Stages of attachment

Question 1

Who conducted research into stages of attachment

Answer 1

Schaffer and Emerson

Question 2

Aim

Answer 2

To identify stages of attachment and find a pattern in the development of an attachment between infants and parents

Question 3

Participants

Answer 3

60 babies from Glasgow, all from the same estate.

Question 4

Procedure

Answer 4

They analysed interactions between the infants and carers
● They interviewed the carers
● The mother had to keep a diary to track the infant’s
behaviours based on the following measures:
Separation Anxiety - signs of distress when the carer leaving, and how much the infant needs to be comforted when the carer returns
Stranger Anxiety - signs of distress as a response to a stranger arriving
Social Referencing - how often the infant looks at their carer to check how they should respond to something new
● It was a longitudinal study lasting 18 months
● They visited the infants on a monthly basis and once again at
the end of the 18 month period.

Question 5

Findings

Answer 5

Attachments seemed to form when the carer communicates and plays with the child rather than when the carer feeds or cleans the child.
They also used their findings to come up with the different stages of attachment
● Asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
This is when the infant responds to objects and people similarly - but may respond more to faces and eyes.
● Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks – 6 months)
This is when the infant develops more responses to human company. Although they can tell the difference between different people, they
can be comforted by anyone.
● Specific (7 months +)
This is when the infants begins to prefer one particular carer and seeks for security, comfort and protection in particular people. They also start to show stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.
● Multiple (10/11 months +)
This is when the infant forms multiple attachments and seeks
security, comfort and protection in multiple people. They may also show separation anxiety for multiple people.
They found that many of the infants reached this final stage by 10 months. The infants had attachments not only with their mothers, but their fathers, siblings, extended family members and family friends.
Out of all the attachments the infants formed, they varied greatly in strength and value/importance to the child.