Caregiver-Infant interactions in humas Flashcards
What is an attachment?
-A strong emotional bond between two people
- A two way process that continues over time and is characterised by a desire to maintain proximity (closeness)
What is Reciprocity?
-Two way (mutual) interaction.
-Infant and caregiver are both active contributors in the interaction and are responding to each other, almost as often as they were turn taking as people do in a convo
What does reciprocity involve?
-close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions
What does the regularity of an infants signals allow a care giver to do? (reciprocity)
-anticipate the infants behaviour and respond appropriately, and the sensitivity to infant behaviour lays the foundation for attachment between the caregiver and infant
what is an example of reciprocity?
-smiling (a social releaser) - when an infant smiles it in turn triggers a smile in the caregiver, and vice versa
Who did the research study for reciprocity?
Murray and Trevarthen (1985)
what was the procedure for reciprocity research?
they studied two-month-old infants who:
-interacted via a video monitor with their mother in real time.
-then watched a video monitor playing a taped recording of the mother so that the image on screen was not responding to the infant’s facial and bodily gestures.
What were the findings of the research of reciprocity?
The results were one of acute distress by the infant. The infants tried to attract the mother’s interest but after gaining no response, they turned away.
What was the conclusion of the research towards reciprocity?
This shows that the infant is actively eliciting a response from their caregiver illustrating the importance of reciprocity in the development of attachment.
What is interactional synchrony?
-takes place when the infant and caregiver interacting such a way that they behaviour and emotions are mirroring eachother’s
when are two people said to be synchronised?
when they carry out the same action simultaneously
what does the research (meltzoff and moore, 1983) about interactional synchrony suggest?
-It is innate rather than learned as behaviour has been studied in infants as young as three days old.
What are high levels of interactional synchrony associated with?
formation of better quality caregiver-infant attachments (e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship)
Who did the research towards interactional synchrony?
Meltzoff and Moore
What was Meltzoff and Moore’s procedure?
-Used a controlled observation to study the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as 2 weeks old.
-An adult displayed one of three facial expressions (e.g. mouth opening) or one of three distinctive gestures (e.g. opening the hand).
-The child’s responses were filmed and identified by independent observers.
