Schaffer's stages of attachment

Question 1

explain the methods of Schafer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 1

• 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow
• visited every month for a year and then at 18months
• asked parents what type of protest their babies showed in 7 different situations eg. adult leaving the room

Question 2

explain the findings from Schafer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 2

• 25-32 weeks old 50% babies showed signs of separation anxiety (usually the mother)
• attachment tended to be with the caregiver who was most interactive
• by 40 weeks 80% had specific attachment, 30% multiple attachments

Question 3

evaluate external validity for the methodology Schafer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 3

STRENGTH

• carried out in the homes of the families
• means behaviour of babies is less likely to be affected by the presence of observers
• pp’s would’ve behaved naturally= external validity

Question 4

evaluate longitudinal design for Schafer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 4

STRENGTH

• means that same children were followed up and observed regularly
• good internal validity and better than cross-sectional designs because there are no confounding variables of individual differences.

Question 5

evaluate limited sample characteristics for Schafer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 5

WEAKNESS

• sample size was adequate and produced a lot of data
• HOWEVER…families were all from the same city and economic status and this was conducted 50+ years ago=limitation
• as child rearing practices vary from culture to culture
• lacks external validity and cannot be generalised.

Question 6

what are the 4 stages of Schafer and Emerson’s stages of attachment?

Answer 6

• Asocial stage
• Indiscriminate stage
• Specific attachment
• Multiple attachments

Question 7

explain the Asocial stage?

Answer 7

• babies behaviour to non human objects and humans is similar
• show preference for familiar adults
• happier in the presence of adults
• reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing infants relationship with others

Question 8

explain the Indiscriminate stage?

Answer 8

• 2-7 months
• preference for people rather than objects
• recognise and prefer familiar adults
• NO stranger anxiety

Question 9

explain Specific attachment?

Answer 9

• 7 months
• display anxiety towards strangers
• become anxious when separated from a particular adult (primary attachment figure) this is the one that responds to the babies signals the best
• show joy upon reunion with this caregiver

Question 10

explain Multiple attachments?

Answer 10

• shortly after, babies extends this behaviour to other adults = secondary attachment’s
• in SandE study by 18months 75% had multiple

Question 11

evaluate asocial stage?

Answer 11

WEAKNESS

• difficult to show this period so quickly after baby being born ‘asocial stage’
• but babies at this age have poor coordination therefore difficult to observe their behaviour as there isn’t much behaviour to observe
• lacks reliability

Question 12

evaluate multiple attachments?

Answer 12

WEAKNESS

• although SandE believe multiple attachments can only be formed after specific attachments
• others believe that multiple attachments can be formed from the outset as evident in collectivist cultures where babies are raised in communities with collective help

Question 13

evaluate measuring multiple attachments?

Answer 13

WEAKNESS

• may be a problem with how attachment is assessed
• just because a baby is distressed when someone leaves the room, doesn’t mean they are the ‘true’ attachment figure
• much like a kid is annoyed when a playmate leaves
• problem and lacks validity