caregiver interactions Flashcards
reciprocity
a description of how two people interact. caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to each others signals and elicits a new response from each other.
interactional synchrony
caregiver and baby reflect both the action and emotions of other and do this in a coordinated (synchronised) way.
can also be defined as ‘the temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour’ (feldman 2007). it takes place in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other.
alert phases
babies have periodic ‘alert’ phases in which they signal (e.g. making eye contact) that they are ready for a spell of interaction.
feldman and eidelman (2007)
research shows that mothers typically respond to their babies alertness around two-thirds of the time.
from around 3 months this interaction tends to become more increasingly frequent and involves both mother and baby paying close attention to each others verbal signals and facial expressions (feldman 2007).
although this varies according to the skill of the mother and external factors such as stress (finegood et al. 2006).
active involvement
both caregiver and aby can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so.
t.berry brazelton et al (1975) described this interaction as a ‘dance’ because its just like a couples dance where each partner responds to the other persons move.
synchrony
two people are said to be ‘synchronised’ when they carry out the same action simultaneously
andrew meltzoff and keith moore (1977)
observed the beginning of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old.
an adult displayed one of three facial expressions or one of three distinctive gestures.
the babies response was filmed and labelled by independent observers.
babies expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than chance would predict i.e. there was a significant association.
importance of attachment
it is believed that interactional synchrony is important for the development of caregiver-infant attachment.
russell isabella et al (1989)
observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed their degree of synchrony and the quality of mother-infant attachment. they found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment (e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship).
strength caregiver-infant interactions
p - filmed observations
e - in laboratory
e - this means that other activity that might distract a baby can be controlled.
