Schaffer's stages of attachment

Question 1

How did Schaffer and Emerson investigate the stages of attachment?

Answer 1

AIM: Schaffer and Emerson (1964) aimed to investigate the formation of early attachments. They wanted to find out the age attachments developed, their emotional intensity and to whom infants were attached to.

PARTICIPANTS: 60 babies (31 boys and 29 girls) from skilled working-class families in Glasgow.

PROCEDURE: The researchers visited the mothers and infants at home every month for the first year and then visited them once again at 18 months. They asked the mothers questions about the kind of protest their babies showed in 7 everyday separations (a measure of separation anxiety). This was designed to measure the infant’s attachment. The researchers also assessed stranger anxiety (an infant’s anxiety response to an unfamiliar adult).

FINDINGS:
1. Between 25-32 weeks of age about 50% showed signs of separation anxiety usually towards the mother.
2. Babies were attached to the caregiver who was interactive and sensitive to infant signals and facial expressions (eciprocity). It was not about who spent the most time with the baby.
3. By age 40 weeks, 80% had formed a specific attachment and 30 % had multiple attachments.

Question 2

What is the first stage of attachment?

Answer 2

Asocial stage (first few weeks):
- Infant recognises and forms bonds with the carer.

• Behaviour towards humans and non-human objects is the same.
• Show some preference for familiar adults who find it easier to calm them.
• Happier in the presence of other humans.

Question 3

What is the second stage of attachment?

Answer 3

Indiscriminate stage (2-7 months):
- Babies display more observable social behaviour

• Preference to people rather than objects.
• Accept cuddles from any adult
• Do not usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety.

Question 4

What is the third stage of attachment?

Answer 4

Specific attachment (7-9 months):

• Displays separation and stranger anxiety
• Formed specific attachment (primary attachment figure)
• This is the person who offers the most interaction and response to the baby’s signals with the most skills

Question 5

What is the fourth stage of attachment?

Answer 5

Multiple Attachments (9 months +):

• Babies for multiple attachments
• This is known as secondary attachments
• Secondary attachments are formed within a month of specific attachment

Question 6

(AO3) What is a strength of this study?

Answer 6

Good external validity:

• The study was carried out in the families’ own homes and most of the observation (except stranger anxiety) was done by parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researchers later.
• This means that the behaviour of the babies was unlikely to be affected by the presence of observers. There is an excellent chance that participants behaved naturally while being observed. Therefore the study has good external validity.

Question 7

(AO3) What is a weakness of this study?
(2)

Answer 7

Limited sample characteristics:

• The sample size of 60 babies and their carers was good considering the large volume of data that was gathered on each participant.
• However, the fact that all the families involved were gathered from the same district and social class in the same city and at a time over 50 years ago is a limitation.
• Child-earing practices vary from one culture to another and one historical period to another. These results do not necessarily generalise well to other social and historical contexts.

Question 8

(AO3) What is a weakness of the stages?
(1)

Answer 8

Problem studying the Asocial stage:

• Schaffer and Emerson describe the first few weeks of life as the Asocial stage, although important interactions take place in those weeks.
• The problem is that young babies have poor coordination and are generally pretty much immobile. It is therefore very difficult to make any judgements about them based on observations of their behaviour - there isn’t much observable behaviour.
• This does not mean the child’s feelings and cognitions are not highly social but the evidence cannot be relied on.

Question 9

(AO3) What is a weakness of the stages?
(2)

Answer 9

Measuring multiple attachments:

• Just because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves a room, does not necessarily mean that the individual is a ‘true’ attachment figure.
• Bowlby (1969) - pointed out that children have playmates as well as attachment figures and may get distressed when a playmate leaves the room but this does not signify attachment.
• This is a problem for the stages because their observation does not leave us a way to distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and shown towards playmates.