Schaffer's stages of attachment

• Schaffer & Emerson (1964) aimed to investigate the formation of early attachment, in particular the age of this development, the emotional intensity and to whom they were directed.
• Method

  • The study involved 60 babies (31 male and 29 females) from Glasgow with the majority from skilled working-class families.​
  • The babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months. ​
  • The researchers asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest the babies showed in seven everyday separations e.g. adult leaving the room (a measure of separation anxiety). This was designed to measure the infant’s attachment.​
  • The researchers also assessed stranger anxiety – the infant’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.​
• Findings:

  • Between 25 – 32 weeks of age, about 50% of babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards a particular adult, usually the mother (this is called specific attachment).​
  • 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 who spent the most time with the infant.​
  • By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of babies had a specific attachment and almost 30% displayed multiple attachments.​
• Schaffer's stages of attachment include:

  1. Asocial stage
  2. Indiscriminate attachment
  3. Specific attachment
  4. Multiple attachments
• Stage 1: Asocial stage (first few weeks)

  • infant's behaviour towards human and non-human objects is quite similar
  • infants show some preference for familiar faces in that those individuals find it easier to calm them
  • infants are also happier when in the presence of humans
• Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment (2-7 months)

  • infants show a preference for people rather than inanimate objects and recognise and prefer familiar faces.
  • infants usually accept comfort from anyone and do not usually show separation or stranger anxiety
• Stage 3: Specific attachment (~7 months)

  • majority of infants start to display stranger and separation anxiety from biological mother in 65% of cases
  • infant has formed a specific attachment with a primary attachment figure - person who is most responsive to infant's needs.
• Stage 4: Multiple attachments (~10 months)

  • infant extends attachment behaviour to form secondary attachments after forming primary attachment
  • in Schaffer and Emerson’s study, 29% of the infants had secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment.
• A strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s study into attachment is that it has good external validity. This is because Schaffer and Emerson’s study was a naturalistic study, carried out in the families' own homes and most of the observations were done by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers later. This means that the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers. This strengthens Schaffer and Emerson’s study as it means that participants behaved naturally while being observed, so the data is likely to be accurate.
• A strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s study into attachment is its longitudinal design. This is when the same children were followed-up on and observed regularly. This therefore strengthens the study as it gives it high internal validity because it avoids participant variables.
• A weakness of Schaffer and Emerson’s study into attachment is its low population validity. This is because they only studied 60 Glaswegian babies and the majority of the infants were from skilled working-class families. This means that the data they collected were from families of the same social class and city, so the conclusions drawn only applied to these families. This weakens Schaffer and Emerson’s study as it means that the results are harder to generalise to other cultures and social classes.
• A weakness of Schaffer and Emerson's study into attachment is that the reliability of the data collected has been questioned. This is because in the study, parents kept diaries, which are subject to social desirability bias, on their babies' behaviour and emotional responses and they would report this to the researchers. This weakens Schaffer and Emerson's research into attachment because it is likely that the caregivers are unlikely to report negative experiences, which means the data lacks reliability.