Caregiver-infant Interactions

• Long before infants can talk, they actively seek to engage their caregiver in meaningful interactions
• Reciprocity:

  Reciprocity involves each person (the infant & caregiver) responding to the other, taking turns so that the interaction flows back and forth between them.
• Interactional Synchrony:

  The actions and emotions of the infant and caregiver mirror each other.
• A strength of caregiver interactions is the idea that infants are actively involved in interactions is supported by observational studies such as the 'still face experiment' by Tronick. He found that even young infants had a sense of whether the parent was connecting with them, and they became visibly distressed when the connection was temporarily broken.
• A limitation is that research into this topic relies heavily on obserevations. This is difficult because inferences must be drawn based on what we observe, but since babies cannot communicate with language, they cannot tell us for sure why they are distressed.
• A limitation is that observing caregivers and infants together raises ethical issues. Consent should be provided by the caregiver, but this can lead so socially desirable behaviour which may mean the interactions are not natural
• A limitation is that the research is socially sensitive for working parents, or parents with lots of young children who require their attention. The theory predicts that frequent infant-caregiver interactions is an important part of building strong and secure attachments.