Schaffer's Stages of Attachment

• what type of study conducted by Emerson & Schaffer?

  an observational study
• what was the sample used in Emerson & Schaffer's study?

  60 babies -> 31 male and 29 female
• what was the procedure in Emerson & Schaffer's study?

  it was a longitudinal study:

  • researchers visited mother & baby at their own homes for every month in the first year of the baby's life
  • researchers also visited the mother & baby at 18 months
  • mothers were asked questions about the protest the babies showed in seven everyday separations -> designed to measure attachment
  • stranger anxiety was also measured through a baby's response to new people
• what where the findings of Schaffer & Emerson's observational study?

  4 distinct stages were found in the development of infant attachment behaviour:

  • asocial stage
  • indiscriminate stage
  • specific attachment
  • multiple attachment
• what is the age range for the asocial stage?

  0-2 months
• what is the age range for the Indiscriminate stage?

  2-7 months
• what is the age range of the specific attachment stage?

  from around 7 months
• what is the age range of the Multiple Attachment stage?

  shortly after attachment is made,

  8 months+ or by 1 years of age
• what happens in the first stage of attachment?

  • behaviour towards people and inanimate objects is similar
  • babies show signs that they prefer to be around people, especially people who are familiar -> so they aren't fully asocial
  • baby forms bonds with people that will be the basis for later attachments
• what happens in the second stage of attachment?

  • babies start to display observable social behaviours
  • showing clear preference to being with humans instead of inanimate objects
  • prefer the company of familiar people
  • babies will usually accept cuddles from anyone (indiscriminate)
  • they don't show separation anxiety when caregivers leave or stranger anxiety when unfamiliar people are around
• what happens in the third stage of attachment?

  • babies display signs of attachment towards their primary care-giver
  • signs: stranger anxiety when the primary care-giver isn't present; separation anxiety from primary attachment figure

  primary care-giver is someone who shows the most comfort to the infant and responds to the baby's needs/signals -> this is the mother in 65% of cases
• what happens in the last stage of attachment?

  • babies show separation and stranger anxiety towards one person
  • they usually show this behaviour to multiple attachments they have made (with people they regularly spend time with)-> called secondary attachments
  • 29% of babies form secondary attachments 1 month after forming their primary attachment figure
  • by the age of 1 babies should have developed multiple attachments
• an acronym that can be used for remembering the stages of attachment

  An -> asocial

  Infant -> indiscriminate

  Smiles -> specific

  (at)

  Me -> multiple
• strength of Schaffer & Emerson's stages of attachment

  strength: good external validity

  • behaviour was reported to the researchers by the parents/mothers to reduce the distractions if the observers had to record the behaviour

  this means that the behaviour was natural, therefore the findings can be generalised to real-world situations
• counterpoint to good validity of observation

  counterpoint: issues with mothers reporting their babies behaviour

  • there are many issues: bias -> social desirability bias, not objective and not able to remember all the behaviour they have witnesses

  this is an argument because even though the babies behaviour is natural it might not be accurately recorded from the mothers
• weakness of the stages of attachment

  weakness: poor evidence of Asocial Stage

  • young babies are uncoordinated and immobile
  • so if babies feel anxiety it might not be seen because their behaviour displayed is subtle and hard to observe
  • this makes it difficult for mothers to report to the researchers on their babies behaviour

  this is a weakness because of the flawed methods of determining a baby's behaviour, that aren't accurately portraying how the baby actually feels