ATTACHMENT - Schaffer's stages of attachement

Question 1

what are stages of attachment?

Answer 1

Schaffer and Emerson (1964) studied attachement behaviours of babies which led them to develop an account of how attachment behaviour changes as a baby gets older.

Question 2

what is stage 1?

Answer 2

Asocial stage

Question 3

what is stage 2?

Answer 3

indiscriminate attachement

Question 4

what is stage 3?

Answer 4

specific attachement

Question 5

what is stage 4?

Answer 5

multiple attachments

Question 6

Explain asocial stage?

Answer 6

• first few weeks of baby’s life humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar (asocial)
• S+E argues that at this stage, babies tend to show preference to be with familiar people = they are more comforted by them
• at this stage, the baby is forming bonds with certain people and these form basis of later attachement

Question 7

Explain Indiscriminate attachement?

Answer 7

• from 2-7 months babies display observable social behaviours
• show clear preference of being with other humans than inanimate objects
• prefer company of familiar people
  -do not usually show separation anxiety when caregivers leave their presence or stranger anxiety in the presence of unfamiliar people

Question 8

Explain specific attachement?

Answer 8

• at 7 months, majority of babies display classic signs of attachment towards one specific person
• anxiety towards strangers = STRANGER ANXIETY
• anxiety when separated from authority figure = SEPARATION ANXIETY
• at this stage baby has formed specific attachement
  (PRIMARY ATTACHMENT FIGURE)
• primary attachment figure offers the most attention to the baby ( not necessarily spends the most time)

Question 9

Explain Multiple attachments?

Answer 9

• shortly after babies show attachment behaviour towards one person, they usually extend this behaviour with other people with whom they spend regular time with ( SECONDARY ATTACHMENTS)
• S+E observed that 25% of the babies formed secondary attachments after a month of forming primary attachments.

Question 10

what are the AIMS of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

Answer 10

to investigate the formation of early attachement, the age of this development, emotional intensity and to whom they were directed to

Question 11

Outline Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

Answer 11

• 60 Glaswegian babies form working class families were observed for 18 months
• mothers and bb were visited once a month for 1 year and again after 18 months
• mothers were asked what kind of protest their babies showed in 7 day separations. eg adult leaving the room ( measure of separation anxiety)
• this measured babies attachment
  -also assessed stranger anxiety

Question 12

What were the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

Answer 12

• between 25-35 weeks - 50% of the babies showed separation anxiety towards a particular adult (usually biological mothers)
• attachment tended to be the caregiver that was most sensitive to the infants signals and facial expressions ( RECIPROCITY) - the primary attachment figure

Question 13

What are the STRENGTHS of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

Answer 13

+ good external validity
Most observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers.
Presence of researchers would have distracted the babies and made them feel more anxious
This means it’s highly likely that the Ps behaved naturally whilst being observed

+ S+E research has practical application in day care
In asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is more straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult .
This means parents use of day care can be planned using Schaffers and Emerson’s stages of attachment.

Question 14

What are the LIMITATIONS of Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

Answer 14

• mothers are unlikely to be objective observers
  They may have been biased in terms of what they noticed and what they reported.
  Eg. They might have not known that the baby was showing signs of anxiety as they may have misremembered it.
  This means even if babies behaved naturally, their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded.
• S+E measures used to assess attachment in the asocial stage is not valid
  Eg young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile. If they have anxiety, this would be displayed very subtly in hard to observe ways.
  This makes it difficult to the mothers to observe and report back. this means that the babies may actually be quite social, but because of flawed method , they appear to be asocial.
• they only looked at one sample , 1960s working class Glasgow
  In other cultures eg collectivist cultures, multiple attachments from a very early age .