Schaffer and Emmerson study Flashcards
when was the study conducted?
1964
What is Aim 1 ?
to assess whether there is a pattern of attachment formation that was common amongst all infants
what is Aim 2 ?
to identify and describe the distinct stages by which attachments form
what was the procedure of the study?
- longitudinal study upon 60 newborn babies and their mothers from a working class area of Glasgow
- mothers and babies studied each month for first year of their lives and then at 18 months
- observations and interviews conducted with mothers with them being asked “whom the child smiled at”
In the study in which ways were attachment measured?
separation protest
stranger anxiety
How was separation protest studies?
assess through several everyday situations: the infant being left alone in a room, being left alone with others etc.
how was stranger anxiety assessed?
assessed by the researcher starting each home visit by approaching the infant to see if it distressed the child.
what were the findings of the study?
- most infants showed separation protest at 6-8 months with anxiety coming 1 month later
- most infants went on to develop multiple attachments.
- 18 months 87% had a least 2 -with 31% having more than 5
- 39% of infants prime attachment was not to main carer
what are the conclusions?
- there is a pattern of attachment amongst all infants suggesting process is biological
- multiple attachments are the norm and of similar quality
what other research can you link it to?
carpenter (1975)
what is the evaluation?
- data collected by direct observation or from the mothers with both sources being prone to bias
- study has mundane realism as it was conducted under everyday situations
- there were large individual differences in when attachments form, casting doubt on the process of attachment formation being exclusively biological
