?caregiver- infant interactions

Cards (12)

  • Describe and evaluate research into caregiver-infant interactions 16mks
    • caregiver- interactions intro
    • reciprocity
    • interactional synchrony
    • ao3 most studies were filmede observations in labs
    • ao3 difficulty observing babies
    • ao3 observation doesnt tell you about its developmental importance
    • caregiver- interactions intro
    • Psychologists believe that the social interactions babies have with their cares have important functions for a child’s social development
    • Good quality social interactions are associated with the successful development of attachment between the caregiver and infants
    • reciprocity
    • ~ when each person responds to the other and elicts a response from them. (turn-taking)
    • e.g. caregiver may respond to the baby’s smile by saying something which will elict a response from the baby
    • this was shown by
    • alert phases
    • active involvement
  • reciprocity : alert phases
    • alert phases
    • Where babies signal (e.g. make eye contact) that they are ready for interaction
    • Research shows that mothers tend to pick up on and respond to their baby’s alertness 2/3 of the time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007)
    • This varies according to the skill of mother and external factors e.g. stress (Finegood et al 2016)
    • From around 3 months , this interactions become more frequent and involves both mother and infant paying close attention to to each others verbal signals and facial expressions (Feldman 2007)
  • reciprocity: active involvement
    • active involvement
    • Traditional views of childhood have portrayed babies to have a passive role - receive care from adults
    • But it is shown that both babies and caregivers take on an active role
    • Both can initiate interactions and take turns doing so
    • T.Berry Brazelton et al (1975) described this interaction as a ‘dance’- its like a couple’s dance where each partner responds to the other person's moves
    • interactional synchrony
    • ~ caregiver and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the and do this in a synchronised way I.e. carry out the same action simultaneously- by mirroring their actions and emotions
    • Also described as ‘ the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour’ ( Feldman 2007)
  • interactional synchrony : synchrony begins
    • Meltzoff and Keith Moore (1977) obsereved the begining of interactional synchrony in babies as young as 2 weeks
    • Adult displayed one of 3 facial expressions or on distinctive hand gesturesn
    • Babies response was filmed and labelled by independent observers
    • Found babies expression aand gestures are more likely to mirror adults as there was a significant association
    • interactional synchrony :importance for attachment
    • Its believed that interactional synchrony is importsnt for the development of the caregiver-infant attachement
    • Rusell Isabella et al (1989) obsereved 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchroncy
    • Researchers are also assessed the quality of mother-baby attachment
    • Found higher levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-infant attachment (e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship)
    • ao3 most studies were filmede observations in labs
    • Means that other activity that might distract a baby can be controlled
    • Means observations can be recorded and analysed later
    • So unlikely that researchers will miss seeing key behaviors
    • Filming means that more than one observer can record data and establish their inter-rater reliabilty of observations
    • Babies don’t knpw their observed – so behaviour doesn’t change in response to observation
    • This is the main problem for over observations
    • .. therefore data collected in such research should have good reliability
    • ao3 difficulty observing babies
    • Hard to interpret baibies’ behaviour
    • They lack co-ordination and are often immoblie – their movements and expressions are subtle
    • So it difficult to be sure
    • Difficult to determine from the babies POV
    • Cant tell whether a baby reaction was random or it was triggered by something the caregiver did
    • … this means we cant be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver-infant interaction has a special meaning
  • ao3 observation doesnt tell you about its developmental importance(1/2)
    • Feldman (2012) points out that ideas like synchrony give names to patterns of observable caregiver and baby behviours
    • These are phenomenas – they can be reliably observed but may not be useful in understanding child development because it deosnt tell us the purpose of these behviouirs
    • … means we cant be certain that the observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important in development
  • ao3 observation doesnt tell you about its developmental importance (2/2)
    • However, theres other research that suggest that early interactions are important
    • e.g. Isabella et al (1989) found that achievement of interactional synchrony predicted the development of good quality attachment
    • … means that caregiver-infant interactions is important in development when balanced