Caregiver – infant interactions

• Attachment is a strong emotional bond that develops over time between a child and their caregivers.

• Schaffer & Emerson (1964): the Glasgow baby study

Schaffer & Emerson: stages of attachment

• Schaffer & Emerson identified 4 stages in the development of attachment:

• Stage 1: asocial stage 0 – 2 months

• Stage 2: indiscriminate attachment 2 – 7 months

• Stage 3: specific attachment 7 months onwards

• Stage 4: multiple attachments 7 months onwards

Schaffer & Emerson

• Schaffer & Emerson found that the first specific attachment was usually made to the biological mother.

• 65% of the babies in their sample made a specific attachment to the biological mother.

• This person is called the primary attachment figure.

Schaffer & Emerson

• Psychologists have been interested in identifying who else a child makes an attachment to.

• These are called secondary attachment figures.

• The main secondary attachment figure is usually the father.

• Schaffer & Emerson found that by 18 months 75% of the babies in their sample had made a secondary attachment to the biological father.

• This finding led to research on the role of the father in the child’s development of attachments.

The role of the father

• Grossman (2002) conducted a longitudinal study that found differences in the nature of the attachment children made to fathers and mothers.

• They found that mothers became primary attachment figure because they took physical and emotional care of their children.

• They found that fathers became secondary attachment figures because they played with their children.

• They concluded that fathers played a distinct role in the development of attachment: play and stimulation.

The role of the father: evaluation

• Research has not identified clearly what the role of the father is in the development of attachments.

• Some research has focussed on the role of the father as the primary attachment figure.

• This research has found no difference in the role of the father in attachment.

The role of the father: rvaluation

Other research has focussed on the role of the father as a secondary attachment figure.

This research has found that the father does have a different role to the mother.

This means psychologists are unable to state clearly what the role of the father is in children’s development.

The role of the father: evaluation

• Some research has investigated if the father does have a distinct role in children’s development.

• This research has focussed on children who grow up without a father.

• This research has found no difference in children’s development to the development of children in conventional heterosexual two parent families.

• This suggests that the father does not have a specific role in children’s development.

The role of the father

Read p.4 – 6 and complete the role of the father summary table.