The development of attachment Flashcards
Outline Schaffer and Emersons study on the development of attachment.
Studied 60 babies from working class families living in Glasgow. The researchers visited the babies in their homes every month for the first year and then again at 18 months.
The babies were observed upon visit, the caregivers were interviewed and the mothers kept a diary.
The researchers asked the mothers about their babies separation anxiety and stranger anxiety in oder to measure attachment.
What are the 4 stages of attachment?
-Asocial stage
-Indiscriminate attachment
-Specific attachment
-Multiple attachment
When is the asocial stage?
Birth-2 moths
When is the indiscriminate attachment stage?
2-7 months.
When is the multiple attachment stage?
By 18 months.
When is the specific attachment stage?
7-9 months.
Outline the asocial stage.
In the first few weeks, a new borns behaviour towards humans is similar towards inanimate objects.
They are not completely asocial as they prefer to be with people and begin to show a preference to people who bring them comfort.
Outline the indiscriminate attachment stage.
Babies begin to show more obvious social behaviours.
They show a clear preference for being with humans as oppose to objects but will still accept comfort from any person and show no stranger/separation anxiety.
Outline the specific attachment stage.
Babies now start to display signs of attachment towards one specific person.
Anxiety towards strangers and separation anxiety increases.
Babies now have formed a specific attachment to their primary attachment figure.
The primary attachment figure is not who the baby spends the largest amount of time with but instead the person who responds to the babies signals with the most skill.
Outline the multiple attachment stage.
Once babies have formed a specific attachment they can extend to multiple attachments with people who they spend time with. These are secondary attachments and usually by the age of 1 babies have developed multiple attachments.
Give a strength of the development of attachment (research studies)
One strength of Schaffer and Emersons research is that it has good external validity. For example, most of the observations were made by parents when the babies were doing ordinary activities. As these observations were recorded by parents it is likely that the babies would not have acted differently and instead naturally. This gives the study high external validity.
Give a strength of the development of attachment (practical application)
One strength of Schaffer and Emersons research is that it has practical application.
For example, at daycare. In the asocial and indiscriminate stages, babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. However, research suggests that daycare may be problematic in the later attachment stages. This means parents use of daycare can be planned using the study.
Give a limitation of the development of attachment (bias)
However, the fact that they were observed and reported by their parents also is a limitation as it is likely that the parents may have been biased in what they were reporting. For example, they may have reported that their baby showed no anxiety when this was perhaps incorrect. This means that even if babies acted naturally, their behaviour may not have been accurately reported.
Give a limitation of the development of attachment (lack of validity relating to the asocial stage)
One limitation of the research is that there is a lack of validity relating to the asocial stage. This is because babies are fairly immobile and so if they feel anxiety they may only express this in very subtle ways which would make it difficult for mothers to report and observe the signs of anxiety. This decreases the validity of the research.
