Schaffer's stages of attachment Flashcards
What did Schaffer and Emerson conduct a longitudinal study on (1964) ?
they conducted a study into development of attachment through observing the interactions between PAFs and their babies.
What was the location of Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) longitudinal study?
They conducted it in Glasgow, 1960s in a working-class area of the city.
How many ppts were involved in and what was the method of Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) longitudinal study?
They included 60 babies (31males, 29 females) who were observed interacting with their PAFs, during both the 1st year and again at 18 months.
What did the researchers ask the mothers in Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) longitudinal study?
Researchers also asked the mothers questions about what happened when their baby was separated from their PAFs and when the baby was in the presence of a stranger.
What 4 distinct stages in the development of attachment were identified from the findings of Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) study?
stage 1 ‘Asocial’ stage
stage 2 ‘Indiscriminate attachment’
stage 3 ‘Specific/ Discriminate attachment’
stage 4 ‘multiple attachments’
What does stage 1, ‘asocial,’ involve in the development of attachment and at what age does it occur?
The infant will be equally interested in people and inanimate objects.
Schaffer/ Emerson believed babies to recognise people as more important, but this is hard to measure.
From birth to around 2 months
What does stage 2,’Indiscriminate attachment,’ involve in the development of attachment and at what age does it occur?
The infant prefers people rather than inanimate objects but doesn’t discriminate between adults, they can be comforted by anyone without stranger/separation anxiety.
This typically peaks at 4 months but lasts from around 2-6 months
What does stage 3,’specific/ discriminate attachment,’ involve in the development of attachment and at what age does it occur?
This is when the infant begins to show a distinct preference for one PAF. They will show separation anxiety when away from them and may also experience stranger anxiety.
Typically occurs from 7-9 months of age.
What does stage 4,’Multiple Attachment’ involve in the development of attachment and at what age does it occur?
This is when the infant forms a wider circle of attachments including father, grandparents, and siblings.
Typically occurs from 9months of age onwards.
From 12 months of age what percentage of infants will have multiple attachments?
78%
What are the two strengths to the Schaffer/ Emerson study and 4 stages of attachment?
Has high ecological validity due to being a real world study.
It has real world uses as it has been used to better understand what happens when babies/ infants are cared for by someone who isn’t the PAF, E.g Nursey may create anxiety around the stages.
What are the two weaknesses to the Schaffer/ Emerson study and 4 stages of attachment?
Lack of control contributes to a lack of internal validity.
Social Desirability Bias - mothers may’ve not observed babies reliably as they aren’t trained observers.
What is a criticism with the first stage, ‘Asocial’ to the development of attachment?
The measuring of the asocial stage isn’t valid as at this age babies are immobile and cannot act in a social way that could be measured by mothers, requires more research.
What did Van Ijzendoorn (1993) report on regarding individualistic/ collectivistic cultures and find out?
They reported on differences between the two cultures.
They found child attachments at an incredibly early stage of development in a culture compared to the UK.
Suggests some cultural differences in the way some babies develop attachment.
