Attachment review.

Attachment review.

1. Stages of Attachment.

   • Stage 1 - Asocial stage
     • first few weeks
     • happier in presence of humans.
   • Stage 2 - Indescrimate attachment
     • 2 to 7 months
     • preference for people
   • Stage 3 - Specific attachment.
     • around 7 months.
     • start of stranger and separation anxiety.
     • baby forms a specific primary attachment
   • Stage 4 - Multiple attachments
     • start to form other attachments with those they spend a lot of time with.
     • By the age of 1 year, the majority of infants have formed multiple attachments.
   • Evaluation:
     • Conflicting evidence.
     • problems with measuring multiple attachments.

2. Emerson and Shaffer's study of attachment.

   • 50 babies.
     • 31 Male
     • 29 Female
     • All from Glasgow
     • All middle-class working families.
   • visited at home every month for the first year and then at 18 months.
     • Asked the mothers questions which would be used to measure the infants levels of stranger and separation anxiety.
   • Findings
     • 50% of babies had formed primary attachments by 32 weeks.
     • 80% at 40 weeks.
   • Evaluation.
     • Good external validity
     • Use of a longitudinal design = strength
     • Limited sample charachteristics
       • cannot be generalised

3. Animal studies

   • Lorenz's research on imprinting
     • half of eggs hatched with mother, other half hatched with Lorenz as the first thing they saw.
     • Lorenz's followed him around from birth.
       • even when the two groups mixed.
     • He identified a critical period
     • Evaluation:
       • Problem when generalising
       • His conclusions have been questioned.
     • Also researched sexual imprinting
   • Harlow's monkey research