Development Of Attachment Content

Question 1

How many people were in Schaffer and Emerson’s Glasgow Babies study and what can be said about them?

Answer 1

60 babies: 31 male, 29 female
- all from Glasgow
- majority from skilled, working-class families

Question 2

What did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) Glasgow babies investigate?

Answer 2

The formation of early attachment:
. The age it is developed
. The emotional intensity of children
. Whom children are attached to

Question 3

How were the babies studied in Glasgow babies?

Answer 3

Babies and mothers visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months (longitudinal study)

Question 4

What was the procedure of Glasgow babies study and what was measured?

Answer 4

. Researcher asked mothers questions about kind of protest babies showed in seven everyday separations (measures separation anxiety)
. Assessed strange anxiety
Overall, these measurements tell us the strength of the attachments

Question 5

How was the Glasgow babies study influential?

Answer 5

It allowed Schaffer and Emerson to propose that attachment develops in 4 stages

Question 6

What were the findings of the Glasgow babies study?

Answer 6

. 25-32 weeks of age - 50% babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually mother (specific attachment)
. Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infants signals
- not necessarily about who spent longer with baby
. By 40 weeks: 80% had specific attachments and almost 30% had multiple attachments

Question 7

What are the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 7

1. Asocial stage (birth-2 months)
2. Pre-social/indiscriminate stage (2 months-7 months)
3. Specific attachment (7 months-
4. Multiple attachments

Question 8

What are features of the asocial stage?

Answer 8

. Infants produce similar responses to inanimate/animate objects (‘asocial’)
. Towards end of period, infants start to show greater preference to social stimuli such as a smiling face and become more content when with people

Question 9

What is important during the asocial stage?

Answer 9

That reciprocity and interactional synchrony take place

Question 10

What are the features of the indiscriminate stage of attachment?

Answer 10

. Prefer human company to inanimate objects
. Still relatively easily comforted by anyone
. Begin to distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people
. Don’t show stranger anxiety yet
. Generally sociable (enjoy being with others)

Question 11

Why were fathers as attachment figures overlooked for so long?

Answer 11

Traditional roles of the father was the breadwinner, with the mother as primary caregiver

Question 12

What is the sensitivity hypothesis and who created it?

Answer 12

Ainsworth: sensitive parenting = secure attachment
Schaffer and Emerson (1964) confirmed this

Question 13

What is a father required to do to be the primary caregiver?

Answer 13

Must be sensitive and involved to produce a secure attachment, especially with their sons

Question 14

What evidence is there against the father being able to be the primary caregiver?

Answer 14

In Glasgow babies:
. Fathers were only the primary attachment figure in 3% of babies
- this implies mothers are more likely to be the primary attachment figure and fathers the secondary attachment figure

Question 15

How has culture changed in modern day to help the role of the father in attachment?

Answer 15

There is now an expectation in western cultures that the father should play a greater role in bringing up children as the number of mothers working full time has increased

Question 16

What are features of specific attachment?

Answer 16

. Show protest when a particular person puts them down (separation anxiety)
. Show joy at reunion and are most comforted by this person
. Shows beginnings of stranger anxiety
. Formed an attachment to one person, the primary attachment figure

Question 17

How did Schaffer and Emerson confirm the sensitivity hypothesis?

Answer 17

Found in Glasgow babies that primary attachments weren’t formed based off who spent most time with the child, but whoever was most interactive and responded most sensitively to the infants ‘signals’
- quality over quantity

Question 18

Who were the specific attachment statistics and first joint objects to in Glasgow babies study?

Answer 18

65% was to mother
- 30% had mother as first joint object of attachment
3% was to father
- 27% first joint objects (more of a secondary attachment figure)

Question 19

What do the number of multiple attachments depend on?

Answer 19

How many consistent relationships the infant has

Question 20

what are secondary attachments?

Answer 20

Other multiple attachments that aren’t the primary attachment figure such as grandparents

Question 21

What did Schaffer and Emerson find about when multiple attachments form?

Answer 21

. 29% had multiple attachments within one month of first becoming attached (Specific attachment)
. 78% has multiple attachment after 6 months of first being attached
. 1/3 of the infants formed 5 or more attachments

Question 22

What is the difference between primary attachment figure and primary caregiver?

Answer 22

Primary attachment figure is the person to whom a child is most intensely attached but a primary caregiver is who has the main role in looking after the child

Question 23

What was the research method of Grossman (2002)?

Answer 23

Longitudinal study

Question 24

What was the aim of Grossman (2002)?

Answer 24

Investigate both parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of children’s attachment in their teens

Question 25

What were the findings of Grossman (2002) and what was the conclusion?

Answer 25

. Quality of infant attachment with mothers but not father was related to children’s attachment in adolescence, suggesting father attachment was less important
. However, the quality of the fathers’ play with infants was related to the quality of adolescent attachment, suggesting fathers have a more playful role in attachment, less to do with nurturing

Question 26

What were the findings of Israel’s study into the role of the father?

Answer 26

. Nothing inherent about women that makes them better at parenting
. PC’s develop neural pathways that make them more responsive to the emotional cues of children
- the same neural pathways developed in fathers who were PC’s as mothers
. When father’s take on role of being PC, they adopt behaviours more typical of mothers

Question 27

How do biological and social factors affect males being primary attachment figures?

Answer 27

. Lack the emotional sensitivity women offer as there are sex stereotypes that being sensitive is feminine
. The female hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour so women are more orientated to interpersonal goals than men

Question 28

What evidence is there that men are indeed less sensitive to infant cues than women?

Answer 28

Heermann et al (1994)

Question 29

What did white and woollett (1992) say about the role of the father as secondary attachment figure?

Answer 29

A lack of sensitivity from the father can sometimes be seen as a positive as it allows problem-solving by making greater communicative and cognitive demands on children

Question 30

What was the procedure of Field (1978)?

Answer 30

. Filmed 4 month old babies in face-to-face interaction with PC mothers, secondary caregiver fathers and PC fathers

Question 31

What were the findings of Field (1978) study?

Answer 31

. PC fathers spent more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than secondary caregiver fathers, which is same as mother
- this behaviour is important in building an attachment.

Question 32

What are the conclusions of the Field (1978) study?

Answer 32

. Fathers can be the more nurturing attachment figure as the key to attachment relationships is the level of responsiveness not the gender of the parent