Attachment - Caregiver-infant interactions

• What are good quality early social interactions associated with?

  Successful development of attachments between babies and their caregiver
• What is reciprocity?


  • Describes how 2 people interact
  • Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal - both respond to each other’s signals and elicit a response from the other
• What is interactional synchrony?

  Caregiver and baby reflect the actions and emotions of the other in a co-ordinated and synchronized way
• What is attachment?


  • 2 way emotional bond between 2 individuals in which they see the other as essential for emotional security
• What behaviours display attachment in humans?

  • Proximity - stay physically close to attachment figüre
  • Separation distress - show anxiety when attachment figure leaves presence
  • Secure-base behaviour - making regular contact with attachment figure even when independent
• What is reciprocal interaction also called?

  Turn-taking
• What are alert phases within reciprocity?

  Babies signal they’re ready for a spell of interaction

  Babies have periodic alert phases where this happens
• How often do mothers typically pick up and respond to baby’s alterness in alert phases (according to Feldman & Eidelman)?

  2/3rds of the time
• Why might mothers picking up and responding to their baby’s alertness vary (Finegood)?

  Varies depending on the skill of the mother and external factors e.g. stress
• According to Feldman from around 3 months what happens?


  Interaction increases and involves both mother and baby paying close attention to each other’s verbal signals and facial expressions
• Who conducted a study supporting that babies take on an active role in initiating interactions?

  Brazelton
• What did Brazelton describe this active involvement in interactions as?

  As a ‘dance’ where each responds to the others moves
• When are 2 people said to be synchronized?

  When they carry out the same action simultaneously
• What is interactional synchrony defined as by Feldman?

  ‘ the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour ‘

  Takes place when caregiver and baby interact in a way where their actions and emotions mirror the other
• What did Meltzoff and Moore study?

  Beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old
• Outline Meltzoff and Moore’s study into the beginnings of interactional synchrony

  • Adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or distinctive gestures
  • Baby’s response filmed and labelled by independent observers
  • Babies expression and gestures more likely to mirror those of the adult more than chance would predict
  • (Significant association)
• Outline Isabella’s study investigating the importance of interactional synchrony for the development of caregiver-infant attachment

  • Observed 30 mother and babies together
  • Assessed degree of synchrony and quality of mother-baby attachment
  • Found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment
• What are the evaluation points for care-giver infant interactions?

  • Strength : Interactions filmed in a lab so high reliability and validity
  • Limitations : Difficulty observing and interpreting baby behaviours
  • Strength : Practical application in parenting skills training
• What is the strength of interactions being filmed in labs (validity & reliability) for care-giver infant interactions?

  • Other activity that can distract baby is controlled
  • Films means observations can be recorded and analyzed later so unlikely researchers will miskey behaviours
  • Can establish inter-rather reliability - more than one observer can record data
  • Overt observation but babies are unaware they’re being recorded so don’t respond to DC
  • So data collected in such research has good reliability and validity
• What is the limitation of it being hard to interpret babies behaviour for caregiver-infant interactions?

  • Babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies are immobile
  • Difficult to be sure of movements such as subtle changes in expression and what’s taking place from the perspective of the baby
  • Can’t know whether a hand twitch is triggered by a twitch or something the caregiver did
  • This means we can’t be certain the behaviours seen in interactions have a special meaning
• What is the support of practical application in parenting skills training for care-giver interactions (Crotwel)?

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

  • Crotwell found 10 minute Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) improved interactional synchrony in 20 low income mothers and their pre school children
  • But
  • Research into caregiver infant interaction can be socially sensitive as it can be argued that a mother returning to work after having a baby can damage baby’s development