schaffer resources

• Schaffer's Stages of Attachment

  Stages of attachment identified by Schaffer
• Much of the research into caregiver-infant interaction has been carried out by means of observation
• Videotaping observations


  • Increases the validity of the findings
• Conducting research in a lab


  • Benefit of conducting this research in a lab
• Aim of Schaffer and Emerson's study

  To investigate the formation of early attachment, in particular the age of this development, the emotional intensity and to whom they were directed to
• Schaffer and Emerson's study

  • Observed 60 Glaswegian babies for 18 months, mostly from skilled working class families
  • Longitudinal study - strengths/weaknesses
  • Mothers/babies were visited once a month for 1 year and then again at 18 months
  • Researchers asked the parents to observe their children in different circumstances, keep a diary of their observations and report back to the researchers
  • Examples of "circumstances": Left alone in a room, left alone with a stranger, left alone in their cot
  • Stranger anxiety - also directly observed by S&E when they visited the families
• Key conclusions from Schaffer and Emerson's study

  • By the age of one year, the majority of infants had formed multiple attachments
  • These usually developed after the infant had formed their specific attachment