A01

• Schaffer and Emerson's study, conducted in Glasgow, tracked 60 infants over their first year, assessing attachment through measures like separation and stranger anxiety. Their findings provided the basis for the proposed stages of attachment development, highlighting the progression from asocial behaviours to multiple attachments:
• Asocial Stage: The baby’s behaviour is fairly similar towards humans and inanimate objects. In the early weeks, infants do tend to show preferences for familiar individuals.
• Indiscriminate Attachment: Between 2 to 7 months, infants exhibit a preference for human company over objects, accepting comfort from anyone without displaying separation or stranger anxiety.
• Specific Attachment: Around 7 months, infants develop a primary attachment figure, typically the caregiver who offers the most interaction and responsiveness. They display separation anxiety when separated from their primary attachment figure and stranger anxiety in the presence of unfamiliar people.
• Multiple Attachments: Following the formation of a primary attachment, infants extend attachment behaviours to others with whom they regularly interact. Secondary attachments develop, with the majority of infants forming multiple attachments by age one.