Reciprocity & Interactional synchrony

• Reciprocity


  One person responds to the other
• Interactional synchrony


  Two people who are said to be synchronised when they carry out the same interaction simultaneously; the coordination of microlevel behaviour
• New born babies


  • Have alert phases
  • Babies and their mothers spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable activities
  • Babies signal when they are ready for interaction
  • Mothers respond to this 2/3s of the time
• Interactional synchrony


  • Takes place when mothers and children interact in a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other
• Interactional synchrony at two weeks old

  • Meltzof and Moore observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as two weeks old
  • An adult displayed one of three expressions or gestures, when the child was filmed and watched back, an association between expression/ gesture and the action of the child
• Interactional synchrony


  • Important for development of attachment (high synchrony = higher quality of attachment)
  • Synchrony provided the necessary foundation for a mother/infant connection
• Reciprocity


  • From three months reciprocal interaction tends to be increasingly frequent
• Baby's role


  The baby takes an active role, not a passive role