Schaffer's stages of attachments

Question 1

Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 1

• studied 60 babies from Glasgow
• majority were from skilled working class families
• babies and their mothers were visited at home every month for the first year and again at 18 months (longitudinal)
• based on information they collected, they proposed that attachments develop in 4 stages
• less than half of the infants had a primary attachment to the person who usually fed them

Question 2

Stages of attachment

Answer 2

1. Asocial stage
2. Indiscriminate attachment
3. Specific attachment
4. Multiple attachments

Question 3

Asocial stage

Answer 3

• first few weeks
• baby is recognising and forming bonds with its carers
• the baby’s behaviour towards non-human objects and human is similar

Question 4

Indiscriminate attachment

Answer 4

• 2-7 months
• babies show a preference for people rather than objects and recognise and prefer familiar adults but do not show seperation or stranger anxiety
• show more social behaviour to familiar faces but still quite happy to let strangers hold them

Question 5

Specific attachment

Answer 5

• 7 months onwards
• majority of babies start to display anxiety towards strangers and become anxious when seperated from one particular adult (biological mother in 65% of cases)
• this adult is termed the primary attachment figure
• baby has formed a specific attachment

Question 6

Multiple attachments

Answer 6

• 9 months onwards
• forming attachments with multiple other adults whom they regularly spend time with (secondary attachments)
• Schaffer and Emerson found that 29% of children had secondary attachments within a month

Question 7

Evaluation

Answer 7

+ High ecological validity
+ Good internal validity
- Unreliable
- Bias

Question 8

+ High ecological validity

Answer 8

Schaffer and Emerson’s stages have good external/ecological validity because the study was carried out in the families homes

Question 9

+ Good internal validity

Answer 9

the study is a longitudinal study, which means you can monitor changes in the same ppts behaviour

Question 10

- Unreliable

Answer 10

• the study is not standardised because we dont know what questions were asked to each parent
• Schaffer and Emerson had different, normal and naturally flowing interactions and conversations with each parent and child
• study also collects qualitatative data which cannot be easily repeated and analysed

Question 11

- Bias

Answer 11

• study is biased
• Schaffer and Emerson used ppts from working class backgrounds in Glasgow
• sample size was also small (16)
• therefore, findings cannot be generalised to the wider population