Stages Of Attachment and The Role of The Father

Question 1

Who identified the different stages of attachment in an infant?

Answer 1

Rudolf Schaffer.

Question 2

How many stages of attachment did Schaffer identify?

Answer 2

4.

Question 3

What are the 4 different stages of attachment?

Answer 3

1) Pre-attachment
2) Indiscriminate attachment
3) Specific attachment
4) Multiple attachments

Question 4

What is the first stage of attachment?

Answer 4

The pre-attachment stage.

Question 5

What age does the pre-attachment stage occur?

Answer 5

0-3 months.

Question 6

What happens in the pre-attachment stage?

Answer 6

• Babies are ‘asocial’ and produce similar responses to both living and inanimate objects.
• At about 6 weeks, the infants will begin to treat humans differently than inanimate objects.
• Reciprocity and interactional synchrony play a large role in establishing relationships.

Question 7

What is the second stage of attachment?

Answer 7

The indiscriminate attachment stage.

Question 8

What age does the indiscriminate attachment stage occur?

Answer 8

3-7 months.

Question 9

What happens in the indiscriminate attachment stage?

Answer 9

• Babies can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people.
• Continue to be relatively comfortable around anyone (comforted by anyone).
• Generally sociable (enjoy being with people).

Question 10

What is the third stage of attachment?

Answer 10

The specific attachment stage.

Question 11

What age does the specific attachment stage occur?

Answer 11

7-9 months.

Question 12

What happens in the specific attachment stage?

Answer 12

• The infant begins to experience separation anxiety when a particular person leaves them.
• Formed a specific attachment to their primary attachment figure (typically the mothers).
• Begins to develop stranger anxiety.

Question 13

What is the fourth stage of attachment?

Answer 13

The multiple attachment stage.

Question 14

From what age does multiple attachment occur?

Answer 14

9 months onward.

Question 15

What happens in the multiple attachment stage?

Answer 15

• The infant develops multiple attachments (grandparents, siblings) depending on how many consistent relationships the infant has.
• These are called secondary attachments.
• Infants also display separation anxiety from secondary attachments.
• The original/primary attachment stays stronger.

Question 16

What does ‘asocial’ mean?

Answer 16

Avoiding of social interaction.

Question 17

What is separation anxiety?

Answer 17

Distress that is felt by somebody who is separated from an attachment figure.

Question 18

What is stranger anxiety?

Answer 18

Distress that is felt by somebody when around people they are unfamiliar with or have never met.

Question 19

When researching the role of the father, what did Schaffer and Emerson find?

Answer 19

Fathers were far less likely to be primary attachment figures than mothers.

Question 20

Why may fathers be less likely to be primary attachment figures?

Answer 20

They generally spend less time with their infants due to work demands or social stereotypes.

Question 21

When researching the role of the father, what did Heermann et al (1944) find?

Answer 21

Men are less sensitive to the infant’s cues than mothers.

Question 22

In what cases have fathers secured successful attachments as primary attachments figures.

Answer 22

Single parent (male) families.

Question 23

What has research highlighted about fathers being secondary attachments figures?

Answer 23

Fathers are more playful, physically active and generally better at providing challenging situations than mothers.

Question 24

When researching the role of the father, what did Geiger (1996) find?

Answer 24

That a father is an exciting playmate and whereas mothers are more conventional and tend to read stories to their children.

Question 25

When researching the role of the father, what did White and Woollett (1992) find?

Answer 25

That a lack of sensitivity from fathers can be seen as positive as it fosters problem-solving by placing greater demands on children to effectively communicate.

Question 26

What are the 5 evaluation points?

Answer 26

+ Schaffer and Emerson (1964) primary/multiple attachments.

• Flawed research (stages - bias/social desirability).
• Temporal validity (stages) - MacCallum & Golombrook (2004).
• Ethnocentric (multiple attachment - culturally biased).
• Assessment of multiple attachment (Bowlby, 1969).