Schaffer's stages of attachment Flashcards
What are stages of attachment?
many developmental theories identify a sequence of qualitatively different behaviours linked to specific ages. Int he case of ‘stages of attachment’ qualitatively different infant behaviours are linked to specific ages, and all babies go through them in the same order
What are multiple attachments?
attachments to two or more people. Most babies appear to develop multiple attachments once they have formed one strong attachment to one of their carers.
What is stage 1?
Asocial stage
First few weeks of life
Babies tend to show a slight preference for humans and for the company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them. Forming bonds with certain people
What is stage 2?
Indiscriminate stage
2-7 months
Clear preference of humans and company of familiar people. Usually accept cuddles and comfort from any person. Do not usually show separation anxiety, or stranger anxiety
What is stage 3?
Specific attachment
From around 7 months
Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. Said to have formed a specific attachment with their primary attachment figure (mother in 65% of cases)
What is stage 4?
Multiple attachments
About by the age of 1 year
When attachment behaviour is shown to one person they usually extend this to multiple attachments, called secondary attachments
Schaffer and Emerson’s (1964) study and findings
Participants - 60 babies - 31 boys and 29 girls, all from Glasgow and majority from working class families
Visits - Researchers visited babies and mothers in their own homes every months for the first year, then again at 18 months
Measuring - The kinds of protests their babies showed in 7 everyday separations e.g. adult leaving the room
Findings - specific attachments (about 25-32 weeks)
Attachment to mother (about 25-32 weeks)
Fear of strangers (about 10-19 weeks)
Who is the first person the infant attaches to?
The primary attachment figure and forms a specific attachment
Who is the second person an infant attaches to?
Secondary attachment figure and form multiple attachments
Undermining asocial stage - young and poor coordination and what it shows
The first stage of attachment is called the ‘asocial’ stage, but many important interactions take place in these weeks. The problem is that babies that are young 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 just isn’t much observable behaviour.
This does not mean that the child’s feelings and cognitions are not highly social. It just means that the research evidence can’t be relied upon and so may not provide as strong support for the theory as previously thought. As such, from the research, it is difficult to strongly support the validity of the stages of attachment theory.
Undermining the stages of attachment - inflexible and what it shows
One difficulty with stage theories is that they suggest that development is inflexible. In this case, it suggests that normally specific attachments come before multiple attachments. In some situations and cultures, multiple attachments may come first.
This is a problem because the stages become a standard by which families are judged and may then be classed as abnormal. However, this is because the stage model tells us less about how attachments develop in other cultures and situations beyond those studied in Schaffer and Emerson’s study (i.e. The theory is not externally valid).
Undermining stages of attachment theory - collectivist cultures and what it shows
In collectivist cultures, people are more focused on the needs of the group rather than the individuals (unlike individualist cultures like ours). In such societies, we might expect multiple attachments to be more common. Research supports this. It has been found that the closeness of attachment with mothers was almost twice as common in family-based sleeping arrangements compared to communal environments.
This suggests that the stage model applies specifically to individualist cultures and so lacks external validity. It may tell us less about how attachments develop in other cultures.
Undermining the multiple attachment stage - distress and what it shows
There may be a problem with how multiple attachments are assessed. Just because a baby gets distressed when an individual leaves the room does not necessarily mean that the individual is a ‘true’ attachment figure. Children have playmates as well as attachment figures and may get distressed when they leave, 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 towards secondary attachment figures and playmates. Consequently the results may not be validly measuring multiple attachments, and so cannot be taken as strong support for the validity of the theory.
