Attachment - stages of attachment Flashcards
who researched the formation of early attachments?
Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
what was the method of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
60 babies, glasgow, working class. visited babies at home every month of the first year and again at 18 months.
- measured stranger anxiety and seperation anxiety (how much they protested everyday seperation)
what were the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s study?
- between 6-7 months, 50% showed seperation anxiety and specific attachment
- attachments were towards adults who are more interactive and sensitive (reciprocity)
- after 9 months, 80% had specific attachments and around 30% had multiple attachments
evaluation of S&E’s study?
+ natural environment gives it high external validity
+ studied over time (longitudinal) so high internal validity
- sample limited to babies from glasgow with similar social backgrounds.
what are the four stages of attachment as proposed by Schaffer and Emerson?
asocial, indiscriminate, discriminate, multiple
asocial stage
babies recognise carers, like company of humans but act no differently towards humans or objects
indiscriminate stage
2-7 months. prefer familiar adults (more smiling etc.) but will still accept comfort from any adult. little to no stranger/seperation anxiety
discriminate stage
7+ months. stranger and seperation anxiety. has a specific attachment figure
multiple
by 1 years old, most infants have multiple attachments (secondary attachments)
evaluation of the stages of attachment
+ some psychologists (Bowlby) agree that specific attachments need to come before multiple
- cultural differences, collectivist countries are more likely to have babies that have multiple attachments earlier than 1 year
- evidence (M&M) shows that infants are social in the ‘asocial’ stage
- evidence that babies prefer Mother’s face/voice in asocial stage
- difficult to study asocial stage because babies have little co-ordination and are immobile at that age
