stages of attachment

• Stage 1: Asocial

  Babies have no preference between inanimate objects and humans. This occurs between the first few weeks to 2 months old. They can show preference to familiar people, and they are more easily comforted by them. They form bonds with these people which form the basis of later attachments.
• Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment

  2 to 7 months the babies display more observable and social behaviour. They also now have a clear preference for being with humans and inanimate objects. They can recognise the company of familiar people. At this stage they accept comfort and cuddles from any person. No signs of separation and stranger anxiety.
• Stage 4: Multiple attachments

  Around the age of 1 the baby will start forming bonds with multiple people such as grandparents and father etc, or the people they regularly spend time with. These are secondary attachments. Schaffer and Emerson observed 29% of the children for secondary attachments within a month of the primary attachments. 
• Stage 3: Specific attachment

  Around 7 months the baby displays specific attachment to one/small group. person who is the babies specific attachment is to them they will display separation anxiety this could lead to the baby crying not be able to be comforted between anyone apart from that set person. When also around strangers in the presence of strangers they may display stranger anxiety. The specific attachment figure aka primary attachment figure and is usually the person who displays the most skills with the child by responding to the baby and interacting with them. 65% mother.
•  limitation is the validity of the measures they used to assess the asocial stage. Young babies have a lack of coordination and mobility. If babies less than two months felt anxiety then it would have been quite subtle and hard to observe. This makes it difficult for the mother to report back to the researcher the signs of anxiety as it was difficult to observe within this age group. This means that the babies could be quite social but the methods are flawed; they appear to be asocial.
• strength is that Schaffer and Emerson’s research has good external validity. Most of the observations apart from stranger anxiety was made by the parents during ordinary activities which were then reported back to the researchers. The alternative would have been that the researchers present to record observations. This may have distracted the babies or made them anxious. This means that it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed.
• On the other hand there were issues with asking the caregiver to be an observer. This is because it was highly unlikely that they were going to be objective observers and may have been biassed in terms. They may have been biassed by what they have noticed and what they have reported to the researcher. An example is they may not have remembered when their baby displayed signs of anxiety or they may have misremembered it. This means that even if the babies acted naturally it may not have been accurately recorded.#
• strength is that they have a practical application within daycare. In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stage daycare would be straightforward as the babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. However, Schaffer and Emerson’s research shows that daycare, especially starting with an unfamiliar adult will be problematic during the specific attachment stage. This means that the parents' use of daycare can be planned using the attachment stage by Schaffer and Emerson.
• Procedure

  In Glasgow they visited 60 caregivers and babies (31 boys 29 girls). They visited them in their own homes every month for approximately 18 months. The researcher asked the mothers about the baby's protest they showed in seven everyday separations such as the adult leaving the room as a measurement of separation anxiety, and it was designed to measure the babies attachment. The researchers also measured stranger anxiety by seeing the babies reaction to being around strangers like the researcher themselves.
• Findings

  Schaffer and Emerson identified four distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour, which make up the stage theory.
• Schaffer and Emerson's research

  In 1964 they completed an observational and longitudinal study, of the formation of early infant adult attachments.