Stages in attachment

Question 1

What are Schaffer’s identified stages of attachment?

Answer 1

Pre-attachment phase, indiscriminate attachment phase, discriminate attachment phase and multiple attachments stage

Question 2

What is the pre-attachment phase?

Answer 2

From six weeks of age, infants become attracted to other humans, preferring them to objects and events. This preference is demonstrated by their smiling at people’s faces

Question 3

What is the time period for pre-attachment phase?

Answer 3

Birth to three months

Question 4

What is the time period for the indiscriminate phase?

Answer 4

3 months-7/8 months

Question 5

What is the indiscriminate attachment phase?

Answer 5

Infants begin to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar people, smiling more at known people, though they will allow strangers to handle and look after them

Question 6

What is the time period for the discriminate attachment phase?

Answer 6

7/8 months

Question 7

What is the discriminate attachment phase?

Answer 7

Infants begin to develop specific attachments, staying close to particular people and becoming distressed when separated from them. They avoid unfamiliar people and protest if strangers try handle them

Question 8

What is the time period for multiple attachment phase?

Answer 8

9 months onwards

Question 9

What is the multiple attachments phase?

Answer 9

Infants form strong emotional ties with other major caregivers, like grandparents and non-caregivers like children. The fear of strangers weakens but attachment to mother figure remains strongest

Question 10

What did Schaffer’s research into the multiple attachment show statistically?

Answer 10

After 18 months, 32% of babies had formed at least 5 attachments although the original was still the strongesrt

Question 11

What was Schaffer and Emerson experiment procedure?

Answer 11

A longitudinal study was conducted upon 60 newborn babies and their mothers from a working class area of Glasgow. 
Studied each month for first year in their own homes and again and 18 months
Observations/Interviews conducted e.g. questions like "Who does the baby smile at?"

Question 12

How was the attachment measured in Schaffer and Emerson study?

Answer 12

Separation Protest- e.g. the baby being left alone in a room, left alone with others, left in their pram outside the house/shops, left in the cot at night
Stranger Anxiety- the researched would start each months assessment by approaching the infant to see if this distressed the infant

Question 13

When was Schaffer and Emerson’s study conducted?

Answer 13

1964

Question 14

What were the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 14

Most infants showed separation protest at 6-8 months
Stranger anxiety showed one month later
Strongly attached infants had mothers who responded to their needs quickly- opposite with weakly attached
18 months- 87% had 2 attachments 31% had 5

Question 15

What percentage of infants in Schaffer and Emerson study did not have a prime attachment to the main carer?

Answer 15

39%

Question 16

What are the conclusions made from Schaffer and Emerson’s study?

Answer 16

There is a pattern of attachment formation common to all infants suggesting the process is biologically controlled.
Attachments are more easily made with those who display sensitive responsiveness over those who spend more time with the child
Multiple attachments are the norm opposed Bowlby’s idea of a “heirarchy”

Question 17

How does Carpenter’s experiment contradict Schaffer and Emerson experiment?

Answer 17

Carpenter presented infants with unfamiliar and familiar voices and faces. Two week old babies looked at a face longest when it was the mothers accompanied by her own voice but were distressed when it was the mothers face but not her voice. This suggests babies can recognise and are attracted to their mothers from an early age.

Question 18

Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson’s experiment?

Answer 18

As the data was collected by direct observation or by the mothers it is prone to bias and inaccuracy
The study has mundane realism as it was conducted under every day conditions- high validity
Large individual differences in when attachments formed casting doubt on whether attachment formations are exclusively biological in nature

Question 19

What is a longitudinal study?

Answer 19

A longitudinal study is an observational research method in which data is gathered for the same subjects repeatedly over a period of time.

Question 20

Longitudinal study advantages?

Answer 20

They are flexible

They are effective in determining variable patterns over time.

Question 21

Longitudinal study disadvantages?

Answer 21

They require a large sample size.
If researchers are only relying upon the same group of subjects for a research that takes place at certain points in time in years, then there is the possibility that some of the subjects would no longer be able to participate because of various reasons, such as changes in contact details, refusal, incapacity and even death, which cuts down the usable data to be drawn to formulate the conclusion.