Attachment Revision Notes
Caregiver-Infant Interactions
Difference Between Reciprocity and International Synchrony
RECIPROCITY INTERNATIONAL
SYNCHRONY
TURN-TAKING MIRRORING
,Reciprocity:
• 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.
• E.g. A caregiver might respond to their baby’s smile by saying something and then
this in turn elicits a response from his baby.
• This kind of reciprocal interaction is also sometimes called ‘turn-taking’.
Alert Phases
• Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ in which they signal (e.g. making eye contact)
that they are ready for a spell of interaction.
• Mothers typically pick up on and respond to their baby’s alertness around 2/3 of
the time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007), although this varies according to the skill
of the mother and external factors such as stress (Finegood et al. 2016).
• From around 3 months this interaction tends to become increasingly frequent
and involves both mother and baby paying close attention to each other’s verbal
signals and facial expressions (Feldman 2007).
Active Involvement
• Traditional views of childhood have portrayed babies in a passive role, receiving
care from an adult. However, it seems that babies as well as caregivers actually
take quite an active role.
• Both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in
doing so.
• Brazelton (1975) described mother-infant interactions as a ‘dance’ because both
parties take an active role, and each person is responding to the others moves.
,International Synchrony:
• Caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in
a co-ordinated (synchronised) way.
• Interactional synchrony can be defined as ‘the temporal co-ordination of micro-level
social behaviour’ (Feldman 2007).
• It takes place when caregiver and baby interact in such a way that their actions and
emotions mirror the other.
Synchrony Begins: Meltzoff & Moore (1977)
-6 babies (12-27 days old)
-12 babies (16-21 days old)
Babies were exposed to 4 different stimuli:
-Three facial gestures (sticking tongue out)
-One manual gesture (waving fingers)
The babies actions were video recorded. An independent observer (who had no
knowledge of what the infant had just seen) was asked to note all instances of
tongue protrusion and head movements using a number. Each observer scored the
tapes twice.
The results indicated that babies aged 12-27 days old could imitate both facial
expressions and manual gestures.
Therefore international synchrony is occurring in infants from a very young age and
forms part of caregiver-infant interactions.
Importance for Attachment: Isabella et al. (1989)
-30 mothers and infants
Observation where two variables were assessed.
One was the degree of synchrony, and the other was the quality of the mother-infant
attachment.
High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachment.
, Evaluation:
Filmed Observations
• Strength of research is that caregiver-infant interactions are usually filmed in a
laboratory.
• Means that other activity, that might distract a baby, can be controlled.
• Also, using films means that observations can be recorded and analysed later.
• It is unlikely that researchers will miss seeing key behaviours.
• Furthermore, having filmed interactions means that more than one observer can
record data and establish the inter-rate reliability of observations.
• Babies don’t know they are being observed so their behaviour does not change in
response to observation.
• Therefore, data collected in such research should have good reliability and validity.
Difficulty Observing Babies
• Limitation of research is that it is hard to interpret a baby’s behaviour in caregiver-
infant interactions.
• Young babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile.
• The movements being observed are just small hand movements or subtle changes in
expression. It is difficult to be sure, whether a baby is smiling or just passing wind.
• It is also difficult to determine what is taking place from the baby’s perspective, e.g.
whether a movement such as a hand twitch is random or triggered by something the
caregiver has done.
• Means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver-infant
interactions have a special meaning.
Caregiver-Infant Interactions
Difference Between Reciprocity and International Synchrony
RECIPROCITY INTERNATIONAL
SYNCHRONY
TURN-TAKING MIRRORING
,Reciprocity:
• 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.
• E.g. A caregiver might respond to their baby’s smile by saying something and then
this in turn elicits a response from his baby.
• This kind of reciprocal interaction is also sometimes called ‘turn-taking’.
Alert Phases
• Babies have periodic ‘alert phases’ in which they signal (e.g. making eye contact)
that they are ready for a spell of interaction.
• Mothers typically pick up on and respond to their baby’s alertness around 2/3 of
the time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007), although this varies according to the skill
of the mother and external factors such as stress (Finegood et al. 2016).
• From around 3 months this interaction tends to become increasingly frequent
and involves both mother and baby paying close attention to each other’s verbal
signals and facial expressions (Feldman 2007).
Active Involvement
• Traditional views of childhood have portrayed babies in a passive role, receiving
care from an adult. However, it seems that babies as well as caregivers actually
take quite an active role.
• Both caregiver and baby can initiate interactions and they appear to take turns in
doing so.
• Brazelton (1975) described mother-infant interactions as a ‘dance’ because both
parties take an active role, and each person is responding to the others moves.
,International Synchrony:
• Caregiver and baby reflect both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in
a co-ordinated (synchronised) way.
• Interactional synchrony can be defined as ‘the temporal co-ordination of micro-level
social behaviour’ (Feldman 2007).
• It takes place when caregiver and baby interact in such a way that their actions and
emotions mirror the other.
Synchrony Begins: Meltzoff & Moore (1977)
-6 babies (12-27 days old)
-12 babies (16-21 days old)
Babies were exposed to 4 different stimuli:
-Three facial gestures (sticking tongue out)
-One manual gesture (waving fingers)
The babies actions were video recorded. An independent observer (who had no
knowledge of what the infant had just seen) was asked to note all instances of
tongue protrusion and head movements using a number. Each observer scored the
tapes twice.
The results indicated that babies aged 12-27 days old could imitate both facial
expressions and manual gestures.
Therefore international synchrony is occurring in infants from a very young age and
forms part of caregiver-infant interactions.
Importance for Attachment: Isabella et al. (1989)
-30 mothers and infants
Observation where two variables were assessed.
One was the degree of synchrony, and the other was the quality of the mother-infant
attachment.
High levels of synchrony were associated with better quality attachment.
, Evaluation:
Filmed Observations
• Strength of research is that caregiver-infant interactions are usually filmed in a
laboratory.
• Means that other activity, that might distract a baby, can be controlled.
• Also, using films means that observations can be recorded and analysed later.
• It is unlikely that researchers will miss seeing key behaviours.
• Furthermore, having filmed interactions means that more than one observer can
record data and establish the inter-rate reliability of observations.
• Babies don’t know they are being observed so their behaviour does not change in
response to observation.
• Therefore, data collected in such research should have good reliability and validity.
Difficulty Observing Babies
• Limitation of research is that it is hard to interpret a baby’s behaviour in caregiver-
infant interactions.
• Young babies lack co-ordination and much of their bodies are almost immobile.
• The movements being observed are just small hand movements or subtle changes in
expression. It is difficult to be sure, whether a baby is smiling or just passing wind.
• It is also difficult to determine what is taking place from the baby’s perspective, e.g.
whether a movement such as a hand twitch is random or triggered by something the
caregiver has done.
• Means we cannot be certain that the behaviours seen in caregiver-infant
interactions have a special meaning.
