mums who only had contact during feeding in the first three days after birth
What were the results of Klaus and Kennel’s study?
One month later, the mums with the greater physical contact cuddled the babies more and had greater eye contact
What is a negative of Klaus and Kennel’s study?
Mother and baby placed in the same room a few days after birth, encouraging the attachments to be formed
What is mimicking?
A biological device used to aid the formation of attachment where the infants copy the caregivers facial expressions
What did Melzoff and Moore (1977) discover whilst studying mimicking?
Infants aged 2-3 weeks tended to mimic adults’ specific facial expressions and hand movements
What is caregiverese?
Adults using a modified form of their vocal language which is a high pitched, song-like and slow
What does using a high pitched voice indicate to the infant?
Their turn to interact
What was found out about caregiverese?
It is cross cultural
What is a limitation of caregiverese?
It has been seen in all adults with infants, not just those forming attachments
It aids communication and not necessarily the forming of attachments
What is interactional synchrony?
The co-ordinated rhythmic exchanges between carer and infant
What did Condor and Saunders find?
When analysing frame by frame video recordings of their movements, they found that the infants co-ordinated their actions in sequence with the adults speech in a kind of turn-taking action
What are some strengths of Condor and Saunders’ research?
The observation was highly controlled and taken from multiple angles so it is very detailed
