Stages of Attachment Flashcards
Stage 1 - Asocial Attachment
(0-6 weeks)
1) Baby recognises & forms bonds with carers.
2) Behaviour towards ppl & inanimate objects is similar.
3) Some preference for familiar ppl (more easily calmed by them).
4) Are happier in the presence of other ppl.
Stage 2 - Indiscriminate Attachment
(2-7 months)
1) Now display more observable social behaviour - easier to read behaviour now.
2) preference to ppl rather than inanimate objects.
3) Recognise & prefer familiar ppl.
4) Don’t show stranger or separation anxiety.
5) Attachment is indiscriminate since its the same towards all (e.g. will accept cuddles from any adult).
Stage 3 - Specific Attachment
(from around 7 months)
1) Stranger & separation anxiety when separated from specific attachment (primary attachment figure).
2) Baby has formed a specific attachment with primary AF - person who offers most interaction & responds to baby’s signals with most skill (65% of time is mother).
Stage 4 - Multiple Attachments
(by one year)
1) Soon secondary attachments with other adults form - adults they regularly spend time with.
2) In Schaffer & Emerson’s study, 29% of babies had multiple attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment.
3) By the age of 1 most infants had multiple secondary attachments.
Schaffer & Emerson - Procedure
1) Aim: Investigate the formation of early attachments.
2) 60 babies from Glasgow, most from working-class families.
3) Researchers visited babies & mothers at home every month for a year & again at 18 months (longitudinal study).
4) Separation anxiety measured by asking mothers about children’s behaviour during everyday separations (adult leaving room).
5) Stranger anxiety measured by asking mother’s questions about their children’s anxiety response to unfamiliar adults.
Schaffer & Emerson - Findings
1) Babies developed attachments through a sequence of stages: from asocial through to multiple.
2) Specific attachment tended to be the person who was most interactive & sensitive to babies’ signals & facial expressions (i.e. reciprocity) - not necessarily the person baby spent most time with.
Strength of S&E
EXTERNAL VALIDITY
1) Most observations (not stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities & reported to researchers.
2) Alternative would be to have observers present in homes –> can have distracted babies & made them feel anxious.
3) So, it is highly likely that the pps behaved naturally while being observed (naturalistic observation) –> has external validity.
Counterpoint:
1) Mothers may have been biased in what they reported, e.g. might not have noticed when baby was showing signs of anxiety or may have misremembered it —> so even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded.
Limitation - Asocial Stage
POOR EVIDENCE FOR ASOCIAL STAGE
1) Because of their stage of physical development, young babies have poor co-ordination & are fairly immobile —> makes it difficult for mothers to accurately report signs of anxiety & attachment for this age group —> Means, babies might be quite social but because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial.
Strength - IRL Application
REAL-WORLD APPLICATION TO DAY CARE
1) In early stages (asocial & indiscriminate) babies can be comforted by any skilled adult - but if a child starts day care later (specific attachments stage) care from unfamiliar adult may cause distress & longer-term problems
—> So S&E’s stages can help parents making day care decisions.
Evaluation - Generalisability
CULTURE BIAS - GENERALISABILITY
1) S&E based their stages on a single but large-scale study of babies’ development conducted in working-class Glasgow —> But, child-rearing practices vary according to cultural & historical context (e.g. multiple attachments the norm in collectivist cultures). —-> So, some of the observations may not generalise to other populations.
