Schaffers stages of attachment

Question 1

Stage 1 - Asocial stage

Answer 1

• First few weeks
• Babies don’t discriminate between objects and people
• Preference for familiar adults (towards end of stage)
• At this stage babies are forming bonds with certain people and these form the basis of later attachments

Question 2

Stage 2 - Indiscriminate attachment

Answer 2

• 2-7 months old
• Show clear preference for being with humans rather than being with objects
• Prefer the company of familiar people
  However they have no stranger or separation anxiety
• Att is indiscriminate because it’s the same towards all people

Question 3

Stage 3 - Specific attachment

Answer 3

• 7 months old
• Stranger and sep anxiety when away from one particular adult
• Specific attachments to primary attachment figure
• PAF is person who is the most interactive and responsive
• In 65% of cases it is the mother

Question 4

Stage 4 - Multiple attachments

Answer 4

• Secondary attachment with other adults
• Generally occurs within one month of forming primary attachment
• By 1 year old, generally have multiple attachments

Question 5

Schaffer & Emerson research (not on spec but handy to know)

Answer 5

• Observed 60 working class babies and mothers for 18 months in Glasgow
• Separation anxiety - asked about everyday separation
• Stranger anxiety - asked about response to unfamiliar adults
• Findings - 50% had sep anxiety at 25-32 weeks
• Attachment to most sensitive and interactive caregiver (not necessarily the person they spent the most time with)

Question 6

Stages of att - evaluation - STRENGTH

Answer 6

• Real world application - Practical application in daycare
• In the asocial and indiscriminate stages, daycare is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any adult
• However, stages of att research has shown that starting daycare with an unfamiliar adult may be problematic during the specific attachment stage
• Means parents use of daycare can be planned by using the stages of att

Question 7

Stages of att - evaluation - LIMITATION

Answer 7

• Poor evidence on asocial stage
• Young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile - if babies less than 2 months felt anxiety in everyday situations they might have displayed it in a subtle way that is hard to observe
• Made it difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers on signs of anxiety
• Means babies might actually be quite social but because of flawed methods they appear to be asocial