Schaffer and Emerson

• Schaffer and Emerson studied attachment behaviours of babies and proposed there are four identifiable stages of attachment.
• The four stages of attachment are;

  1. Asocial stage
  2. Indiscriminate attachment
  3. Specific attachment
  4. Multiple attachment
• The first stage of attachment identified by Schaffer and Emerson is Asocial stage
• Asocial stage is;

  • 0-6weeks
  • Attention seeking behaviour
• The second stage identified by Schaffer and Emerson is indiscriminate attachment
• Indiscriminate stage;

  • 6weeks-7months
  • Recognise and like company from familiar people
  • Accept cuddles from anyone
• The third stage identified Schaffer and Emerson is specific attachment
• Specific attachment;

  • 7mth+
  • Primary attached to main caregiver
  • Show stranger anxiety when not with caregiver
• The fourth attachment identified by Schaffer and Emerson is multiple attachments
• Multiple attachment;

  • 10-11mths
  • Babies show attachment towards several people
• Schaffer and Emerson procedure;

  • Involved 60 babies from Glasgow mainly w/c
  • Visited families homes every month
  • Designed to measure babies attachments
• Schaffer and Emerson found four distinct stages of attachment
• Schaffer and Emersons study had external validity
• Their research had high external validity as the babies were observed in their own home and done around their parents meaning it would not effect the results.
• A weakness to their research is that it has low generalisability
• Their research has low generalisability as they studied families from the same city and social class - meaning it only represents them