Schaffer and Emerson

• Schaffer and Emerson aim - their aim was to investigate when attachments form, how intense they are and to who
• Schaffer and Emerson used a “self report” design asking mothers to keep diaries and log behaviour of their infants after specific events. They also visited mothers every 4 weeks and directly observed infants.
• Schaffer and Emerson’s study was longitudinal as infants were visited every four weeks for one year and then once again at 18 months.
• Schaffer and Emerson used 60 infants from working class families in Glasgow. 31 were male and 29 were female.
• Schaffer and Emerson measured attachment through stranger anxiety, separation anxiety and secure base.
• Schaffer and Emerson results:

  Between 6-8 months, 50% of infants showed separation anxiety towards mother.

  One month after this, stranger anxiety was more common.

  By 10 months, 80% had a specific attachment and 30% displayed multiple attachments.

  75% were attached to their fathers by 18 months, with equal separation anxiety for both parents.
• Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment :

  1 - Asocial / pre-attachment

  2 - indiscriminate

  3 - specific / discriminate

  4 - multiple attachments
• Stage one - asocial / pre-attachment :

  • time: first few weeks
  • behaviour to humans and objects is similar
  • preference to humans that can calm them
  • happy with other humans
• Stage two - indiscriminate :

  • time: 2-7 months
  • preference for certain people
  • can recognise and prefer adults
  • will accept comfort from anyone
  • does not show separation or stranger anxiety
• Stage three - specific / discriminate attachment :

  • time: 7+ months
  • displays separation and stranger anxiety towards one specific attachment
• Stage four - multiple attachment :

  • time: 8+ months
  • secondary attachments form 1 month after primary attachments
  • by one year, the majority have multiple attachments
• AO3. Schaffer and Emerson‘s research lacks population validity. The sample consisted of working class Glasgow in the 1960s where it was typical for fathers to be out of the house working and women raising several children alone in poverty. This means that the results lack validity as they dont represent the whole of the UK at that time or modern day.
• AO3. Schaffer and Emerson’s methodology is flawed as it uses self reporting. Mothers could have lied if they were less responsive to their child, or they could have filled in their diaries retrospectively meaning they were inaccurate. This means the data can lack both validity and reliability. However results have high internal validity as it was in a natural environment and it was conducted over a long period of time rather than a snapshot.
• AO3. Schaffer and Emerson observing infants can lack reliability. Infants in the asocial stage have poor mobility skills meaning it is difficult to observe their genuine behaviour. This means mothers may have found it difficult to record behaviours or some behaviours may have been misinterpreted. However, Carpenter found that 2 week old children can recognise their mothers faces and would become distressed if their voice didnt match their face, showing infants can respond to caregivers.