Stages of Attachment

• Longitudinal study


  Study of 60 babies at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life
• Stages of attachment development

  1. Asocial (0-6 weeks)

  2. Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks to 7 months)

  3. Specific attachment (7-9 months)

  4. Multiple attachment (10 months and onwards)
• Asocial stage


  • Very young infants respond favorably to many kinds of stimuli, both social and non-social
• Indiscriminate attachments stage


  • Infants enjoy human company equally, get upset when an individual ceases to interact with them
  • From 3 months, infants smile more at familiar faces and can be easily comforted by a regular caregiver
• Specific attachment stage


  • Baby looks to particular people for security, comfort, and protection
  • Shows fear of strangers (stranger fear) and unhappiness when separated from a special person (separation anxiety)
• Multiple attachment stage


  • Baby becomes increasingly independent and forms several attachments
  • By 18 months, majority of infants have formed multiple attachments
• Attachments were most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the baby's signals, not the person they spent more time with
• findings- intensely attached infants


  Had mothers who responded quickly to their demands and interacted with their children
• findings - weakly attached infants


  Had mothers who failed to interact
• Attachments


  • Most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the baby's signals, not the person they spent more time with
• Sensitive responsiveness


  Responding accurately to the baby's signals
• The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child but who plays and communicates with him or her
• Schaffer & Emerson Limitation

  • Low population validity
  • Small sample size of 60 families
• The infants in the study all came from Glasgow and were mostly from working-class families
• Data collection Limitation

  • Accuracy could be questioned
  • Diary is very unreliable
  • Demand characteristics and social desirability being major issues
  • Mothers are not likely to report negative experiences
• shaffer and emerson study lacks temporal validity as it was conducted in the 1960s when gender roles were different