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CAREGIVER-INFANT INTERACTIONS - Coggle Diagram
CAREGIVER-INFANT INTERACTIONS
Reciprocity
When the caregiver responds to the baby's actions with a similar action
From birth, babies move in a rhythm when interacting with an adult, like they are taking turns, although the responses are not necessarily similar as in interactional synchrony
Reciprocity = process in which a behaviour is matched during an interaction e.g. smiling back when someone smiles at us
Reciprocity develops in its simplest form at a very early age
Feldman (2007)
- reciprocity can be seen in interactions from 3 months of age
Babies have 'alert phases' - where they signal they are ready for a spell of interaction e.g. making eye contact - Research shows that mothers typically pick up on/respond to their baby's alertness around two-thirds of the time, although this varies according to the skill of the mother and external factors such as stress
(Finegood et al)
Interactional Synchrony
When the caregiver + infant react 'in time' with each other + mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial + body movements
Refers to how a parent's speech + infant's behaviour become finely synchronized so that they are in direct response to one another
Feldman (2007)
- defined interactional synchrony as 'temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour' and as 'symbolic exchanges between parent and child'
Feldman
suggests that interactional synchrony serves a critical role in developmental outcomes in terms of self-regulation, symbol use, and the capacity for empathy
Meltzoff + Moore (1997):
Children as young as 2 weeks old
4 stimuli (3 facial gestures + 1 hand gesture)
Observation study using behaviour categories
E.g. mouth opening, tongue protrusions
Association found between expression/gesture of the adult + the action of the babies
Controlled observations
Controlled observations allow us to capture alot of detail
They are well controlled + often filmed from multiple angles
Babies don't know/care they are being filmed so their behaviour doesn't change, which further increases the validity of the research
Research support for Reciprocity - Condon + Sander (1974)
Condon + Sander (1974)
Found that babies as young as 1 day synchronise their movements + responses with the phonetic structure of adult speech
The researchers reported a 'turn-by-turn' interaction in which and adult spoke, and the baby responded
This finding suggests babies can pay attention to sounds early + converse with physical movements/gestures that may see random at first glance
Meltzoff + Moore's study = lacks reliability - Koepke et al
Many attempts to reproduce the findings have been unsuccesful
E.g.
Koepke et al
failed to reproduce the findings
Meltzoff stated this was because the study was not controlled properly + therefore failed to replicate the results
Could just be general activity
It is difficult to know what is happening when observing infants
It is difficult to know why the infant is acting this way by only observing hand movements/facial expressions
Actions e.g. smiling/yawning occur frequently in children so it may just be general activity rather than specific imitated behaviours
Therefore we can't be sure that these actions have a special meaning
Attachment
A strong + reciprocal two way emotional bond between an in fact + a caregiver which endures overtime
We recognise an attachment when people display proximity + separation distress + secure base behaviour
Proximity
= stay physically close
Separation distress
= show distress when an attachment figure leaves their presence
Secure base behaviour
= make regular contact with our attachment figure