Stages of attachment

Question 1

stages of attachment

Answer 1

• pre-attachment
• indiscriminate attachment
• discriminate attachment
• multiple attachments

Question 2

study of stages of attachment

Answer 2

• longitudinal study
• Schaffer + Emerson
• followed 60 infants + their mothers for 2 years

Question 3

pre-attachment - stages of attachment

Answer 3

• 0-3 months
• from 6 weeks of age, infants become attracted to other humans
• prefer them to objects + events
• e.g. demonstrated by their smiling at people’s faces

Question 4

indiscriminate attachment - stages of attachment

Answer 4

• 3-7 months
• infants begin to discriminate between familiar + unfamiliar people
• smiling more at people they know
• still allow strangers to handle them

Question 5

discriminate attachment - stages of attachment

Answer 5

• 7+ months
• develop a specific attachment to their primary attachment figure
• show separation protest
• display stranger anxiety
• quality not quantity = determines infant’s primary attachment figure
• it was the quality of the relationship, not the quantity of time spent that matters the most in the formation of an attachment

Question 6

multiple attachments - stages of attachment

Answer 6

• 7+ months
• very soon after developing first attachment
• infants develop secondary attachments to other major caregivers e.g. father, grandparents
• also to non-caregivers e.g. siblings
• fear of strangers weakens
• attachment to primary attachment figure remains the strongest

Question 7

disads of stages of attachment

Answer 7

• unreliable
• working class
• cultural bias
• temporal validity
• inflexible

Question 8

unreliable - disads of stages of attachment

Answer 8

• data collected by Schaffer + Emerson may be unreliable
• cus based on mothers’ reports of their infants
• some mothers might’ve been less sensitive to their infant’s protests
  = less likely to report them

Question 9

working class - disads of stages of attachment

Answer 9

• sample was biased
• only included infants from a working class population
• findings may not apply to other social groups
  = can’t generalise

Question 10

cultural bias - disads of stages of attachment

Answer 10

• sample is culturally biased
• only included infants from individualist cultures
• infants from collectivist cultures could form attachments in a different way

Question 11

temporal validity - disads of stages of attachment

Answer 11

• study doesn’t have temporal validity
• conducted in the 1960s
• parental care of children has changed considerably since then
• more women go out to work
• more men stay at home

Question 12

inflexible - disads of stages of attachment

Answer 12

• stage theories such as this one are inflexible
• do not take into account individual differences
• some infants may form multiple attachments first, rather than starting w/ a single attachment

Question 13

role of the father

Answer 13

• some research shows that fathers provide play + stimulation
• some research shows no difference between mother + father’s role
• research shows fathers were less likely to be primary attachment figure
  = could be due to societal norms
  = could be due to biological factors
  = women have female hormone, oxytocin –> underlies caring behaviour
• other research shows that 75% of infants studied had formed an attachment w/ their father at 18 months
• the role of a father in a single-parent family
  = primary attachment figure
  = more likely to adopt the traditional maternal role
  = primary caregiver + nurturing attachment figure