Schaffer's stages of attachment

• 4 stages of attachment

  Stage 1 - asocial stage

  Stage 2 - indiscriminate attachment

  Stage 3 - specific attachment

  Stage 4 - multiple attachments
• When does the asocial stage occur?

  First few weeks of life
• Asocial stage

  Babies recognize and form bonds with carers but their behavior towards non-human objects can be quite similar, so it is named asocial'

  However, babies show some preference for familiar adults and tend to be happier and more easily comforted by them
• Indiscriminate attachment

  Babies start to display more obvious and observable social behaviors - show a clear preference for being with other humans than inanimate objects, and recognize and prefer familiar adults, but they still accept comfort and cuddles from any adults, and don't show separation or stranger anxiety
• Specific attachment

  Babies become attached to one person and show signs of stranger and separation anxiety

  The person who the baby bonds with becomes the primary attachment figure, usually the person who is the most interactive (not the most time spending) - mother in 65% of cases
• Multiple attachments

  Babies extend attachment behavior to multiple attachments with other people with whom they regularly spend time - secondary attachments
• What did Schaffer and Emerson find about multiple attachments?

  29% of children had secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment, and most infants developed multiple attachments by about 1 year old
• Procedure of Schaffer and Emerson's research

  60 babies - 31 male and 29 female

  Babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months

  Interactions were analyzed to establish if and when infants started to display separation anxiety

  Researchers asked mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in 7 everyday separations to measure the infant's separation and stranger anxiety