Devlopment Of Attachment

Question 1

Schaffer and Emerson attachment research (method)

Answer 1

Schaffer and Emerson conducted a study in the 1960s on how attachment develops, it involved 60 babies (31 male, 29 female) for Glasgow mostly from skilled working class families. They ranged from 5-23 weeks old, all babies and their mothers where visited in their home every 4 weeks for the first year and again after 18 months.
Both overt observations and interviews where used to collect data, the mother was asked to keep a dairy of the child’s behaviour.
They where asked to report the infants response for 7 different situations in which they where separated from their mother.
left alone in a room
Left with other people
Left in the prism outside the house
Left in the pram outside the shops
Left in their cot at night
Put down after being held by an adult
Passed by while sitting on their cot or chair
The mother had to describe the intensity of the protest which was rated on a 4 point scale and they had to say who the protest was directed at
They measured separation anxiety - distress shown when separated from caregiver
Stranger anxiety- distress shown when they are approached or picked up by an unfamiliar person.

Question 2

Schaffer and Emerson attachment research (findings)

Answer 2

They found for 65% of the bases the first primary attachment was the mother
30% where jointly attached to the mother and one other figure
3% were attached to their father
27% were jointly attached to the father and mother
By 18 months 75% of babies has formed an attachment with their father as babies form multiple attachments quickly after the primary one.

It was noted that intensely attached infants had carers who responded quickly to their signals while poorly attached infants had cared who failed to interact, the quality of the relationship mattered more then quantity.
40% of the time their primary attachment was not the one who took care of them the most.

Question 3

Stages of development

Answer 3

Stage1-pre attachment 0-3 months ) from 0-6 weeks baby behaves similar to both hi,and and inanimate objects, from 6 weeks they become more attracted to other humans preferring them to objects or events and preferring familiar to unfamiliar faces.

Stage2- indiscriminate attachments 3-6/7 months) babies become more social and recognise and prefer familiar adults and usually accept comfort from adults. They do not show preference to one person and dint show separation anxiety or protest.

Stage3 discriminate attachments 7/8 months) They shows signs of separation anxiety when being separated from a certain person and joy at reunion, they have formed a specific attachment with their primary attachment figure.

Stage4- multiple attachments 9+ months) the infant develops a wider circle of multiple attachments, these are called secondary attachments within 6 months of first becoming attached 78% of babies had multiple attachments.

There is debate wether all attachments are equally important to the baby or the baby putting more importance in the primary attachment figures like Bowlby says.

Question 4

Development of attachment strengths

Answer 4

• ) good external validity as the carer observed the children in their own home, no demand characteristics and high mundane realism.
• ) longitudinal design, follows a group of babies and their family over an 18 month period which takes time but increases internal validity as there are less confounding variables then with multiple groups of babies
• ) study is very ethical, informed consent from parents, no deception, no harm and confidentiality was maintained

Question 5

Development off attachments weaknesses

Answer 5

• ) self report methods where used so bias could occur, such as social desirability bias especially since they where observing their own child and raring their relationship with them
• ) The sample was biased, only from working class and in the 1960s, parenting style has changed since then. Society has changed with more children getting looked after outside the home or more fathers staying at home and looking after the children.
• ) hard to measure multiple attachment figures, Bowlby showed that babies become stressed when play mates leave so becoming distressed when someone leaves dies not necessarily make them attachment figures
• ) there is mixed evidence as some studies such as Schaffer’s that suggest a primary attachment is needed before multiple attachments can be made but in some cultures multiple attachments may halogen first or simultaneously.