Schaffer's stages of attachment

• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) studied the attachment behaviour of babies which led to them developing the 4 stages of attachment
• Aim of Schaffer and Emerson's study

  • Investigate at what age different attachments form and the emotional intensity of the attachment
• Schaffer and Emerson's procedure

  • 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow
  • Studied in their homes
  • visited monthly for a year, then at 18 months
  • Carers interviewed about protests in everyday separation
• 7 types of protests showing attachment

  1. left alone in a room
  2. Left alone in a room with other people
  3. Left in their pram outside the house
  4. Left in their pram outside the shop
  5. Left in their cot at night
  6. Put down after being held by an adult
  7. Passed by while sitting in their cot or chair
• Schaffer and Emerson's findings

  • 25-32 weeks, 50% showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult
  • Attachment tended to be towards the most interactive caregiver, not necessarily the person the infant spent the most time with- quality over quantity
  • 40 weeks, 80% had a specific attachment
  • 40 weeks, 30% had multiple attachments
• Schaffer and Emerson's conclusion

  • attachment develops in stages
  • sensitive responsiveness- form attachments with those who react accurately to the baby's signals
  • play and communication> feeding and changing
• Sensitive responsiveness- the extent to which a parent is in tune with a child's emotional state, can understand the signals and respond appropriately and in a timely fashion
• 4 stages of attachment

  1. Asocial (first few weeks)
  2. Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months)
  3. Specific attachment (from 7 months)
  4. Multiple attachment
• Asocial

  • behaviour is similar towards humans and non-humans
  • Some preference for familiar adults
  • Happier with other humans
• Indiscriminate attachment

  • observable social behaviour
  • Preference for humans over inanimate objects
  • Recognise and prefer the company of other people
  • No separation anxiety
  • No stranger anxiety
• Specific attachment

  • Stranger and separation anxiety
  • Attach to primary attachment figure
  • 65% of PCG are the baby's mother
• Multiple attachment

  • attachment extends
  • Secondary attachments form
  • Separation anxiety forms for secondary attachments
• STRENGTH of Schaffer and Emerson's study

  • longitudinal study- shows how attachment develops, reduces individual differences in participants, high internal validity
  • High external validity- conducted in the baby's homes, natural behaviour
• LIMITATIONS of Schaffer and Emerson's study

  • issue with sample- lacks generalisability, cultural bias and social class bias
• LIMITATIONS of Stages of development

  • problems studying the asocial stage- lack observable behaviour
  • measuring multiple attachments- Bowlby (1969) children get distressed when their friends leave, not attachment figures
  • Conflicting evidence on multiple attachments- Bowlby (1969) says a baby forms a primary attachment before multiple attachments, Van Ijzendoorn et al (1993) suggests that in collectivist cultures, multiple attachments are the norm