L2 - The Development Of Attachment Flashcards
1
Q
who studied stages of attachment
A
- Schaffer & Emerson (1964)
- came up with 4 stages of attachment
2
Q
who did the study involve
A
- 60 babies (31 male & 29 female)
- mainly born into skilled working class families
- ranged from 5-23 weeks old
3
Q
how often were they visited and how
A
- every 4 weeks for first year
- then again at 18 months
- conducted overt observations, interviews and asked mother to keep diary of child’s behaviour
4
Q
what did the mother report at each visit
A
- infants response to:
- left alone in room
- left with other people
- left in pram outside house
- left in pram outside shops
- left in cot at night
- put down after adult holding them
- passed by while sitting on their cot or chair
- mother asked to describe intensity of protest and then rated on 4 point scale
5
Q
2 specific attachment behaviours measured
A
- separation protest (anxiety) - distress shown by infant when separated from caregiver
- stranger anxiety - distress shown by an infant when when approached or picked up by someone unfamiliar
6
Q
findings - first attachment
A
- 65% - first specific primary attachment was to mother
- 30% - jointly attached to mother and one other figure
- of that, 27% jointly attached to father and mother
- 3% attached to father
7
Q
findings - multiple attachment
A
- soon as first attachment formed, most babies formed multiple attachments
- by 18 months - 75% babies had formed attachment with their father
8
Q
other findings
A
- intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly/sensitively to ‘signals’ and offered their child the most interaction
- infants who were poorly attached had mothers who failed to interact
- concluded quality not quantity or relationship mattered
- attachments not necessarily formed with physical carer - in 40% of cases the person who cared most for the child wasn’t their first attachment figure
9
Q
4 stages of attachment
A
proposed based on information gathered:
- STAGE 1: Pre-attachment phase (Birth-3 mo)
- STAGE 2: Indiscriminate attachments (3-6/7 mo)
- STAGE 3: Specific/discriminate attachments (7/8 mo)
- STAGE 4: Multiple attachments (9+ mo)
10
Q
STAGE 1: Pre-attachment phase (Birth-3 mo)
A
- Asocial stage - 0-6 weeks - behaves similarly to human and inanimate objects
- from 6 weeks infants become attracted to other humans, prefer them to objects
- show preference by smiling, like familiar over unfamiliar faces
11
Q
STAGE 2: Indiscriminate attachments (3-6/7 mo)
A
- more social at this stage
- recognise & prefer familiar adults
- accept comfort/hugs from any adult
- don’t show preference to any adult or separation protest/stranger anxiety
12
Q
STAGE 3: Specific/discriminate attachments (7/8 mo)
A
- by 7mo most infants start to show distinctive sort of protest when one person puts them down (separation anxiety)
- also show especial joy at reunion and most comforted by that person
- formed specific attachment to them - primary attachment figure
- also show ‘stranger anxiety’
13
Q
STAGE 4: Multiple attachments (9+ mo)
A
- soon after 1st attachment is formed infant develops multiple attachments depending on how many consistent relationships they have
- Shaffer & Emerson found that within one month of first being attached 30% had multiple attachments to someone else - called secondary attachments
- infants also showed separation anxiety in these relationships
- within 6mo it rose to 78%
14
Q
multiple attachments
A
- not disputed that children form multiple attachments
- relative importance of these figures is disputed
e.g. John Bowlby and Rutter (1995)
15
Q
John Bowlby
A
- believed that attachments were hierarchal in nature
- children have one primary attachment figure (at top of hierarchy)
- secondary attachments to other people but these were of minor importance compared to main attachment bond
16
Q
Rutter (1995)
A
- proposed model of multiple attachment that saw all attachments of equal importance
- these attachment combine together to help form a child’s internal working model
17
Q
why are multiple attachments formed
A
- to different people for different purposes
e.g. mother (oestrogen) for loving care
e.g. father (testosterone) for exciting unpredictable play - other attachments formed to grandparents, siblings & childminders
- so there is debate with multiple attachments are seen as secondary attachments or that each attachment figure is of equal importance
18
Q
Evaluation of the development of attachments (Schaffer & Emerson)
A
strengths
- good external validity
- longitudinal design
- no ethical issues
weaknesses
- methodological issues
- biased sample
- measuring multiple attachments
- conflicting evidence on multiple attachments
- stage theories
19
Q
Good external validity
A
- study was carried out in family’s own homes
- most observations (except stranger anxiety) was done by parents during ordinary activities & reported to researchers later
- so participants would’ve behaved normally and not shown demand characteristics - can apply findings to everyday life
- so study has mundane realism as it was conducted in everyday conditions
- so conclusions can be drawn about the formation of attachments (including stages) can be seen as having high validity
20
Q
Longitudinal design
A
- same babies & mothers were followed-up & observed regularly over a longer period of time (18 mo)
- quicker alternative would be to observe different children at each age - cross-sectional design
- but longitudinal designs have higher internal validity then cross-sectional designs as there are less confounding variables like individual differences between participants as the participants observed were the same throughout the study
21
Q
no ethical issues
A
- no real ethical issues in study like harm as consent was gained from the parents
- so long as confidentiality was maintained the study was ethically correct as observations and self report methods were used, there was no deception involved
22
Q
methodological issues
A
- as observations and self report measures were used, both prone to bias
e.g with self-reports mothers could show social desirability bias - may answer questions in a wat to show that they had a good relationship with their infants - also when mothers observing babies behaviour they may have shown bias in interpreting their baby’s behaviour
23
Q
biased sample
A
- from working-class population so may not apply to middle class people
- from 1960s - parental care has changed considerably since then, more women go out to work & more children are cared for outside the home or fathers stay home and become the main carer
- Cohn et al. (2014) shows that no. of fathers who choose to stay home and care for children/families has quadrupled over the past 25 years
- society has changed a lot over past 60 yrs, so if study was conducted today, the finding may be different - lacks temporal validity
24
Q
measuring multiple attachments
A
- may be problem with how multiple attachments are tested - just because a baby got distressed when an adult left a room doesn’t mean that they were attached to that adult
- Bowlby (1969) highlighted babies have playmates as well as attachment figures and get distressed when playmates leave the room
- may be problem in defining the difference between attachment figure and playmate
25
Q
conflicting evidence on multiple attachments
A
- not clear when the baby can form multiple attachments as research seems to indicate that multiple attachments can only be formed if the baby is first attached to a single main carer
- but cross cultural research seems to indicate that having multiple rather then single attachments is the norm (tronick et al. 1992, fox 1997)
26
Q
stage theories
A
- developmental psychologists (who study attachments) often use stage theories to describe how children’s behaviour changes with age
- one difficulty with such theories is that they suggest development is inflexible e.g. Shaffer & Emerson’s study suggests single attachments must form between multiple attachments
- but in some cultures multiple attachments may happen first/simultaneously - does that mean that these cultures are abnormal?
