Caregiver-infant interactions in humans Flashcards
What is an attachment?
Attachment is the close emotional bond between two people, which involves a feeling of well-being and a desire to be close. E.g. Between a mother and child. It is the responsiveness of the caregiver to the infants signals that has profound effects.
What four characteristics of an attachment did Maccoby (1980) describe?
Seeking proximity, the desire to be close to the person to whom you are attached.
Separation anxiety, the distress that results from being separated from that person.
Pleasure when reunited, relief and observable joy when reunited with them.
General orientation of behaviour towards the caregiver, the child’s awareness of where the person is, and the reassurance they feel by them being close.
What did Feldman et al do and find?
Mothers typically pick up on and respond to infant alertness around two-thirds of the time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007).
From around three months this interaction tends to be increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions (Feldman 2007).
What are the two main features of an attachment?
Reciprocity: This is how two people interact e.g. mother & her child. This mother-child interaction is reciprocal, meaning it is a two-way relationship. The mother & the child both respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from each other.
Interactional Synchrony: This is when the mother and child reflect both the actions & emotions of each other. This is often co-ordinated/in unison with each other (synchronised) Important to the development of the mother-child attachment. The more synchronised the mother & child’s actions & emotions were, the better quality of the attachment
What did Brazelton et al do?
Both mother and child can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so. Brazleton et al. (1975) described this interaction as a ‘dance’ because it is just like a couple’s dance where each partner responds to each other’s moves.
What did Isabella et al do and find?
Isabella et al. (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony. The researchers also assessed the quality of mother-infant attachment. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment (e.g., the emotional intensity of the relationship)
What did Meltzoff and Moore do and find?
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks old. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures. The child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers. An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the babies.
What are the strengths of caregiver-infant interactions?
Research into this area is conducted using controlled observations. Observations looking at interactions are generally well-controlled. Babies do not know they’re being observed this therefore eliminates demand characteristics, this means their behaviour does not change in response to the controlled observation. This is a strength because it increases the internal validity of the research offering a good insight into caregiver-infant interactions and attachments.
Supportive research for the importance of care giver- infant interactions. One supportive study into Interactional Synchrony is Isabella et al (1989) who observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of synchrony. The researchers also assessed the quality of mother-infant attachment. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment (e.g., the emotional intensity of the relationship). This is a strength because they have used this knowledge to implement support therapies to help better the quality of attachment which benefits the child in the long run.
What are the limitations of caregiver-infant interactions?
A weakness of caregiver-infant interactions is it’s in an artificial environment. Despite the babies not showing demand characteristics, the mothers often understand the aims of the research, and therefore change their behaviour during attachment research or when completing interviews. This is a weakness because it lowers the validity of caregiver-infant interactions.
It’s hard to know what is happening when observing the infants. There is no way of actually knowing if these changes are conscious and deliberate by the child, or just by chance, therefore we have no way of understanding the child’s perspective.
