Caregiver-Infant Interactions

Reciprocity

- When each person responds to the other and elicits a response from them

- Sometimes known as 'turn-taking'

- Associated with successful development of attachment

- Babies and caregivers both take an active role in this

- Both caregiver and baby initiate interactions

- Brazleton et al. (1975) described this interaction as a 'dance' 

Alert phases

- Babies signal e.g. by making eye contact, that they are ready for a spell of interaction 

- Research shows mothers typically pick up on and respond to their baby's alertness around 2/3 of the time (Feldman and Eidelman 2007)

- Alertness of mother varies according to skill of 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)

Interactional synchrony

- Temporal coordination of micro-level social behaviour (Feldman 2007)

- Takes place when caregiver and baby interact in such a way that their actions and emotions mirror each other

Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

- Observed beginnings of interactional synchrony in two week old babies

- An adult displayed one of…