Lesson 2- Stages Of Attachment Flashcards
What did Shaffer and Emerson investigate?
The DEVELOPMENT of attachment in infants
- They used a longitudinal study following 60 infants and their mothers for TWO YEARS
What are the FOUR STAGES of attachment
1) Pre-attachment
2) Indiscriminate attachment
3) Discriminate attachment
4) Multiple attachments
What happens in the Pre-attachment stage?
(0-3 months)
From 6 weeks of age infants become more attracted to HUMANS, and starts to prefer them over OBJECTS
-This is demonstrated by them smiling at people’s faces
What happens in the indiscriminate attachment stage?
(3-7 months)
- infants discriminate between FAMILIAR and UNFAMILIAR faces.
Causing them to smile at people they KNOW.
What happens in the DISCRIMINATE attachment stage?
(7 months onwards)
Infants develop SPECIFIC attachments to their PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURE.
They begin showing both:
-SEPARATION PROTEST
-STRANGER ANXIETY
What did Shaffer and Emerson say about the PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURE
They stated that the primary attachment figure is NOT always the person that the infant spends the MOST time with.
-Its about the QUALITY of the relationship not the QUANTITY that matters most in the FOUNDATION of attachment.
What happens in the multiple attachment stage?
(7 months onwards)
After infants develop their FIRST ATTACHMENT they begin to develop strong emotional ties with major caregivers (e.g father, grandparents) and NON-CAREGIVERS (e.g siblings)
These are referred to as SECONDARY ATTACHMENTS
Does their stranger anxiety weaken in the multiple attachment stage?
Yes- but their attachment to their primary attachment figure remains the strongest.
What are some of the critiques of the stages of attachment?
- Sample is biased (social class factors)
- Data collected is unreliable (based on mother reports)
- Cultural bias (sample included infants from individualist cultures)
- ignores individual differences
Why is the sample biased? (social class factors)
It only contains reports of infants from WORKING CLASS background, thus findings may not be applicable to other social classes.
Why is the data collected unreliable?
It was based on MOTHER’S REPORTS of their infants
- some mother’s may have been less sensitive to their infants SEPARATION PROTEST- therefore were less likely to report them.
Why does the sample express cultural bias?
The sample only included infants from INDIVIDUALISTIC cultures (eg USA,UK). It may not be applicable to infants that come from COLLECTIVIST cultures as they may form attachments differently.
Why does this theory not take into account INDIVIDUAL differences?
As it may be the case that some infants form MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS first rather than starting with a SINGLE ATTACHMENT.
What qualities does the father provide to complement the role of the mother?
Play and stimulation
What does research state about the effects of growing up in a single female or same-sex parent household?
There are NO EFFECTS on a child’s development- suggesting the role of the father is not as IMPORTANT
