The Development of Social Attachments in Infancy
Schaffer and Emerson's 1964 monograph reported a longitudinal study of Glasgow infants observed across their first eighteen months, and it is cited for findings that complicated the picture of attachment as it then stood. Infants did not restrict their attachments to a single figure, and many formed several, including to people who did not feed or care for them physically. What predicted whom a child became attached to was responsiveness and the quality of interaction rather than the provision of routine care, which is a considerable problem for accounts treating attachment as a by-product of feeding. The monograph also described a developmental sequence, from indiscriminate responsiveness towards specific attachments and then to multiple ones. It sits at the foundation of the field alongside Bowlby's theory and Ainsworth's procedure. Written without an abstract, from the title and public accounts of attachment research.
Schaffer and Emerson's 1964 monograph reported a longitudinal study of Glasgow infants observed across their first eighteen months, and it is cited for findings that complicated the picture of attachment as it then stood. Infants did not restrict their attachments to a single figure, and many formed several, including to people who did not feed or care for them physically. What predicted whom a child became attached to was responsiveness and the quality of interaction rather than the provision of routine care, which is a considerable problem for accounts treating attachment as a by-product of feeding. The monograph also described a developmental sequence, from indiscriminate responsiveness towards specific attachments and then to multiple ones. It sits at the foundation of the field alongside Bowlby's theory and Ainsworth's procedure. Written without an abstract, from the title and public accounts of attachment research.
Written from the the paper's title and public accounts of attachment research.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Schaffer, H. R., & Emerson, P. E. (1964). 'The development of social attachments in infancy.' Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 29(3, Serial No. 94), 1-77. 60 infants in working-class Glasgow families, followed monthly through the first year and again at 18 months. Attachments formed preferentially with responsive caregivers rather than with those providing routine care. By 18 months about 13 per cent were attached to a single person. Data were mothers' own diaries and reports.
Where we use it
- What the Crib Actually Decides, Why We Care
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.2307/1165727
DOI: 10.2307/1165727