Caregiver-infant interactions

• What is reciprocity?

  Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to each other's signals and each elicits a response from the other.
• Alert phases in reciprocity:


  Babies have periodic 'alert phases' in which they signal that they are ready for a spell of interaction. Research shows that mothers typically pick up on and respond to their baby's alertness around two-thirds of the time, although this varies according to the skill of the mother and external factors such as stress.
• Active involvement in reciprocity:

  Both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in doing so. Brazelton et al. described this interaction as a 'dance' because it is just like a couple's dance where each partner responds to the other person's moves.
• What is interactional synchrony?


  Caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated way.
• Synchrony begins:


  Meltzoff and Moore observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in babies as young as two weeks old. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or gestures. The baby's response was filmed and labelled by independent observers. Babies' expression and gestures were more likely to mirror those of the adults more than chance would predict.
• Interactional synchrony - importance for attachment:

  Isabella et al. observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony. The researchers also assessed the quality of mother-baby attachment. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment.
• AO3 - Filmed observations:

  Caregiver-infant interactions are usually filmed in a laboratory. Other activity, that might distract a baby, can be controlled. Using films means that observations can be recorded and analysed later. Having filmed interactions means that more than one observer can record data and establish the inter-rater reliability of observations. Therefore the data collected in such research should have good reliability and validity.
• AO3 - Difficulty observing babies:

  It is hard to interpret a baby's behaviour. Young babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile. The movements being observed are just small hand movements or subtle changes in expression. It is also difficult to determine what is taking place from the baby's perspective. This means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver-infant interactions have a special meaning.
• AO3 - Developmental importance:

  Simply observing a behaviour does not tell us its developmental importance. Feldman points out that ideas like synchrony simply gives names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behaviours. These are robust phenomena in the sense that they can be reliably observed, but they still may not be particularly useful in understanding child development as it does not tell us the purpose of these behaviours.
• AO3 - Socially sensitive research:

  Research into caregiver-infant interaction is socially sensitive because it can be used to argue that when a mother returns to work soon after having a baby this may risk damaging their baby's development.