Caregiver-Infant Interactions

• Reciprocity

  From birth, babies and their caregivers spend a lot of time in intense and highly pleasurable interactions. If an interaction is reciprocal, it means each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them- referred to as 'turn-taking'.
• Reciprocity: Alert Phases

  Babies have periodic 'alert phases' where they signal they are ready for interaction (e.g. eye contact). Feldman and Eidelmann found that mothers tend to pick up on their babies alertness 2/3s of the time. Though this does vary depending on the mother's skills and external factors (like stress). Feldman claims that from around 3 months, interaction becomes increasingly frequent and involves both the baby and caregiver playing close attention to verbal signs and facial expressions.
• Reciprocity: Active Involvement

  Traditional views of childhood portray babies as passive, receiving care from an adult- though it seems that babies, as well as caregivers, take an active role. Both initiate interactions, and take turns doing so.

  Brazelton et al describes this interaction as a couples' dance where each partner responds to the others move.
• Interactional Synchrony

  The temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour; Feldman. This takes place when a caregiver and baby interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other.
• Interactional Synchrony: Synchrony Begins

  Meltzoff and Moore observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks old. The adult would display 1 of 3 distinctive gestures- they baby's response was then filmed and labelled by independent observers. Babies' expressions and gestures were more likely to mirror those of adults more than chance would predict- there is then a significant association.
• Interactional Synchrony: Importance for Attachment

  It is believed that interactional synchrony is important for the development of caregiver-infant attachment. Isabella et al observed 30 mothers and their babies together and assessed their degree of synchrony. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachments (the emotional intensity of the relationships).
• AO3: Filmed Observations

  Caregiver-infant interactions are usually filmed in a laboratory; meaning that other activities which may distract the baby can be controlled. Filming observations allows them to be analysed later by more than one observer which improves the inter-rater reliability. Finally, babies aren't aware that they are being observed, meaning their behaviour isn't impacted by demand characteristics. Therefore the data collected has good reliability and validity.
• AO3: Developmental Importance

  Simply observing behaviour doesn't tell us the developmental importance. Feldman claims that ideas like synchrony and reciprocity simply give names to patterns of observable behaviours. These are strong phenomena in the sense that they can be reliably observed; but they might not be useful in understanding child development as it doesn't tell us the purpose of the behaviour.
• AO3: Counterpoint to Developmental Importance

  There is evidence from other lines of research which suggests that early interactions are important- for example, Isabella et al found that achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of a good quality attachment. Meaning that it is important in development.
• AO3: Practical Value versus Ethics

  Research into caregiver-infant interactions have practical applications in parenting training. For example, Crotwell et al found that a 10-minute Parent-Child interaction improved interactional synchrony in 20 low income mothers and their preschool children.

  On the other hand, this research is socially sensitive as it can be used to argue that when a mother returns to work too soon after having a baby, it can then 'damage' the baby's development.
• AO3: Issues and Debates

  Observer Bias- researchers may interpret infant behaviour to support their findings, since often infant's movements are subject to interpretation; limiting the reliability.

  Individual Differences- attachment styles may act as a confounding variable; Isabella et al found greater engagement in interactional synchrony for those who were securely attached, meaning outcomes vary. E.g. cross-cultural research has demonstrated that there are differences in attachment styles and parenting practise.