ATTACHMENT : Stages Of Attachment Flashcards
What did Schaffer and Emerson study
attachment behaviours of babies
Studying attachment behaviours led Schagger and Emerson to?
Develop an account of how attachment behaviours in babies change as they get older
How many stages of attachment are there
4
stage the 4 stsages of atthemtn
asocial stage
indiscriminate attachment
specific attachment
multiple attachments
First stage is called
Asocial Stage
ASOCIAL STAGE - in a babies first few eeks of life its behaviour towards humans and innanimate objects is
fairly similar
ASOCIAL STAGE - did schaffer and emerson believe babies behaviour was totally asocial
no
ASOCIAL STAGE - why did schaffer and emerson not believe attachment was entirkey asocial
even at this stage babies showed signs they prefer to be with people
ASOCIAL STAGE - babies tend to show a prefernece for ?
company of familiar people
ASOCIAL STAGE - whats significant about babies showing prefernece for company of familiar people
they are more easily comforted by them
ASOCIAL STAGE - at this stage a baby is forming bonds wit * and what does this do ?
certain people which form the basis of later attchments
Stage 2 is called
Indiscriminate attachment
INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT - How old are babies in indiscirimante attachment
2-7months
INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT - What do babies display more
obvious and observable social behaviours
INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT- Babies show a clear prefernece for
being with other humans rather than inanimate objects
INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT - babies recognise and prefer
company of familiar people
INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT however at this stage what do babies accept
cuddles and comfort from anyone
INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT - what do babies not show
seperation anxiety when caregiver leaves prescence
stranger anxiety - as they can accept cuddles and comfort form anyone} ask miss sweeney
What is Stage 3
Specific Attachment
What age does specific attachment start from
from around 7 months
What happens in specific attachment
majority of babies show classic signs of attachment towards a particular person
what are the classic signs of attachment
stranger anxiety
seperation anxiety
When a baby shows the classic signs of attachment they are said to have formed
a specific attachment
What is a primary attachment figure
the person with whom the attachment is formed
tell me important things about the primary attchment figure
not necessarily who child spends most time with
but
offers the most interaction
responds to baby’s signal with most skill/ sensitive to the babies needs
what % of cases is the primary attachment figure the babies mother
65
Stage 4 is called
Multiple Attachments
What happens in stage 4
shortly after showing atrtahcment behaviour towards one person they extend this behaviour to multiple attahcments - other people they regularly spend time with
babies show classical signs of attachment to other people they reguraly spend time with
What are secondary attachments
when a baby extends attachment behaviour towards other people they regularly spend time with
some children formed secondary attachments within how long of formin a specific attachment
within a month
What % of children fromed secondary attachments within a month of forming a specifc attahcment
29%
By what age do most babies form multiple attachments
1
What did Schaffe + Emy base their theiry on
observational study of formation of early infant attachments
What was the number of the smaple
60 babies
31 -boys
29- girls
Where was the sample from
Glasgow
What class where the majority of the sample size/ familiesform
working class
outline the procedure of schaffer and emerson research
researchers vsited babies and mother in their own homes every month for the first year and then again at 18 motnhs
researchers asked mums Q about kind of protests their babies showed in 7 everyday situations e.g adult leaving room - seperation anxiety - this was designed to measure babies attahcment
outline findigns of schaffer and emerson esearch
they identified 4 distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour
which make up their dtage thoeyr
eval good external vailidty
has good EV
most of the obsv were made by parents during eeryday practices and reported to the researchers
the alterative would have been to have research at present to record obsv .
this might have distracted babies or made him feel anxious
this means it is highly likely that the particpants behaved naturally whilst being observed and that the results can be generalised to everyday situations
evakl - counterpoit ev
on the other hand issues w asking mums to be observers as they are unlikely to be obj
may have been biased in terms of whatthey noticed and what they reported
for example they amy not have noticed wehn their baby was showing signs of anxiety or may have misremebered it
this means that even if babies behave naturally their behaviour may not have been accuractley recorded
eval - problems studying asocial satge
one limitation of stages is validity of meausre used to asssess attachment in the asocial stage
young babies lack coord and are fialrly immobile
if babies less than 2 months old felt anxiety in everyday situations they might have displayed this in a subtle hard to observe ways
this may have made it difficult for mums to obsere and report back to researchers on signs of anxiety and attachment in this age group
this means babaies may be quite social but becuase of flawed methods they appear to be asocial
real world applications
strenght - practical applications in day care
in asocial and indiscrimante attach ment stages day care is likely to be straightforward
however schaffer and emerson research tell us day care , especially starting with an unfamiliar
