Stages Of Attachment

Question 1

What was the experiment for stages of attachment

Answer 1

• 60 babies were studies
  Babies were visited every month for the first year and three every 18 months after that
  The mothers were asked about how the child behaved when it was separated from the mother and how it behaved with unfamiliar adults
  1. Asocial - 3 months - infant becomes attracted to humans and smile at faces more than objects
  2.indiscriminate - 3-7 months -infant recognises familiar faces however will accept comfort from any adult - all adults treated the same
  3.specific attachment - 7-8 months - develop anxiety around strangers and is attached to one specific adult - primary attachment figure
  4. Multiple attachments -9 months - form multiple attachments with other people like parents and grandparents

Question 2

What’s supports the stages of attachment experiment

Answer 2

• good external validity
  Carried out in personal home and observations were made by parents in the child’s natural state. Behaviour unlikely affected by the experimenter
  Increases ecological validity

Question 3

What are weaknesses of the experiment

Answer 3

-conflicting evidence
Babies are capable of developing multiple attachments from birth
This happens in cultures where families work together to raise the child
-difficult to measure
Babies aren’t mobile so we can’t see physical interaction sometimes , interaction can be incorrectly interpreted
-generalisability
Only looked at one sample off working class children from Glasgow a certain culture
It’s unique in terms of cultural context
Can’t be generalised to other cultures