caregiver-infant interactions in humans

Question 1

what is reciprocity?

Answer 1

where caregiver-infant interaction is a mutual process and each party responds to the other’s signals

Question 2

what does reciprocity influence in children?

Answer 2

their physical, neurological, cognitive and psychological development

Question 3

what does reciprocity become the basis for?

Answer 3

developent of trust or mistrust, and shapes how the child will relate to the world, learn and form relationships throughout life

Question 4

what is an example of reciprocity?

Answer 4

the caregiver reacts and responds to the signals given out by the baby and the baby responds back

Question 5

who developed the ‘still face’ experiment?

Answer 5

Tronick (1978)

Question 6

what is the ‘still face’ experiment procedure?

Answer 6

where a mother faces her baby, and is asked to hold a ‘still face’ where she doesn’t react to the baby’s behaviour

Question 7

what is the results of the ‘still face’ experiment?

Answer 7

the baby will become agitated by failed attempts to evoke a reaction in the mother

Question 8

what do the results of the ‘still face’ experiment demonstrate?

Answer 8

the importance of reciprocity for the child’s wellbeing

Question 9

what is interactional synchrony?

Answer 9

a pattern of social communication where behaviour of one or more individuals become synchronised

Question 10

when are two people said to be synchronised?

Answer 10

when they carry out the same action simultaneously

Question 11

what did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observe?

Answer 11

the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 4 weeks

Question 12

how did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observe interactional synchrony?

Answer 12

an adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions or gestures. the child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers

Question 13

what did Meltzoff and Moore (1977) find an association between?

Answer 13

the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the babies

Question 14

what is interactional synchrony believed to be important for?

Answer 14

the development of mother-infant attachment

Question 15

1 strength of caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 15

observations of mother-infant interactions are well controlled procedures and were filmed. this ensures details of behaviour can be recorded and analysed

Question 16

2 limitations of caregiver-infant interactions

Answer 16

1. observations don’t tell us reasons for synchrony and reciprocity, they only describe behaviours that occur at the same time
2. research into mother-infant interaction is socially sensitive as it suggests that children may be disadvantaged by child-rearing practices. mothers who return to work shortly after a child is born restrict opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony