caregiver-infant interactions

    Cards (7)

    • define 'infancy'
      the period of a child's life before speech begins
    • define 'interactional synchrony'
      a simultaneous, co-ordinated sequence of movements, communication, and emotions. it refers to how a parents speech and infants behaviour becomes finely synchronised so that they are in direct response with each other.
    • define "reciprocity"
      a two-way interaction between caregiver and child , referred to as mirroring. they develop a finely tuned sense of timing which turns into a flow of mutual behaviours. e.g. a baby smiling back when a caregiver smiles at them.
    • what are the three evaluation points regarding caregiver-infant interactions? (AO3)
      1. isabella and belsky (interactional synchrony)
      2. meltztoff and moore (reciprocity) (1997)
      3. belsky attachment types (reciprocity)
    • evaluation of caregiver-infant interactions; isabella and belsky (AO3)
      (1911) they hypothesised that caregivers/infants with secure attachments would display more synchronous behaviours. babies were observed at 3 and 9 months which supported this theory. the secure group interacted in a well-timed, reciprocal, and mutually rewarding manner. in contrast, insecure pairs were characterized by interactions that were minimally involved, unresponsive and intrusive. they concluded that different interactional behaviours predicted attachment quality.
    • evaluation of caregiver-infant interactions; meltzoff and moore (1997) (AO3)
      18 babies were studied in their first month of life. babies aged 12-27 days could imitate facial and manual gestures.to record observations, a 'blind' observer watched videotapes of infant behaviour. they noted tongue protrusions and head movements. each observer scored the tapes twice so that both intra observer and inter-observer reliability could be calculated. scores were greater than .92, supporting notions for reciprocity. however it is difficult to accurately record infant behaviour.
    • evaluation of caregiver-infant interactions (AO3) belsky/attachment types
      quality of reciprocity in infancy is associated with later attachment types. belsky found that infants who were securely attached at 12 months showed middle amounts of reciprocity. high reciprocity was found in insecure avoidants. middle levels of reciprocity may indicate a caregiver who is sensitive to the infant but does not force interaction when the infant needs a break from stimulation. therefore, reciprocity may support effective parenting.
    See similar decks