4.2 Attachment figures Flashcards
What was Schaffer & Emerson’s aim?
• To investigate the age of development, emotional intensity and figure involved in the formation of early attachments
What was Schaffer & Emerson’s procedure?
- 60 Scottish babies, mainly from working class families, were visited at home every month for a year and again after 18 months
- Separation anxiety was measured by interviewing mothers about typical baby behaviour
- Stranger anxiety was measured by observing responses to unfamiliar adults
What did Schaffer & Emerson find?
- 50% has specific att at 25 - 32 weeks (mother in 65% of cases)
- The primary att figure was the most sensitive to infant signals
- By 40 weeks 80% had specific att and 30% displayed multiple atts
What stages of development did Schaffer & Emerson identify?
- Asocial stage (up to 6 wks) - babies display similar behav to humans and nonhumans but prefer the company of humans
- Indiscriminate att stage (2-7 mths) - preference for humans and recognise and prefer familiar humans but accepts comfort from anyone - no stranger or separation anxiety
- Specific att stage (7 mths-1 yr) - show anxiety to strangers and when separated from primary caregiver
- Multiple att stage (1 yr+) - involves formation of secondary att with other adults - 29% of the time formed within month of the specific att
What support is there for Schaffer & Emerson’s research?
- Good external validity - study was carried out in families’ own homes - most observation was done by parents during ordinary activities and then later reported to researchers - behav unlikely to be affected by investigator effects - therefore behav more natural and more valid
- Longitudinal design - study was carried out on children who were followed-up and observed regularly (longitudinal) - means study has internal validity as there are no extraneous variables in form of Pp variables that could affect results
What reduces support for Schaffer & Emerson’s research?
- Problems measuring attachments - just bc baby gets distressed when someone leaves room does not indicate that indiv is true att figure - Bowlby pointed out infant may get distressed when playmate leaves room - does not signify att - problem for S&E’s stages bc obs doesn’t have way to distinguish between behav shown towards secondary att figures and playmates
- Difficult studying asocial stage - first few weeks are ‘asocial stage’ and include important interactions but in this period babies are almost immobile - difficult to make judgments about their behav as there is not much observable behav - therefore difficult to make conclusions about child’s cognition from limited behav
What is a primary attachment figure?
The person who forms the closest bond with an infant (usually the biological mother but not always)
What are primary attachments?
The att formed between the infant and the primary att figure
Who do babies normally form secondary attachments with?
The father (75%)
What has the role of the father changed?
- Father traditionally played minor role, mostly seen as providing exciting play interactions
- Now fathers are recognised as being equally able to be a child’s primary att figure
What factors are important in the relationship between the father and the child(ren)?
- Degree of sensitivity - fathers sensitive to children’s needs have more secure atts w them
- Type of att w own parents - single-parent fathers tend to form similar atts w their children as they had w their parents
- Marital intimacy - degree of intimacy father has w partner affects type of att he will have w children
- Supportive co-parenting - amount of support father gives partner in childcare affects type of att he will have w children
What support is there for the role of the father in the development of attachment?
• Research supports role of the father as a ‘playmate’ - Geiger found fathers’ play interactions were more exciting in comparison to mothers’ - however mothers’ play interactions were more affectionate and nurturing - suggests the role of the father is as a playmate and not as a sensitive parent who responds to needs of their children - these results also confirm that mother takes on more of a nurturing role
What reduces support for the role of the father in the development of attachment?
• Research suggests fathers do not provide a sensitive and nurturing att - Hrdy found fathers less able to detect low levels of infant distress in comparison to mothers - these results appear to support the biological explanation that lack of oestrogen in men means that fathers are not biologically equipped to form close atts w their children - suggests a father’s role is biologically determined and restricted because of their biological makeup
What are psychologists’ views on multiple attachments?
Children do form multiple atts, but relative importance of these is disputed - Bowlby believed att to mother was most important; others were subordinate - Rutter proposed model that saw all atts as equally important
Multiple atts often formed to diff people for diff purposes
What support is there for multiple attachments?
- External validity - Schaffer & Emerson’s study carried out in families’ own homes and most obs done by parents and reported to researchers later - behav of babies unlikely to be affected by presence of observers - behav more natural so more valid - so study has external validity
- Longitudinal study - same children were followed-up and observed regularly in S&E’s study - longitudinal design means study has greater int validity than cross-sectional design due to lack of Pp variables
