2.2. Stages of Attachment Flashcards
1
Q
How long was Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
A
18 months
2
Q
What was the procedure of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
A
- 60 babies from skilled working class families were observed
- Mothers and babies were visited once a month for the first year, and then again at 18 months
- They ask the mothers questions about how the babies reacted in 7 everyday separations
- This measured separation anxiety - They also assessed how babies reacted to unfamiliar adults
3
Q
What were the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
A
- Between 25-32 weeks of age, 50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards their mother
- This specific attachment was with the caregiver who was most sensitive to infant signals not necessarily who they spent the most time with
- By 40 weeks, 80% of babies had a specific attachment and 30% had multiple
4
Q
What age is the asocial stage?
A
birth to 8 weeks
5
Q
What happens in the asocial stage?
A
- Behaviour between humans and non-human objects very similar
- Infants can recognise specific faces
- They are happier in presence of humans than when alone, they will smile at anyone and they prefer familiar individuals as well as prefer faces to non-faces
6
Q
What age is the indiscriminate attachment?
A
2-7 months
7
Q
What happens in the indiscriminate stage of attachment?
A
- Recognise and prefer familiar people
- They will smile more at familiar than unfamiliar faces.
- Infants have a preference for people rather than inanimate objects but they will accept comfort from any adult as they don’t have stranger anxiety
8
Q
What age is specific attachment?
A
7-12 months
9
Q
What happens in specific attachment?
A
- Infant shows a distinct protest when a particular person puts them down -> separation anxiety
- They show happiness and joy when that person returns and is comforted by them - primary attachment
- Will show stranger anxiety
- Schaffer and Emerson states that primary attachment isn’t always the person that spends the most time with the infant
- concluded it’s the quality of the relationship, not quantity
- in 65% of children, the first specific attachment was mum - 30% mum and an object, 3% father
10
Q
What age are multiple attachments?
A
1 yr+
11
Q
What happens in multiple attachment stage?
A
- Main attachment is formed and a wider circle of multiple attachments depending on consistent relationships
- Schaffer and Emerson found that within 1 month of becoming attached, 29% of the infants had multiple attachments, parents, grandparents, siblings etc -> these are secondary attachments -> separation anxiety displayed in these attachments
- Within 6 months, this had risen to 78%
- By 1 yr, a majority of the infants had developed multiple attachments
12
Q
Strength: good external validity
A
- Most observations carried out by parents during normal activities and then reported to researchers (if observers were present, this may have distracted babies, made them anxious and potentially changed their natural behaviour.
- This means that it’s highly likely the ppts behaved naturally during the observation, meaning good external validity
- However, data was from mother’s reports of their child -> mothers may have been less sensitive therefore not reported it = systematic bias
13
Q
Strength: RWA to daycare
A
- In early stages (asocial and indiscriminate) babies can be comforted by any skilled adult, but if a child starts day care during the stage of specific attachments, care from an unfamiliar adult may cause distress and longer term problems.
- Means Schaffer and Emerson’s stages can help make day care decisions
14
Q
Weakness: biased samples
A
- All ppts from same district
- Working class population
- Sample from 1960s
- Now more women work, higher care outside home now and more fathers stay at home to care for the family than ever before (quadrupled since 1960)
15
Q
Weakness: problems studying asocial stage
A
- Problem at this stage is that babies have poor coordination and are immobile.
- Therefore difficult to make judgements from observation, therefore low reliability
