Stages of attachment

• Asocial stage

  (birth-6 weeks) infants react similar to all objects, preference for social/human stimuli, reciprocity and interactional synchrony play role in establishing relationships
• Presocial stage/indiscriminate attachment

  (6 weeks-7 months) infants grow social, preference for human company, can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people, easily comforted and not yet developed stranger anxiety
• Discriminate attachment

  (7-9 months) Primary attachment figure formed, separation and stranger anxiety developed,

  • Schaffer & Emerson (1964 Glasgow) primary attachments best formed with most sensitive/responsive mothers
• Multiple attachments

  (10 months onwards) Can now develop many attachments

  • Schaffer & Emerson, within 1 month after developing primary AF 29% had also developed multiple attachments, rose to 78% after 6 months
• Unreliable due to P bias - mother's reporting on own children's behaviour (creates systematic bias)
• Sample biassed - only white,  working class, and from the 1960s. Unrepresentative of modern sphere, especially as father carers have increased 4x over 25 years (Cohn et al 2014)
• Creates arguments of whether one or two more important attachment figures are more integral than growing up with multiple. Bowlby emphasises importance of one primary figure (monotropy), while Rutter (1995) argues all attachment figures are important and contribute to attachment type
• Stages of attachment vary in individualist cultures compared to collectivist cultures (these cultures are a lot more likely to develop multiple attachments quicker) - Sagi et al (1994) and Kibbutz children
• The stage theory is rather inflexible and suggests development always happens this way and in this order, and those who differ from this may be classed as abnormal