Schaffer and Emerson's Stages of Attachment

Question 1

1. How long does the asocial stage last?

Answer 1

0-8 weeks.

Question 2

1. Describe the difference in how babies behave towards humans and inanimate objects.

Answer 2

There is little difference between how babies behave towards humans and inanimate objects.

Question 3

1. Who are babies most likely to smile at?

Answer 3

Babies are likely to smile at anyone.

Question 4

1. What do babies enjoy to be around the most in the asocial stage?

Answer 4

Humans

Question 5

2. Name the 2nd stage of attachment.

Answer 5

Indiscriminate attachment.

Question 6

2. What age does the 2nd stage of attachment occur from/to?

Answer 6

2-7 months

Question 7

2. Whose faces do babies prefer at this stage?

Answer 7

Any familiar faces.

Question 8

2. At this stage, which 2 attachment behaviours are babies unlikely to show?

Answer 8

Separation anxiety
Stranger anxiety

Question 9

3. Name the 3rd stage of attachment.

Answer 9

Discriminate attachment

Question 10

3. What age range does the 3rd stage of attachment occur from/to?

Answer 10

7-12 months.

Question 11

2. Which faces are babies more likely to smile at at this stage?

Answer 11

Familiar faces

Question 12

3. Who do babies display the most attachment to at this stage?
   What is this attachment called?

Answer 12

Their primary caregiver. (Usually the mother)
This is called the primary attachment.

Question 13

3. Describe the characteristics of the person who a baby forms the primary attachment with.

Answer 13

This person is likely to respond to baby’s signals almost all of the time.

Question 14

What percentage of children form secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment?

Answer 14

29%

Question 15

4. What is the 4th stage of attachment called?

Answer 15

Multiple attachments

Question 16

3. In the 3rd stage of attachment, who do babies use as a secure base?

Answer 16

Any familiar adult.

Question 17

3. What 3 attachment behaviours are shown in the 3rd stage of attachment?

Answer 17

Separation anxiety.
Stranger anxiety.
Secure base behaviour.

Question 18

4. What age does the 4th attachment stage occur from?

Answer 18

1+ years.

Question 19

4. Attachments not with the primary caregiver are called…

Answer 19

Secondary attachments

Question 20

4. Describe who babies attach to in the 4th stage. Give examples

Answer 20

Multiple people who they spend time with.
Eg: Father, grandparents, siblings etc.

Question 21

What percent of children form secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment?

Answer 21

29%

Question 22

State how many girls and how many boys were used in Schaffer and Emerson’s research.

Answer 22

31 baby boys
29 baby girls

Question 23

Where were the PPTs from in Schaffer and Emerson’s research and what was there class?

Answer 23

Working class from Glasgow.

Question 24

How often did researchers visit the mothers and their babies in their homes in Schaffer and Emerson’s research?

Answer 24

Once every month for 12 months.
Then once again at 18 months.

Question 25

What did Schaffer and Emerson aim to observe in their research?

Answer 25

Observed children in relation to the stranger/separation anxiety experienced.

Question 26

Who did Schaffer and Emerson interview in their research?

Answer 26

The children’s mothers.

Question 27

What percentage of children in Schaffer and Emerson’s research experienced separation anxiety at 25-32 weeks?

Answer 27

50%

Question 28

What percentage of children in Schaffer and Emerson’s research had a specific attachment at 40 weeks?
What percent had formed multiple attachments?

Answer 28

80% had formed specific attachments
30% had formed multiple attachments

Question 29

Explain the strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s research having practical applications in day cares.
Which attachment stages are likely be straightforward or more difficult?

Answer 29

In asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages, day care is likely to be straight forward as babies can be comforted by any adult. However, Schaffer and Emerson’s research tells us that starting day care with unfamiliar adults may be problematic in the discriminate attachment stage. This means that day care can be planned by using Schaffer and Emerson’s stages.

Question 30

Explain the strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s research having good external validity.
Use the example of the observations being made by parents during ordinary everyday activities for the babies.
Explain why this is better than having a researcher present.
Also explain why this may lead to bias.

Answer 30

Most of the observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researchers. The alternative would have been to have the researchers present to record observations. This might have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious. On the other hand, there are issues with using mothers as observers. They might have been biased in terms of what they noticed and what they reported, for example, they might not have noticed their baby was displaying anxiety. This means while behaviour of PPTs will have been natural, it might not have been recorded properly.

Question 31

Explain the limitation of risk of low validity of the measures used to assess stages of attachment by Schaffer and Emerson.
Explain how this could have made it difficult for mothers to report back on their findings.

Answer 31

Young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile. If babies less than two months old felt anxiety in everyday situations, they might have displayed this in a subtle, hard to observe ways. This made it difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers on signs of anxiety and attachment in this age group. This means that the babies may actually be social, but because of flawed methods, they appear as asocial.

Question 32

Explain the limitation of generalisability issues with Schaffer and Emerson’s research.
Use the example of the specific sample size used (glasgow, working class etc).
Explain how their findings may be different in collectivist cultures, compared to their individualist sample.

Answer 32

The sample size used is highly specific, where all of the babies were from the same location, were all working class and were all from individualist cultures. For example, in a collectivist culture, multiple attachments may form before one specific attachment, therefore, we can’t assume that the order of Schaffer’s stages of attachment will apply and generalise to everyone.