Attachment: The development of attachment

Question 1

What are multiple attachments?

Answer 1

Having more than one attachment figure.

Question 2

What is the primary attachment figure?

Answer 2

The person that has formed the closest bond with a child, demonstrated by the intensity of the relationship. This is usually a child’s biological mother, but other people can fulfill this role e.g. grandparents.

Question 3

What is separation anxiety?

Answer 3

The distress shown by an infant when separated from his/her caregiver. This is not necessarily the child’s biologically mother.

Question 4

What is stranger anxiety?

Answer 4

The distress shown by an infant when approached or picked up by someone who is unfamiliar.

Question 5

What are the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 5

• Asocial stage
• Presocial stage (indiscriminate)
• Specific attachment
• Multiple attachment

Question 6

What is the asocial stage?

Answer 6

A Baby is recognising and forms bonds with its carers. Baby’s behaviour towards humans and non-human objects are similar. They show some preference for familiar adults in that those individuals find it easier to calm them. Babies are also happy when they are in the presence of other humans. 0-6 weeks

Question 7

What is the indiscriminate stage?

Answer 7

Display more observable social behaviour. Show a preference for people rather than inanimate objects and recognise and prefer familiar adults. Usually, accept cuddles and comfort from any adult. Don’t show separation or stranger anxiety· Indiscriminate because it is not different towards any one person. 6 weeks- 6 months

Question 8

What is specific attachment?

Answer 8

Infants show a preference for one caregiver, displaying separation and stranger anxiety. The baby looks to particular people for security, comfort and protection. 7+ months

Question 9

What are multiple attachments?

Answer 9

Multiple attachments follow soon after the first attachment is made. Baby shows attachment behaviours towards several different people secondary attachments (e.g. siblings, grandparents, child-minders etc. ) 10/11+ months

Question 10

What is the key study for the development of attachments?

Answer 10

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Question 11

What was the aim of the key study?

Answer 11

To investigate the different stages of attachment.

Question 12

What was the procedure of the study?

Answer 12

A longitudinal study of 60 babies drawn from a predominantly working-class are of Glasgow.
At the start of the study, infants ranged from 5 to 23 weeks of age.
Infants were studied until the age of 1 year. Mothers were visited every four weeks. At each visit, the mother reported their infant’s response to separation in seven everyday situations (e.g. being left alone in a room, or left with other people)
The mother was asked to describe the intensity of any protest (e.g. a full-blown cry or simple whimper) which was then rated on a four-point scale.
Finally, the mother was asked to say to whom the protest was directed.
Stranger anxiety was also measured by assessing the infant’s response to the interviewer at each visit.

Question 13

What were the findings of the study?

Answer 13

• Between 25 and 32 weeks of age, about 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult (usually the mother which signified a specific attachment).
• Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (reciprocity). This was not necessarily the person the infant spent most time with.
• By the age of 40 weeks 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments.

Question 14

What were the conclusions of the study?

Answer 14

The conclusion of the study was that attachment develops in stages. These findings led Schaffer and Emerson to develop the Stages of Attachment. But also found that after 18 months, the infant will form an attachment with their faither.

Question 15

What are the reasons why the father isn’t the primary attachment figure?

Answer 15

• Men aren’t psychologically equipped to form attachments. They lack the emotional sensitivity that women offer.
• Women have oestrogen which makes them caring.
• Men are less sensitive to infant cues.
• Men can be the primary caregiver but biological and social factors discourage it.
• Women breastfeed.

Question 16

How do fathers play secondary attachment?

Answer 16

• Fathers are more physically active, playful and generally better at providing challenging situations for their children.
• May lack of sensitivity from fathers can be seen as positive as it fosters problem-solving by mocking greater communicative and cognitive demands.

Question 17

What was Grossmans 2002 study into the role of the father

Answer 17

Conducted a longitudinal study of 44 families comparing the role of fathers’ & mothers’ contribution to their children’s attachment experiences at 6,10 and 16 years. Fathers’ play style (whether it was sensitive, challenging and interactive) was closely linked to the fathers’ own internal working model of attachment. Play sensitivity was a better predictor of the child’s long-term attachment representation than the early measures of the of attachment type that the infant had with their father.

Question 18

A03: The development of the father

Answer 18

+ Research to support and useful application:
+ Good external validity
- Biased sample
- Cultural variation

Question 19

A03: Research to support and useful application:

Answer 19

A strength of Schaffer’s stages is that they are based on research evidence. Schaffer’s longitudinal observation of Glasgow babies clearly shows the stages that babies go through when attaching. Furthermore, the stages can help parents to identify if they are progressing normally through the stages. If infants are not progressing this may encourage parents to seek further investigation to see if there could be any underlying developmental issues.

Question 20

A03: Good external validity

Answer 20

Good external validity. The study was carried out in the family’s homes, and most of the observation was actually done by parents during ordinary day-to-day activities. This means that the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers. There is an excellent chance that the participants behaved naturally whilst being observed.

Question 21

A03: Biased sample

Answer 21

The samples were biased in a number of ways. First, it was from a working-class population and thus the findings may apply to that social group not others. Second, the samples from the 1960s. Parental care of children has changed considerably since that time. More women go out to work so many children are cared for outside the home, and the father stays at home and becomes the main carer. Research shows that the number of dads who choose to stay at home and care for their children and families has quadrupled over the past 25 years. Therefore, if a similar study to that of Schaffer and Emerson was conducted today, the findings might well be different.

Question 22

A03: Cultural variation

Answer 22

A further weakness is that there is conflicting evidence from different cultures on multiple attachments. For example, there is no doubt that children become capable of multiple attachments however; it is not clear at what age this happens. Some research seems to indicate that most babies form attachments to a single main carer before they become capable of developing multiple attachments. Other Psychologists, in particular, those who work in that cultural context where multiple caregivers are the norm, believe babies form multiple attachments from the outset. This is a problem because the presence of cross-cultural differences in child-rearing means that it is difficult to produce a theory that is applicable to all cultures (collectivist and individualist), therefore Schaffer and Emerson’s theory can be criticised as being ethnocentric.