stages of attachment

Question 1

name and describe the first stage of attachment

Answer 1

indiscriminate attachment
- infants produce similar response to all stimuli
- 6 weeks = social smile - happiest in presence of other humans

Question 2

name and describe the second stage of attachment

Answer 2

beginnings of attachment
- infants more social
- can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people
- no stranger anxiety

Question 3

name and describe the third stage of attachment

Answer 3

discriminate attachments
- shows separation anxiety from primary attachment figure
- infants have formed a specific attchment
- stranger anxiety

Question 4

name and describe the fourth stage of attachment

Answer 4

multiple attachments
- soon after formation of main attachment
- infant shows attachment behaviour towards several different people

Question 5

outline the procedure of the Glasgow study by Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 5

• 60 working class infants aged 5-23 weeks
• studied for 1 year
• mothers visited every 4 weeks to report infants response to separation in everyday scenarios
• mother rated intensity of any protest and asked who it was directed at
• stranger anxiety measured by assessing infants response to the interviewe

Question 6

outline the findings of the Glasgow study by Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 6

• primary attachments not always formed with person you spend most time with
• 65% of children had first specific attachment to mother
• 30% of children had mother as first joint object of attachment
• 3% fathers were first object of attachment
• 27% of fathers joint first object
• by 10 months most babies had several attachments

Question 7

explain the limitation that the sample used in Schaffer and Emerson’s study may be biased
(AO3)

Answer 7

• pps only from working class population
• sample from the 1960s
• childcare has changed overtime
• more children cared for outside the home or by fathers
• if same study conducted today then findings may be very different

Question 8

there may be cultural variations which suggest that Schaffer and Emerson’s stage model only applies to individualistic cultures
(AO3)

Answer 8

• individualist cultures = concerned with personal needs
• collectivist cultures = concerned with needs of group
• Sagi et al found that closeness of attachment with mothers was twice as common in individualist cultures that are collectivist

Question 9

a difficulty with stage theories is that they suggest development is inflexible
(AO3)

Answer 9

• stage theory suggests there is a fixed order for development
• in some cultures multiple attachments may come before single attachments
• may be problematic is they become a standard by which families are judged