Schaffer's stages of attachment

• when is the asocial stage?

  first few weeks.
• when does indiscriminate attachment begin?

  2-7 months.
• when does specific attachment start?

  from around 7 months.
• when do multiple attachments form?

  by one year
• asocial stage

  baby's behaviour towards inanimate objects and humans is quite similar.

  some preference for familiar adults (more easily calmed by them).

  babies are also happier in the presence of other humans.
• indiscriminate attachment

  babies now display more observable social behaviour, with a preference for people rather than inanimate objects.

  they recognise and prefer familiar adults.

  babies do not show stranger or separation anxiety.

  attachment is indiscriminate because its the same towards all.
• specific attachment

  stranger anxiety and separation anxiety when separated from one particular adult. baby is said to have formed a specific attachment with the primary attachment figure.

  this is in most cases the person who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby's 'signals' with the most skill (the biological mother in 65% of cases).
• multiple attachments

  secondary attachments with other adults form shortly after.

  in Schaffer and Emerson's study, 29% of babies had secondary (multiple) attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment. by the age of one year the majority of infants had multiple secondary attachments.
• procedure of Schaffer and Emerson: stages of attachment

  60 babies from Glasgow, mostly working-class families. babies and their mothers visited at home every month for a year and at 18 months.

  separation anxiety measured by asking mothers about their children's behaviour during everyday separations (e.g. adult leaving the room).

  stranger anxiety was measured by asking mothers questions about their children's anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.
• findings and conclusions of Schaffer and Emerson: stages of attachment

  50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult between 25 and 32 weeks of age. this specific (primary) attachment was usually with the mother.

  attachment tended to be the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (i.e. reciprocity). this was not necessarily the person the infant spent most time with.
• strength of Schaffer and Emerson's study: external validity

  most of the observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers. so the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers. it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed.
• strength of Schaffer and Emerson's study: carried out longitudinally

  this means that the same children were followed-up and observed regularly. the quicker alternative would have been to observe different children at each stage. this is called cross-sectional design. but longitudinal designs have better internal validity because they do not have the confounding variable of individual differences between participants.
• limitation of Schaffer and Emerson's study: problem with how multiple attachment is assessed

  just because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room does not necessarily mean that the individual is a 'true' attachment figure. bowlby pointed out that children may be distressed when a playmate leave the room, but this doesn't signify attachment to them. so Schaffer and Emersons view of stages doesn't distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and towards playmates.
• broader limitation: problem studying in the asocial year

  Schaffer and Emerson describe the first few weeks as the 'asocial' stage, although important interactions take place. but young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile, making it difficult to make judgements based on observations of their behaviour. it may be the babies are actually quite social but, because of flawed methods they appear to be asocial