Schaffers stages of attachment Flashcards
Multiple attatchment
having more than one attachment figure.
Primary attatchment figure
the person who forms the closest bond with the child - demonstrates through the intensity of the relationship.
Separation anxiety
The distress shown by an infant when separated from his/ her caregiver. ( not necessarily mother)
Stranger anxiety
The distress shown by an infant when approached or picked up by someone who is unfamiliar.
What year was Schaffer and Emmerson’s study ?
1960
Schaffer and Emmerson aim
to understand the stages of attatchment
Schaffer and Emmerson
procedure
- 60 infants from WC homes
- Glasgow
- Age 5 weeks - 23 weeks until the age of one year
- Mother visited every 4 weeks and again at 18 months
Wanted to understand
Separation anxiety : each visit by Schaffer , the mother would report their infant’s response to a separation ( such as being left alone in the room)
The mother would report the intensity of the protest ( crying) and rated this on a four point scale / also asked who the protest directed to
Stranger anxiety - was also measured by assessing the infant’s response to the interviewer at each visit.
Schaffer and Emmerson findings
- as attatchment increased so did stranger anxiety
- most sensitive adult became primary attatchment
- 95% of infants first attatched to mother
- 65% solely the mother
- 27% of fathers were joint first attatchment within 6 months had risen to 78%
- at 18 mth visit 87% had made multiple attachments
Schaffer And Emmerson conclusions
Infants multiple attachments vital in support not just the one monotropic bond. As biologic drive to make them within the first
Stage one - Asocial stage
first few weeks
- infants show responses to everyone
- reciprocity and interactional synchrony play an important role
- Infants produce a similar response to most objects
Stage 2 - Indiscriminate attatchment
8wk - 6 months
- Show preference to people rather than inanimate objects
- Recognise familiar adults / distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar
- Do not usually show separation anxiety
- Indiscriminate as not different towards different adults
Stage 3 - specific attatchments
7 months +
- Forms a strong attachment to one particular infant ( specific attachment) primary attachment figure
- Distinct protest when put down → separation anxiety
- Often the person that the adult responds to the child’s signals
Start to display stranger anxiety
Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly and sensitively to signals
Infants who showed no attachment had mothers who didn’t respond to cues
Stage 4 - multiple attatchments
- After showing one strong attachment begin to extend to multiple attachments → secondary attachments
- In the study 29% of children had secondary attachments within a month of forming the primary attachment
Schaffer and Emmerson
conclusions
By a year, most infants have developed multiple attachments, ⅓ developed five or more secondary attachments ( can also display separation anxiety with secondary attachment)
schaffer and emmerson Limitations
The data is unreliable → it is based on mother’s reports of their infants so some may be more sensitive to their child’s needs → creates a symptomatic bias - reduces validity
Biassed sample →WC population and only in glasgow → cannot generalise / lacks ecological validity
More women care for children as opposed to men in this era → lacks temporal validity
Does not reflect all cultures → reflect an individualistic culture,rather than a collectivist culture is the needs of themselves rather than community.
Collectivist culture → communities share childcare
Stage theories → suggests development is inflexible / not applicable to many
Sets a standard process for development and some may be considered abnormal as it states we only form primary attachment first before others while it may not happen in this order
