Schaffer's stages of attachment

• stages of attachment


  Schaffer interested in formation of early attachments in particular the ages they're developed, their emotional intensity and to who they were directed - identified 4 stages from birth to 1
• pre attachment phase


  0-3 months old - babies initially asocial, producing similar responses to all objects whether they're animate or inanimate - at 6 weeks infants begin to treat other humans differently to objects by smiling at them - reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a role in establishing infant's relationship with others
• indiscriminate attachment phase


  3-7/8 months - infants can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people - still relatively easily comforted by anyone and don't show anxiety with strangers - most distinctive feature of this phase is general sociability (enjoyment of being with people)
• specific attachment phase 


  7/8 months - infants show distinctly different protest when one particular person puts them down (separation anxiety) - show special joy at reunion with that person and most comforted by this person - said to have formed specific attachment to one person (primary attachment figure) - starts to develop stranger anxiety
• multiple attachments stage 


  9 months - soon after main attachment formed infant develops wider circle of multiple attachments (grandparents and siblings) depending on how many consistent relationships infant has (secondary attachments) - children display separation anxiety from these relationships - original attachment remains strongest
• STAGES EVALUATION - Schaffer and Emerson


  found interviewing mothers of 60 infants in Glasgow about their children, within one month of first forming primary attachment 29% of infants formed multiple attachments with someone else (father or grandparent) - found by 1 year old 1/3 of infants had formed five or more secondary attachments - specific attachments followed by multiple attachments identified by Schaffer
• STAGES EVALUATION - based on flawed research


  stages based on mother's reports of their infants which might be biased - some mothers portray themselves as having happier and healthier relationship than they really do with as well as portraying other family members as having better relationships with their children than they really do (social desirability) - lacks internal validity
• STAGES EVALUATION - lacks temporal validity

  findings collected in 1960s and society and parental care has changed considerably since then - mothers go out to work and fathers stay at home to look after child more now - attachments formed by mothers and fathers alike may not be representative of how attachments are developed in modern day
• STAGES EVALUATION - ethnocentric


  it's culturally biased by assuming way children develop in 1 culture is the way they develop in all cultures - Schaffer stage theory states a specific attachment is developed followed by multiple attachments, in some cultures multiple attachments come first - stage theories on child development and theories on role of different attachment figures may always be limited