Meltzoff & Moore Flashcards
what was their aim?
to challenge piaget’s thoughts that infants could not imitate others until they were a year old, and to see at what age infants could imitate others
what year was their study done?
1977
method of the study
•the experimenter sat infront of tiny infants ages between 12 and 21 days old
•he pulled facial expressions like sticking his tongue out, opening his mouth or pursing his lips
•the infants responses were filmed and categorised by independent observers who had no idea what face the infant had just seen
what ages were the infants observed in the study?
between 12 and 21 days old
what were the findings of this study?
•the infants seemed to copy the actions of the experimenter
•the psychologists called this interactional synchrony- the infants were mirroring the actions of the adult
give 3 criticisms of the study
•psychologists still claim that infants don’t truly interact at this age (are asocial). it’s possible that babies are just learning simple copying behaviours through operant conditioning
•there are lots of problems with testing infants-their mouths are constantly moving and they’re often sticking their tongues out and yawning. can we be sure their movements weren’t just reflex actions?
•also, their findings have not been able to be replicated
strengths of this study
•the study shows us that infants are born into the world partly pre-programmed for social interactions
•it suggests infants don’t have to learn to navigate the social world completely from scratch, from a very early age they have some grasp of their bodies and can imitate other people
what did Isabella find?
a link between higher levels of interactional synchrony and better quality attachments
