Shaffer's stages of attachment:

Cards (3)

  • STRENGTH:
    • good external valdity
    • Obsesrvations made by parents (through not stranger anxiety) during ordinary activities and was reported to the researchers
    • alternative would be having researchers observe the babies behaviour
    • could make them anxious or distracted
    • means that observations recored had babies behaving naturally
  • LIMITATIONS:
    • Problems asking parents to be observes
    • they may have not been objective observers may have been biased in what they observed and what they recorded
    • parents might not notice show signs of anxiety or misremembered it
    • though babies behaviour is natural the data collected may not be accurately reported
  • STRNGTH:
    • Application to day care
    • Asocial and indiscriminate daycare is straightforward as they can be handled by skilled adult
    • Research tells us that starting day care with an unfamiliar adult may be problematic during the specific attachment stage
    • parents use of day care can be planned using Shaffer and Emersons stages of attachment