caregiver-infant interactions

attachment

infants and caregivers develop deep and lasting emotional bonds. both members of this emotional relationship seek closeness and feel more secure when close to their attachment figure. the strength of the bonds can be seen in complex two-way caregiver-infant interactions such as reciprocity and interactional synchrony.

what are the care-giver and infant interactions in humans?

• reciprocity

• interactional synchrony

• imitation

• sensitive responsiveness

• CDS

• body contact

reciprocity

a mutual turn-taking form of interaction. both caregiver and infant contribute to the interaction by responding to the other's signals and cues.

interactional synchrony

a simultaneous interaction between the infant and caregiver who appear to be acting rhythmically, with matching, coordinated behaviour and matching emotional states.

imitation

the infant directly copies the caregiver's expression.

sensitive responsiveness

the adult caregiver correctly interprets the meaning of the infant's communication and is motivated to respond appropriately. e.g. they provide milk or change a nappy when the infant shows distress.

child-directed speech (CDS) - a.k.a baby talk

the adult caregiver talks in a "sing-song" tone, modulating their voice by slowing it down and raising the pitch; this voice modulation helps keep the infant's attention.

body contact

physical contact, especially skin-to-skin contact, is necessary for bonding, especially in the first few hours of life (i.e. breastfeeding).

evaluations of caregiver-infant interactions

✅meltzoff and moore (1977)

✅condon and sander (1974)

✅internal validity

❌use of inferences

❌social sensitivity

meltzoff and moore (1977)

an experimenter displayed facial gestures such as sticking a tongue out and opening their mouth in shock to 12-21-day-old infants. recordings of the infant's responses were rated by people blind to the experiment.

• it was found infant responses matched the experimenter's facial expressions.

• these results suggest the ability to observe and reciprocate through imitation is present from a very early age.

condon and sander (1974)

videotaped interactions between adults and neonates, focusing on the movements of the neonates in response to adult speech.

• using a detailed frame-by-frame analysis of the video recordings, they found evidence of interactional synchrony/coordination between the neonate's movements and the rhythmic patterns of the adult's speech.

• these results suggest even from birth, humans have an innate ability for social interaction.

high internal validity

many studies use multiple observers, blind to the true aims of the experiment to provide inter-rater reliability or even use complex camera systems to document and slow down micro-sequences of interactions between caregivers and infants. this high control of infant studies indicates high internal validity.

inferences

infants cannot directly communicate their thoughts or emotions. therefore, findings in caregiver-infant interaction research depend on inferences, which are considered unscientific.

• inferences are assumptions about infants' internal mental states based on observed behaviour. however, inferences could be mistaken; for example, researchers should not claim imitation behaviour is intentional; it may be imitation is an unconscious automatic reflex response.

social sensitivity

social sensitivity is a concern when investigating childrearing techniques, including norms around caregiver-infant interactions; some women may find their life choices criticised, such as mothers who decide to return to the workplace shortly after giving birth and cannot develop a high level of interactional synchrony with their infant.

what are the 4 stages of attachment identified by schaffer?

1. asocial

2. indiscriminate attachment

3. specific attachment

4. multiple attachment

asocial

0-6 weeks: babies display innate behaviours (crying/smiling) that ensure proximity to any potential caregiver. as their perceptual ability is limited, they will also display these behaviours to non-human objects. anyone can comfort them, as they do not prefer any individual caregiver.

indiscriminate attachment

6 weeks-7months: infants develop the ability to tell the difference between humans and objects and between familiar and unfamiliar individuals, smiling more at the people they see frequently. however, they do not yet show stranger anxiety (distress at the presence of a stranger) or separation anxiety. (distress at the absence of a primary caregiver)

specific attachment

7-9 months: babies form a strong attachment to a primary caregiver, most often their mother. it is in this stage that separation anxiety and stranger anxiety develop.

multiple attachment

9/10+ months: the infant starts to form attachments with other regular caregivers (like fathers, grandparents, siblings), and stranger anxiety starts to decrease.