Development Of Attachment Flashcards
Keg study
Schaffer and Emerson (1963) ‘Glasgow Babies’
Aim of the study
Investigate into the development of attachment
Procedure
Longitudinal study of 60 babies from a working class in Glasgow of 5-23 weeks old. They were studied up until the age of one years old. Mothered reported their infants responses to separation. They reported the intensity of any protest which was rated on a 4-point scale and would say who the protest was towards.
Findings
Between 25 & 32 weeks of age 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety. Attachment tender to be to the caregiver who was the most interactive and sensitive to the infants signals.
Separation Anxiety
The distress shown by an infant when separated from his/her caregiver.
Stages of Attachment
- Asocial Stage (Birth - 2months)
- Indiscriminate Attachments (2 - 7 months
- Specific Attachments (4 - 7months)
- Multiple Attachments (7 - 9months)
Asocial Stage
Birth - 2 months
Infants observable behaviour towards humans and objects is similar. Towards the end of the 2 months the infants do show some signs of having a preference towards familiar people and can be comforted by them. Basis for later attachment to form.
4-7 months
Display signs of attachment towards one particular person. Show signs of anxiety directed towards strangers. The person they have formed an attachment with is now called the PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURE. 65% of the primary attachment for fire is normally the mum
Specific Attachments
Indiscriminate Attachment
2 - 7 months
Show more observable social behaviours. Clear preference for being with humans. Recognize and prefer the company of familiar people. Do but usually show separation anxiety when caregivers leaves nor do they show stranger anxiety/
Multiple Attachements
7 - 9 months
Infants start to form attachments with other people. These people are called the SECONDARY ATTACHMENT FIGURE. Schaffer and Emerson found that after one months of forming a specific attachment, 29% had multiple attachments.
Evaluation - Why is this study criticised for having a biased sample?
Limitation - It was from a working class population, the findings may apply to that social group and not others. The sample was from 1960s (temporal validity). Parental care of children has changed considerably since that time. Over the past 25 years the number of dads that chose to stay home and care for the infant has quadrupled (Cohen et al 2014). There, if a study was conducted today, the findings may be different.
What is a weakness of using stage theories.
Limitation - A difficulty with stage theory is that it suggests that development is inflexible. It proves that there is a fixed order for development. For example, it suggests that, normally, single attachments must come before multiple attachments. However, in some situations and cultures, multiple attachments may come first. Therefore, the use of stage theories may be problematic if they become standard, by which families judged and lead to them being classed as abnormal.
Why may the data collected be unreliable?
Limitation - The data collected by Schaffer and Emerson may be unreliable. This is because it was based on mother’s reports on infants. Some mothers might have been less sensitive to their infants protests and therefore less likely to report them (social desirability bias) which would challenge the validity of the data.
