schaffers stages of attachment

Question 1

What are the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 1

Asocial stage, indiscriminate attachment, Specific attachment, Multiple attachments

Question 2

Tell me about asocial stage?

Answer 2

-Formed 0-2 months
-Babies show similar response to humans and objects
-Towards the end starts to prefer faces and voices
-No clear attachment yet

Question 3

Tell me about indiscriminate attachments?

Answer 3

-2 to 6 months
-Babies prefer human company over objects
-Can distinguish between different people but no preference between them.
-No separation or stranger anxiety yet.

Question 4

Tell me about specific/discriminate attachment

Answer 4

-7 to 12 months
-Strong attachment to one primary caregiver
-Shows separation anxiety
-Shows stranger anxiety.
-Shows emotional and social bonding development

Question 5

Tell me about multiple attachments?

Answer 5

-12 months and above
- Attachment displayed to others (known as secondary attachments)
-These usually form 1 month after first attachment.

Question 6

Aim and method of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Answer 6

Aim- investigate formation of early attachments

Method
- 60 babies (31 males, 29 females) from working class families in Glasgow. ( aged between 5-23 weeks)
- Researcher visited each household once a month for a year and then once again at 18 months.
-Researcher interviews mothers and observed separation and stranger anxiety.

Question 7

Results of Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Answer 7

-At 25-32 weeks, 50% babies showed separation anxiety towards their mother (discriminate stage)
-By 10 months
.80% had specific attachments
.30% had developed multiple attachments

Question 8

Strength of Emerson and schaffer?

Answer 8

-High ecological validity
-Experiment was conducted in child’s own home which means children act naturally
-Suggests behaviours observed such as separation anxiety happened in a real life environment
-Therefore results are likely to be extrapolated to other kids of a similar demographic in their own homes.

Question 9

Limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s research.

Answer 9

-Lacks population validity
-The sample consisted of only 60 working class mothers and babies from Glasgow, who may form different attachments to a wealthier english family.
-Means that we are unable to generalise results of this study to other mothers and a babies from different backgrounds
-Therefore is culturally biased.

Question 10

Another limitation of Emerson and Schaffer?

Answer 10

-Criticised due to social desirability bias.
-Mothers may provide inaccurate information to appear like ‘better’ mothers.
-This could decrease the internal validity due to bias
-Therefore difficult to extrapolate