Behavioural approach to explaining phobias

• Attachment


  Emotional bond between two people, in which each person sees the other as essential for emotional security
• Two types of caregiver-infant interactions

  Reciprocity and interactional synchrony
• Reciprocity


  Type of interaction. Caregiver and baby respond to eachothers signals and each elicits a response from the other.
• Feldman's statement on reciprocity

  Reciprocity can be seen in interactions from three months old
• Alert phase


  Babies showing they are ready for interaction
• Feldman and Eidelman (2007)


  Mothers typically pick up on and respond to infant alertness around two-thirds of the time. Depending on external factors (Finegood 2016)
• Active Involvement (Reciprocity)


  Babies as well as caregivers take an active role. Brazelton described this as a dance.
• Interactional synchrony


  Mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated way.
• Feldman's definition of interactional synchrony

  the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social behaviour
• Meltztoff and Moore (1977)


  Adult displayed facial expression/gesture. Babies response was filmed observed.

  Found that babies expressions/gestures were very likely to mirror the adults (significant association)
• Isabella et al (1989)


  Assessed degree of synchrony and quality of attachment in 30 mothers and babies.

  Found high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-baby attachment.
• Evaluation: filmed observations (caregiver-infant interactions)

  Strength

  Meltzoff and Moore: Lab study controls and reduces extraneous variables like the babies getting distracted. Increases reliability.

  Filmed study means it can be analysed again and establish inter-rate reliability.

  Babies don't know they are being observed, overtime observation is not an issue in this case.
• Evaluation: difficulty in observations babies (caregiver-infant interactions)

  Limitation

  Hard to interpret babies behaviour as they lack co-ordination and almost immobile.

  Their facial expressions and movements are hard to differentiate.

  Also hard to determine babies perspective. Can't know whether a movement is random or due to the caregiver.

  Can't be certain from observational research whether or not a babies behaviour in interactions have special meaning.
• Evaluation: developmental importance (caregiver-infant interactions)

  Limitation

  Observing behaviour doesn't tell us its developmental importance.

  Feldman states ideas like synchrony only give names to patterns seen in caregiver-infant interactions.

  These observations don't tell us the purpose of the behaviours and therefore can't tell us the importance of them in development of infants.

  Can't be certain from observational research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for a child's research alone.
• Counter evaluation: developmental importance (caregiver-infant interactions)

  There is evidence for importance for reciprocity and Interactional synchrony

  Isabella et al 1989: found association between interactional synchrony and quality of attachment

  So caregiver-infant interaction probably has importance in development.