Reciprocity

• Reciprocity

  From birth, babies and their caregivers spend a lot of time in intense & highly pleasurable interaction. An interaction is usually reciprocal where a caregiver might respond to a baby's smile by saying something. This in turn elicits a response from the baby. It can also be called turn-taking', an essential part of conversation.
• Alert phases- babies have periodic alert phases in which they signal that they're ready for an interaction eg maintaining eye contact. Research shows that mothers usually pick up on a respond to their baby's alert phases 2/3 of the time (Feldman & Eidelman). Finegood found this varies according to the skill of the mother and external factors eg stress. Around 3 months of interaction, the behaviour becomes more frequent and involves both the mother and the baby to pay closer attention to each other's verbal signs & facial expressions (Feldman).
• Active involvement - both the baby and the caregiver take on an active role. Both of them can initiate interactions & usally take turns doing so. Brazelton described this interaction as a dance one person responds to the other's moves.