Caregiver-Infant Interactions
Caregiver- Infant Interactions
Caregiver – infant interactions
Even from a few hours old babies start to show evidence that they are actively trying to form meaningful social interactions with the carers. It is believed that these interactions have important functions for the child’s social development.
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Reciprocity
Reciprocity is when both the caregiver and the baby respond to each other signals. This means that each individual elicits a response from the other. For example, the caregiver might respond to the babies smile by saying something which then turn illicits a response from the baby. This is an essential part of early social interaction as to be successful when having conversations people need to take turns otherwise people would just talk over each other. It is said that babies have periodic alert phases in which they signal that they are ready for spell of interaction.
Research has found that mothers typically pick up and respond to babies in around two thirds of the time. Feldman and Idleman (2007) however have found that this can differ depending on the skill of the mother when responding to the baby. Feldman in 2007 suggests that from around three months of age, the interactions become increasingly frequent and both mother and baby pay close attention to each other verbal signals. Brazelton (1975) describes the interaction as being like a dance because it resembles the way that a couple dance when each partner responds to the other persons moves.
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Interactional Synchrony
Interactional synchrony refers to the interactions between caregiver and baby where they move in a very coordinated or synchronised way. This refers to both the actions and the emotions of the other. Two people are said to be synchronised when they carry out the same action simultaneously. Interaction synchrony can therefore be defined as ‘the temporal coordination of microlevel social behaviour’ (Feldman, 2007).
Meltzoff and Moore in 1977 observed the beginnings of interactions synchrony in babies as young as two weeks old. The adult had to display one of three facial expressions and one of three distinctive gestures towards the baby. The babies responses were filmed and labelled by independent observers. It was found that the babies expressions and gestures were likely to mirror those of the adults more than would have occurred by chance.
It is also believed that interactional synchrony is important for the development of the caregiver infant attachment bond. Isabella et al in 1989 found that in a sample of 30 mothers and babies that the higher the degree of synchrony the better the quality the attachment.
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Evaluation
1. One strength of the research into interactional synchrony and reciprocity is that these interactions are usually filmed in a laboratory setting. This means that there is a high level of control over any extraneous variables that could distract the baby. Additionally, filming the observations means that the recordings can be analysed later, and also means that researchers are less likely to miss any key behaviours. Moreover, filming the interactions enables other observers at a later date to review the recordings in order to establish the inter rate to reliability of the observations. Another advantage of filming babies is that they do not know that they are being observed therefore they are less likely to change their behaviour in response to the observations (show demand characteristics). All of this helps to make sure that the research has good reliability and validity.
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2. One problem of research into caregiver interactions is that it is very difficult to establish what the motives and intentions are of the baby's behaviour. We do not know for sure whether the baby intends to make the gesture or facial expression to the adult or whether it is due to some other reason. Young babies lack coordination, which means it is difficult to determine what is taking place from the babies own perspective. It is difficult to know whether the interactions do have a special meaning or whether they are just chance movements.
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3. Another problem with studying young babies is that it is difficult to know what the developmental importance is of the behaviour. Feldman in 2012 points out that concepts like synchrony and reciprocity are just names for patterns of observable behaviour. Although we can name these behaviours it does not tell us the purpose behind these behaviours. This is a problem as we cannot be certain how important reciprocity and synchrony are for the child development. However, there is evidence from other research which suggests early interactions are important. For example, Isabella et al (1989) found that Interactional synchrony predicts the development of good quality attachments.
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4. A further consideration is with regards to the social sensitivity of research into caregiver interactions. On the one hand, Crotwell et al (2013) found that one 10-minute parent child interaction therapy improved the interaction synchrony in 20 low income mothers and their preschool children. This is a positive application of the research. However, on the other hand, the research is socially sensitive, as it can be used to argue that a woman should delay going back to work after having a baby because she may risk damaging her babies development.
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