Interactional synchrony and reciprocity

Interactional synchrony and reciprocity

1. From birth onward, human infants engage in rhythmic turn-taking interactions with carers. For example, the mother leans in and smiles and the baby will then ‘reciprocate’ or mirror this movement. Brazelton (’79) argued that this reciprocity was the foundation for later turn-taking communication and exchanges in the adult world: for example, we let a person talk, then we respond. The carer’s sensitivity and responsiveness to the infant’s gestures is important in forming a healthy, secure attachment bond.

   • Meltzoff described a form of reciprocity called interactional synchrony. From 2-3 weeks old, infants imitate specific facial and hand gestures exhibited by their carers. Meltzoff (‘77) conducted an observational study where infants were exposed to 4 different stimuli (3 facial gestures, 1 hand gesture). The infants’ responses were videotaped and independent observers were asked to rate each infant according to whether they showed (i) mouth opening, (ii) mouth closing, (iii) tongue protrusion, (iv) retracting tongue. A high level of interactional synchrony was observed. Each observer scored all tapes twice to check for degree of agreement between 81 observers (inter-rater reliability) and for each observer themselves (intra-rater reliability – i.e. they scored the observation twice to make sure there was agreement between their 1st and 2nd 83 scoring). Statistical analysis of data found both types of reliability to be extremely high
     • In a later study, Meltzoff demonstrated the same kind of interactional synchrony in 3 day old infants. Given that these infants are virtually new born we can conclude interactional synchrony is innate rather than learnt.
     • Piaget - true imitation at 1 yrs - pseudo imitation of carers to be rewarded with positive reinforcement : smile.
       • Murray(85) 2 month babies exposed to image dont react but babies tried to elicit response. Actively sought to attract mothers attention so genuine imitation
         • lack of ecological validity, researcher bias and ethical issues, researchers should try to conduct as much research as possible in natural contexts – for example, in the family home, be as unobtrusive as possible when carrying out research and make sure other observers are present to make sure observations are reliable, and ensure that research is conducted in such a way as to prevent distress to the infant