schaffer and emersons stages of attachment Flashcards
study
aim-to examine the formation of EARLY attachments
method-sample consisted of 60 babies from skilled working class families in Glasgow aged between 5-23 weeks at start
researchers visited bevies in their homes, every month for 12 months then again at 18 months
researchers interviews the mothers to measure the infants level of attachment and observed children in relation to swpeartion and stranger anxiety in everyday activities
results-provided support for differnt stages of attachment
25-32 weeks, 50% of children showed seperation anxiety towards their mothers, expected at discriminative stage
40 weeks, 80% of the children had a specific (discrimative) attachment and 30% had started forming multiple attachments
conclusion-provided some support for emerson and schaffers stages of attachment and suggest attachment develops through series of stages across first year of life
what are the names of the four stages of attachment
asocial stage
indiscrimative stage
specific attachment
multiple attachments
asocial stage
babies first weeks of life
emerson and sheffield did not belive entirely asocial because given at this stage, babies show signs they prefer to be with other people
show preference for the company of familiar people and more comforted by them
indiscriminative stage
2-7 months babies
babies start to display more obvious and observable social behaviour
now share a clear preference for being with other humans rather than unanimate objects
recognise and prefe company of familiar people
however, don’t show sepeartion anxiety when caregivers leave their presence
specific attachment
7 months
babies start to display the classic signs of attachment towards one particular person
these signs include anxiety directed towards strangers especially when their attachment figure is absent and anxiety from their attachment figure (separation anxiety)
multiple attachments
shortly after babies start to show their attachment behaviour e.g stranger and sepearation anxiety(
usually extend this behaviour to multiple attachments with people whom they regularly spend time
relationships are called secondary attachments
asocial stage
first weeks into life
where infant responds to objects and people similary-but may respond more to eyes and faces
indiscriminative stage
2-7 months
infant devlpps more reponses to human company
can tell difference betrrn different people, although can be comfoted by anyone
specific attachment
7 months
when infant begins to prefer one particualr carer
seek comfot and protection adn show signs of Stranger and seperation anxiety
multiple attachments
form attachments with muliple people
seek comfot and protection from mulitple people
show stranger and speration anxiety from multiple people
strength-high external validity
observations weere conducted in childs home and parents doing ordinary activites and reported to researchers
means bheaviours babies were demonstrating weere nomral everyday behaviour and were unlikely to be affected by presence of observers
therfroe, study has high external validity as the rerspults are likel yto apply to other children from similiar dempgrpthic in their own homes
weakness-lacks population validity
sample consisted of only 60 working class babies and mothers from glasgow
may form different attachments form wealthier failies form other counterries
therefore, unable to generalise to mothers and babies from other counteries and backgorunds as their behaviour might not be comparable
e.g in othe cultures, multiple attachments are from very early age are more the norm (Van Ijenzdoorn)
weakness-criticised due to possibility of social desirability bias
interviewed the mothers about their children and some of them may not have reported accurate details about their children, to appear like better mothers with secure attachments
strength-carried out longitudinally
this means that the same children were followed up and observed regularly over time. A quicker alternative would have been to observe differnt children at each age, this is referred to as a cross sectional design
