Stages of Attachment - Schaffer and Emerson

Question 1

SCHAFFER AND EMERSON - PROCEDURE

Answer 1

Stages of Attachment - Schaffer and Emerson

• longitudinal study
• 60 Glasgow infants
• studied in own home
• mothers kept diary of infants response to separation in 7 everyday situations
• e.g left alone in a room
• researchers carried out direct observations when they approached the infants ( stranger anxiety )
• followed up again at 18 months

Question 2

SCHAFFER AND EMERESON - FINDINGS

Answer 2

• mother main attachment figure at 18 months for 65% infants
• only 3% father PCG
• by 18 months old, 31% formed multiple attachments

Question 3

What are the stages of attachment?

Answer 3

1️⃣
ASOCIAL - 0-2months similar response to all objects (inanimate and animate)

2️⃣
INDISCRIMINATE - 2-7months preference for people, recognise adults, accept comfort from any adult

3️⃣
SPECIFIC - around 7 months shows stranger anxiety and separation anxiety, PCG formed

4️⃣
MULTIPLE - 10 months secondary attachments to familiar people

Question 4

SCHAFFER AND EMERSON - CONCLUSION

Answer 4

CONCLUSION

• sensitive responsiveness - attachments formed with those who responded most accurately to the babies signals

Question 5

EVALUATIONS (5)

Answer 5

EVALUATIONS

• Real life setting
• Longitudinal study
• low population validity - limited sample
• problem studying asocial stage
• ethnocentric

Question 6

EVAL: Real-life setting

Answer 6

Real-life setting

• natural behaviour study
• in own homes, during normal routines
• researchers not present as mothers observed
• C/A however parents may show bias reducing validity
• high external validity - generalisable

Question 7

EVAL: Longitudinal study

Answer 7

Longitudinal study

• carried out over 18 months
• same ppts visited monthly, no confounding variables if different infants were studied and compared
• high internal validity, trustworthy cause-and-effect relationship

Question 8

EVAL: Limited sample

Answer 8

Limited sample

• 60 working-class Glasgow infants
• small, specific sample
• low population validity

Question 9

EVAL: Problem studying asocial stage

Answer 9

Problem studying asocial stage

• infants in asocial stage have poor coordination, generally immobile
• difficult to ascertain meanings of interactions
• evidence may be unreliable/invalide, difficult to draw definite conclusions

Question 10

EVAL: Ethnocentric

Answer 10

Ethnocentric

• Schaffer and Emerson found multiple attachments follow specific attachment stage
• Ijzendoorn found multiple attachments form first in collectivist cultures
• results might not reflect global attachments, only applicable to individualist cultures
• theory may be ethnocentric, not generalisable