Stages of attachment

Question 1

What was Schaffer and Emerson’s research

Answer 1

Shaffer and Emerson performed a longitudinal observation on 60 babies from Glasgow.
They visited mothers and babies at home once a month for the first year and then again at 18 months to assess babies’ protests in everyday situations (seperation and stranger anxieties).
From this, they identified 4 stages of attachment that change as a baby gets older.

Question 2

Outline stage 1 of attachment

Answer 2

Asocial stage
Babies are in this stage from 0-6 weeks.
They treat humans and inanimate objects similarly but show a preference for other humans.
They can be comforted by any adult and show no stranger or separation anxiety

Question 3

Outline stage 2 of attachment

Answer 3

Indiscriminate stage
2-7 months
Babies show a clear preference for other humans and can recognise the company of familiar people.
They can be comforted indiscriminately and so show no stranger or separation anxiety.

Question 4

Outline stage 3 of attachment

Answer 4

Specific attachment
7-9 months
Babies show stranger and separation anxiety especially when a primary attachment figure is absent.
Babies have formed an attachment to a primary attachment figure, which in 65% of cases is the mother.

Question 5

Outline stage 4 of attachment

Answer 5

Multiple attachments
9 months +
Attachment behaviours (eg stranger and separation anxiety) extend to other attachment figures known as secondary attachments.
29% of babies formed a secondary attachment within a month of forming a primary attachment.

Question 6

One strength of stages of attachment is that they have good external validity.

Answer 6

For example, the main observer in Schaffer and Emerson’s study was the mother during everyday activities. If researchers had been present recording the babies’ behavior, they may have been distracted and behaved unnaturally.

However, mothers are not likely to be objective observers, due to potentially wanting to be socially desirable to researchers, or misinterpreting their babies’ behaviour, meaning even though their behaviour may have been natural throughout the observations, it may have been inaacurately recorded.

Question 7

One strength of stages of attachment is that they have good real-world application

Answer 7

For example, when starting nursery settings at a young age, stages of attachment would suggest that transitions with an unfamiliar adult would be better in stage 1 or stage 2, but harder in stage 3. To improve this, nurseries provide children transitioning into settings with a key worker, who responds to the child needs more than any other adult, which then supports them to form an attachment to the adult.

Question 8

One limitation of stages of attachment is that there is poor evidence for the asocial stage

Answer 8

For example, babies from 0-6 weeks have poor coordination and motor abilities. Babies showing attachment behaviours in this stage may demonstrate them in hard to observe ways, meaning research and recording of this behaviour is difficult. This means babies may be social, but are recorded as asocial due to flawed evidence.