Schafer's stages of attachment

Question 1

Strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s research - good external validity

Answer 1

-good external validity
-most of the observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities reported to the researchers. the alternative would have been the researchers present to record the observations. this might have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious –> highly likely participants behaved naturally while being behaved

Question 2

limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s research- counterpoint to good external validity

Answer 2

-issues with asking mothers to be observers. they were unlikely to be objective observers. they might have been biased in terms of what they noticed and reported, for example they might not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety or may have misremembered it –> even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded

Question 3

limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s research - poor evidence for the asocial stage

Answer 3

-validity of the measures they used to asses attachment in the asocial stage
-young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile. if babies less than 2 months old felt anxiety in everyday situations they might have displayed this in quite subtle, hard-to-observe ways. this made it difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers on signs of anxiety and attachment in this age group –> the babies may actually be quite social, but because of the flawed methods, they appear to be asocial

Question 4

strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s research - real-world application

Answer 4

-Schaffer and Emerson’s stages have practical application in day care
-in the asocial and indiscriminate stages day care is straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. However, Schaffer and Emerson’s research tells us that day care, especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult can be problematic in the specific attachment stage –> partners use of day care can be planned using Schaffer and Emerson’s stages

Question 5

evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson’s research - generalisability

Answer 5

-Schaffer and Emerson based their stage account on a large-scale study with some good design features.
-on the other hand, they only looked at one sample which had unique features in terms of cultural and historical context (1960s working class Glasgow). in other cultures, for example collectivist cultures, multiple attachments form a very early age are more the norm (van Ilzendoorn 1993)

Question 6

stages of attachment definition

Answer 6

many developmental theories identify a sequence of qualitatively different behaviours linked to specific ages. in the case of stages of attachment qualitatively different in infant (baby) behaviours are linked to specific ages, and all babies go through them in the same order

Question 7

multiple attachments definition

Answer 7

attachments to two or more people. most babies appear to develop multiple attachments once they have formed one strong attachment to one of their carers

Question 8

who did research into stages of attachment

Answer 8

Schafer and Emerson

Question 9

what did Schaffer and Emerson’s findings led to development of

Answer 9

an account of how behaviours change as a baby gets older

Question 10

what did Schaffer and Emerson propose

Answer 10

4 identifiable stages of attachment, a sequence which is observed in all babies

Question 11

stages in order

Answer 11

-Asocial stage
-Indiscriminate attachment
-specific attachment
-multiple attachments

Question 12

when is the asocial stage

Answer 12

first few weeks of life

Question 13

when is the indiscriminate attachment stage

Answer 13

2-7 months

Question 14

when is the specific attachment stage

Answer 14

from around 7 months

Question 15

when is the multiple attachments stage

Answer 15

shortly after specific attachment

Question 16

what is the asocial stage

Answer 16

observable behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects are fairly similar. however Schaffer and Emerson did not believe that is entirely asocial as even at this stage babies show signs that they prefer to be with other people. babies also tend to show a preference for the company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them. at this stage a baby is forming bonds with certain people and these form the basis of later attachments

Question 17

what is the indiscriminate stage

Answer 17

more obvious and observable social behaviours. they now show a clear preference for being with other humans rather than inanimate objects. they also recognise and prefer the company of familiar people. however, they usually accept cuddles and comfort from any person. they do not usually show separation anxiety when caregivers leave their presence or stranger anxiety in presence of unfamiliar people

Question 18

what is specific attachment stage

Answer 18

start to display the classic signs of attachment towards one particular person. these signs include anxiety directed towards strangers (stranger anxiety) from their separated from their attachment figure (separation anxiety). at this point the baby is to have formed a specific attachment. this person with whom the attachment is formed is called the primary attachment figure. this person is not necessarily the individual the child spends the most tome with but the one who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby’s signals with the most skill. this is the mother in 65% of cases

Question 19

what is multiple attachments

Answer 19

shortly after the babies show attachment to one person they usually extends this behaviour to multiple attachments with other people with whom they regularly spend time with called secondary attachments. Schaffer and Emerson observed that 29% of children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachments. by the age of 1 majority of babies had developed multiple attachments

Question 20

what type of study was Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 20

observational

Question 21

Schaffer and Emerson sample

Answer 21

60 babies (31 boys and 29 girls) from Glasgow with majority from skilled working class families

Question 22

Schaffer and Emerson procedure

Answer 22

60 babies (31 boys and 29 girls) from Glasgow with majority from skilled working class families. researchers visited babies and mothers in their own homes every month for the first year and again at 18 months. the researchers asked mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday separations (measure of separation anxiety). this was designed to measure the babies attachment. the researchers also assessed stranger anxiety

Question 23

Schaffer and Emerson findings

Answer 23

identified 4 stages in development