Synchronization or Social Interaction

Social interaction among infants begins at six weeks of age, starting with a social smile, then rapidly progressing within the next two years of their lives. Through socialization, infants begin to develop a sense of self identity and placement in the world. Infants participate in different sequences of interactions depending on their age, with synchrony being a stage that starts after the first year. According to our text, synchrony is “a coordinated, rapid, and smooth exchange of responses between an infant and a caregiver”. This interaction is something we see often, to a mother holding up the child in her arms, both smiling, and a wide-eyed grandfather looking at an infant with eyebrows raised, the child mimicking his action in response. This parent-child synchrony is crucial towards longitudinal development of empathy and brain growth of the toddler. Developmental evidence indicates that the capacity for empathy emerges across the first years of life through complex interactions between the child’s biological dispositions and the quality of caregiving (Feldman 2014). Inadequate caregiving, such as that of an orphanage or institution, provides lack of the social contact necessary for proper child growth. Synchrony plays a major role in the over all proper development of an infant, and social deprivation is a precursor to longitudinal emotional and intellectual suffering.

Synchrony is a trait that influences all relationships, including the ones created in adulthood. This specific stage of a toddler’s growth is experience- expectant and forms the nervous foundation of empathy in the brain, really targeting areas that strengthen cognitive and emotional intellectuality. Synchrony aids in building skills of social interaction and helps infants learn to read and understand the emotions of others, while expressing their internal feelings through actions as well. Infants first develop selective attachments through parents and caregivers, giving rise to an awareness of the uniqueness of each relationship the child has. The ways our parents treat us in infancy lay the groundwork for our treatment of all relationships in the future, including romantic and platonic ones (Feldman, 2014). The social attention and bonds with caregivers in the first years of life will determine the outcome of our relationships in the future, which is then a direct outcome of overall emotional satisfaction and wellbeing. Support from family, friends, and especially a significant other is tied to greater reports of greater subjective wellbeing (Lachman 2000).

Children exposed to institutional care do not receive the type of nurturing and stimulating environment needed for normal growth and healthy psychological development (IJzendoorn et. al, 2011). These children in cribs receiving no attention or interactions with their caregivers other than being fed, are neglected to the needs necessary for proper development and survival in the future. This lack of social stimulation creates an absence of trust or understanding of others, and this misunderstanding will be carried with them throughout their lives. As previously mentioned, relationships are very influential to our emotional and mental wellbeing. If an individual does not have the capability of forming healthy relationships, due to their social neglect as an infant, issues such as depression, anxiety, self-consciousness, and other detrimental sufferings will arise. This disturbed attachment to their primary caregiver alters future relationships with peers by becoming emotional and physically isolated from others reducing the likelihood of forming emotional connections (Trickett & Chang 1995).

Synchronization or social interaction is necessary for infants to develop to their fullest. It not only aids in psychological development, but biological too, as the brain is programmed to experience social interactions to develop thoroughly. A caregiver consistently sharing an interaction as simple as a smile with a baby, will give the proper care the baby needs in progression of development. Parent-child synchronization will have influential effects on that specific infant’s health, satisfaction, wellbeing, and ultimately success as an adult in the future.

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