Shaffer's stages of attachment:

• 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