suffers stages of development eval and questions with infant synchronise

Question 1

Explain what is meant by ‘reciprocity’. (2 marks)

Answer 1

infant and caregiver respond to each other’s signals which elicits a response from the other.

Question 2

Outline research (theories and/or studies) into reciprocity. (4 marks)

Answer 2

 Feldman and Eidelman (2007): mothers pick up on & respond to infants’ alertness 2/3 of the time. 
 Feldman (2007): interaction between mother and infant becomes increasingly frequent and relies on verbal & facial signals. 
 Brazleton et al. (1975): challenged the traditional view of babies being passive and describes mum-baby interaction as a ‘dance’, where each partner responds to each other’s moves.

Question 3

What is meant by ‘interactional synchrony’ in the context of caregiver–infant interaction? (2 marks)

Answer 3

It is when baby and craggier select the actions and emotions of each other and do so in a coordinated and synchronised matter

Question 4

Outline one criticism of research into reciprocity. (4 marks)

Answer 4

One limitation of research into caregiver infant interaction is that it is hard to interpret a baby’s behaviour. Young babies lack co ordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile. The movement observed are just small hand movements or subtle changes in expression. It is difficulty to differienate wether smiling of just passing wind. It is also diffcuklyt to determine what is taking place form a babies point of view. Can’t know weather a hand twice is random or trigged by caregiver actions. This means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver infant interactions have a special meaning

Question 5

socially sensitive eval

Answer 5

There is no simple answer about whether socially-sensitive but practically-valuable research should be carried out. Unlike some areas of socially-sensitive research, attachment research has clear real-world applications. For example, Rebecca Crotwell et al. (2013) found that Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) improved interactional synchrony in 20 low-income mothers and their pre-school children.

However, there is also an argument against socially-sensitive research like that by Isabella et al. (1989) because research like this can be used to restrict freedom of choice – in this case the choice of mothers of when to return to work. Other people believe that knowledge is always neutral, not good or bad. Attachment researchers sometimes argue that they wish to equip parents with the best understanding possible of their child’s needs so that they can make informed decisions.
So there is a strong argument that attachment research is valuable, but that psychologists need to be clear about its purpose.

Question 6

Outline what research into interactional synchrony has told us about caregiver–infant interactions. (4 marks)

Answer 6

There is evidence form other lines of research to suggest that early interactions are important. For example iosbelal et al found that achievement are of interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment.

Question 7

Briefly outline one difference between the indiscriminate attachment stage and the stage of specific attachment. (2 marks)

Answer 7

One difference is that in the indiscriminate stage babies do not usually show separation anxiety or stinger anxiety when left in the presence of usually people but do this this for a specific attachment

Question 8

poor evidence for asocial stage

Answer 8

One limitation of Schaffer and emersomns stages is the validity if the measures they used to assess attachment in the asocial stage. Young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile. If babies less than two moths old felt anxiety in everyday situations they might have displayed this in quite subtle way. This made it difficult for mothers to observe and repot back to researchers on signs of anxiety and attachment in this age group. This means that the babies may actually be quite social but because of flawed methods they appear to be asocial.

Question 9

eval generalisation Schaffer and emersons

Answer 9

The large sample size in the study should help with the generalisability of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages.
However, the sample characteristics may make the sample less generalisable to other populations. This is because child-rearing practices vary so much between social groups/cultures.
So, patterns of attachment development in 1960s Glasgow may be quite different from that in, say, present-day Southampton or Liverpool.
Therefore, we cannot assume the same stage pattern would apply universally.

Question 10

Good external validity

Answer 10

Most of the observations though nit stranger anxiety were made by parents during ordinary actives and reported to teh researchers. The alternative would have been to have researchers present to record observations. This might have distracted the babies or made them fell more anxious. This means it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed

Question 11

counterpoint good external vadlity

Answer 11

Counterpoint on the other hand there are issues with asking the mothers to be the observers they were unlikely to be objective observers. They might have been biased in terms of what they noticed and what they repotted for example may have misremembered babies showihng signs of anxiety this means that even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accuiratekyt recored