Stages of attachment

• Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

  Schaffer and Emerson observed babies for 18 months. They looked at the interactions between the baby and carers.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) - Method

  Longitudinal study on 60 babies from Glasgow (working class families mainly) at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of their life.

   The children were all studied in their own home and a regular pattern was identified in the development of attachment. 

  The babies were visited monthly for approximately one year, their interactions with their carers were observed, and carers were interviewed. 

  Evidence for the development of an attachment was that the baby showed separation anxiety after a carer left.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) - Findings

  Between 25 and 32 weeks of age about 50% of the babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually the mother (this is called specific attachment).

  Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was the most interactive and sensitive to infants signals and facial expressions (i.e. sensitive responsiveness & reciprocity). This wasn’t necessarily the person with whom the infant spent more time. 

  -By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple attachment.
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) - Conclusions

  Many of the babies had several attachments by 10 months old, including attachments to mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings and neighbours.

  The mother was the main attachment figure for about half of the children at 18 months old and the father for most of the others. 

  The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child but who plays and communicates with him or her.
• Schaffer and Emerson

  Schaffer and Emerson discovered that baby's attachments develop in the following sequence:

  1. Asocial stage (first few weeks)
  2. Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months)
  3. Specific attachment (from around 7 months)
  4. Multiple attachments (by one year)
• AO3 - Evaluation 

  (+) Good external validity

  Research carried out in families’ own homes.

  Most observations were done by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researcher later.

  = behaviour of baby therefore unlikely to be affected by presence of observers.

  = pts behaved naturally when being observed
• AO3 - Evaluation

  (+) longitudinal design

  Same children were followed-up and observed regularly.

  = good internal validity
• AO3 - Evaluation

  (-) Limited sample characteristics

  Sample size of 60 was good considering the large volume of data that was gathered for each ppt. HOWEVER, all families involved were from same district and social class in the same city and over 50 years ago

  Child-rearing practices vary from one culture to another and one historical period to another. These results do not necessarily generalise well to other social and historical contexts
• (-) Problem studying the asocial type

  Asocial stage = first few weeks of life

  Babies that young have poor coordination and are generally pretty much immobile. Difficult to make judgments about them based on observations of their behaviour. There isn’t much observable behaviour!

  = evidence can’t be relied on
• (-) Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments

  When do children form multiple attachment? Not clear

  Some research indicates that most babies form attachment to a single main carer before they become capable of developing multiple attachments (Bowlby). 

  Other psychologists find babies form multiple attachments from the outset (Van Ijzendoorn)- collectivist cultures