schaffer and emerson

• what did schaffer and emerson investigate

  the formation of early attachments
• explain schaffer and emersons study into the formation of early attachments

  • 60 babies
  • 31 = male
  • 29 = female
  • all from glasgow
  • skilled working class families
  • babies and their mothers were visited every month for the first year then again at 18 month
  • researchers interviewed the mother
  • measured separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
• what were the results of schaffer and emersons study

  • 25-32 weeks 50% had separation anxiety (specific attachment)
  • 40 weeks 80% had specific attachments
  • 40 weeks 30% had multiple attachments
• how many stages of attachment are there

  4
• what are the four stages of attachment

  stage 1 - asocial stage

  stage 2 -indiscriminate stage

  stage 3- specific attachment

  stage 4 - multiple attachment
• what is the asocial stage

  • the first few weeks of a babies life
  • babies behaviour to non-human objects and humans was the same
  • shows preference to humans
  • happier when around humans
• what is the indiscriminate stage

  • 2-7 months
  • display more observable social behaviour
  • recognise and prefer familiar adults
  • accept cuddles from any adult
  • behaviour isn't different to any one person
• what is specific attachment

  • around 7 months
  • show separation and stranger anxiety
  • has a primary attachment figure
• what is multiple attachment

  • once forming a specific attachment babies begin to form secondary attachment figures
  • approx at 1 years old
• why does schaffer and emersons study have good eternal validity

  • carried out in the families home
  • observations were carried out by the parents during ordinary activities
  • behaviour of babies was unaffected by the observers presence
  • so babies most likely behaved naturally
• what is the issue with the sample used in schaffer and emersons study

  • limited sample characteristics
  • sample size of 60 babies may be slightly small
  • all babies were from glasgow
  • all babies were from the same social class
  • study was conducted over 50 years ago
  • cannot not generalise findings to other social and historical contexts
• why is it good that schaffer and emerson used a longitudinal design

  • children were followed up and observed regularly
  • a quicker method would've been to observe the children at different ages
  • longitudinal designs have better internal validity
  • there are no confounding variables of individual differences between ppts
• what is the problem with studying the asocial stage

  • babies that are a few weeks old have poor coordination and are essentially immobile
  • difficult to make any judgements based on observations
  • there aren't many observable behaviours
  • therefore evidence cannot be relied on
• explain the conflicting evidence on multiple attachments

  • not clear when a child forms multiple attachments
  • most find that multiple attachments forms once the child has a single attachment
  • psychologists working in collectivist cultures find that babies form multiple attachments very early on
  • collectivist cultures value working together