The development of attachment Flashcards
Who developed the stages of attachment
Schaffer and Emerson –
How were the stages of attachment developed - study
Procedure
Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) study involved 60 babies majority of these babies were born into skilled working class families. The infants ranged from 5 to 23 weeks of age. All the babies and their mothers were visited in their homes every four weeks for the first year and then again at 18 months.
A mixture of observations (overt) and interviews were conducted to collect the data. The mother was also asked to keep a diary of her child’s behaviour. At each visit, each mother reported their infant’s response to separation in seven everyday situations which are as follows:
* Left alone in a room
* Left with other people
* Left in their pram outside the house
* Left in their pram outside the shops
* Left in their cot at night
* Put down after being held by an adult
* Passed by while sitting on their cot or chair.
The mother was asked to describe the intensity of any protest (e.g. a full blooded cry or a whimper) which was then rated on a four-point scale. Finally the mother was asked to say whom the protest was directed at.
Thus two specific attachment behaviours were measured:
1. Separation protest (anxiety) – the distress shown by an infant when separated from his/her caregiver.
2. Stranger anxiety – the distress shown by an infant when approached or picked up by someone who in unfamiliar
What are the four stages of attachment?
Stage one: Pre-attachment phase
(Birth – 3 months)
Stage 2:
Indiscriminate attachments
(3 – 6/7 months)
Stage 3:
Specific attachments or Discriminate attachments
(7/8 months)
Stage 4:
Multiple attachments
(9 months onwards)
What is stage one in the development of attachments?
From about 0 – 6 weeks (also known as the ‘Asocial stage) – baby behaves similarly to both human and inanimate objects.
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. They also prefer familiar to unfamiliar faces. Babies are also happier in the presence of other humans
What is stage two in the development of attachments?
Babies at this stage become much more social. They begin to recognise and prefer familiar adults. At this stage, babies usually do accept comfort and hugs from any adult. They do not usually show separation protest or stranger anxiety and they do not really show any preference towards one adult.
Who is stage three in the development of attachments.
By seven months most infants begin to show a distinctly different sort of protest when one particular person puts them down (separation anxiety). Equally they show especial joy at reunion with that person and are most comforted by this person. They are said to have formed a specific attachment to one person – their primary attachment figure.
At this stage, babies also show ‘stranger anxiety’ – another sign that a specific attachment has been formed.
What is stage 4 in the developments of attachments
Very soon after the main attachment is formed, the infant also develops a wider circle of multiple attachments depending on how many consistent relationships s/he has. Specifically Schaffer and Emerson found that within one month of first becoming attached, 30 % of the infants had multiple attachments to someone else – to their other parent, grandparents, siblings, other relatives, friends and/or neighbours. These are called secondary attachments. Infants also displayed separation anxiety in these relationships. Within 6 months – this had risen to 78%.
Research and theories on multiple attachments
John Bowlby believed that attachments were hierarchical in nature with children having one primary attachment figure (as the top of the hierarchy) and then secondary attachments to other people, although these were of minor importance compared to their main attachment bond.
However, Rutter (1995) proposed a model of multiple attachments that saw all attachments as of equal importance, with these attachments combining together to help form a child’s internal working model.
Multiple attachments are often formed to different people for different purposes, for example to mother for loving care, to father for exciting unpredictable play. Other attachments are often formed to grandparents, siblings and childminders. Therefore there is debate with multiple attachments are seen as secondary attachments or that each attachment figure is of equal importance.
Strengths of the development of attachments (Schaffer and Emerson’s study)
Good external validity – Schaffer and Emerson’s study was carried out in the families’ own homes and most of the observation (other than the stranger anxiety) was actually done by the parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researchers later. Thus the participants (mothers and their babies) would have behaved naturally and not show demand characteristics. This means that the findings of the study were applicable to everyday life. The study therefore has mundane realism, as it was conducted under everyday conditions, meaning that the conclusions drawn about the formation of attachment (including the stages) can be seen as having high validity.
Longitudinal design – this is good as the same babies and their mothers were followed-up and observed regularly over a longer period of time (in this case 18 months). The quicker alternative would have been to observe different children at each age – known as a cross-sectional design. However, longitudinal designs have better internal validity than cross-sectional designs because there would be less confounding variables such as individual differences between the participants because the same participants were observed throughout the whole study.
No ethical issues – as consent was obtained from the parents, there was no real ethical issues involved in this study such as harm. So long as confidentiality was maintained – this study was ethically correct since observations and self report methods were used there was no deception involved
Weaknesses of the development of attachments (Schaffer and Emerson’s study)
Methodological Issues – as observations and self report measures were used, both would be prone to bias – for example, with self report methods mothers could have shown social desirability bias – in other words they may have answered the questions in a way to show that they had a good relationship with their infants. Equally when mothers were observing their own infants behaviour, they may have shown bias in interpreting their baby’s behaviour.
Biased sample – the sample was biased in a number of ways. First it was from a working-class population which meant that it may not apply to middle class people. Second, the sample was from the 1960s – Parental care of children has changed considerably since that time. More women now go out to work and so many children are cared for outside the home, or fathers stay at home and become the main carer. Research shows that the number of fathers who choose to stay at home and care for their children and families has quadrupled over the past 25 years (Cohn et al. 2014). In other words, society has moved on quite a bit in the past 60 years. Thus. If Schaffer and Emerson conducted their study in today’s society, the findings might well be different.
Measuring multiple attachments – there may be a problem with how multiple attachments are tested – just because a baby may have got distressed when an adult left the room may not necessarily mean that the baby was actually attached to that adult – for example Bowlby (1969) pointed out that baby’s also have playmates as well as attachment figures and do get distressed with their playmates leave the room! Thus there may be a problem in defining the difference between an attachment figure and play mate
Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments – it is not clear exactly when the baby can form multiple attachments as research seems to be indicating that multiple attachments can only be formed if the baby is first attached to a single main carer. However, cross cultural research seems to be indicating that having multiple rather than single attachments is the norm (e.g. Tronick et al. 1992; Fox, 1977)
Stage theories – developmental psychologists (who study attachments) often use stage theories to describe how children’s behaviour change with age. One difficulty with such theories is that they suggest development is rather inflexible – e.g. Schaffer and Emerson’s study suggests single attachments must happen before multiple attachments but in some cultures multiple attachments may happen first or simultaneously – does this mean then that these cultures are abnormal?
schaffer and emerson findings
Findings
With whom do babies first form attachments?
For 65% of the babies, the first specific primary attachment was to the mother
30% were jointly attached to mother and one other figure
3% were attached to their father
27% were jointly attached to the father and mother
As soon as the first attachment happened, most babies formed multiple attachments. In fact by 18 months, 75% of babies had formed an attachment with their father!
It was also noted that intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly and sensitively to their ‘signals’ and who offered their child the most interaction. Infants who were poorly attached had mothers who failed to interact. Thus they concluded that it is the quality of the relationship, not quantity, that mattered most in the formation of attachment.
Attachments are NOT necessarily formed with physical carer. In almost 40% of cases the person who cared most for the child was not their first attachment figure.
