stages of attachment

• who did schaffer and emerson (1964) study?

  60 babies in glasgow at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life
• how where the children studied?

  the babies were visited at home monthly for approximately one year and a variety of methods were used: observation, interviews and diaries. three key measures were recorded: stranger anxiety, separation anxiety, social referencing
• what is stranger anxiety?

  response to arrival of a stranger
• what is separation anxiety?

  distress level when separated from carer, degree of comfort needed on return
• what is social referencing?

  degree that child looks at carer to check how they should respond to something new (secure base)
• what are the four stages of attachment?

  asocial, indiscriminate, specific and multiple
• what is the asocial stage?

  infants produce similar responses to all objects, whether they are animate or inanimate. towards the end of this period, infants are beginning to show a greater preference for social stimuli, such as a smiling face, and to be more content when they are with people. during this period of time reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing the infant’s relationships with others
• what is the indiscriminate stage?

  infants become more social. they prefer human company to inanimate objects and can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people. however, they are still relatively easily comforted by anyone, and do not yet show anxiety with strangers. the most distinctive feature of this phase is their general sociability
• what is the specific stage?

  most infants begin to show a distinctly different sort of protest when one particular person puts them down. equally, they show especial joy at reunion with that one person and are most comforted by this person. they are said to have formed a specific attachment to one person, their primary attachment figure
• what is the multiple stage?

  soon after the main attachment is formed, the infant develops a wider circle of multiple attachments depending on how many consistent relationships they have
• what is the support of stage theory?

  validity
• what is the counter of stage theory?

  sampling / methodological issues
• what is the alternative to stage theory?

  the idea that some attachments are more important than others - bowlby’s monotropy
• what are the issues and debates of stage theory?

  culture and gender bias
• what did schaffer find about fathers?

  they were far less likely to be the primary attachment figure than mothers
• what are changing roles?

  traditionally, fathers only played a minor role in parenting with married couples having ‘expected roles’ but it is now the norm for mothers to have a job: 2019 75.1% of mothers with dependent children were in work in the uk, compared to 66.2% in 2000. 10% of single parents are male. so, men have a bigger role in parenting that before
• what role do men play?

  played a role as secondary attachment figures, more playful and physically active, provide more challenging situations, less sensitive to infant cues
• what role do women play?

  traditionally taken on the role of primary caregiver, expected to be more caring and nurturing than men, more conventional, more likely to read stories to their children
• what do schaffer and emerson say about the role of the father?

  fathers were less likely to be the primary attachment figure than mothers because they spend less time with their infants. 63% of 1st attachments to mum, 3% of 1st attachments to dad, 30% mum is a 1st joint attachment figure, 27% dad is a 1st joint attachment figure
• what does bowlby say about the role of the father?

  maternal deprivation hypothesis. note maternal not parental. monotropy - single special attachment with one primary attachment figure, usually mum
• what is the support of the role of the father?

  grossman (2002) longitudinal study looking at parents’ behaviour and its relationship to the quality of the children’s attachment into their teens. quality of infant attachment with mothers was related to children’s attachment in adolescents. however, the quality of the fathers’ play with infants was related
• what is the counter of the role of the father?

  field (1978) filmed 4 month old babies in face to face interaction. primary caregiver mothers and fathers gave more time smiling, imitating and holding infants than the secondary caregiver fathers
• what is the alternative of the role of the father?

  social or biological factors
• what is the application of the role of the father?

  economic implications
• what are the issues and debates of the role of the father?

  socially sensitive research, gender and culture bias