caregiver infant interactions- attachment

Question 1

what is reciprocity

Answer 1

babies and mothers spend a lot of time in intense and highly pleasurable interaction
interaction shows reciprocity when each person responds to other and elicits response from them
essential part in any conversation
alert phase-babies signal that they are ready for spell of interaction, research shows mothers typiclly pick up on this and respond to their babies alertness around two thirds of the time but varies accirdubg ti skill of mother and external factors, 3months this interaction becomes frequent and involves both mother and baby paying close attentio to each others verbal signals and facial expressions
active involvement- traditional views of childhood=babies passive role, babies as well as careivers take active role, both can initiate interactions, brazelton decribed this interaction as a dance because each partner responds to the other persons moves

Question 2

what is interactional synchrony

Answer 2

two people synchronised when they carry out the same action simultaneously
defined as the temporal coordination of micro level social behaviour
takes place when baby and caregiver interact in such a way their actions and emotions mirror the other
synchrony begins- meltzoff and moore- observed beginnings of this, adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three disctinctive gestures, babys response was filmed and labelled by independent observers, babies epxression and gestures more likely to mirror those of adults more than chance would predict
importance for attachment- important for the development of caregiver infant attachment, isabella observed 30mothers and babies together and assessed degree of synchrony, researchers assessed quality of mother baby attachment, found high lvels of synchrony associated with better quality mother baby attachment

Question 3

what is filmed observation (eval)

Answer 3

caregiver infant interactions filmed in lab
other activity that might distract baby can be controlled
using film means observations can be recorded and analysed later
unlikely researchers will miss seeing key behaviours
more than one observer can record data and establish inter rater reliability of observations
babies dont know their being observed so their behaviour doesnt change in response
data collected in research should have good reliability and validity

Question 4

what is difficulty observing babies (eval)

Answer 4

hard to interpret babys behaviour
young babies lack coordination and much of their bodies are immobile
movements observed are small hand movements or subtle changes in expression
difficult to be sure whether baby smiling or passing wind
difficult to determine what is taking place from babys perspective
cant know whether movement such as hand twithc is random or triggered b something caregiver has done
cant be certain that behaviours seen have special meaning

Question 5

what is developmental importance (eval)

Answer 5

observing a baby does not tell us developmental importance
feldman-ideas like synchrony simply give names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behaviours
robust phenomena in the sense they can be reliably observed but may not be useful in understanding child development- doesnt tell us purpose of behaviours
cant be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and snchrony are important for childs development

evidence from other lines of research that suggest early interactions are important
isabella-achievement of interactional synchrony predicte the developmet of good quaity attachment
caregiver infant interaction important in developmet