Schaffer and Emerson

Schaffer and Emerson

1. Schaffer and Emerson 1964 investigated the formation of early attachments, emotional intensity and where they were directed

   • 60 babies from a working-class family in Glasgow was visited at their home every month for 18 months. their mothers were ased about protests their babaies showed in separations and measured stranger and separation anxiety
   • They found that at 25-32 weeks 50% of the babaies showed separation anxiety and after 40 weeks 80% had formed specific and multiple attachments
   • evaluations
     • good external validity
       • It was carried out in their home and the observations were carried out by the parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researchers. Because of this, the babies are unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers and the participant behaved naturally when observed which lead sto good extrenal validity
         • however, the observations could have been false as a parent may not want to admit that the baby cried when they left which they may presume is a bad thing
     • longitudinal design
       • the same children were followed up and observed regularly and because of this longitudinal design it leads to better internal validity as it isn't affected by participant variables which can act as confounding variables
         • it may have been quicker to use a cross-sectional design as it observes children at each age
     • limited sample characteristics
       • 60 babies and carers can be considered a good as a large amount of data can be collected. however all of the families come from the same area and social class over 50 years ago. because child rearing practices can change due to culture and time period the results may not be able to be generalised to other social and historical contexts

2. stages of attachment

   • asocial stage
     • occurs during the first few weeks and the baby recognising and forming bonds with carers but shows a preference for familiar adults but is happy in the presence of anyone
   • indiscriminate stage
     • occurs around 2-7 months and the baby displays more observable social behaviour and has a preference for humans rather than objects. they prefer familiar adults but will accept comfort from any adult
   • specific attachment
     • around 7 months the baby will show separation and stranger anxiety and specific attachments is formed with the primary attachment figure who responds with sill to the babies signals
   • multiple attachments
     • attachments are extended to adults they regularly spend time with and form secondary attachments
   • evaluations
     • problem studying asocial stage
       • In the first few weeks, the babies have poor coordination and are immobile. because of this, it may make it difficult to make judgements based on observations.doesnt mean that the child's emotions and cognitions aren't highly social but there but lacks relevant evidence
     • conflicting evidence on multiple attachments
       • Bowlby 1969 suggested most babies form an attachment to the main carer before developing others. however other psychologists suggest that in different cultures developing multiple attachments is normal for example Ijzendoorn et al 1993 found babies form multiple attachments from the beginning. also in collectivist cultures, the families wor together in child-rearing
     • measuring multiple attachments
       • Bowlby 1969 proposed that children have playmates as well attachments so may also get distressed when playmates leave. this is a problem as the observations don't distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachments and playmates
     • limited behavioural measures of attachment
       • even though a scientific study was carried out it used simple behaviours such as separation and stranger anxiety to define attachment which some critics believe this is too crude a measure of attachment