Psychology A-level

Question 1

what is attachment?

Answer 1

a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary care giver

Question 2

what is reciprocal?

Answer 2

two/both ways; the child has to bond with the mother, and the mother has to bond
with the child for an attachment for form successfully

Question 3

who demonstrated the importance of reciprocity?

Answer 3

he importance of reciprocity was demonstrated by Brazleton et al, who found
that children as young as 2 weeks old can attempt to copy their caregiver, who in turn responds
to the child’s signals two-thirds of the time (Feldman).

Question 4

why is it important for reciprocal?

Answer 4

reciprocity is
important in teaching the child to
communicate. It also allows the
parent to better care for the child as
they can detect certain cues from
the baby and respond to their needs
sooner and more effectively.

Question 5

what is infant synchrony?

Answer 5

Interactional synchrony = when the
infant and primary caregiver
becomes synchronised in their
interactions.

Question 6

who demonstrated infant synchrony?

Answer 6

Condon and Sander
(1974) said that children can
synchronise their movements with
the sound of an adult’s voice, and
Brazleton et al demonstrated that
young infants can copy the
displayed distinctive facial
expressions or gestures. The way
the two interact changes slightly
according to the rhythm, pitch,
volume etc of the adult’s speech.
This has been found the lead to better communication between the parent and child when the
child is older

Question 7

evaluation for Caregiver-infant interactions in humans: reciprocity and interactional synchrony.

Answer 7

Many of these studies used controlled observations. Specifically, Brazleton et al even filmed
the interactions from different angles. This not only ensures a high level of detail and accuracy
in the observations, but also allows valid conclusions to be drawn because inter-rater reliability
can be established: independent observers can rewatch the tapes and compare their findings.

Question 8

evaluation for Caregiver-infant interactions in humans: reciprocity and interactional synchrony.

Answer 8

The main issue with observations of such young children is that we do not know whether
their actions are meaningful, especially since children as young as 2 weeks old have little or no
motor coordination. Bremner drew the distinction between behavioural response and behavioural understanding: just because an interaction appears to be reciprocal, does not mean
that the child understands the purpose of either reciprocity or interactional synchrony.