Introduction to Attachment
Joy on reunion
1
, Caregiver-infant interactions
Meaningful social interactions with their carers have important functions for the child’s social
development, particularly for the development of caregiver-infant attachment.
Reciprocity
Babies have periodic “alert phases” and signal that they are ready for interaction. From birth, babies
and their mothers (or other carers) spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction.
Around 2/3 of the times, mothers typically pick up on and respond to infant alertness. (Feldman and
Eidelman 2007).
After 3 months, the interaction becomes more frequent and involves close attention to each other’s
verbal signals and facial expressions (Feldman 2007). Reciprocity is a key element, and an interaction
is reciprocal when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them.
Traditional views of childhood have seen the baby in a passive role, receiving care from an adult.
However, it seems like the baby takes an active role and both the mother and child can initiate
interactions and take turns in doing so. Brazleton at al (1975) described this as a “dance”. Trevathan
(2014) found that turn-taking in the infant-adult interaction is important for the development of
social and language skill.
Interactional Synchrony
Interactional synchrony can be defined as “the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social
behavior” (Feldman 2007). It takes place when mother and infant interact in such a way that their
actions and emotions mirror the other.
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as
two weeks old. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or distinctive gestures and the
child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers. An association was found
between the expression or gesture of the adult and the actions of the child.
Isabella at al. (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of
synchrony. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-
infant attachment (e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship).
Brazelton et al. (1975) identified trends in mother-baby interactional synchrony. Videotapes of 12
mother-baby pairs’ play behavior was examined up to 5 months of age, which revealed 3 phrases of
play:
Attention and build up
Recovery
Turning away
Evaluation
It is hard to know what is happening when observing infants
Many studies involving observation of interactions between mothers and infants have shown the
same patterns of interaction (Gratier 2003). It is difficult to be certain what is taking place from the
infants’ perspective based on hand movements or changes in expression. For example, is the infant’s
imitation of adults signals conscious and deliberate?
2
Joy on reunion
1
, Caregiver-infant interactions
Meaningful social interactions with their carers have important functions for the child’s social
development, particularly for the development of caregiver-infant attachment.
Reciprocity
Babies have periodic “alert phases” and signal that they are ready for interaction. From birth, babies
and their mothers (or other carers) spend a lot of time in intense and pleasurable interaction.
Around 2/3 of the times, mothers typically pick up on and respond to infant alertness. (Feldman and
Eidelman 2007).
After 3 months, the interaction becomes more frequent and involves close attention to each other’s
verbal signals and facial expressions (Feldman 2007). Reciprocity is a key element, and an interaction
is reciprocal when each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them.
Traditional views of childhood have seen the baby in a passive role, receiving care from an adult.
However, it seems like the baby takes an active role and both the mother and child can initiate
interactions and take turns in doing so. Brazleton at al (1975) described this as a “dance”. Trevathan
(2014) found that turn-taking in the infant-adult interaction is important for the development of
social and language skill.
Interactional Synchrony
Interactional synchrony can be defined as “the temporal co-ordination of micro-level social
behavior” (Feldman 2007). It takes place when mother and infant interact in such a way that their
actions and emotions mirror the other.
Meltzoff and Moore (1977) observed the beginnings of interactional synchrony in infants as young as
two weeks old. An adult displayed one of three facial expressions or distinctive gestures and the
child’s response was filmed and identified by independent observers. An association was found
between the expression or gesture of the adult and the actions of the child.
Isabella at al. (1989) observed 30 mothers and infants together and assessed the degree of
synchrony. They found that high levels of synchrony were associated with better quality mother-
infant attachment (e.g. the emotional intensity of the relationship).
Brazelton et al. (1975) identified trends in mother-baby interactional synchrony. Videotapes of 12
mother-baby pairs’ play behavior was examined up to 5 months of age, which revealed 3 phrases of
play:
Attention and build up
Recovery
Turning away
Evaluation
It is hard to know what is happening when observing infants
Many studies involving observation of interactions between mothers and infants have shown the
same patterns of interaction (Gratier 2003). It is difficult to be certain what is taking place from the
infants’ perspective based on hand movements or changes in expression. For example, is the infant’s
imitation of adults signals conscious and deliberate?
2
