Schaffer’s stages of attachment

• what are Schaffer's 4 stages of attachment

  1. Asocial stage
  2. Indiscriminate attachment
  3. Specific attachment
  4. Multiple attachment
• who proposed the 4 stages of attachment

  Schaffer's and Emerson
• when is the asocial stage of attachment

  the firsts few weeks
• how does a baby act in the asocial stage

  baby's behaviour towards inanimate objects and humans are quite similar
• when is the indiscriminate attachment stage

  2-7 months
• how do babies act in the indiscriminate attachment stage

  now display more observable social behaviour, with a preference for people rather than inanimate objects
• what do babies recognise in the indiscriminate attachment stage

  recognise and prefer familiar objects
• what is the attachment like in indiscriminate attachment stage

  attachment is the same towards all
• when is the specific attachment stage

  from around 7 months
• what do babies show in the specific attachment stage

  babies show stranger anxiety and separation anxiety when separated from on particular adult
• what do babies form in the specific attachment stage

  babies are said to have formed a specific attachment with the primary attachment figure
• who is normally the primary attachment figure in the specific attachment stage

  in most cases the person who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby's 'signals' with the most skill
• when is the multiple attachment stage

  by one year
• what are formed in the multiple attachment stage

  secondary attachments with other adults form shortly after
• how many babies have secondary attachments in Schaffer and Emerson's in the multiple attachment stage

  29% of babies had secondary (multiple) attachments within a month of forming a specific attachment
• what do majority of infants have by the age of 1

  by the age of one year the majority infants had multiple secondary attachment
• what did Schaffer do in his study

  visited 60 babies and their mothers at home every month for a year
• from his study what did Schaffer find at 18 months

  at 18 months separation and strander anxiety was measured by asking questions about the child's behaviour
• what did Schaffer find from his study

  50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult between 25 and 32 weeks of age
• what did Schaffer's study suggest

  Schaffer's idea that a specific attachment is usually formed around 8 months of age
• what type of study did Schaffer do

  a longitudinal study
• one strength of Schaffer's stages of attachment (external validity) (PEEL)

  P - a strength of Schaffer and Emerson' study is that it has external validity

  E - most of the observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers

  E - so the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers and therefore no demand characteristics will be displayed or researcher bias as it was observed by the parents

  L - it is highly likely that participants behaved naturally while being observed and therefore the study has external validity
• one limitation of Schaffer's stage of attachments (multiple attachment) (PEEL)

  P - however there is a problem with how multiple attachment is assessed

  E - the problem with observing babies at only a few weeks as they are immobile, lack coordination and don't display distinct behaviour

  E - bowlby pointed out that children may be distresses even when a playmate leaves the room, but this does not signify an attachment

  L - Schaffer and Emerson' view of stages do not distinguish between towards secondary attachment figures and playmates
• one limitation of Schaffer's stages of attachment (conflicting) (PEEL)

  P - evidence on the timing of multiple attachments is conflicting

  E - researchers would disagree when this occurs considering different culture

  E - psychologist who are interested in how cultures affect attachment believe they occur from birth and not from 8 months to a year. this could be due to collective culture where the family interacts with the baby from birth

  L - these cultures are known as collective cultures and provide counter evidence to schaffers stages of attachments
• what type of caregivers tended to form attachments

  attachments tended to be to caregiver who was more interactive and sensitive to the infants signals and facial expressions