caregiver-infant interactions

• what is attachment 


  a close two way bond between 2 individuals in which each see the other as essential for their own emotional security
• how can we recognize attachment through behaviour

  1. proximity
  2. separation distress
  3. secure-base behaviour
• what is proximity 


  staying physically close to the attachment figure
• what is separation distress


  being upset when an attachment figure leaves
• what is secure-base behaviour 


  leaving the attachment figure but regularly returning to them when playing
• what are the 2 caregiver-infant interactions

  interactional synchrony and reciprocity
• what is interactional synchrony


  2 people are said to be 'synchronised' when they mirror each other, carrying out the same actions simultaneously
• what is an example of interactional synchrony


  both smiling at the same time
• what did meltzof observe 


  the beginning of interactional synchrony (mirroring) in infants as young as 2 weeks
• how young were some of the kids in meltzofs study 


  2 weeks
• what did the people do in meltzof's study 


  an adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions/gestures and the child's responce was filmed
• what association was found in meltzof's study 


  found between the expressions/gesture and the action of the child
• what did meltzof and isabella study's suggest about interactional synchrony 


  suggests that interactional synchrony is important for the development of caregiver-infant interactions
• what year was meltzof 


  1977
• what year is isabella 


  1989
• what did isabella research 


  the importance if interactional synchrony in the quality of attachment
• what did isabella obserb for her research 


  20 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of sychrony and the quality of mother-infant attachment
• what did isabella find in her observation

  found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother infant attachment (eg the emotional intensity of the relationship)
• what is reciprocity


  the interaction of similar behaviour patterns between carers and infant and involves turn-taking behaviour
• what happened to reciprocal interactions at 3 months 


  tends to be increasingly frequent, when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them
• what does reciprocity involve 


  close attention to each others verbal signals and facial expressions
• what is an example of reciprocity


  when a mother smiles and then the baby smiles and vice versa

  they take turns in the interaction rather than mirroring each other at the same time
• what did brazelton et al describe reciprocity as 


  a 'dance' because it is just like a couples dance where each partner responds to each others moves
• what to tronick et al ask mothers to do 


  enjoy a dialogue with their baby and then stop moving and maintain a static, unsmiling expression on their face
• what did the baby do in response to their mothers actions in tronicks study

  would try and tempt the mother into interaction by smiling themselves and would become puzzled and increasingly distressed when their smile did not provoke the usual response
• what did tronicks study suggest about reciprocity


  reciprocity is extremely important in developing an attachment with a child as when reciprocity does not occur the baby becomes distressed
• what is the second strength of the caregiver-infant interactions (potential value to society) (PEEL)

  • P - a strength of this research is its potential value to society
  • E - identifying interactional synchrony as an important foundation in formation of high quality attachment can have practical application to benefit society
  • E - cromwell et al found that 10 mins of parent child interactual therapy improves interactional synchrony in low income mothers compared to the control group
  • L - therefore this research has a strength because it can be used to improve caregiver-infant interactions
• what is the weakness of caregiver-infant interactions (purpose) (PE)

  • These observations do not tell us the purpose of interactional synchrony or reciprocity.
  • Fieldman points out that reciprocity and interactional synchrony describes behaviours that occur at the same time.
• what is the weakness of caregiver-infant interactions (purpose) (EL)

  • E - These processes can be reliably observed but this does not tell us their purpose. Researchers infer and draw conclusions about behaviour observed
  • L - This suggests that although we know that interactional synchrony and reciprocity are involved in attachment, we do not have a clear understanding of how they contribute to attachment and what purpose they serve
• what is one strength of caregiver-infant interactions (controlled procedures) PEEL

  • P - a strength of the research is that it uses well controlled procedures
  • E -mother-infant interactions are usually filmed, often from multiple angles. very fine details of behaviour can be recorded and analysed later
  • E - babies don't know they are being observed, so their behaviour does not change in response to observation, therefore there are no demand characteristics from the baby
  • L - the studies have good validity and therefore you can be confident that attachment is exactly what is being measured