Discuss schaffers stages of attachment

• Shaffer + Emerson study

  • Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
  • The Glaswegian baby study
  • collected the data of 60 babies and their families
  • Visited every month for first year
  • via observations and interviews
  • with a follow-up visit at 18 months
  • From this they developed 4 stages of attachment
• what is stage 1 of attachment

  Asocial stage - first few weeks of life
• what is the asocial stage


  • Babies recognize and bond with their caregiver
  • responding to objects and humans similarly.
  • Some preference for familiar adults exists.
• what is stage 2 of attachment

  Indiscriminate attachment stage

  2-7 months
• what is indiscriminate attachment


  • Babies will display a preference towards people compared to inanimate objects.
  • They recognise and prefer familiar humans and usually accept cuddles and comfort from any adult .
  • They do not usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety
• what is stage 3 of attachment

  specific attachment stage

  7 months
• what is specific attachment


  • the majority of infants start to display stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.
  • They have formed a specific attachment to the person who best responds to the infants needs and signals
• what is stage 4 of attachment

  multiple attachments stage

  10 months
• what is multiple attachments


  • primary caregiver attachment gets stronger, forms secondary attachment 
  • infants had a secondary attachment within a month of forming a specific attachment.
  • the majority of infants have formed multiple attachments.
• A03

  Strength - good external validity


  • they carried out the observations in the babies home whilst parents carried out normal behaviour with the babies.
  • therefore the behaviour of the babies was likely to be unaffected by the observers.
  • giving this good ecological validity
• A03

  Limitation - Culture bias

  • there could be culture bias.
  • Van Ijzendoorn found that culture plays a part in how and when we form attachments and with whom.
  • In many non western societies, babies have multiple carers, as this is the norm and so multiple attachments are formed earlier.
  • Again, this suggests his stages may not be a valid explanation of attachment across different societies
  • so lacks generalisability.
• limited sample size

  only done on 60 Glasgow babies from the same social class. this is a limitation because it is not getting data that is representative of everyone. therefore we cannot generalise this data
• limited behavioural categories


  Schaffer and Emmerson only measured attachment in separation and stranger anxiety. attachment is too complex to be simplified to these two components, making it reductionist