stages of attachment

• Schaffer and Emerson study - aim

  aimed to investigate early stages of attachment, in what age they developed, their emotions and who they were directed towards
• Schaffer and Emerson study - method

  the study involved 60 babies who were all from Glasgow and the majority were from working class families. the babies and their mothers were visited at home for the first year and again at 18 months. the researchers asked the mothers questions about the separations their babies showed e.g. separation anxiety. They also measured stranger anxiety
• Schaffer and Emerson study - results

  Between 25 and 32 weeks about 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually the mother. Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was the most interactive to the infants signals and facial expressions (reciprocity). By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% had multiple attachments
• A03 Schaffer and Emerson - good external validity

  • the study was carried out in the families home and most of the observation was done by the parents during activities and reported to the researchers
  • this means that behaviour was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers so behaviour was natural
• A03 Schaffer and Emerson - longitudinal design

  • this means the children were followed up and observed regularly
  • longitudinal designs have better internal validity because they do not have the cofounding variable of individual differences between participants (participant variables)
• A03 Schaffer and Emerson - limited sample characteristics

  • all the families involved lived in the same place and the same social class
  • the study was done over 50 years ago so it out-dated
  • this is a limitation because because attachments vary from different cultures, therefore these results don't generalise to other social and historical contexts
• Stage 1: asocial stage 


  the baby is recognising and forming bonds with it's carer. the baby's behaviour towards human and non-human objects are similar. they show some preferences for familiar adults that show them interaction
• Stage 2: indiscriminate attachment 


  from 2-7 months babies display more observable social behaviour. they show a preference for people rather than objects. at this stage babies usually accept cuddles from any adult and they usually don't show separation or stranger anxiety. their behaviour is not different towards anyone
• Stage 3: specific attachment 


  From around 7 months the majority of babies start to display anxiety towards strangers and become anxious when separated from one particular adult. The adult is determined the primary caregiver at this stage. This person is not necessarily the person they spend the most time with but the one who shows them the most interaction
• Stage 4: multiple attachments 


  Shortly after babies attach to one particular adult they extend this attachment to multiple adults who they regularly spend time with. These relationships are called secondary attachments. By the age of 1, majority of infants have developed multiple attachments.
• A03 - problems with studying the asocial stage

  • in the first few weeks babies have poor co-ordination and are immobile to things
  • therefore it is difficult to make any observations based on their behaviour
  • this means the evidence can't be relied on
• A03 - conflicting evidence on multiple attachments

  • it is not clear at what age the child develops multiple attachments
  • Bowlby suggested that most if not all babies form an attachment to a single caregiver before developing multiple attachments
  • other psychologists particularly in cultural contexts believe babies form multiple attachments from the norms of the country
  • e.g. collectivist cultures have families work together in everything such as producing food
• A03 - measuring multiple attachments

  • just because a baby is stressed when an individual leaves the room does not make them their true attachment
  • Bowlby pointed out that children have play mates and they may get distressed when they leave the room but this does not show attachment
  • This is a problem for Schaffer and Emerson's study because their observation doesn't distinguish behaviour between secondary attachments and play mates