Schaffer’s Stages Of Attachment Flashcards
Who studied the attachment behaviours of babies?
Schaffer and Emerson
What did Schaffer and Emerson’s findings about babies attachment lead them to developing?
An account of how attachment behaviours change as a baby gets older.
How many stages of attachment did Schaffer and Emerson propose?
Four identifiable stages of attachment observed in all babies.
What is stage 1?
Asocial stage
Stage 1:
What is a baby’s observable behaviour similar towards?
Humans and inanimate objects/
What do babies show in stage 1 that suggests the stage isn’t entirely asocial?
Babies show signs that they prefer to be with other people.
Stage 1:
What do babies show a preference for?
The company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them.
In stage 1 what is the baby forming?
Bonds with certain people and these form the basis of later attachments.
What is stage 2?
Indiscriminate attachment
Stage 2:
What do babies start to show more of from months 2-7.
More obvious and more observable social behaviours.
During stage 2 what do babies show a preference for?
Being with other humans rather than inanimate objects.
During stage 2 who do babies prefer company of?
More familiar people however will accept affection and comfort from any person.
What do babies in stage 2 not usually show?
Separation anxiety when caregivers leave their presence or stranger anxiety in the presence of an unfamiliar person.
What is stage 3?
Specific attachment
Stage 3:
What do the majority of babies start to show at around 7 months?
The classic signs of attachment towards a particular person which include stranger anxiety especially when their attachment figure isn’t there and separation anxiety when they are separated from their attachment figure.
Stage 3:
What is the baby said to have formed?
A specific attachment.
Stage 3:
What is a primary attachment figure?
The main person who forms an attachment with the baby.
Stage 3:
Who is the primary attachment figure?
Not necessarily the individual who the child spends the most time with but one who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby’s signals with the most skill - in 65% of cases this is the mother.
What is stage 4?
Multiple attachments
Stage 4:
What happens shortly after babies start to show attachment behaviour towards one person ?
They usually extend this behaviour to multiple attachments with other people they regularly spend time with which are called secondary attachments
What did Schaffer and Emerson observe about secondary attachments?
29% of children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment.
By the age of one the majority of babies developed multiple attachments.
What did Schaffer and Emerson base their stage theory on?
An observational study of the formation of early infant-adult attachments.
Evaluation:
Problems with studying the asocial stage
- The first few weeks are described as asocial even though important interactions occur in those weeks.
- However babies have poor-coordination and are generally immobile.
- Therefore it’s difficult to make judgements based on observations of their behaviour as there isn’t much observable behaviour.
Evaluation:
Measuring multiple attachments
- Because a baby is distressed when an individual leaves doesn’t necessarily mean the individual is a ‘true’ attachment figure.
- Bowlby’s pointed out children have playmates as well as attachment figures and may get distressed when a playmate leaves but this doesn’t signify attachment.
- This means Schaffer and Emersons observation doesn’t let us distinguish between behaviour shown towards secondary attachment figures and shown towards playmates.
