Schaffer And Emerson

Question 1

A social

Answer 1

First weeks of life

• Behaviour is the same towards humans as it is to inanimate objects.
• But babies shows signs that they prefer to be with people, and preference for the company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them.
• Baby is forming bonds with certain people these form the the basis of later attachments

Question 2

Indiscriminate

Answer 2

2-7 months

• start to display more obvious and observable social behaviour.
• They now show a clear preference towards being with humans rather than inanimate objects.
• Prefer company of familiar people, but will accept hugs from anyone.
• Don’t show separation anxiety when carer leaves, or stranger anxiety

Question 3

Specific

Answer 3

Around 7 months

• Start to express classic signs of attachment towards one particular person. (Stranger anxiety, separation anxiety)
• Formed specific attachment to primary attachment figure (person who offers most interaction and responds to baby’s ‘signals’), 65% of the time it’s the mother

Question 4

Multiple

Answer 4

After babies show attachment behavior

• Start to extend behaviour to multiple attachments, with other people’s they spend time with (secondary attachments)
• Schaffer and Emerson observed that 29% of children form secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment
• By age of one, the majority of babies have developed multiple attachments

Question 5

What did Schaffer and Emerson do?

Answer 5

S&E (1964) studied 60 babies (31 male, 29 female). All were from Glasgow and the majority were from working class families. The researches visited babies and mothers in their own homes every month for the first year and again at 18 months. The researches asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in 7 every day separations (eg adult leaving the room), this was designed to measure the babies attachment. The researchers also asses stranger anxiety (babies anxiety response to unfamiliar people)

Question 6

AO3 generalisbality

Answer 6

All working class and Glaswegian

Question 7

AO3 external validity

Answer 7

Most of the observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and in the baby’s own home, and then reported to the researchers. This means that it is highly likely the babies behaves naturally while being observed as they are in their natural setting, which increases validity and makes results more reliable. BUT The mothers might not be able to observe the baby all the time and might miss some key behaviours. The mothers might have a bias to make themselves look good (or an unconscious bias that they feel their baby is ‘perfect’)might also lie to the researchers about her child’s behaviour if she felt her baby was not progressing correctly, or she might suffer demand characteristic and change her observations to match what she think the researchers want to hear.

Question 8

AO3 longitudinal

Answer 8

The study has longitduinal strength as it was done over a year (with the researchers visiting the mothers every month and then again at 18 months), this meant that the researchers could collect data over a long period of time and record changes in the child behaviour, and the check up at 18 months meant the researchers could check for any other observations, this also means there will be no individual differences as the baby is being compared to itself

Question 9

AO3 practical applications

Answer 9

Day care- In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. However, Schaffer and Emerson’s research tells us that day care, especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult, may be problematic during the specific attachment stage.
This means that parents’ use of day care can be planned using
Schaffer and Emerson’s stages.

Question 10

4 stages

Answer 10

A-social stage, indiscriminate, specific, multiple