Caregiver- Infant Interactions

Question 1

What is reciprocity

Answer 1

How two people interact. Mother- infant interaction is reciprocal in that both infant and mother respond to each other’s signals like a conversation

Question 2

What is interactional synchrony

Answer 2

Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a coordinated way

Question 3

What do newborn babies have

Answer 3

Alert phases to signal when they’re ready for interaction

Question 4

How often do mothers respond to babies alert phases

Answer 4

2/3s of the time (Feldman and Eidleman, 2007)

Question 5

What are limitations of caregiver interactions

Answer 5

• observations don’t tell us the purpose of interactional synchrony and reciprocity
• Research into mother infant interaction is socially sensitive

Question 6

What are strengths of caregiver infant interactions

Answer 6

• Controlled observations capture fine detail. Observations of mother infant interactions are controlled
• There shouldn’t be demand characteristics

Question 7

Who conducted the key study in Care Giver Interactions

Answer 7

Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

Question 8

Importance of caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 8

Important implications for the child’s social development, in particular for development of the caregiver-infant attachment