Attachment development

• Schaffer and Emerson's stage theory

  1. Asocial (0-2 months) - infants will produce a similar response to all objects, whether inanimate or animate. Happier in presence of humans as compared to alone. Prefer faces to non faces and will smile at anyone.
  2. Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months) - Clear preference for being humans rather than objects. Smile more at familiar faces than unfamiliar and do not show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety.
  3. Discriminate attachments (7 months) - Child formed a primary attachment. (65% mother). Shows stranger anxiety if attachment figure is absent especially. Also shows separation anxiety. Use familiar adults as a secure base.
  4. Multiple attachments(8+ months) - form secondary attachments with adults they spend time with
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

  They aimed to identify and describe the stages by which attachment occurs.

  • longitudinal study on 60 working class families in Glasgow
  • mothers and babies were studied once a month for the first year of their lives and again at 18 months
  • other research methods used were observations and interviews with the mothers
  • attachments assessed through several everyday situations that measured separation protest and stranger anxiety, e.g. through being left in a pram outside the shop alone to see if child becomes distressed
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

  Results

  • most infants showed separation anxiety at around 6-8 months
  • stranger anxiety occured at around a year
  • at 18 months, 87% had multiple attachments
  • 65% had primary attachments with mother
  • 39% that was with the person who fed, bathed or changed the child
  • 3% dads
  • fathers were first joint attachment in 27% cases
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

  Conclusions

  There is a pattern of attachment formation which is common to all infants, which suggests the process is innate. Attachments are more easily made with those who are responsive and sensitive. Quality of interaction is more influential on attachment formation than quantity.
• A03

  • Schaffer and Emerson was a good reliable study as it was conducted in the natural environment of the child and so has high mundane realism.
  • A longitudinal study also means that researchers could see when an attachment developed specifically and the changes in behaviour that led to this.
• A03

  A problem with the study is that mothers collected a lot of the data. It may be that less sensitive mothers to infants may be less likely to report them. Furthermore, mothers may not have always filled in diaries as events occured due to being busy at the time.

  In addition to this, the retrospective completion of the diaries may not be as accurate as would be desirable and it is possible that mothers may manufacture information if they cannot remember or due to the social desirability aspect.
• A03

  The generalisability of findings can be largely questioned. The sample used was working class which suggests that attachment development may not be the same in other social groups. Furthermore, the study may not be as relevant as it was conducted at a time where gender roles were more traditional and may not reflect attachment where both parents are working.
• A03

  An advantage of the multiple attachment stage is that children are more able to conduct social relationships and if they lose an attachment figure, they have several others to turn to. This has value as it can be applied in real life application such as daycare.