Caregiver-infant interactions

• Attachment is a close two-way emotional bond between 2 individuals in which each individual sees he other as essential for their own emotional security.
• Human babies are altricial and animals are precocial.
• non-verbal communications is one of the key interactions between a caregiver and their infant which may form the basis of attachment depending on the response. Therefore, the more sensitive each others signals are the deeper the relationship.
• From birth babies move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult, almost as if they are taking turns. A key element is reciprocity where each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them, in a turn-taking convo, usually non-verbal.
• Babies have a periodic 'alert phase' in which they signal (eye contact) that they are ready for a spell of interaction. Research shows that mothers typically pick up and respond to their babies alertness around 2/3 of the time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007), which varies according to the skill of their mother and external forces (stress).
• From around 3 months the interaction between mother/infant becomes increasingly frequent and involves close attention to each others verbal signals/facial expressions (Feldman 2007).
• Research shows that babies take a very active role in the caregiver relationship as it's the both mother and child that initiate interactions and take turns in doing so. Brazelton et al (1975) described it as a dance, where each partners responds to each others moves.
• Interactional synchrony is where the infant move their bodies in tune with the rhythm of the the carers spoken language to create a kind of turn-taking, as seen with two-way vocal convo.
• Synchronisation takes place when the mother and infant mirror each other emotions/actions.
• Meltzoff and Moore (1977) found an association between the expression/ gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the babies.
• The aim of the study was to investigate whether 2/3 week old babies could imitate facial expressions. (Meltzoff and Moore.)
• The method involved presenting the infant with three facial expressions (tongue pull, lip protrusion and open mouth) and a hand movement involving sequential finger movement.
• A dummy was placed in the babies mouth before/ during presentation of models behaviour to prevent any movement, but was immediately removed after and the babies response was recorded on a close up video. (Method - Meltzoff and Moore).
• Judges then rated the babies response to any of the 4 target behaviours without knowing which one they had been exposed to each time. (Method - Meltzoff and Moore).
• Independent ratings showed significant association between the models behaviour and behaviour produced by the child, with children being able to imitate both facial expressions/hand movements. (Results - Meltzoff and Moore).
• Supporting research for interactional synchrony - Isabella et al (1989): Observed 30 mothers/infants together and assessed degree of synchrony. Researchers also assessed the quality of mother/infant attachment. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality infant-mother attachment. (free emotional intensity of relationship).
• What's the difference between reciprocity and interactional synchrony?

  Reciprocity is where the mother and infant responds to each others signals and elicits a response from the other in a turn-taking way. Whereas, interactional synchrony is where the mother and infant mirror both the actions/emotions of the other in a co-ordinated synchronised way.
• The capability of very young infants to imitate adult's facial expressions provides compelling support for the view that humans are innately social beings and take an active part in relation formation in the first months of life.
• How do caregiver interactions influence attachments?

  These interactions are believed to facilitate the development and maintenance of attachment as they enable both the caregiver and the baby to have meaningful, rewarding, sustained and joyful interactions together. It is through these early dialogues that the caregiver learns to read the infants social signals and adjusts their own behaviour, maintaining the infants attention/interest.
• Strengths:

  • Babies behaviour filmed in laboratories, this increases reliability/validity
  • Control extraneous variables
• Weaknesses:

  • Hard to interpret a babies behaviour
  • Inferences