A: Schaffer's stages of attachment Flashcards
Who developed the stages of attachment?
Schaffer.
When is the asocial stage of attachment?
First few weeks.
When is the indiscriminate attachment stage of attachment?
From 2-7 months.
When does specific attachment start?
From around 7 months.
When do multiple attachments start?
By one year.
What is the asocial stage of attachment?
Baby’s behaviour towards inanimate objects and humans quite similar. Some preference for familiar adults (more easily calmed by them). Babies also happier in the presence of other humans.
What is the indiscriminate stage of the attachment?
Babies now display more observable social behaviour, preference for people rather than inanimate objects. Recognise and prefer familiar adults. Don’t show stranger or separation anxiety. Attachment = indiscriminate because it’s the same towards all.
What is the specific stage of attachment?
Stranger and separation anxiety when separated from ONE particular adult. Baby said to have formed a specific attachment with the primary caregiver. In most cases, this is the person who offers the most interactions and responds to baby’s signals with the most skills (mother in 65% of cases).
What is the multiple stage of attachment?
Secondary attachments with other adults form shorty after primary attachment. Schaffer and Emerson’s study: 29% babies had secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachment. By age of one year, majority of infants had multiple secondary attachments.
Procedure of Schaffer and Emerson: Stages of attachment
60 babies born in Glasgow from working-class families. Mother and baby visited at home every month for a year and at 18 months. Separation anxiety measured by asking mothers about baby’s behaviour during everyday separations (e.g. adult leaving room). Stranger anxiety measured by asking mothers questions about their children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.
Findings and conclusions of Schaffer and Emerson: Stages of attachment
50% of babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult between 25 and 32 weeks of age- this specific attachment was usually with mother. Attachment tended to be to the caregiver who was most interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (i.e. reciprocity). This was not necessarily the person the infant spent most time with.
Strengths of Schaffers stages of attachment
EXTERNAL VALIDITY: most observations (not stranger anxiety) made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers. So behaviour of babies unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers. Highly likely that participants behaved naturally while being observed.
CARRIED OUT LONGITUDINALLY: means the same children were followed-up and observed regularly. Quicker alternative would have been to observe different children at each stage- this is called cross-sectional design. But longitudinal designs have better internal validity because they do not have the confounding variable of individual differences between participants (participant variables).
Limitation of Schaffer’s stages of attachment
PROBLEM WITH HOW ATTACHMENT IS ASSESSED: because when a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room does not necessarily mean that the individual is a ‘true’ attachment figure. Bowlby pointed out children may be distressed when a playmate leaves the room but this doesn’t signify attachment to them. So Schaffer and Emerson’s view of stages doesn’t distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and towards playmates.
