A03

• ISSUE= possibility of observer bias.

  • A lot of research examining c-I interactions, observational,
  • often the researchers are the main observers.
  • researchers consciously or unconsciously interpret behaviour to support their findings.
  • reduces the objectivity
  • biased conclusion- formed to support the research aim,
  • not to further our understanding of caregiver-infant interactions.
  • ie. Meltzoff and Morre's research- biased towards observing interactional synchrony
• • questionable reliability of testing children.
  • infants move their mouths and wave their arms constantly,
  • an issue for researchers investigating intentional behaviour.
  • Therefore, we cannot be certain that the infants were engaging in interactional synchrony or reciprocity, as

  some of the behaviour may have occurred by chance.

  • questions validity of research in relation to reciprocity

  and interactional synchrony

  • psychologists should be cautious when interpreting the findings from research in this area.
• COUNTER FOR OBSERVER BIAS

  • To address this problem,more than one observer should be used to examine the inter‐observer reliability
  • Koepke et al. (1983)failed to replicate the findings of Meltzoff & Moore
  • suggests that their results of research examining infant–caregiver interactions are unreliable.
  • However Meltzoff and Moore argued that Koepke's research failed due to lack of control in the procedure rather than sue to the infants ability to imitate
  • for lack of replication
• INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

  
  

  • Isabella and Belsky (1991) found that caregiver-baby pairs that developed secure attachment relationships would display more interactional synchrony than babies with insecure relationships.
  • insecure were characterized by interactions that were minimally involved, unresponsive and intrusive.
  • not all babies will show the same movements this theory can't be applied the same to all infants
  • concluded that different interactional behaviours can be used to predict attachment quality early on.
• COUNTER FOR MOVEMENTS NOT BEING INTENTIONAL

  • Abravanel and Deyong found that infants made little response to inanimate objects (designed to stimulate different mouth movements)
  • suggests infants do not just imitate anything they see- a specific social response to humans