stages of attachment

• who came up with the stages of attachment

  Schaffer and Emerson
• what are the stages of attachment

  how attachment behaviours change as a baby gets older
• what are the four stages in attachment

  1. asocial stage
  2. indiscriminate stage
  3. specific attachment
  4. multiple attachments
• stage 1 of attachment

  * observable behaviour between inanimate objects and humans is fairly similar

  * signs they prefer to be in company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them

  * form bonds with certain people - basis of later attachment
• stage 2 of attachment

  * 2-7 months

  * clear preference being with humans than inanimate objects

  * recognise and prefer comfort from family

  * accept comfort from any person

  * no signs of separation and stranger anxiety
• stage three of attachment

  * 7 months babies start showing attachment to one specific caregiver

  * primary attachment with caregiver they spend the most reciprocity + synchrony - 65% time the mother

  * start to show signs of stranger + separation anxiety
• stage four of attachment

  * multiple attachments with people they spend a lot of time with

  * 29% of children form secondary within a month of forming primary

  * by 1 year, most babies have multiple attachments
• what % of babies form primary attachment with mother

  65%
• what % of babies form secondary attachment within a month of forming primary attachment

  29%
• what % of babies form primary attachment with father

  3%
• what % of babies form multiple attachments at 7-8 months

  25%
• what % of babies are attached to father at 18 months

  75%
• Schaffer and Emerson research


  * 60 babies (31 male, 29 female) from Glasgow with skilled working class families

  * visit babies every month for first year and again at 18 months

  * mothers asked to keep a diary for observations of the baby (eg : anxiety/attachments)

  * asked mother questions about protests babies displayed in seven everyday separations

  * identified four distinct stages of attachment
• four ao3 points - stages of attachment

  * value of understanding stages of attachment

  * longitudinal

  * culture bias

  * demand characteristics of mother
• ao3 understanding stages of attachment - stages of attachment

  we can use the knowledge we have gained from Schaffer and Emersons stages of attachment to indicate if a child is developing normally. this can be applied to understanding why a child’s behaviour at day care is problematic. it has great application to real world scenarios, increasing the validity of the study
• ao3 longitudinal study - stages of attachment

  by using longitudinal studies, researchers allow investigation into development in a specific attachment over time. this means we can accurately learn the number of weeks at which specific attachments develop and generate lots of qualitative and quantitative data to come up with solutions and support the theory of attachment
• ao3 cultural bias - stages of attachment

  Schaffer and Emerson only used a sample from Glasgow in Scotland, which is an individualist country. this means the study is ethnocentric and is hard to generalise to other cultures, including collectivist countries as their social norms are very different. for example, in indonesia it isn’t common for an infant to be cared for by multiple individuals. this reduces validity of the research as is hard to apply cross-culturally.
• ao3 demand characteristics of the mother - stages of attachment

  in Schaffer and Emerson’s research, mothers were observed in their own homes so may display demand characteristics by interacting and responding to their child’s needs in order to gain social approval. this decreases the validity of the theory. however, the infants will not be responding to demand characteristics as wont know the aim of the study.