Schaffer's stages of attachment

Question 1

What are the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 1

Stage 1: Asocial stage
Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment
Stage 3: Specific attachment
Stage 4: Multiple attachment

Question 2

Outline Stage 1: Asocial stage.

Answer 2

The asocial stage occurs at 0-6 weeks: Babies display behaviour towards people and innanimate objects.

• They display innate behaviour such as crying, and can be comforted by anyone as there is no prefered individual caregiver at this stage.

Question 3

Outline stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment

Answer 3

Indiscriminate attachment occurs from 2-7 months. The baby dispays more sociable behaviour to humans, rather than objects.

They recognise and prefer familiar people, and interact with them more.

It is called indiscriminate, as it is the same towards all people.

Question 4

Outline stage 3: Specific attachment

Answer 4

Specific attachment occurs from around 7 months. It is when the baby experiences stranger and seperation anxiety when seperated from one particular person.

The baby has formed a strong attachment to the primary caregiver. This is most likey the mother/ the caregiver which offers the most interaction with the baby.

Question 5

Outline stage 4: Multiple attachments

Answer 5

Multiple attachment occurs around the 1 year mark.

The baby develops attachments with other adults.

In Schaffer and Emersons study, 29% of babies had a secondary attachment within a month of forming specific attachment.

Question 6

Outline the procedure in Schaffer and Emersons (1964) Stages of attachment study.

Answer 6

• 60 Babies from Glasgow, most from working class families. Researcher visited babies and mothers at home every month for a year and again at 18 months.
• Seperation anxiety measured by asking mothers about their childs behaviour during everyday seperations.
• Stranger anxiety measured by asking mother questions about their childrens response to unfamiliar adults.

Question 7

Outline the findings of Schaffer and Emersons reseach.

Answer 7

Babies developed attachment through a sequence of stages, from asocial through to a specific attachment to multiple attachments.

The specific attachment tended to be to the person who was most interactive and sensitive to babies signals and facial expressions. This was not necessarily the person the baby spent the most time with.

Question 8

What is one strength of Schaffer and Emersons study?

clue : natural

Answer 8

External validity

• Most of the observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers.
  -The alternative would be to have observers present in the babies homes. This may have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious.
  -This means it is highly unlikely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed.

Question 9

What is one limitation of schaffers stages of attachment?

Answer 9

Poor evidence for the asocial stage

• Because of their stage of physical development young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile.
• This makes it difficult for mothers to accurately report signs of anxiety and attachment for this age group.
• This means babies might actually be quite social, but because of flawed methods they appear to be asocial.

Question 10

What is another strength of Schaffers stages of attachment?

Answer 10

Real world application to day care

• In the early stages babies can be comforted by any skilled adult.
• But if a child starts daycare later, during specific stage of attachment, care from an unfamiliar adult may cause distress and longer-term problems.
• Meaning that Schaffers stages can help parents making day care decisions.