stages of attachment

• what was the method of Schaffer and Emmerson's study?

  • 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow were observed
  • mothers and babies were visited once a month for the first year and then again at 18 months
  • they asked mothers questions about how the babies reacted in 7 everyday separations - separation anxiety
  • they assessed how babies reacted to unfamilliar adults - stranger anxiety
• what were the findings of Schaffer and Emmerson?

  • between 25-32 weeks 50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards mother
  • this specific attachment was with the caregiver who was most sensitive to infant signals.
  • by 40 weeks 80% had a specific attachment and 30% had multiple
• what are the stages of attachment?

  Asocial: birth- 8 weeks

  Indiscriminate: 2-7 months

  specific attachment: 7-12 months

  multiple attachments: 1 year onward
• what are features of the Asocial stage?

  • behaviour between humans and non human objects are very similar
  • infants can recognise specific faces
  • happier in the presence of humans
  • will smile at anyone
  • prefer familiar individuals
• what are features of the indiscriminate stage?

  • recognise and prefer familiar people
  • smile more at familiar faces
  • preference for people rather than objects
  • will accept comfort from ANYONE - no stranger anxiety
• what are features of the specific attachment stage?

  • distinct protest when a particular person leaves - separation anxiety
  • happiness when comforted by that specific person - specific attachment
  • will show stranger anxiety
  • specific attachment isn't just about who spends the most time with them
• what are features of the multiple attachment stage?

  • multiple attachments formed based on their consistent relationships
  • within 1 month of becoming attached 29% of infants had multiple attachments
  • within 6 months this had risen to 78%
• what are the strengths of the stages of attachment?

  • there's good external validity in the study
  • it has real world application
• why is there good external validity?

  most observations done by parents during normal activities - highly likely that the ppts behaved normally

  HOWEVER - mothers may not have reported some things - systematic bias
• what is the real world application?

  • in the early stages babies can be comforted by any skilled adults but if a child starts day care during the stage of specific attachments care from unfamiliar adults may cause distress
• why is the biased sample a weakness?

  • all ppts from the same district
  • working class population
  • sample from the 1960s - parenting has changed
  • now more mothers work
• why were there problems studying the asocial stage?

  • babies have poor coordination and are immobile. therefore difficult to make judgments from observation - low reliability
• what are the cultural variations? (weakness)

  • individualistic culture - western cultures value independence
  • collectivist cultures - importance of the group