Schaffers stages of attachment

Question 1

Schaffers stages of attachment study

Person

Answer 1

Schaffer and Emmerson (1964)

Question 2

Schaffers stages of attachment study

Method and findings

Answer 2

Schaffer and Emmerson (1964)
Method
└60 babies- 31 male, 29 female
└Glasgow, working class families
└visited every month for year/then at 18 months
└asked questions measuring separation and stranger anxiety
Findings
└25-32 weeks: 50% of babies show separation anxiety to one adult (specific attachment)
└attachment to most interactive to signals (reciprocity)
└40 weeks old: 80% of babies had specific attachment, 30% displayed multiple attachments

Question 3

Schaffers stages of attachment study
Strengths
Summary

Answer 3

Good external validity

Longitudinal design

Question 4

Schaffers stages of attachment study
Strengths
Good external validity

Answer 4

└carried out in own homes
Behaviour not altered by presence of observers
└natural observation

Question 5

Schaffers stages of attachment study
Strengths
Longitudinal design

Answer 5

└more internal validity that cross-sectional design

└don’t have confounding variable of individual differences

Question 6

Schaffers stages of attachment study

Limitations

Answer 6

Limited sample characteristics 
└although good numbers 
└same social class/city
└over 50 years ago
└can’t generalise over social/historical contexts

Question 7

Stages of attachment

Answer 7

1) asocial stage
2) indiscriminate attachment
3) specific attachment
4) multiple attachment

Question 8

asocial stage

Answer 8

First few weeks

└similar behaviour towards non-human objects and humans

Question 9

indiscriminate attachment

Answer 9

2-7 months

└people>objects

Question 10

specific attachment

Answer 10

7 months
└specific attachment to primary attachment figure
└separation anxiety
└whoever is most reciprocal

Question 11

multiple attachment

Answer 11

> 7 months -1year

└secondary attachments

Question 12

Stages of attachment
Limitations
Summary

Answer 12

Problem studying asocial stage
Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments - Bowlby (1969), van Ijendoorn et al (1993)
Measuring multiple attachment- Bowlby (1969)

Question 13

Stages of attachment
Limitations
Problem studying asocial stage

Answer 13

└not much observable behaviour

└unreliable evidence

Question 14

Stages of attachment
Limitations
Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments

Answer 14

└Bowlby (1969)- single specific attachment before multiple attachments
└van Ijendoorn et al (1993)- form multiple attachments first- especially in collectivist cultures

Question 15

Stages of attachment
Limitations
Measuring multiple attachment

Answer 15

└just because the baby gets distressed when an individual is leaving a room doesn’t mean that the individual is a ‘true’ attachment figure
└Bowlby (1969)
└child gets distressed when playmate leaves the room but does not signify attachment
└can’t distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and playmates