Caregiver-infant interactions in humans

Question 1

Name the caregiver interactions

Answer 1

Reciprocity, caregiverese, bodily contact, mimicking, and interactional synchrony

Question 2

Define interactional synchrony

Answer 2

A form of rhythmic interaction between infant and caregiver involving mutual focus, reciprocity and mirroring of emotion or behaviour

Question 3

What is reciprocity?

Answer 3

Infant and caregiver are both active contributors in the interaction and are responding to each other, e.g. smiling; when a smile occurs in the infant it triggers a smile in the caregiver and vice versa

Question 4

What did Klaus and Kennel find?

Answer 4

Mums who had extended physical contact with their babies during feeding in the three days after birth were found to cuddle their babies more, suggesting physical contact leads to stronger bonds

Question 5

What are the four stages of attachment?

Answer 5

Pre-attachment, indiscriminate, discriminate, multiple attachments

Question 6

What is the pre-attachment stage of attachment?

Answer 6

Babies are attracted to humans and can pick out human from non-human but cannot distinguish between different adults because they lack object permanence (object permanence lasts until two years old and is part of infant egocentrism - believing the world revolves around them) - lasts from birth up to three months

Question 7

What is the indiscriminate attachment stage?

Answer 7

Infants can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar adults but doesn’t mind who handles them. - 3 months until 7/8

Question 8

What is the discriminate attachment stage?

Answer 8

7/8 months onwards; Infants begin to develop specific attachments and become distressed when separated from these people, avoiding unknown people and protesting when they try to handle them. Bowlby believes this is where stages of attachment ends

Question 9

What is the multiple attachment stage?

Answer 9

9 months onwards; Infants form strong emotional ties with other major caregivers and non-caregivers. The fear of strangers weakens but attachment to the mother figure remains strongest

Question 10

Who created the four stages of attachment?

Answer 10

Shaffer

Question 11

What did Shaffer and Emerson find and how?

Answer 11

They conducted a longitudinal study on working-class mothers in Glasgow, measuring attachment in natural settings in two ways (separation protest and stranger anxiety), finding that these stages of attachment were correct, although 39% of attachments were not to the primary caregiver. Stronger attachments resulted in parents who responded to the child’s needs quickly, effectively and often. 87% of children had multiple attachments at 18 months, and 31% had five or more attachments

Question 12

What are mothers traditionally more able to show than fathers that makes them better caregivers?

Answer 12

Sensitive responsiveness: Recognising and responding appropriately to infants’ needs

Question 13

What four factors influence the relationship between a father and his children?

Answer 13

Degree of sensitivity, type of attachment with own parents, marital intimacy and supportive co-parenting

Question 14

What did Geiger find?

Answer 14

Mothers’ play interactions are more nurturing and affectionate while fathers’ are more exciting and pleasurable, supporting the idea that fathers are playmates not caregivers

Question 15

What did Pederson find to reject the hypothesis that fatherless children are more aggressive and do poorly at school?

Answer 15

Most studies focus on women of a low socio-economic background, so it may be social factors relating to poverty that cause these outcomes

Question 16

What is caregiverese?

Answer 16

The infant and caregiver beginning to understand each other through their different noises and actions, e.g. a mother knowing that a certain sound means the child is hungry, but nobody else understands this

Question 17

Explain marital intimacy in relation to the role of fathers

Answer 17

Fathers that are more intimate with their partners are more likely to have secure attachments

Question 18

Explain supportive co-parenting in relation to the role of fathers

Answer 18

Fathers who play more of a role in child-rearing have stronger attachments with their children

Question 19

Explain degree of sensitivity in relation to the role of fathers

Answer 19

Sensing the needs and emotions of the child creates a stronger attachment

Question 20

Who conducted the still face experiment? Which caregiver interaction does this show and in what way is this important?

Answer 20

Tronick

Reciprocity; It provides the child with emotional security