Shaffer & Emerson stahes of attachment + E Flashcards
In Schaffer and Emerson’s study how many babies were used? And what class were they ?
60 babies (31boys and 29girls)
Working class
What kind of environment was this research conducted ?
Natural environment
How was their research conducted?
Used observations and self reported data from the parents.
Studied them every month 1st year to 18 months
Measured the babies anxiety when separated or in the presence of a stranger
What were their findings ?
They discovered 4 distinct stages in development
What is the name, age range and description of the 1st stage?
A social
0-2 months
Indifference for objects or humans but prefer comfort from humans esp. CG
@ This time, forming attachments with people
What is the name, age range and description of the 2nd stage?
Indiscriminate attachments
4-7 months
Display more obvious social behaviours
Preference for people over objects esp. familiar/ CG
Usually accepts comfort from anyone
No separation anxiety
What is the name, age range and description of the 3rd stage?
Specific/discriminate attachment
6-7 months
Maj. of babies show att. to one person.
Stranger anxiety ✔️
Separation anxiety ✔️
Form specific attachments
The primary attachment figure responds to the baby’s signals
What is the name, age range and description of the 4th stage?
+ statistic
Multiple attachments
7 months +
Usually extends the attachment behaviour to multiple people
Schaffer and Emerson 29% of children formed a secondary attachments within a month of the primary attachment
By 1 year majority of babies had Multiple attachments
What is the evaluation point for good external validity?
Strength
E: observations were made by parents during regular activities .
E: highly likely the participant behaved naturally
Point: mothers being the observers
Weakness
E: unlikely that they were objective.
They may have been biased or misreported from false memories
E: even if the babies behaved naturally they behaviours may have been inaccurately reported.
Point: Poor evidence for a social
W
E: Validity of the means they used to measure the attachment. Young babies lack coordination and could have shown distress in subtle ways.
E: The babies may be more social than we believe because of flawed methods
Point: real-world applications
S
E: This can be applied to institutions like daycare. where we can expect certain behaviours and remedy them accordingly
E: THE USE OD DAY CARE CAN BE PLANNED OUT MORE EFFECTIVELY MAKING IT SMOOTHER FOR THE PARENT AND THE CHILD.
