Developmental Psychology Attachment Chapter 3 Page 101 >>> Green

3.1 Caregiver-infant interactions in humans Key terms: Attachment Reciprocity Interactional Synchrony Sensitivity Imitation

Learning Objectives Define attachment You should be able to…. Define attachment Outline key characteristics of attachment Explain with correct terminology caregiver- human interactions

What’s the difference between a foal, a baby dolphin and a human baby? Precocial animals are born at a more advanced stage of development Altricial animals are born at an early stage of development. They need to form attachment bonds with adults to protect and care for them

WHAT IS ATTACHMENT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRoqk_z2Lgg – Pandora advert showing the bond between mother and child “The formation of a strong, reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver” 44

Starter It’s 1941 and the war is waging. You are a married woman with 3 small children: a girl aged 6, a boy aged 5 and a baby girl of 8 months. The father is away fighting a lot of the time. You live in London and the bombing is bad. You cannot move away. You are being encouraged by the government to have your children evacuated. The government’s conditions are that you can send any number of your children to live with families in the countryside and, if more than one is evacuated, they will stay together with one family. The government will ensure that they are not ill-treated. You can visit once a month for the weekend but, because of travelling distances, this is likely to be just 24 hours or so with your child/ children. Needless to say, you don’t know how long the war will last. In your group, come up with a unanimous decision based on this scenario. You must decide what you will do and why. You can send all of the children or just one/two of them. Whoever is sent, what effect might it have on later relationships? Is it selfish not to send any of them?

Attachment definitions “A strong, reciprocal, emotional bond between an infant and caregiver(s) characterised by a desire to maintain proximity. Infants display attachment through separation distress, pleasure at reunion with the caregiver, and stranger anxiety”. note key words in the definitions

So - Attachment bonds are characterised by the infant’s desire to stay in close proximity to the carer. The infant will express distress when separated The attachment figure gives an infant a sense of security and comfort Interactions between the carer and the infant develop and strengthen the attachment bond Although the infant cannot speak at this stage the communication between the infant and carer is rich and complex and occurs in several ways Why these early days are so important

Caregiver-Infant Interactions One of the key interaction between caregivers and infants is their non-verbal communication, i.e. communicating without words and sometimes without sound. Such interactions may form the basis of attachment between an infant and caregiver. It is the manner in which each responds to the other that determines the formation of attachment So, the more sensitive each is to the others’ signals, the deeper the relationship.

Caregiver – infant human interactions are facilitated by the following things Bodily contact – physical interactions between carer and infant help to form the attachment bond. This is supported by the research of Klaus & Kennell (1976)

Caregiverese – adults who interact with infants use a modified form of vocal language that is high pitched, song-like, slow and repetitive. This is supported by the research of Papousek (1991) Reciprocity – interactions between carers and children are mutual. Infant and caregiver are both active contributors in the interaction and they can be seen to respond to each other. The relationship goes both ways - there is turn taking.

Mimicking (interactional Synchrony) – infants seem to have an innate ability to imitate carers’ facial expressions. According to research by Meltzoff and Moore (1983) infants as young as 3 days imitate the facial expression of adults. This implies that this ability to mirror is an innate behaviour. For the joy of it, find examples of new-borns mimicking on you tube

Condon and Sander (1974) have investigated interactions between Interactional synchrony - relates to the timing and pattern of the interaction. The interaction is rhythmic and can include infant and caregiver mirroring each other’s behaviour and emotion.  The infant and caregiver’s behaviours and affect are synchronised because they are moving in the same, or a similar, pattern. Condon and Sander (1974) have investigated interactions between infants and caregivers in particular in relation to responses to adult speech. In their paper they report “As early as the first day of life, the human neonate moves in precise and sustained segments of movement that are synchronous with the articulated structure of adult speech”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdLKpxktJB4

Caregiver-infant interactions Interactional synchrony Infants move their bodies in tune with the rhythm of carers’ spoken language to create a kind of turn-taking, as seen with two way vocal-conversations. This again serves to reinforce the attachment bond. This is when two people interact and they tend to mirror what the other is doing in terms of their facial expressions and body movements. This includes imitating emotions as well as behaviours. Research: Meltztoff and Moore (1977) An association was found between the expression or gesture the adult had displayed and the actions of the babies.

Interactional Synchrony Meltzoff and Moore (1977) conducted the first systematic study of Interactional Synchrony and found that infants as young as two to three weeks old imitated specific facial and hand gestures. The study was conducted using an adult model who displayed one of three facial expressions or hand movements where the fingers moved in a sequence. A dummy was placed in the infant’s mouth during the initial display to prevent any response Following the display, the dummy was removed and the child’s expression was filmed They found that there was an association between the infant behaviour and that of the adult model Quick video showing an experimenter and baby imitation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2YdkQ1G5QI

What’s the difference between reciprocity and interactional synchrony? Reciprocity is where the mother and infant respond to each other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other. Interactional synchrony – mother and infant reflect both the actions and emotions of the other AND they do this in a co-ordinated, synchronised way.

Problems with testing infant behaviour Many studies involving observation of interactions between mothers and infants have shown the same patterns of interaction. However, what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression. It is extremely difficult to be certain, based on these observations, what is taking place from the infant’s perspective. Is, for example, the infants imitation of adult signals conscious and deliberate? This means that we cannot really know for certain that behaviours seen in mother-infant interaction have a special meaning.

Evaluation  P – A weakness of using observations is that they don’t tell us the purpose of synchrony and reciprocity E- for example, Feldman points out that synchrony and reciprocity simply describe behaviours that occur at the same time E – these can be reliably observed, but it doesn’t tell us the purpose of these caregiver-infant interactions. L – Therefore further research into this area may be needed to explain the purpose of these interactions.

Evaluation  P – A limitation with the interactional synchrony explanation of caregiver-infant interactions is that it is not found in all cultures E- For example, Le Vine et al (1994) reported that Kenyan mothers have little physical interactions or physical contact with their infants, but such infants do have a high proportion of secure attachments. E – Therefore, the research may be ethnocentric and ignores how attachments may be formed within other cultures. It also suggest that these behaviour may not be innate. L – As a consequence this reduces the credibility of the research as all cultures should be taken into account in order to generalise as much as possible.

Prep 1 Exam questions 1. Explain what is meant by interactional synchrony (2 marks) 2. Explain what is meant by the term reciprocity in the context of caregiver- infant interactions ( 2 marks) 3. Outline research into caregiver-infant interactions. ( 4 marks) 4. Explain why reciprocity and interactional synchrony are important in the formation of attachments ( 4 marks)

Apply it Prep 2 Proud father Abdul was talking to his friend, as they were both watching Abdul’s wife, Tasneem, interacting with their baby daughter, Aisha. “It’s amazing really” said Abdul. “Tasneem smiles, Aisha smiles back. Tasneem moves her head, Aisha moves hers, perfectly in time with each other” “Yes”, agreed the friend “Its almost as if they are one person”. With reference to Abdul’s conversation with his friend, outline two features of caregiver interaction ( 4 marks)

Mark Scheme

The importance of caregiver- infant interactions in humans Prep 3 Click here The importance of caregiver- infant interactions in humans Watch the video and make notes… Is the video showing interactional synchrony or reciprocity? Or both? What does this tell us about the importance of caregiver-infant interactions? Feedback to class next lesson Tronick –still face paradigm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apzXGEbZht0

Check your terminology Outline two features of caregiver interaction – give some examples Reciprocity (taking turns)- Attachments develop by a reciprocal process which is two-way where an emotional connection develops between an infant and his/her primary caregiver Examples of reciprocity: The caregiver reacts and responds to the signals given out by the baby, providing comfort warmth and empathy. Smiling back at the baby when he/she smiles; picking them up and giving a cuddle when they cry 2. Interactional synchrony is a theory of social communication where behaviours of one or more individuals become synchronized. Communication is seen to be like a synchronized dance.