caregiver and infant interactions

what is attachment

a close 2 way emotional bond between 2 people which develops between an infant and their caregiver during its early life

what are the 2 types of interactions

reciprocity - when infant and carer respond to each others signals, as they do so it elicits a response from the other

interactional synchrony - when the infant and carer reflect each others actions and emotions in a coordinated/ synchronised way

outline study into reciprocity + state name of researcher

BRAZELTON ET AL - reciprocity

-he proposed reciprocal interaction as a metaphorical dance because the infant and caregiver to turns to respond to each others movements

-he argued that a carers responsiveness is vital to build the foundations for their attachment later on and for the babys future social development

outline 2 studies into interactional synchrony + state name the researchers

MELTZOFF and MOORE

-experimenter displayed facial gestures e.g. sticking out tongue aswell as manual gestures e.g. opening and closing hands to children as little as 2 years old and found they were able to successfully imitate behaviour

ISABELLA ET AL

-observed 30 mothers and their babies and assessed the level of synchrony and quality of attachment, they found high levels of synchrony was associated with high level of attachment (emotional intensity)