Caregiver-infant interaction, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) Attachment Stages, and Father Attachment

Question 1

What are 5 common caregiver-infant interactions, often thought to be involved in developing and maintaining the attachment?

Answer 1

1) sensitive responsiveness - caregiver responds appropriately to signals from the infant,
2) Imitation - The infant copies the caregiver’s actions and behaviours. E.g. Meltzoff and Moore (1977), found that infants between 2 and 3 weeks old appeared to imitate the facial expression and hand movements of the experimenter,
3) Interactional symphony - Infants react in time with the caregiver’s speech. Condon and Sander (1974) provide evidence for this concept, showing that babies do appear to move in time to adult conversation,
4) Reciprocity - Interaction flows back and forth between the caregiver and infant,
5) Motherese - The slow, high-pitched way of speaking to infants, no evidence this influence the strength of an attachment between parent and infant.

Question 2

What are the 4 stages in attachment formation according to Schaffer? What happens in each of these stages?

Answer 2

1) The pre-attachment phase - during the first 0-3 months of life, the baby learns to separate people from objects but doesn’t have any strong preferences about who cares for it,
2) The indiscriminate attachment phase - between 6 weeks and seven months the infant starts to clearly distinguish and recognise different people, smiling more at people it knows than at strangers, there are still no strong preferences about who cares for it,
3) The discriminate attachment phase - from seven to eleven months, the infant becomes able to form a strong attachment with an individual. This is shown by being content when that person is around, distressed when they leave and happy when they return. It may be scared of strangers and avoid them,
4) The multiple attachment phase - from about nine months the infant can form attachments to many different people, some attachments may be stronger than others and have different functions, there doesn’t seem to be a limit in the amount of attachments it can make. Although Schaffer found that after 18 months, approximately 32% of babies had at least 5 attachments, the original attachment is still the strongest.

Question 3

Schaffer and Emerson (1964), Method

Answer 3

• 60 babies observed in their homes in Glasgow every four weeks from brith to about 18 months,
• Interviews were also conducted with their families.

Question 4

Schaffer and Emerson (1964), Results

Answer 4

• Schaffer’s stages of attachment were found to occur,
• At 8 months of age about 50 of the infants had more than one attachment, about 20 had no attachment with their mother or had a stronger attachment with someone else, even though their mother was always the main carer.

Question 5

Schaffer and Emerson (1964), Conclusion

Answer 5

• Infants form attachments in stages and can eventually attach to many people,
• Quality of care is important in forming attachments, the infant may not attach to their mother if other people respond more accurately to its signals.

Question 6

Schaffer and Emerson (1964), Evaluations

Answer 6

• Now a lot of evidence to support Schaffer and Emerson’s results and their stages of attachment formation,
• Also a lot of criticisms of the study,
• Used a limited sample; evidence from interviews and observations may biased and unreliable,
• Cross cultural difference that should be considered,
• Tronick et al (1992) found that infants in Zaire had a strong attachment with their mother by six months of age but didn’t have strong attachments with others, even though they had several carers.

Question 7

Goodsell and Meldrum (2009), method and results

Answer 7

• Conducted a large study into the relationship between infants and their fathers,
• Found that those with a secure attachment to their mothers are also more likely to have a secure attachment to their father.

Question 8

Ross et al (1975), results, and support from Caldera (2004), method and findings

Answer 8

• Ross et al showed that number of nappies changed by the father was positively correlated to the strength of attachment,
• Caldera investigated 60 fathers and mothers and their 14-month old infants, found that when the father was involved in care-giving activities, they were much more likely to develop a strong attachment with the child.

Question 9

Gelger (1996), findings and conclusion

Answer 9

• That a mother’s relationship is primarily nurturing and caring, and a father’s relationship is more focused around play,
• Role a mother and father play can be different.