AQA A Level Psychology复习笔记3.1.1 Caregiver: Infant Interactions in Humans

• Caregiver-Infant Interactions in Infants is an often overlooked part of the course but has come up several times as extended answer questions: i.e. 8 and 16 marks.
• In this revision note we will discuss the work of Schaffer and Emerson, but it is also important to look at Reciprocity and Interactional Synchrony.
• In the exam, this is what the examiner is looking for

Measuring attachment: The natural study

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

• Studied 60 babies from the same housing estate in Glasgow over an 18 month period
• The babies were studied monthly until they were 12 months old and then a final visit was arranged at 18 months
• This, therefore, is a Longitudinal Study
• The infants were all studied by their Primary Care Giver (PCG) who kept a diary, which was shared during the monthly visits by Schaffer and Emerson
• There were various conditions the PCG's had to complete and take notes on for the diary
• These included leaving the infant in their pram alone outside a shop (Yes! Really!), walking past their cot at night and ignoring them and observing how they reacted to the presence of a stranger

What did Schaffer and Emerson find?

• 50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards their PCG in the first 25-32 weeks
• This showed attachment had started
• Stranger anxiety followed within one month of attachment forming
• The person who interacted with the child was the one who tended to become the PCG: Regardless of whether they did day to day care such as feeding or changing
• In 37% of cases the mother was not the main person doing the day to day care of the child, but in all cases she became the PCG
• From this the stages of attachment were developed by Schaffer and Emerson

Evaluation of Schaffer and Emerson

Strengths

• Natural study so infants were more comfortable and behaviour of PCG and infant more relaxed
• High ecological validity
• Allowed for the development of the stages of attachment which are still influential and used today
• As it is a longitudinal study we can see the development over time of the same infants, reducing individual differences

Limitations 

• Longitudinal study so drop-out (attrition) could be high as some parents may have become bored, found the research too time-consuming or even moved away
• The mother was asked to self-report how the child responded and this could have led to demand characteristics: Maybe she did not want to look bad so did not report all of her infant's behaviours
• Population validity: Only infants from one specific area of one city
• This means we may not be able to generalise to other caregivers-infants in other places