Stages of Attachment

Cards (24)

  • Who carried out the 'stages of attachment'?
    Shaffer and Emerson (1964)
  • What were the participants of the study like?
        
    • 60 infants from working class homes in Glasgow.
    • Infants were around 5-23 weeks of age and studied until 1 year old.
  • What was the procedure of the experiment by Shaffer and Emerson?
    • The mothers were visited every 4 weeks
    • At each visit, the mother reported about the infant’s reaction to separation in 7 everyday situations.
    • This included being left in a room or with other people.
    • The mother was asked to describe the severity of any protest like any screaming or simple crying, out of a 4 point scale.
    • The mother was asked to say to whom the protest was directed.
    • The children’s response with stranger anxiety to the interviewer was also measured. 
  • What was the equivalent of the findings of the experiment?
    Stages of attachment
  • What was the first stage of attachment?
    Indiscriminate attachment
  • What is indiscriminate attachment?
    • Infants produce a similar response to all in/animate objects.
    • Towards the end, infants show greater preference for social stimuli like a smiling face and are content with people.
    • Reciprocity and interactional synchrony help form a relationship. 
  • How long does indiscriminate attachment last?
    Birth to 2 months
  • What is the second stage of attachment?
    Beginnings of attachment
  • When does the second stage of attachment start?
    At 4 months
  • What is 'beginnings of attachment'?
    • Infants become more social.
    • They prefer animate people to inanimate objects and can tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar people.
    • However, they are comforted by everyone, they do not yet show stranger anxiety though.
    • They have a general sociability with everyone. 
  • What is the third stage of attachment?
    Discriminate attachment
  • When does the discriminate stage start?
    At 7 months
  • What is discriminate attachment?
    • Infants show a different protest when a specific person puts them down - separation anxiety.
    • They also show pleasure in reunion and are most comforted by this person.
    • They begin to form a specific bond with the primary caregiver. They also develop stranger anxiety.  
  • What did Shaffer and Emerson find regarding discriminate attachment?
    • Shaffer and Emerson found the “specific attachment” was not always formed with the person who spent the most time.
    • It was rather that intensely attached infants who were responded to sensitively and quickly to their “signals” were the mothers who were the primary caregivers. 
    • Infants who were poorly attached had mothers who failed to respond. It is quality over quantity that shows formation of attachment. 
  • What were the actual percentages of discriminate attachment?
    • In 65% of the children, the mother was the first sole attachment
    • In a further 30%, the mother was also the first joint object of attachment
    • With 3%, Fathers were rarely the first sole object of attachment
    • However, in a further 27%, they were joint first object.
  • What is the 4th stage of attachment?
    Multiple attachments
  • What is multiple attachments?
    • Very soon after the main attachment is formed, a wider circle is developed depending on how many consistent relationships the baby has.
    • Shaffer and Emerson found that within a month, 29% of infants had multiple attachments like relatives or grandparents
    • These are called secondary relationships.
    • Separation anxiety is also shown, within 6 months it is raised to 78%.
    • By the age of 1 year, the majority of infants had formed multiple attachments
    • This happened after the primary attachment to their primary caregivers. 
  • What is the conclusion of the study of Shaffer and Emerson?
    By the age of 1 year, the majority of infants had formed multiple attachments and developed after their main primary attachment.
  • What is a criticism of the data collected by Shaffer and Emerson?
    •  The data collected by Shaffer and Emerson
    • They used self-reports based on the mother’s reports of the infants.
    • Some mothers may have been less sensitive to some of the children’s protests so they may not have reported it.
    • Another problem is social desirability bias as the mothers may have wanted to be seen as a primary caregiver.
    • Therefore, this reduces internal validity.
  • What is a criticism of the temporal validity of Shaffer and Emerson's study??
    • Sample is from the 1960’s, many things have changed since then.
    • More women go to work so children may be cared for outside the home or stay at home fathers become caregivers.
    • Cohn et al (2014) shows the number of stay at home fathers has quadrupled in the last 25 years.
    • Therefore, it is likely that if a similar study was done today of Shaffer and Emerson, the findings may be different. 
  • What is a negative evaluation regarding sample bias?
    • The sample was biased in 2 ways
    • The participants were from working class backgrounds
    • It may only apply specifically to working class relationships. 
    • There was also an all individualistic sample
    • This may not apply to collectivist societies where parenting and childcare are different.
    • The study overall lacks population validity.
  • What did Shaffer and Emerson say regarding multiple attachments?
     Shaffer and Emerson called the multiple attachments as ‘secondary attachments’ indicating that they are not as important.
  • What did Bowlby say regarding multiple attachments?
     - Bowlby with his monotropy hypothesis said that each attachment with a different figure served a different purpose
    • For example, fathers offer different care and help infants negotiate with peers.
  • What did Rutter et al say regarding multiple attachments?
    • Rutter et al said that all the roles of the attachments are equivalent and integrate together to determine the infant’s attachment type.
    • Therefore, the status of multiple attachments is unclear.