Schaffer’s stages

• What was the aim of his study?

  To investigate early attachments, in particular the age at which they developed, to whom and the emotional intensity.
• What was the procedure?

  • 60 babies ( 31 male, 29 female) from skilled working classes in Glasgow
  • The babies and mothers were visited every month for the first year then at 18 months.
  • • Researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in 7 everyday separations, for example:adult leaving the room (separation anxiety)the infant's anxiety response to unfamiliar adults (stranger anxiety).
• Study Findings:

  • Between 25-30 weeks, 50% of babies show separation anxiety towards an adult, usually the mother.

  • Attachment tends to caregivers who are most interactive/sensitive to infant signals.

  • By 40 weeks, 80% of babies have a specific attachment, and almost 30% display multiple attachments.
• Attachment develops into four stages what are they?

  • indiscriminate attachment
  • beginnings of attachment
  • Discriminate attachment
  • Multiple attachments
• Indiscriminate Attachment in Infants

  • Infants respond similarly to all objects from birth to 2 months.

  • Towards end, infants are more content with people.

  • Reciprocity and interactional synchrony establish relationships.
• Explain beginnings of attachment

  • Around 4 months
  • Infants become more social
  • Prefer human company to inanimate objects
  • Can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people
  • However still relatively easily comforted by anyone
  • Do not yet show stranger anxiety
  • General sociability – enjoyment of being with people
• Discriminate Attachment in Infants

  • Anxiety begins around 7 months when separated from one primary attachment figure (biological mother).

  • Joy is shown when reunited with this primary attachment figure.

  • Anxiety towards strangers begins.

  • Primary attachment figure may not be the child's primary interaction partner; adult offers the most interaction and responds to baby's signals.
• Schaffer and Emerson's Research Limitation

  • Potential validity issues due to social desirability bias.

  • Data based on mothers' reports of infants.

  • Mothers may be less sensitive to infant protests.

  • Bias may not have tested intended mother-infant relationships.

  • Stages of attachment may lack validity.
• Schaffer and Emerson's Research Criticism - sample was biased

  • From a working-class population in the 1960s.

  • Changes in parental care: More women work, children cared for outside of home.

  • Increase in fathers staying at home as main caregivers.

  • Stages of attachment may lack population and historical validity due to outdated research and biased sample.
• Criticism - stage theories is too inflexible

  • Stage theories describe changes in children's behavior as they age.

  • Suggests inflexible development, with infants going through specific stages in a specific order.

  • Single attachments must precede multiple attachments.

  • Stages become standard for family judgment, potentially classifying infants as 'abnormal' if not followed.
• Shaffer and Emerson's Stages of Development Limitations

  • The model may not apply to all cultures.

  • Individualist cultures, like Britain and the US, prioritize individual needs.

  • Collectivist cultures focus on group needs, leading to multiple attachments before single attachments.

  • The model's stages of development may not explain development in other cultures.
• multiple attachments in infants

  • infants form primary attachments with multiple adults
  • secondary attachments are regular relationships with these adults
  • 29% of children develop secondary attachments within a month of primary attachments
  • by age 1, most infant have multiple attachments