SHAFFER AND EMERSON

• What was the aim?


  identify common stages of attachment and assess if they are common to all infants
• what type of report was it?

  self-report

  • asked mothers how children behaved in everyday situations eg being briefly separated from them)
• what tyype of study?

  longitudinal study
• how many new born babies and mothers?

  60
• what was the class/background of the newborn babies and mothers?

  working class backgrounds in Glasgow
• What was the method?


  • Longitudinal study, 60 newborn babies and mothers from working class backgrounds in Glasgow
  • Completed naturalistic observation and interview each month for a year, then again at age 18 months
• What were the results at 6-8 months?


  separation protest shown
• what were the results at 9 months?


  stranger anxiety shown
• what were the results at 10 months?

  39% of infants formed multiple attachments
• what were results at 18months?

  87% of infants had formed multiple attachments (5+ attachments)
• what were . briefly, the conclusions?

  common patterns of attachment to all infants

  sensitive responsiveness

  multiple attachments are normal
• Explain the conclusion "common pattern of attachment to all infants"?

  common pattern of attachment to all infants.... suggesting there is an element of BIOLOGICAL DRIVE to attachment formation THEREFORE SUPPORTING SCAFFER'S stages of attachment
• Explain the conclusion "sensitive responsiveness"?

  sensitive responsiveness- key to making strong attachments ''quality time'' not just time
• Explain the conclusion "Multiple attachments are normal"?

  multiple attachments are normal - can be equal to the mothers role
• what 2 things did psychologists measure attachment by?

  1. SEPARATION PROTEST (left alone at night- mother measured amount of protest)
  2. STRANGER ANXIETY (adult leaving infant alone with stranger, this was the researcher)
• What was the additional findings to do with sensitive responsiveness ?

  • MOTHERS who were strongly attached responded quickly to infants needs and interacted well ie they showed sensitive responsiveness (opposite for weakly attached)
  • (this did not have to be the mother - could be another caregiver)
• what is a longitudinal study?


  a research design involving repeated observations of the same variables (eg people) over short or long periods of time (ie uses longitudinal data_
• what data do longitudinal studies use?

  longitudinal data
• what did schaffer and emerson suggest?

  that infants followed a common pattern as they developed attachments and they put this into distinct stages