Schaffer and Emerson

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

Investigate the formation of early attachment

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

Longitudinal - 60 working class new born infants and their mother in Glasgow.
Were visited every month for 1st year of infant life and again at 18 months.
Observation and interviews were used

Question 3

Attachment was measured

Answer 3

Separation anxiety - how infant react when left alone in a room
Stranger anxiety - if infants is distressed when approached by rearcher
Asked questions to mothers

Question 4

Findings (4 stages)

Answer 4

Asocial (1st few weeks) infants behaviour to adults and objects was similar.
Indiscriminate (2-7 months) Infants show a preference to people but don’t show separation or stranger anxiety.
Specific (After 7 months) Starts forming attachments and show separation and stranger anxiety.
Multiple (1 month after specific) Children formed multiple attachments(29%) By 1 year most infants had multiple attachments`

Question 5

P : Strength High ecological validity

Answer 5

E: Observation took place in families own home during ordinary activities
E: Easier to generalise the findings to real life examples as it is likely to be representative of everyday interactions.
L: Increasing the external validity of the research

Question 6

P: Weakness Social Desirability

Answer 6

E: They interviewed the mothers who could of lied about their child’s behaviour in order to seem like a good mother
E: For example, they may say their child was distress when they left the room even when they are not.
L: The research lacks internal validity as they are not measuring the true stages of attachment.

Question 7

P: Weakness Culture bias

Answer 7

E: Sample used were all from Glasgow
E: Difficult to generalise the findings of the stages of attachment to other cultures. Collectivist culture families often work together to look after a child which means they form multiple attachments without a specific one.
L-lowering the external validity