Stages of Attachment

• Longitudinal study


  Research that observes the same participants over an extended period of time
• Longitudinal studies eliminate the confounding variable of individual differences between participants
• Naturalistic observations in the home are high in ecological validity as they capture natural behaviours
• Schaffer and Emerson's study had a limited sample from one working class area of Glasgow, reducing population validity
• The study may be culturally biased towards Scottish families, lacking cultural validity
• Stages of attachment


  1. Asocial stage (0-3 months)

  2. Indiscriminate attachment (3-7 months)

  3. Specific/discriminate attachment (7-9 months)

  4. Multiple attachments (9 months+)
• Sensitive responsiveness


  Attachments are most likely to form with those who respond accurately to the baby's signals and needs, not just the person they spend most time with
• Many babies had several attachments by 10 months old, including to mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings and neighbours
• The most important factor in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child but who plays and communicates with him or her
• The stages of attachment theory may be culturally biased towards individualistic cultures, as collectivist cultures can show different patterns of attachment formation
• Sensitive responsiveness


  What Emerson called the babies' ability to respond to their caregivers
• Attachments formed by babies by 10 months old

  • Mothers
  • Fathers
  • Grandparents
  • Siblings
  • Neighbours
• Main attachment figure at 18 months


  Mother for about half the children, father for most of the others
• Most important factor in forming attachments

  Who plays and communicates with the child, not who feeds and changes them
• The model is based on attachments in an individualistic culture and might not reflect the formation of attachments in collectivist cultures
• In collectivist cultures infants can form multiple attachments before they form single attachments, suggesting the rigid ordering of Schaffer & Emerson's stages is not universal
• Due to the very young age of infants in the asocial stage (0-3 months), it is very difficult to measure where they are up to with attachment formation
• The infants' eyesight, motor coordination and mobility are so underdeveloped that judgments of behaviour are really guesses
• It is difficult to measure if multiple attachments have really been formed, as just because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room, it does not signify a 'true' attachment type
• Asocial stage


  0-3 months of age
• Indiscriminate attachment stage


  1. 7 months of age
• Specific or Discriminate attachment stage

  1. 9 months of age
• Multiple attachments stage


  9 months+
• The theory can be used to find out if a child is developing normally and making attachments
• If a child gets to a certain age and has not formed a specific attachment, intervention strategies can be followed to ensure the child is developing on a more normal route