Schaffer's stages of attatchment

Question 1

What is stages of attatchment?

Answer 1

Many development theories say different behaviours are linked to different ages and all babies go through them in the same order

Question 2

What is multiple attatchments?

Answer 2

• Attachments between two or more people. Most babies develop more attachments once they have formed a strong relationship with their carer.

Question 3

What are the 4 stages of attachment?

Answer 3

1)Asocial stage 2) Indiscriminate attachment
3)Specific attachment
4)Multiple attachment

Question 4

Explain the Asocial stage?

Answer 4

In a baby’s first few weeks the behaviour between humans and objects is fairly similar.
- However Schaffer and Emerson said that babies show signs that they prefer to be with other people tend to show a preference for Familiar people and are easily comforted by them. They form bonds with them and this later causes attachment.

Question 5

Explain the indiscriminate attachment stage?

Answer 5

• from 2 to 7 months babies display more obvious and observable social behaviours
• babies will show a clear preference of being with humans rather than intimate objects and they usually accept cuddles from any person
• they don’t show separation anxiety when their caregiver leaves their presence or stranger anxiety

Question 6

explain specific attachment?

Answer 6

• From seven months, majority of babies start display signs of attachment towards one person
• signs is usually anxiety to strangers, especially when they’re at attachment of figure absent and when they’re separated from their attachment figure.
• the person who they are attached to you is the primary attachment figure. This is the person that interacts the most with the baby and this is the mother 65% of the time.

Question 7

Explains multiple attachments?

Answer 7

• shortly after babies are attached to one person the extended this behaviour to multiple attachments with other people, this is called the secondary attachment.
• Schaffer and Emerson said that 29% of children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary attachment and by the age of one most babies have developed multiple attachments.

Question 8

Evaluate one strength of Schaffer’s stages of attachment?

Answer 8

– it has good external reality it has good external validity. Most of the observations were made by parents during activities that are reported to researches. The alternative was to have researchers present but this would’ve made the babies more anxious meaning the babies acted naturally

Question 9

Evaluate one limitation of Schaffers stages of attachment?

Answer 9

• one limitation is in the A social stage babies have poor coordination and are fairly mobile.
• if babies less than two months felt anxiety and they displayed and subtle and heart to observe ways It was difficult for mother to observe and report back to researches. This means that the are quite social but because of flawed methods they appear to be asocial