A03

• Good external validity: One strength of Schaffer and Emerson's research is that it has good external validity. Most of the observations (though not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researchers. The alternative would have been to have researchers present to record observations. This might have distracted the babies or make them feel more anxious. This means it is highly likely that the PPs behaved naturally while being observed
• Counterpoint: on the other hand there are issues with asking the mothers to be the 'observers'. They were unlikely to be objective observers. They might have been biased in terms of what they noticed and what they reported, for example they might not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety or they may have misremembered it. This means that even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded.
• Limitation of Schaffer and Emerson's stages


  • Validity of the measures used to assess attachment in the asocial stage
  • Young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile
  • Babies less than 2 months old might have displayed anxiety in quite subtle, hard-to-observe ways
  • Difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers on signs of anxiety and attachment in this age group
• The babies may actually be quite social but, because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial
• Real -world
• Real-world application: Another strength of Schaffer and Emerson's stage is that they have practical application in day care (where babies are cared for outside of their home by a non-family adult). In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward as ba+
• Real-world application: Another strength of Schaffer and Emerson's stage is that they have practical application in day care (where babies are cared for outside of their home by a non-family adult). In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult.
• However, Schaffer and Emerson's research tells us that day care, especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult, may be problematic during the specific attachment stage. This means that parents' use of day care can be planned using Schaffer and Emerson's stages
• Research on mother and baby attachment development has often been neglected
• After 7 months, in only 3% of cases the father was the primary attachment figure, while in 27% of cases the father was the secondary attachment figure
• Fathers go on to become important attachment figures
• Attachment to fathers holds some special significance and plays a different role in a child's development
• Caregiving men make a unique contribution to child development
• The quality of fathers' play with their children is related to attachment outcomes
• Fathers have a distinctive role with play and stimulation, and less to do with primary caregiving
• There is confusion over research questions regarding the role of fathers in attachment
• There is a lack of data over the role of fathers in the context of attachment
• There is conflicting evidence regarding the role of fathers
• A limitation of research on the role of fathers is that findings vary due to the methodology used
• Longitudinal studies suggest fathers are secondary attachment figures, but they have an important role in development, involving play and stimulation
• Single mother and lesbian-parent families show that children do not develop differently from children in two-parent heterosexual families
• When fathers are present, they tend to adopt a distinctive role, but families can adapt to not having a father
• Research into the role of the father can be used to offer assuring advice to parents
• Parental anxiety about the role of fathers can be reduced by focusing on the research
• Stereotypical views of mothers and father roles can bias observations in research
• Observational studies can be used to assess differences between attachment figures
• Jasper is concerned that he is seen as unimportant as a parent compared to Emilia's mother
• Research has shown that mothers and fathers may play different roles in attachment
• There are limitations in the research on the role of the father in attachment
• Research suggests that fathers have a distinctive and important role in child development
• The length of learning theory is that elements of conditioning could be used to explain aspects of attachment
• The role of association with food plays a key role, but other factors may play a role. For example a baby may feel warm and comfortable with the presence of a good attachment figure and this may influence the baby's choice of their main attachment figure
• This means that classical and operant conditioning explanations may still be useful in understanding the development of attachment
• Both classical and operant conditioning explanations see the baby as relatively passive, simply responding to associations with comfort or reward. But research shows that babies take a very active role in the interactions that produce attachment
• This means that classical conditioning may not be an adequate explanation of any aspect of attachment
• Social learning theory


  Explains attachment through the interactions between the caregiver and the child
• Angus


  • Angus is very well off and his mother works a lot, so he is often cared for by the nanny. Angus's mother spends approximately the same amount of time with the nanny as with Angus. The nanny provides practical care, whereas when Angus's mother is with him she spends a lot of time cuddling and playing with him. Based on this, Angus is likely to become more attached to his mother than the nanny
• Social learning theory suggests that parents teach children to become attached to them by demonstrating and modeling attachment behaviours, for example hugging and giving attention or cuddles to the child
• Social learning theory has the advantage that it is based on the two-way interaction between baby and adult, so it fits better with the importance of reciprocity in attachment
• Social learning theory gets around some of the problems of earlier learning theory explanations of attachment