Development of Attachment

The Development of Attachment

Definitions

Biological factors = women have hormones which encourage caringness

The role of the father = changing social practises; increased exposure might lead to primary attachment

​​​​​​Description

- Schaffer and Emerson studies 60 infants and mothers from Glasgow

- Frank et al says men are primary attachment figures or share this role

- Geiger says fathers are more playful, whilst White & Woollett say they help with problem solving, hence why fathers become secondary attachments

Evaluation

- the data could be unreliable as mothers of less securely attached infants would be less sensitive and possibly less accurate in their reports, which is a systematic bias

-the sample used is biased as all families were from the working class population of the 1960s, so results may not generalise or be representative

- Rutter argued all relationships are equivalent and infants can have multiple attachments

​​​​​​Further Evaluation

- Sagi et al argued there is cultural varitions

- the stage theories of development may be too inflexible

4 Stages of Attachment Development

1: Indiscriminate attachment

2: Beginnings of attachment

3: Specific attachment

4: Multiple attachments