Stages Of Attachment

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate the formation of early attachment and the age at which they develop and who they are directed to

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

• Longitudinal study on 60 working class new born infants and there mothers from Glasgow
• the infants and mothers were visited at there homes every month for the first year of the infant life and again at 18 months - observations and interviews were used
  Attachment was measured in 2 ways
• separation anxiety: assessed by the infant being left alone in the room or the researcher asking the mother how the infant reacts in this instance
• stranger anxiety: assessed by the researcher starting each home visit by approaching the infant to see if this distressed the child

Question 3

Findings ( 4 stages to attachment )

Answer 3

1) ASOCIAL- (first few weeks) infants behavior to adults and inanimate objects were similar
2) INDISCRIMINATE- (2-7 months) infants show a preference to people over inanimate objects but usually do not show stranger or separation anxiety
3) SPECIFIC - from around 7 months infants start to form attachments and show separation and stranger anxiety when separated. In 65% of cases the specific attachment was with the mother
4) MULTIPLE - within 1 months of forming a specific attachment 29% of children formed attachments. By 1 year most infants had multiple attachments. At 18 months 75% of children had an attachment with their father

Question 4

Conclusion

Answer 4

Infants form attachments in stages multiple attachments can be formed

Question 5

AO3

Answer 5

However the research into stages of attachment could be prone to social desirability bias as interviews were used to gather information therefore the mothers could have lied about their child’s behavior to present their parenting in the best possible light so the results may have lacked internal validity and not measure the true stages of attachment