Features of Caregiver-Infant interaction

Question 1

What is an attachment?

Answer 1

A strong emotional bond between an infant and a caregiver

Question 2

How does an attachment work:

Answer 2

An attachment is a two way process that strengthens over time. Each person involved sees the other as essential for their emotional security

Question 3

Why are attachments important?

Answer 3

Attachments formed between caregivers and infants lead to how infants learn act and relate with other people

Question 4

How many features of care-giver-infant interactions are there?

Answer 4

There are five care giver infant interactions

Question 5

What are the five care-giver-infant interactions?

Answer 5

1. Caregiverese
2. Bodily contact
3. Reciprocity
4. Interactional synchrony
5. Mimicking

Question 6

Explain caregiverese: (two key points)

Answer 6

Adults who interact with infants use a modified form of vocal language that is high pitched, song like in nature, slow and repetitive

Question 7

Explain bodily contact: (one point)

Answer 7

The physical interactions between carers and infants that help to form the attachment bond, especially after birth

Question 8

Explain reciprocity: (three points)

Answer 8

Both the infant and carer respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other.

Babies have alert phases in which they signal, that they are ready for interactions. Typically, caregivers will respond to these signals, but it does depend on how skilled the mother is and other factors like stress

Question 9

What is an example of reciprocity?

Answer 9

A caregiver will smile at an infant, which will elicit a smile from the infant

Question 10

Describe interactional synchrony: (two points)

Answer 10

Caregiver and infant reflect both the actions and emotion of the other and do so in a coordinated way. Actions and emotions mirror each other

Question 11

Describe mimicking: (one point)

Answer 11

Infants seem to have an innate ability to imitate carer’s facial expressions, suggests it is a biological device to aid formation

Question 12

Who are the psychologists who researched evidence to support the features of care-giver-infant interactions? What year did they do this research?

Answer 12

Meltzoff + Moore in 1997 and Tronick et al 1979

Question 13

What experiment did Meltzoff and Moore carry out in 1997?

Answer 13

Meltzoff + Moore carried out an experiment using infants
Babies were shown facial gestures (sticking tongue out) and manual gestures (waving fingers) in order to investigate their abilities to imitate

Question 14

What were the results of Meltzoff + Moore experiment in 1997?

Answer 14

The results indicated that babies aged 12 to 21 days old could imitate both facial and manual gestures. Showing babies had the ability to mimic facial and manual gestures

Question 15

Who conducted the Still Face experiment?

Answer 15

Tronick et al conducted the experiment in 1979

Question 16

What experiment did Tronick et al conduct? What did the experiment conducted involve?

Answer 16

Mothers who had been enjoying a dialogue with their baby were asked to stop moving and maintain a static, unsmiling expression on their faces
Babies would try to tempt the mother into interaction by smiling themselves
They would become puzzled and increasingly distressed when their smile did not provoke the usual response

Question 17

What did Tronick et al conclude from his experiment?

Answer 17

Tronick concluded that reciprocity and interactional synchrony are off importance

Question 18

What is a strength of the research into caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 18

There was an observation by Isabella et al where 30 mothers and infants together were observed and the degree of interactional synchrony was assessed. It was found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachments.

Question 19

What is a strength of the research into caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 19

A strength of the research into caregiver-infant interactions would be the research being conducted as observational. As the research is observational there are no demand characteristics because babies can not guess the aim of the study or act differently to fit into the study

Question 20

What is a limitation of the research into caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 20

The research into caregiver-infant interactions is a socially sensitive research. The research suggests that children may be disadvantaged by particular child rearing practices. Specifically, mothers who return to work shortly after the birth of their child, restrict the opportunities for achieving interactional synchrony. However this can be presented as outdated since in more modern times it’s more common for mothers to return to work after a short period.

Question 21

What is a limitation of the research into caregiver-infant interactions?

Answer 21

Belsky and Ravine (1987) argued that individual differences in attachment types may relate to both the inborn temperament of the baby as well as to the sensitivity of the caregiver. An extremely reactive or difficult baby may need to be soothed, whereas a slow to warm up infant may need encouragement. This type of baby may go on to develop a secure attachment with a caregiver who is patient, encouraging and responsive. However with an anxious caregiver, the attachment outcome may be different