What did Schaffer and Emerson assess?

Stages of Attachment. Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964) investigated if attachment develops through a series of stages, by studying 60 babies at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life (this is known as a longitudinal study).

What is Schaffer and Emerson theory of attachment?

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) defined attachment as, “The tendency of the young to seek the proximity of other members of the species” (p. 6). In their view, infants and young children seek out and find comfort in being physically close to people with whom they have formed attachments.

What is asocial attachment?

Based on their findings they proposed attachments develop in 4 stages. First, Asocial stage, this is the stage that baby is forming bonds but relationship with objects and humans are similar. Stage 2, Indiscriminate attachment, from 2-7 months where babies display more observable social behaviour.

How are multiple attachments measured?

Measure by Separation protest and Stanger anxiety. Attachments are made by how responsive people are to the child rather than the time spent with them. Multiple attachments are normal and are of similar quality which disproves Bowlby’s theory.

What are the strengths of attachment theory?

A strength of the attachment theory is that by children gaining attachment with their key worker it can help the practitioner support the child and meet their needs in the setting. By a child having an attachment to their key worker it can help their development as they are more engaged with the staff.

What are the 4 stages of attachment Schaffer and Emerson?

For example, Schaffer and Emerson suggested that attachments develop in four stages: asocial stage or pre-attachment (first few weeks), indiscriminate attachment (approximately 6 weeks to 7 months), specific attachment or discriminate attachment (approximately 7-9 months) and multiple attachment (approximately 10 …

What is Schaffer theory?

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) studied 60 babies from Glasgow at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life using a longitudinal method. Results revealed that attachments were most likely to form with carers who were sensitive to the baby’s signals, rather than the person they spent the most time with.

Where did Schaffer and Emerson’s study take place?

Schaffer & Emerson (1964) conducted an observational study of 60 children in Glasgow, Scotland, to understand how babies form and develop attachments. They note that human infants take a significantly longer time to form a bond than newborn animals, such as ducks.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the attachment theory?

Explanation: The strength of attachment theory is that it is used for therapy in our health care and to those children who are born in prison. The weakness is that it is lacks scientific rigor so it can not be tested.

What are the weaknesses of attachment theory?

A serious limitation of attachment theory is its failure to recognize the profound influences of social class, gender, ethnicity, and culture on personality development. These factors, independent of a mother’s sensitivity, can be as significant as the quality of the early attachment.

What is wrong with Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment?

EVALUATION: This is a problem for Schaffer and Emerson’s stages because their observation does not leave us a way to distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and shown towards playmates. Next, take a look at the role of the father in attachment formation with infants and multiple attachment formation.

What is Schaffer and Emerson’s theory on separation anxiety?

Schaffer and Emerson found that 50% of the babies showed separation anxietytowards a certain caregiver during the 25 to 32-week period. One month after an attachment was formed the child began to show stranger anxiety. They found that the care giver that gave the most interactionwas usually the one who the child was most attached to.

What is Schaffer & Emerson’s experiment?

Schaffer & Emerson (1964) conducted an experiment to investigate the age at which specific attachments developed, specifically the age at which they form, the emotional intensity and the person they were directed towards. They investigated the early behaviour of 60 babies (31 male-29 female) from working class families that lived in Glasgow.