Attachment - Schaffer's stages of attachment Flashcards
What did Schaffer and Emerson (1964) study?
The attachment behaviour of babies
What did Schaffer and Emerson’s findings lead them to?
Develop an account of how attachment behaviour changes as a baby gets older
What is the first stage of the stages of attachment?
Asocial stage
What is the asocial stage?
When a baby’s behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects within the first few weeks of life is similar
What did Schaffer and Emerson not believe?
That stage one is entirely asocial as even at this stage babies show signs that they prefer to be with other people
What happens at an aocial stage?
The baby is forming bonds with certain people and these form the basis for later attachments
What is the second stage of the stages of attachment?
Indiscriminate stage
What is the indiscriminate stage?
When babies from 2 to 7 months start to display more obvious and observabe social behaviours
What happens at the indiscriminate stage?
Babies usually accept cuddles from anybody and don’t show seperation anxiety or stranger anxiety
What is the third stage of the stages of attachment?
Specific attachment
What is the specific attachment?
From around 7 months the majority of babies start to display signs of attachment towards one particular person
What are the signs attached to specific attachment?
Stranger and seperation anxiety
What is formed at specific attachment?
Primary attachment figure
What is the primary attachment figure?
A person that offers the most interaction and responds to the baby’s signals with the best skill
What is the fourth stage of the stages of attachment?
Multiple attachments
What happens in multiple attachments?
When babies extend behaviour of stranger and seperation anxiety to multiple attachments with people they know - known as secondary attachments
What did Schaffer and Emerson observe?
29% of children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment
What is one strength of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?
Good external validity
What is the evaluation of Schaffer’s stages of attachment having good external validity?
P: Good external validity
E: Made by parents during ordinary activities
E: Researches record observations - distract babies
L: natural behaviour
What is one limitation of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?
Poor evidence for the asocial stage
What is the evaluation of Schaffer’s stages of attachment having poor evidence for the asocial stage?
P: Validity of the measures
E: Babies display anxiety in hard-to-observe ways
E: Difficult to report back to researchers on signs of anxiety
L: Babies could be social but because of flawed methods, they appear asocial
What is another strength of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?
Real world application
What is the evaluation of Schaffer’s stages of attachment having real world application?
P: Practical application in day care
E: Daycare is straightforward for the asocial and indiscriminate stage
E: Starting day care may be problematic during the specific attachment stage
L: Parent’s use of daycare can be planned
