STAGES OF ATTACHMENT

• WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF ATTACHMENT?

  1. Asocial/ pre-attachment
  2. Indiscriminate
  3. Discriminate/ specific
  4. Multiple attachment
• WHEN IS ASOCIAL?

  0 - 6 weeks
• WHEN IS INDISCRIMINATE?

  6 weeks - 7 months
• WHEN IS DISCRIMINATE?

  7 months - 10 months
• WHEN IS MULTIPLE ATTACHMENT?

  10 months +
• WHO DID RESEARCH INTO STAGES OF ATTACHMENT?

  Schaffer + Emerson
• KEY POINTS OF SCHAFFER + EMERSON RESEARCH?

  • longitudinal study
  • 60 babies
  • skilled, working class Glasgow families
  • visited (once a month for first year, again at 18 months)
  • observed in separations
  • mothers filled out diaries on separation and stranger anxiety
• FINDINGS OF SCHAFFER + EMERSON'S RESEARCH?

  • 6-8 months: 50% specific, 30% multiple
  • 10 months: 50% multiple
  • 18 months: 90% multiple
• EVALUATION?

  • internal validity
  • external validity
  • generalisability
• INTERNAL VALIDITY ARGUMENT?

  • same children
  • no extraneous participant variables
  • difficult to observe babies
  • retrospective diaries (forget/ social desirability)
• EXTERNAL VALIDITY ARGUMENT?

  • natural environment
  • high mundane realism
  • high ecological validity
  • lacks temporal validity (80s)
  • more nursery = earlier multiple attachments
• GENERALISABILITY ARGUMENT?

  • working class
  • not representative of middle class
  • parenting styles vary between socioeconomic classes
  • cultural relativism
  • Western country + individualistic society