Stages of attachments Flashcards
Who were the stages of attachment developed by?
schaffer and emerson
Schaffer and emerson’s study
Longitudinal study
60 babies (mainly from wc homes in Glasgow)
Start of study babies ranged from 5-23 weeks
Studied until age of 1
Mothers were visited every 4 weeks
At each visit mothers reported infants response to everyday situations
Also asked to descrive intensity of any protest which was rated on a 4 point scale
Stranger anxiety also measured by assessing infants response to interviewer at each visit
Stage 1 of attachment
Indiscriminate attachments
Birth- 2 months
Produce similiar responses to all objects, whether animate or inanimate
Towards end of this stage, infants show greater preferance for social stimuli, and are more content when w people
During this stage, reciprocity and IS play a role in establishing infant’s relationships w others
Stage 2 of attachment
Beginnings of attachment
Around the age of 4 months
Infants become more social
Prefer human company to inanimate objects and can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people
However, they’re still relatively easily comforted by anyone, and don’t show stranger anxiety
Most distinctive feature of this phase: general sociability (enjoyment of being w ppl)
Stage 3 of attachment
Discriminate attachment
By 7 months
Seperation anxiety- protest when one particular person puts them down
Primary attachment figure- form a specific attachment to one person
~Schaffer and Emerson found PA werent always formed w person who spends most time w child
~65% first specific attachment was mother
~30% mother was joint first attachment
~27% fathers were joint first attachment
~3% fathers were first attachment
Stranger anxiety
Stage 4 of attachment
Multiple attachment
Very soon after the main attachment is formed
Infant develops a wider circle of multiple attachments, depending on how many consistent relationships they have
Secondary attachments: Schaffer and Emerson found that within 1m of first becoming attached, 29% of infants had multiple attachments to someone else (secondary attachments)
Infants also display seperation anxiety in these relationships
Within 6m, this had risen to 78%
By the age of 1, 1/3 of infants had formed 5+ secondary attachments
AO3: stages of attachments
lim: cultural variations
lim: inflexible
stages of attachments lim: cultural variations
Differences between cultures in the way ppl relate to each other
Individualist cultures (eg Britain and US): each person is primarily concerned w their own needs or needs of immediate family group
Collectivist cultures: more focused on needs of the group rather than individuals, w ppl sharing many things such as childcare
Multiple attachments are more common in collectivist societies
- Research by Sage supports this as compared infants raised in communal environments w infants rsied in family-based sleeping arrangements
- In a kibbutz, kids spend time in community childrens homes cared for by a metapelet
- Closeness of attachment w mothers was almost 2x as common in family-based arrangements than in communal
= suggests the stage model applies specifically to individualist cultures
=lacks universal applicability
stages of attachments lim: cultural variations
Differences between cultures in the way ppl relate to each other
Individualist cultures (eg Britain and US): each person is primarily concerned w their own needs or needs of immediate family group
Collectivist cultures: more focused on needs of the group rather than individuals, w ppl sharing many things such as childcare
Multiple attachments are more common in collectivist societies
- Research by Sage supports this as compared infants raised in communal environments w infants rsied in family-based sleeping arrangements
- In a kibbutz, kids spend time in community childrens homes cared for by a metapelet
- Closeness of attachment w mothers was almost 2x as common in family-based arrangements than in communal
= suggests the stage model applies specifically to individualist cultures
=lacks universal applicability
stages of attachments lim: inflexible
Suggest development is inflexible
A stage theory proposes there is a fixed order for development
In some situations and cultures, multiple attachments may come before primary attachments
May be problematic if they become a standard by which families arr judged by and lead them to be classed as abnormal
AO3: stages of attachments research
str: longitudinal study
lim: unreliable data
lim: biased sample
Stages of attachments research lim: unreliable data
Data collected is unreliable
Based on mothers reports of their infants
Some mothers may have been less sensitive to their infants protests and less likely to report them
Some mothers may have not reported every protest in order to look like a more favorable parent: social desirability bias
=this would create a systematic bias which would challenge the validity of the data
Stages of attachments research lim: biased sample
Sample was biased
1) WC population: findings may apply to that social groupd and not others
=lacks universal applicability
2) 1960s sample: parental care has changed
- more women go out to work so many children are cared for outside the home, or fathers stay at home
- research: number of dads who stay at home and care for kids has quadrupled over the past 25 years
= findings may be different if study conducted today
=lacks historical validity
Stages of attachments research str: experimental conditions
1) Longitudinal study
Reduce recall bias
~reduce the impact of recall bias by collecting data before participants know about future events.
Establish sequences of events
~help researchers establish the order in which events occur.
Assess time-related characteristics
~help researchers assess how often, when, and for how long events occur
Detect developments
~help researchers detect changes in characteristics of a population over time.
2) Observations carried out by the parents in the home
The observations did not take place in controlled, lab conditions
This means that the babies were not distracted by the presence of unfamiliar researchers
This means that the babies were simply ‘being babies’ in their home environment
= high external validity
