Schaffer and Emerson

• Schaffer and Emersion - Aim

  • Investigate the formation of early attachment
• Schaffer and Emersion - Method

  • 60 working class babies from Glasgow
  • visited every month, mothers asked about seperation reactions and stranger anxiety
• Schaffer and Emersion - Findings

  • 25-32 weeks showed speration anxiety
  • attachment was towards most interactive person
  • by 40 weeks, 80% had specific attachment, 30% had multiple attachments
• Schaffer and Emersion- Conclusion

  • infants go through different stages of attachment in their early development/ages
• (S&E) + Good external validity

  • conducted in own homes mostly by parents meaning the behaviour is unlikely to be affected (natural behaviour)
• (S&E) + Longitudinal design

  • better internal validity than cross-sectional studies as they dont have pp variables and can collect a wide range of data
• (S&E) - Unrepresentative sample

  • only used babies with the same class and geolographical backgrounds so cant generalise the results