Shaffers stages of development

• schaffer and Emerson (1964)

  studied 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow (31 male, 29 female) at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life using a longitudinal method. they were studied in their own homes and visited monthly for approx. 1 year. interactions with their carers were analysed to establish if and when infants started to display separation anxiety.
• schaffer and Emerson (1964) - findings

  results revealed that attachments were most likely to form with carers who were sensitive to the babies signals, rather than the person they spent the most time with. by 10 months old, most of the babies had several attachments, including mother, father, siblings, and extended family. it was observed that the mother was the main attachment figure for roughly half of the babies when they were 18 months old and the father for most of the other babies. based on this finding, this would suggest that being sensitive and responsive important for attachment
• evaluation of schaffer and Emersons research

  - good population validity: gender representative

  - bad population validity: all from working class families

  - low temporal validity: may be accurate in 1994 but outdated in 2024

  - cannot control EVs : may be other variables effecting how babies act

  - natural environment: will act natural as it is a familiar environment

  - not reliable: done in own homes so each environment is different (lack of standardisation)
• schaffer and emersons stages

  indiscriminate : 2-7 months

  - infants show a preference for social stimuli, preferring human interaction over inanimate objects.

  - they smile, babble, and reach out to people rather than objects

  - infants enjoy human company and respond equally to any caregiver (they do not discriminate)
• schaffer and emersons stages

  discriminate (specific) : 7-9 months

  - special preference for a single attachment figure

  - looks to particular people for security, comfort, and protection

  - shows fear of strangers and unhappiness when separated from a special person

  - attachment formed with person who is best at responding to the infants signals
• schaffer and emersons stages

  multiple : 10 months onwards

  - the baby forms several attachments

  - by 18 months, the majority of infants have formed multiple attachments

  - attachments were most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the babies signals, not the person they spent more time with (sensitive responsiveness)
• evaluation of Schaffers stages - weakness 1

  one problem with the asocial stage is it is very hard to study. for example, due to newborn babies being relatively immobile, there is very little that we can observe from them as signs of attachment. however, there may be more important cognitive and emotional processes that are taking place. this means that we may ignore important processes which underpin the very early development of attachment. therefore, the idea of the asocial stage is that it lacks validity.
• evaluation of Schaffers stages - weakness 2

  there is a problem with the way that attachments are measured according to Schaffer. for example, bowlby (1969) points out that separation anxiety Is not a safe measurement of attachment because infants show separation anxiety for toys and other children. this means that we may overestimate the number of attachments a child forms because we only focus on specific and common behaviour. therefore the stages may be an invalid reflection of how attachment changes in early infancy.
• evaluation of Schaffers stages - weakness 3

  a big problem is that the onset of multiple attachments may be different across cultures. for example, van ijzendoorn et al (1993) point out that in collectivist cultures where child upbringing is shared within the community or tribe. multiple attachments may be formed quickly after a child is born. this means that we may be imposing an individualistic and western standard and expectation around child upbringing of the whole world population. therefore the stages may be culturally biased and not accurately reflect the experience of the world