development of attachment

• P: the data collected by schaffer and emerson may be unreliable

  E: this is beacuse it was based on mothers' reports of their infants. some mothers might have been less sensitive to their infants' protests and therefore less likely to report them

  L: this would create a systematic bias which would challenge the validity of the data
• P: the sample was biased in a number of ways

  E: it was from a working class population and the findings may apply to that social group and not others. the sample was from the 1960s. parental care of children has changed since that time. more women go out to work so many children are cared for outside the home or fathers stay at home and become the main carer. research shows that the number of stay at home dads has quadrupled over the past 25 years
• link for biased sample

  L: therefore, if a similar study to that of schaffer and emerson was conducted today, the findings might well be different
• P: one of the central discussions relating to multiple attachment is whether all attachments are equivalent or whether on or two have some special significance

  E: bowlby's view was that an infant forms one special relationship. there are many secondary attachments which are important. for example, fathers may offer a special kind of care and relationships with siblings are important in learning how to negotiate with peers. in contrast, rutter argued all attachment figures are equivalent.
• link for challenging monotropy

  L: this suggests that bowlby may have been wrong about the idea of a hierarchy of attachments