Schaffer's stages of attachment

Question 1

what is stages of attachment based upon

Answer 1

Stages of attachment is based on a study by Schaffer and Emerson on working class families in Glasgow. Their findings led them to develop an account of how attachment behaviours change as an infant gets older. They proposed there were 4 identifiable stages of attachment observed in all babies.

Question 2

asocial stage

Answer 2

0-8 weeks
Behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar.
Tend to show a preference for company of familiar people and more easily comforted by them
They prefer to be with other people

Question 3

indiscriminate stage

Answer 3

2-7 months
Clear preference for humans rather than inanimate objects
Recognise and prefer company of familiar people but accept comfort from anyone
Don’t usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety.

Question 4

specific stage

Answer 4

7-12 months
Display classic signs of attachment towards one particular person
Experience stranger and separation anxiety
Infant forms primary attachment figure with the person who offers the most interaction and responds to the infants ‘signals’.

Question 5

multiple attachment stage

Answer 5

1 year onwards
Usually extend attachment behaviour to multiple attachments with other people
These relationships are called secondary attachments
By age 1 most babies had developed multiple attachments

Question 6

Evaluation of Schaffer’s stages of attachment (brief)

Answer 6

strength - good external validity HOWEVER lacks internal validity
strength - real life application
weakness - limited sample size

Question 7

strengths of Schaffer’s stages of attachment

Answer 7

good external validity. Observations done by parents in natural environment, so babies behaviours is unlikely to be affected by the presence of others. It was also a longitudinal study where the children were followed up and reviewed regularly. HOWEVER, there are issues with asking the mothers to be the observers as they are unlikely to be objective. They may have been biased in terms of what they noticed and reported. This means that even if the babies behaved naturally, their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded. Therefore the method lacks internal validity.

real life application. The research has practical applications in day-care. In asocial and indiscriminate stage, day-care is straight forward as the infants accept care from anyone. However, it becomes problematic to start day-care during the specific stage due to stranger and separation anxiety. Therefore, this research can be used to make transitions into day-care easier on both infants and parents.

Question 8

weakness of Schaffer’s stages of attachment

Answer 8

limited sample size. Only 60 babies from one district and social class in Glasgow were used in the study. It was also conducted 50 years ago, since then there has been changing roles due to the fact that fathers have gained paternity leave. This means babies may form 2 attachments which goes against Schaffer’s study. This study is an ethnocentric study therefore lacks generalisability beyond its own culture so cannot explain stages of attachment in other cultures where society is collectivist rather than individualistic.