caregiver infant interactions

• Attachment is a close two way bond between two indiviudals.
• The two types of interactions are reciprocity and interactional synchrony.
• • babies have meaningful social interactions with carers
  • these are important for social development and are associated with successful developments of attachments
• Reciprocity is when things are exchanged between people for a mutual benefit

  • both individuals smile, laugh, point and respond
• Alert phases: babies signal that theyre ready for interaction

  • mothers typically pick up on this 2/3 of time (Feldman and Eidelman)
  • becomes more frequent from 3 months
• Active involvement: babies and carers take an active role in starting interactions and take turns

  • Brazelton et al described this as a dance
• Interactional synchrony: two or more people acting simultaneously

  • reflect actions and emotions in a coordinated way
• Isabella et al:

  • assessed 30 mother and babies and degree of interactional synchrony
  • researchers assessed quality of attachment
  • high levels of synchrony = better quality attachment
• Meltzoff and Moore:

  • observed interactional synchrony in infants
  • adult displayed 1 of 3 gestures (mouth open, tongue out, pouty face)
  • baby's response was filmed and labelled by observers
  • expressions and gestures were more likely to be cause of reflection than chance
• EVALUATION: filmed observations in labs

  • distractions are controlled and unlikely to change behaviour when filmed - behaviour is natural
  • observations can be recorded and analysed later - can rewatch, making data reliable
  • filming improves quality of research - data is reliable and valid
• EVALUATION: difficulty in observing and interpreting behaviour

  • babies lack coordination and most of body is immobile - small hand movements or change in expression
  • difficult to determine what is happening from baby's perspective - dont know whether hand twitch is random or triggered
  • cant be certain that behaviours in interactions have special meaning
• EVALUATION: doesnt tell us developmental importance

  • Isabella et al - interactional synchrony predicted development of good attachment - hasnt always been replicated
  • Feldman - synchrony gives name to patterns of observable baby-caregiver behaviours - doesnt tell us purpose
  • cant be certain from research alone that reciprocity and synchrony are important for development