Schaffer’s stages of attachment

• stage 1: antisocial stage- baby’s behaviour towards people and inanimate objects is quite similar. Some preference for familiar people. Babies are also happier in the presence of other people (occurs in first few weeks)
• stage 2: indiscriminate attachment- babies now display more observable social behaviour, with a preference for people rather than inanimate objects. They recognise and prefer familiar people. Babies do not show stranger or seperation anxiety. Attachment is indiscriminate because it’s the same towards all. (occurs at age 2-7 months)
• stage 3: specific attachment- stranger anxiety and serperation anxiety when seperated from one particular person. Baby is said to have formed a specific attachment with the primary attachment figure (mother in 65% of cases). Occurs from 7 months
• stage 4: multiple attachments- secondary attachments with other adults form. In Schaffer and Emerson’s study, 29% of babies had secondary (multiple) attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment. Occurs by 1 year old
• Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment study procedure: 60 babies from Glasgow, most from working class families. Researchers visited babies and mother at home every month for a year and again at 18 months. Separation anxiety measured by asking mothers about their children’s behaviour during everyday separations. Stranger anxiety was measured by asking mothers questions about their children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults
• Schaffer and Emerson stages of attachment study findings and conclusions: babies developed attachments through a sequence os stages, from asocial through to a specific attachment to multiple attachments. The specific attachment tended to be to the person who was most interactive and sensitive to babies’ signals and facial expressions. This was not necessarily the person the baby spent most time with
• One strength to Schaffer and Emerson’s study is that it has external validity. Most of the observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities are reported to researcher. The alternative would be to have observes present in the babies' homes. This may have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious. This means it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed
• One limitation is poor evidence for the asocial stage. Because of their stage of physical development young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile. This makes it difficult for mothers to accurately report signs of anxiety and attachment for this age group. This means the babies might actually be quite social but, because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial
• One strength of Schaffer and Emerson's stages is that it has real world application to day care. In the early stages (asocial and indiscriminate attachments) babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. But if a child starts day care later, during the stage of specific attachments, care from an unfamiliar adult may cause distress and longer term problems. This means that Schaffer and Emerson's stages can help parents making day care decisions