L2: Stages of Attachment

• asocial stage (0-6 weeks)

  • very young infants
  • many stimuli (soc + non-soc) elicit favourable resp. (e.g., smiling)
  • attention-seeking behaviour (e.g., crying; smiling) NOT directed at specfic person

  This suggests attachments can be made with anyone.
• indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks-7 months)

  • infants respond equally to any caregiver
  • upset when interaction with them stops
  • 3 months: more smiling at familiar faces + easy comfort from regular caregiver
  • child seeks attention from anyone; happy b/c attention from anyone
  • pref. - familiar faces; greater response from infant
• specific attachment (7-11 months)

  • special pref. - single attachment fig.
  • baby looks to specific ppl for security, comfort and protection
  • shows stranger anxiety and separation anxiety (when sep. from special attachment fig)
  • some show stranger/separation anxiety more BUT still evidence attachment has formed

  This usually is formed when the infant is one year old.
• multiple attachments (10 months +)

  • baby more indep. -> forms multiple attachments
  • 18 months: maj. babies have formed multiple attachments.
• What did Schaffer and Emerson's study show about multiple attachments?

  • attachments + likely to form with those who resp. accurately to baby's signals, not the person they spent + time with.
  • referred to as sensitive responsiveness
• difference between intensely attached and weakly attached infants

  • intensely-attached: mothers resp. quickly to demands + interacted with child
  • weakly-attached: mothers failed to interact with their child
• Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

  • 60 babies (31 boys; 29 girls) from Glasgow (maj. skilled working-class families)
  • researchers visited every month (1st year) then again at 18 months
  • mothers asked Qs based on 7 everyday separations (e.g, adult leaving room) - measure separation anxiety
  • also measured stranger anxiety (resp. to unfamiliar ppl)

  These were done to measure the baby's attachments.
• Findings of Schaffer and Emerson's (1964) research:

  Four stages of attachment were identified:

  1. asocial stage
  2. indiscriminate attachment
  3. specific attachment
  4. multiple attachments
• + good external validity

  evidence: observations made by parents during normal activities

  • alt: researchers pretend to record -> could distract the babies/make them anxious

  explain: strength b/c it means the researchers can be sure the findings are due to babies' attachments and not extraneous variables.

  • highly controlled environment -> easier to interpret behaviour

  link: strength - external validity b/c means research is credible
• counterpoint to good external validity

  • unlikely that the mothers would've been "objective" observers
  • may have been biased in terms of what they noticed/reported (e.g., not noticing when their baby was anxious/misremembering their baby's anxiety)

  This means that even if the babies were behaving in a natural manner their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded, which could have negative consequences on the findings of the research.

  • weakness - mothers as observers b/c low reliability. results could be subjective therefore unable to replicate.
• limitation: poor evidence for the asocial stage

  point: limitation - validity of measures used to measure attachment in asocial stage

  evidence: babies have poor co-ordination/fairly immobile; if baby under 2 months old felt anxiety: display in subtle, hard-to-interpret ways

  explanation: limitation b/c means it's hard for mothers to observe this behaviour and report it to the researchers for babies in this age group. babies may have been very social but deemed asocial due to flawed methods.

  link: weakness - poor evidence b/c low validity.
• + real-world application

  point: strength is it has real-world application in day care

  evidence: asocial/indiscriminate - day care straightforward; babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. research says starting day care in specific attachment stage may be problematic.

  explanation: strength b/c it means parents can plan their use of day care on the basis of Schaffer and Emerson's stages of attachment.
• limitation: generalisability

  • only looked at one sample - unique in terms of cultural + historical contxt (1960s working-class Glasgow)
  • multiple attachments form early on in other cultures (e.g., collectivistic cultures)