Schaffer & Emerson Evidence For Attachment Stages

Front 1

Procedure

Back 1

60 babies were observed in their homes in Glasgow every 4 weeks from birth to 18 months. Interviews were also conducted with their families

Front 2

Findings

Back 2

Schaffer's stages of attachment formation were found to occur. At 8 months of age, about 50 of the infants has more than one attachment

Approx. 20 had no attachment with their mother or had a stronger attachment with someone else, even though the mother was always the main carerco

Front 3

Conclusions

Back 3

-Infants form attachments in stages

-Infants can attach to many people

-Quality of care is important in forming attachments, the infant may not attach to their mother if other people respond more accurately to its signals

Front 4

Strengths

Back 4

There is a lot of evidence to support Schaffer & Emerson's results and their stages of attachment formation

Front 5

Limitations

Back 5

Schaffer & Emerson used a limited sample which means it lacks ecological validity because you don't know the extent to which the results can be generalised to the wider population

The evidence from interviews and observations may be biased and unreliable

There are some cross cultural differences that should be considered. Tronick et al found that infants in Zaire had a strong attachment with their mother by 6 months but didn't have strong attachments with others, even though they had several carers

Front 6

Father plays an important role too

Back 6

They found that the attachment between caregiver and infant varied across the infants

The mother was the primary attachment for only 1/2 of the infants

1/3 of the infants preferred the father

The rest had the strongest attachment with grandparents or siblings

Front 7

What is the impact on the economy of other attachments

Back 7

Research suggests that the primary caregiver can be the father, or even other substitutes, more mothers are returning to work after childbirth. This has a positive impact on the economy