Caregiver-infant interactions

• Attachment- A two way emotional bond which an individual sees essential for their own emotional security. ( Infant and Caregiver)
• 3 ways to know your attached

  • Proximity
  • Separation distress
  • Secure-base behaviour
• Reciprocity-how two people interact. Caregiver infant interaction is reciprocal that both the caregiver and infant respond to each others signals and elicit a response from the other. - turn taking
• Interactional synchrony- caregiver and infant reflect both actions and emotions in a coordinated synchronised way
• A strength of caregiver infant interactions

  +Filmed observations in lab studies

  • Distractions can be controlled
  • can be analysed later- unlikely to miss something
  • Babies don't know they are being observed
  • More then one observer can record date- inter-rater reliability
• A limitation of caregiver infant interactions

  • Difficulty in observing babies
  • ilack coordination- immobile bodies- subtle expression
• [Isabella et al] - observed 30 mothers and babies- found that high levels of synchrony associated with a better quality attachment
• -Unethical/socially sensitive

  • because arguing that when a mother returns to work after having a baby they might damage their baby's development