Caregiver-infant interactions

• psychologists believe caregiver-infant interactions impact a child's social development. good quality, early social interactions are associated with successful attachments
• to form these interactions reciprocity is key. reciprocity is when the baby and caregiver respond to and elicit responses from each other in turn
• babies have 'alert phases' where they signal that they are ready for a period of interaction. research shows mothers pick up on this alert 2/3 of the time. from 3 months this interaction becomes more intense + reciprocal
• babies play an active role in interactions. both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and take turns to do so
• interactional synchrony is when the infant mirrors the behaviour of the caregiver simultaneously
• Meltzoff + Moore (1977) - observed interactional synchrony in 2 week old babies. high levels of synchrony are associated with better quality mother-baby attachment
• AO3: strength - real world application - 10 min parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) improved the interactional synchrony between caregiver + infant.

  CA: socially sensitive - mothers may feel pressure to stay at home instead of returning to work as they may be damaging the baby's development
• AO3: weakness - unknown developmental importance - synchrony + reciprocity only describe observed behaviours at times, unknown if they are important

  CA: Isabella et al. (1989) - high levels of synchrony connected to good quality mother-baby attachments
• AO3: strength - filmed observations- interactions filmed in a lab, can be analysed later + inter-rater reliability + overt observations

  CA: hard to observe infant behaviour + movements, response or twitch?