caregiver and infant interactions

• attachment is a strong emotional bond which is reciprocated between 2 people
• attachment allows infants to maintain proximity with their caregiver
• maccoby identified characteristics of attachment

  • behavioural orientated
  • pleasure when reunited
  • social releasers
  • distress on separation
• interactions between babies and caregivers are important for childs social development
• reciprocity relates to how 2 people interact
• reciprocity is when mother and baby responds to one another's signals and each elicit a response from other
• feldman - research support

  • found babies and main caregiver spend alot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction
  • alert phases - caregivers respond to babies signals for interaction (baby cries for milk)
  • around 3 months old - interactions become frequent and involve close attention to verbal signs and facial expression
• brazelton - supporting research

  • described reciprocity as a 'dance' because of way infants and caregivers respond to each others movements
  • both have active role where they initiate interactions and take turns doing so
• interactional synchrony is where mother and infant interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other

  • isabella found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother/infant attachment
• meltzoff and moore

  • observed beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants
  • adult displayed 1 of 3 facial expressions or gestures
  • childs response was filmed and identified by independent observers (eliminate researcher bias)
  • association found between expression/gesture made by adults and actions of the babies
• research supporting meltzoff and moores claims

  • trevarthen - observed 2 month olds interact with mothers via video monitor in real time (can mirror one another) and then showed tape recording where there was no response to infants attempted interactions
  • infants grew distressed at lack of response - shows infants actively and intentionally are interacting to elicit a response rather than displaying behaviour thats been rewarded.
• research refuting meltzoff and moores claims

  • piaget - criticises m + m proposal that imitation was intentional and suggests instead that it was a 'pseudo-imitation' and there was no conscious awareness in infants
  • suggests interaction was result of operant conditioning where behaviour was rewarded by positive responses such as smiling from caregiver - then repeated to gain positive response
  • piaget stated interaction was due to operant conditioning where babies response was rewarded so they then repeated
• evaluation points for caregiver and infant interactions

  • reliability of testing infants
  • individual differences
  • research support
• reliability of testing infants (+) eval point

  • research into infants has been criticised that infant behaviour is difficult to reliably test - dont know what babies are doing or thinking - dont know babies intentions
  • difficult to distinguish general activity and specific behaviours
  • difficult to know whether behaviour was response to interaction of naturally occurring
  • m+m overcame uncertainty by using independent observers who watched response and made judgements on what is being imitated
  • increases internal validity and decreases researcher bis through using independent observers
• individual differences as eval point for caregiver and infant interactions

  • theory doesnt consider individual differences between infants that could affect their behaviour
  • isabella found more strongly attached infant caregiver pairs showed greater interactional synchrony - suggests there is link
  • heiman showed infants demonstrating alot of imitation from birth onwards found to have better quality relationships at 3 months
  • limitation as theory assumes all infants will respond in SAME way when actually research has found it differs from infant to infant.
• research support as eval point for caregiver and infant interactions

  • has been theories conducted which support infants behaviour being intentional (goes against piagets claims)
  • researchers observed infant behaviour when interacting with 2 inanimate objects (one with stimulating tongue and other opening and closing mouth)
  • found infants made little responses to objects due to them being inanimate
  • concluded infants initiate a specific social response to other humans - supports idea of infant and caregiver interaction