Caregiver-infant interactions -A-Level Psychology
Attachment-Is an emotional bond between two people.It is a two-way process that developed over time. It leads to certain behaviours e.g clinging and proximity seeking, and serves the function of protecting an infant.
Caregiver-Any person who is providing care for a child such as a parent.
Interactional synchrony- When two people interact they tend to mirror what the other is doing such as their facial and body movements, and imitating emotions and behaviours.
Reciprocity- When a person responds to the action of another with a similar action.
Reciprocity and Interactional synchrony:
Reciprocity-Jaffe et al(1973) suggested that infants coordinated their actions with caregivers(like a conversation).Brazelton(1979) suggested that this rhythm is a precursor for later communications.This allows a caregiver to anticipate the infant’s behaviour and respond appropriately.This sensitivity to infant behaviour allows further attachment to occur.
Interactional synchrony-Andrew Meltzoff and Keith Moore(1977)
-carried out a study of interactional synchrony between an adult model and infants of two/three weeks.They found that these young infants were able to imitate specific facial and hand gestures.
-The adult model displayed ⅓ facial expressions or hand gestures where the fingers moved in a sequence.A dummy was placed in the infant’s mouth to prevent any response in the initial display.After the display ,the dummy was removed and the child’s expression was filmed .An association between the infant behaviour and the adult model was found.In a later study,they did the same study with infants only three days old.The fact that infants this young were displaying the behaviour ruled out the possibility that the imitation behaviours are learned.
Real or pseudo imitation?
Meltzoff and Moore suggested that the imitation is intentional. However, Jean Piaget(1962) believed that true imitation developed at the end of the first year and anything before this was response training(infant repeating behaviour that was rewarded -a result of operant conditioning). Piaget believed the infants behaviour was pseudo imitation ,the infant had not consciously translated what they see into a matching movement.
Murray and Trevarthen’s study(1985)-Two month old infants first interacted via a video monitor with their mother in real time.Then the video monitor played a tape where the mother is not responding to the infants’s facial and bodily gestures causing acute distress in the infant.The infants tried to gain their mother’s interest but when they received no response they turned away.This demonstrated that the infant is actively producing a response rather than displaying a response that has been rewarded.This further supports the idea that such behaviours are innate rather than learned.
Evaluation:
Problems with testing infant behaviour-Infant’s mouths are constantly moving and expressions that are tested occur frequently.This makes it harder to distinguish between general activity and imitated behaviours. To increase the internal validity of Meltzoff and Moore’s study they asked an observer to judge the infants behaviour from the video(the observer didn’t know the behaviour was being imitated).
Failure to replicate- Marian et al (1996) replicated Murray and Trevarthen’s study and found that infants couldn’t differentiate live and videotaped images.This suggested that they were not responding to the adult.Marian et al suggested that this may be down to procedural problems rather than the ability of infants to imitate their caregivers.
Individual differences- there are some variations between infants that affect interactional synchrony .Isabella at al(1989) found that infants that were more strongly attached to the caregiver showed greater interactional synchrony.
Is the behavior intentional- to test this the infants were given an inanimate object. Abravanel and Deyoung(1991) observed infants with two objects( 1 stimulating tongue movement and the other mouth opening/ closing.Infants between 5-12 weeks made little response to the objects.This concluded that imitation is limited and a specific social response to other humans
Caregiver-infant interactions refer to the reciprocal relationship between an infant and their caregiver. It involves the communication and emotional exchanges between the two parties, which have a profound impact on the infant’s development.
Attachment theory suggests that infants form an emotional bond with their caregiver, and this bond influences their development. This theory highlights the importance of early experiences in shaping the quality of attachment between infants and caregivers.
Caregivers can influence infant development in various ways, including through their responsiveness, communication, and provision of a secure and nurturing environment. Positive interactions with caregivers can promote healthy socioemotional and cognitive development in infants.
There are four main types of attachment styles: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized. These attachment styles reflect the quality of the emotional bond between the caregiver and the infant.
Caregivers can promote positive interactions with infants by being responsive, providing a secure and nurturing environment, communicating effectively, and engaging in activities that promote healthy development.
Play is an important aspect of caregiver-infant interactions, as it can promote cognitive, social, and emotional development. Caregivers can engage in different types of play with infants, including social play, object play, and physical play.
Positive caregiver-infant interactions can promote healthy socioemotional and cognitive development, while negative interactions can lead to developmental problems such as attachment disorders, behavior problems, and cognitive delays.
The study of caregiver-infant interactions can provide insight into the critical role of early experiences in shaping human development. This research can inform interventions aimed at promoting healthy development in infants and children.
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