Lesson 2- The development of attachment

Question 1

Who investigated the stages of attachment & when did they do so?

Answer 1

Schaffer & Emerson (1964)

Question 2

What was the method used by Schaffer & Emerson in their stages of attachments study?

Answer 2

1) 60 👶 aged from 5-23 weeks- 👶 & mother🤰 visited in 🏠 every 4 weeks for 1st year & then again at 18 months
2) Mixture of observations (overt) & interviews conducted to collect data-🤰also asked to keep diary 📔 of 👶’s 🏃‍♂‍. At each visit, 🤰 reported infant’s intensity of protest (😭 or 😢 etc) in response to separation in 7 everyday situations:
- Left alone in room
- Left with other ppl
- Left in pram outside 🏠
- Left in pram outside shops 🏬
- Left in cot at night
- Put down after being held by adult 🧑
- Passed by while sitting on cot or 🪑
3) 2 specific attachment behaviours measured:
- Separation protest (anxiety)- distress shown by infant when separated from his/her caregiver
- Stranger anxiety- distress shown by infant when approached/picked up by someone unfamiliar

Question 3

What were the findings of Schaffer & Emerson’s study on the stages of attachments?

Answer 3

• 65% of babies- 1st specific primary attachment was mother 🤰
• 30%- jointly attached to 🤰 & 1 other figure
• 3%- attached to father
• 27%- jointly attached to father & 🤰
• After 1st attachment happened- most 👶 formed multiple attachments. In fact by 18 months, 75% of babies had formed an attachment with their father!
• Intensely attached infants had 🤰 who responded quickly & sensitively to their ‘signals’ & offered their 👶 the most interaction
• Poorly attached infants had mothers who failed to interact- … quality of relationship, ✖️ quantity, matters most in formation of attachment
• They also identified 4 stages of attachment

Question 4

What was stage 1 of Schaffer & Emerson’s findings?

Answer 4

Stage 1- Pre-attachment phase- (Birth – 3 months):

• 0– 6 weeks (‘Asocial stage’)- 👶 behaves similarly to both human & inanimate objects
• From 6 weeks of age- infants attracted to other humans- prefer them to objects-preference demonstrated by 😊 at ppl’s faces- prefer familiar to unfamiliar faces- 👶 happier in presence of other humans

Question 5

What was stage 2 of Schaffer & Emerson’s findings?

Answer 5

Stage 2- Indiscriminate attachments- (3 – 6/7 months):
- 👶 ⬆️ social- recognise & prefer familiar adults- accept comfort & hugs from any adult- ✖️usually show separation protest or stranger anxiety & ✖️ show preference towards 1 adult

Question 6

What was stage 3 of Schaffer & Emerson’s findings?

Answer 6

Stage 3- Specific attachments or Discriminate attachments- (7/8 months):
- Primary attachment formed (specific attachment to 1 person)- show distinctly different protest when this particular person puts them down (separation anxiety) & show especial joy at reunion with this person & most comforted by this person
‘stranger anxiety’ shown- another sign that specific attachment formed

Question 7

What was stage 4 of Schaffer & Emerson’s findings?

Answer 7

Stage 4- Multiple attachments- (9 months onwards):

• Multiple attachments formed after primary attachment- Schaffer & Emerson found within 1 month of 1st attachment- 30 % of the infants had multiple attachments to someone else e.g. parent, grandparents, siblings (secondary attachments)
• Infants also displayed separation anxiety in these relationships. Within 6 months- ⬆️ to 78%

Question 8

Which 2 psychologists had conflicting views about multiple attachments & what were these conflicting views?
ALSO what was a potential 3rd view?

Answer 8

1) Bowlby- believed attachments hierarchical in nature- primary attachment figure (top of the hierarchy) & secondary attachments minor importance compared to main attachment bond
2) BUT Rutter (1995) saw all attachments having equal importance (attachments combine to make 👶’s internal working model)
3) Multiple attachments for different purposes e.g. mother for loving care & father for exciting unpredictable play … debated with multiple attachments are secondary attachments or attachments of equal importance

Question 9

What are the evaluation points for Schaffer & Emerson’s study on the development of attachments?

Answer 9

👎- methodological issues- observations & self report measures prone to bias- e.g. mothers could’ve shown social desirability bias with self report methods (answered Q in way to show good relationship with their👶)- ALSO bias possibly shown when interpreting their own infants 🏃‍♂‍
👍- good external validity- Schaffer and Emerson’s study carried out in families’ own 🏠 and most of observation (other than stranger anxiety) done by the parents during ordinary activities & reported to researchers later … participants (🤰 & 👶) behaved naturally & ✖️ shown demand characteristics … study findings applicable to everyday life-> mundane realism (conducted under everyday conditions) … conclusions drawn have ⬆️ validity
👎- biased sample- from working-class population … may ✖️ apply to middle class people ALSO sample from 1960s- parental care of 👶 changed drastically since (⬆️ 👩 go to work & 👶 cared for outside 🏠 or fathers main carer at 🏠)- society has moved on in past 60 years … Schaffer & Emerson study in today’s society-> different results … ✖️ temporal validity 
👍- longitudinal design- same 👶 & 🤰 followed-up & observed regularly over long period of time (18 months)- longitudinal designs have ⬆️ internal validity than cross-sectional designs (different children at each age- quicker) as ⬇️ confounding variables e.g. individual differences between pps