Infants were around 5-23 weeks of age and studied until 1 year old.
What was the procedure of the experiment by Shaffer and Emerson?
The mothers were visited every 4 weeks
At each visit, the mother reported about the infant’s reaction to separation in 7 everyday situations.
This included being left in a room or with other people.
The mother was asked to describe the severity of any protest like any screaming or simple crying, out of a 4 point scale.
The mother was asked to say to whom the protest was directed.
The children’s response with stranger anxiety to the interviewer was also measured.
What was the equivalent of the findings of the experiment?
Stages of attachment
What was the first stage of attachment?
Indiscriminate attachment
What is indiscriminate attachment?
Infants produce a similar response to all in/animate objects.
Towards the end, infants show greater preference for social stimuli like a smiling face and are content with people.
Reciprocity and interactional synchrony help form a relationship.
How long does indiscriminate attachment last?
Birth to 2 months
What is the second stage of attachment?
Beginnings of attachment
When does the second stage of attachment start?
At 4 months
What is 'beginnings of attachment'?
Infants become more social.
They prefer animate people to inanimate objects and can tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar people.
However, they are comforted by everyone, they do not yet show stranger anxiety though.
They have a general sociability with everyone.
What is the third stage of attachment?
Discriminate attachment
When does the discriminate stage start?
At 7 months
What is discriminate attachment?
Infants show a different protest when a specific person puts them down - separation anxiety.
They also show pleasure in reunion and are most comforted by this person.
They begin to form a specific bond with the primary caregiver. They also develop stranger anxiety.
What did Shaffer and Emerson find regarding discriminate attachment?
Shaffer and Emerson found the “specific attachment” was not always formed with the person who spent the most time.
It was rather that intensely attached infants who were responded to sensitively and quickly to their “signals” were the mothers who were the primary caregivers.
Infants who were poorly attached had mothers who failed to respond. It is quality over quantity that shows formation of attachment.
What were the actual percentages of discriminate attachment?
In 65% of the children, the mother was the first sole attachment
In a further 30%, the mother was also the first joint object of attachment
With 3%, Fathers were rarely the first sole object of attachment
However, in a further 27%, they were joint first object.
What is the 4th stage of attachment?
Multiple attachments
What is multiple attachments?
Very soon after the main attachment is formed, a wider circle is developed depending on how many consistent relationships the baby has.
Shaffer and Emerson found that within a month, 29% of infants had multiple attachments like relatives or grandparents
These are called secondary relationships.
Separation anxiety is also shown, within 6 months it is raised to 78%.
By the age of 1 year, the majority of infants had formed multiple attachments
This happened after the primary attachment to their primary caregivers.
What is the conclusion of the study of Shaffer and Emerson?
By the age of 1 year, the majority of infants had formed multiple attachments and developed after their main primary attachment.
What is a criticism of the data collected by Shaffer and Emerson?
The data collected by Shaffer and Emerson
They used self-reports based on the mother’s reports of the infants.
Some mothers may have been less sensitive to some of the children’s protests so they may not have reported it.
Another problem is social desirability bias as the mothers may have wanted to be seen as a primary caregiver.
Therefore, this reduces internal validity.
What is a criticism of the temporal validity of Shaffer and Emerson's study??
Sample is from the 1960’s, many things have changed since then.
More women go to work so children may be cared for outside the home or stay at home fathers become caregivers.
Cohn et al (2014) shows the number of stay at home fathers has quadrupled in the last 25 years.
Therefore, it is likely that if a similar study was done today of Shaffer and Emerson, the findings may be different.
What is a negative evaluation regarding sample bias?
The sample was biased in 2 ways
The participants were from working class backgrounds
It may only apply specifically to working class relationships.
There was also an all individualistic sample
This may not apply to collectivist societies where parenting and childcare are different.
The study overall lacks population validity.
What did Shaffer and Emerson say regarding multiple attachments?
Shaffer and Emerson called the multiple attachments as ‘secondary attachments’ indicating that they are not as important.
What did Bowlby say regarding multiple attachments?
- Bowlby with his monotropy hypothesis said that each attachment with a different figure served a different purpose
For example, fathers offer different care and help infants negotiate with peers.
What did Rutter et al say regarding multiple attachments?
Rutter et al said that all the roles of the attachments are equivalent and integrate together to determine the infant’s attachment type.
Therefore, the status of multiple attachments is unclear.