Schaffer's stages of attachment

• What are the four stages of attachment according to Schaffer?

  1. asocial stage
  2. indiscriminate attachment
  3. specific attachment
  4. multiple attachment
• Stage 1 (asocial stage)

  • First few weeks
  • Observable behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar
  • Schaffer and Emerson did not believe that it is entirely asocial because even at this stage babies show signs that they prefer to be with other people
  • Babies tend to show a preference for the company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them
  • Baby is forming bonds with certain people and these form the basis of later attachments
• Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment

  • 2 to 7 months
  • Babies start to display more obvious and observable social behaviours
  • They show a preference for being with humans rather than inanimate objects
  • They recognise and prefer the company of familiar people
  • Babies usually accept cuddles and comfort from any person
  • They do not usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
• Stage 3: Specific attachment

  • From around 7 months to around 1 year old
  • At this point the baby is said to have formed a specific attachment. This person with whom the attachment is formed is called the primary attachment figure
  • This person is not necessarily the individual the child spends the most time with but the one who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby's 'signals' with the most skill. This is the baby's mother in 65% of cases.
  • Majority of babies start to display the classic signs of attachment towards one particular person, including: stranger anxiety, especially when their attachment figure is absent, and separation anxiety.
• Stage 4: Multiple attachment

  • 1 year olds
  • Shortly after babies start to show attachment behaviour (e.g. stranger anxiety and separation anxiety) towards one person they usually extend this behaviour to multiple attachments with other people with whom they regularly spend time
  • The relationships are called secondary attachments
  • Schaffer and Emerson observed that 29% of children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment. By the age of 1 the majority of babies had developed multiple attachments.
• Schaffer and Emmerson:

  Procedure:

  • 60 babies from Glasgow (skilled working-class families)
  • Schaffer and Emmerson visited the babies and mothers in their own homes every month for the first year and again at 18 months
  • Asked mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in seven everyday situations
  • Measured the baby's attachment in terms of separations anxiety and stranger anxiety
• Schaffer and Emmerson:

  Findings:

  • Schaffer and Emmerson identified four distinct stages in the development of infant attachment
• External validity: (strength)

  P - One strength of Schaffer and Emmerson's study is that it has external validity

  E - Most of the observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers

  E - The alternative would be to have the observers present in the babies' homes. This may have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious.

  L - This means that it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed.
• External validity - counterpoint

  • Mothers may have been biased in what they reported, e.g. they might not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety or may have misremembered it
  • This means that even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded
• Lack of evidence (limitation):

  P - One limitation is poor evidence for the asocial stage

  E - Because of their stage of physical development young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile

  E - This means that it is difficult for mothers to accurately report signs of anxiety and attachment for the asocial stage

  L - This means that the tools used to measure the asocial stage make the terms of the stage invalid
• Real-world application (strength)

  P - Another strength of Schaffer and Emmerson's stages is that they have practical application in day care

  E - In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult.

  E - However, Schaffer and Emmerson's research tells us that day care, especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult, may be problematic during the specific attachment stage.

  L - This means that parents' use of day care can be planned using Schaffer and Emmerson's stages
• Generalisability (limitation)

  P - On the positive side Schaffer and Emmerson based their stage account on a large-scale study with some good design features.

  E - On the other hand, they only looked at one sample which had unique features in terms of cultural and historical context

  E - In other cultures, for example collectivist cultures, multiple attachments from a very early stage are more the norm

  L - This questions the extent to which Schaffer and Emmerson stages can be generalised to other populations