A2. Stages Of Attachment (Schaffer)

Question 1

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Answer 1

• Aim: identify attachment stages / find patterns in attachment development
• 60 Babies from Glasgow, same estate. Longitudinal (18 months); visited monthly.
• analyses infant/caregiver interaction; interviewed carers; mother kept diary to track infant behaviour (seperation anxiety, stranger anxiety, social referencing)
• found: carers with sensitive responsiveness (more sensitive to babies signals) more likely attached; sensitive responsiveness > time spent with baby (infants attached better to those with better SR); attachment forms when career communicates and plays, NOT when the feed or clean the child
• STAGES OF ATTACHMENT

Question 2

STAGES OF ATTACHMENT

Answer 2

• Asocial (0 - 6w): similar response to all, may respond more to eyes/faces
• Indiscriminate (6w - 6m): more response to human company; can differentiate, yet comforted by anyone.
• Specific (7m +): infants prefer 1 particular care; seeks security/comfort; stranger and seperation anxiety start.
• Multiple (10/11m +): multiple attachments; seeks security/comfort in multiple people

Question 3

• Eval: lacks population validity

Answer 3

• infants ALL from Glasgow council estate (working class); in addition, only 60 families.
• cannot be generalised, so limited explanation for attachment development
• lack population and temporal validity. Parenting techniques have changed (especially since Bowlby), so caution should be taken generalising findings to modern day.

Question 4

• Eval: Asocial Stage can’t be objectively studied

Answer 4

• children 6 weeks or less, lack basic motor skills, meaning we cannot establish responses as deliberate
• Bremner drew distinction between behavioural ‘response’ vs ‘understanding’; just because child may seem to be attached, doesn’t mean they are.
• therefore, causal conclusions shouldn’t be drawn