Schaffer's stages of attachment

• What did Schaffer and Emerson do?

  • They studied 60 babies from Glasgow for 18 months to find out how attachments develop from a young age.
• What did Schaffer and Emerson find?

  • They found that babies started to show separation protest/anxiety between 6-8 months.
  • They showed stranger anxiety one month later
  • After 18 months 87% of children formed 2 attachments and 31% formed 5+ attachments.
  • Children who were strongly attached to their parent had quicker responses to their signals/behaviour.
• What is the pre-attachment phase?

  • 0-2 months
  • where the child shows similar behaviour towards inanimate objects and adults
  • child starts to prefer the company of those who are familiar suggesting the start a forming attachment
• What is the indiscriminate attachment phase?

  • Where there is an obvious preference towards familiar people over unfamiliar people such as smiling more.
  • They will still allow strangers to handle them
  • 2-7 months
• What is the discriminate attachment phase?

  • 7 months onwards
  • Baby shows a specific attachment to one human known as the primary attachment figure - this is the person who offers the most interaction
  • The baby experiences separation anxiety and stranger anxiety
• What is the multiple attachment phase?

  • 11+ months
  • baby will start to extend their attachment to other caregivers such as grandparents - they are known as the secondary attachments
• What evidence is there to support these stages of attachment?

  • Schaffer and Emerson
  • Studied babies in Glasgow across 18 months
  • They found that around 6-8 months the babies started to show separation protest which suggests the discriminate attachment phase
  • 87% developed 2 attachments and 31% developed 5+ attachments after 18 months, suggesting the multiple attachment phase
• Why does this study have good external validity?

  • conducted under everyday conditions e.g at home
  • parents reported the behaviour back to Schaffer and Emerson and so observers weren't in the room disturbing the natural behaviour of the babies