Schaffer and Emerson 1964
- Created by: MollyL20
- Created on: 30-10-20 09:26
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- Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
- Aim
- Investigate the formation of early attachment, in particular the age at which they developed, their emotional intensity and whom they were directed
- Method
- Involved 60 babies 29 females, 31 males, all from Glasgow with the majority being from the working class to skilled families
- They were visited at their homes every month from a year and then again at 18 months.
- The researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest the baby had shown, to show separation anxiety
- They also measured stranger anxiety in which they all measured the babies attachments
- Findings
- Between 25-32 weeks, about 50% of the babies showed separation anxiety towards the mother
- Attachments were formed when the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infants signals
- This wasn't always the person they spent most time with
- At 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had specific attachment. 30% displayed multiple attachments
- Evaluation
- Good External Validity
- The study was carried out into the family homes and most of the observations were done by the parents during ordinary activities
- Meaning the the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected
- Therefore, the participants behaved naturally and therefore has good external validity
- Longitudinal design
- This means that the study was carried out over a long period of time using the same children
- An alternative would have been a cross sectional design which means that they observe different children
- However, longitudinal designs have better internal validity because there isn't a confounding variable of individual differences between participants
- Limited sample characteristics
- It had a good amount of data because of the use of 60 babies
- However, they were all from the same district , same social class in the same city at over 50 years is a limitation
- This means that the results cant generalise well to other social or historical contexts
- Good External Validity
- Aim
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