Caregiver-infant interactions

  • Reciprocity- a description of how two people will interact. Caregiver-infant interaction is reciprocal in that both caregiver and baby respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other

  • International synchrony- caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way

  • Alert phases- from birth babies signal when they are ready to interact, such as eye contact

  • Reciprocity:

    • An interaction is said to show reciprocity when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them

    • Also known as turn-taking

    • From around three months this interaction tends to become increasingly frequent and involves both mother and baby paying close attention to each other’s verbal signals

  • Active involvement- it seems that babies as well as caregivers actually take quite an active role- both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions

  • Interactional synchrony

    • Can be defined as ‘the temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour’

    • Takes place when caregiver and baby interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror the other

    • Isabella et al (1989) observed 30 mothers and babies together and assessed the degree of synchrony

    • The researchers also assessed the quality of mother-baby attachment

    • They found that high levels of synchrony was associated with better quality mother-baby attachment

Evaluation:

+ Supporting research- Fearon and Roisman

  • Reviews of evidence linking attachment to later development

  • Concluded that early attachment consistently predicts later attachment, emotional well-being and attachment to own children

- Contradictory evidence- Regensberg longitudinal study

  • Followed 43 individuals from one year of age

  • At age 16 attachment was assessed using the adult attachment interview and there was no evidence of continuity

- Validity issues with retrospective studies

  • Most studies are carried out by researchers asking adolescent or adult participants about their relationships with their parents

  • Relies on the honesty and accurate perception of the participants

  • Makes it hard to know whether what is being assessed is early attachment or adult attachment

- Confounding variables

  • Some studies do assess attachment in infancy which is more valid

  • Parenting style may influence both attachment quality and later development

  • Genetically influenced personality may be an influence on both factors