stages of attachment identified by Schaffer

Question 1

what was the aim

Answer 1

to identify stages of attachment
or
find a pattern of attachment between infants and parents

Question 2

Participants

Answer 2

60 babies from Glasgow

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

• children studied in their own home
• analysed interactions between the infants and carers
• mother had to keep a diary to track the infants behaviours based on:
  separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, social referencing
• longitudinal study lasting 18 months
• visited the infants on a monthly basis and once again at the end of the 18 month period

Question 4

what is separation anxiety?

Answer 4

signs of distress when the carer is leaving and how much they need to be comforted until the parent returns

Question 5

what is stranger anxiety?

Answer 5

signs of distress as a response to a stranger arriving

Question 6

what is social referencing?

Answer 6

the degree that a child looks at carer to check how they should respond to something new

Question 7

1. asocial stage (0-6 weeks)

Answer 7

this is when the infant responds to objects and people similarly
- but may respond more to face and eyes

Question 8

2. indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks to 6 months)

Answer 8

• develops more responses to human company
• can tell the difference between different people
• can be comforted by anyone
• they get upset when an individual ceases to interact with them

Question 9

3. specific attachments (7 months +)

Answer 9

• infant begins to prefer one particular carer and seeks security, comfort and protection in particular people
• starts to show stranger anxiety and separation anxiety

Question 10

4. multiple attachments (10 moths+)

Answer 10

• baby becomes increasingly independent and form several attachments
• seeks security, comfort and protection in multiple people
• may also show separation anxiety for multiple people
• attachments are more likely to form with those who responded accurately to the baby signals

Question 11

Results

Answer 11

• sensitive responsiveness - more sensitive to the babys actions were more likely to form an attachment
• most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the baby but who plays and communicate with them
• 18 months 31% had 5 or more attachments ( the mother was the main attachment figure, structured in a heirarchy wherby if 3 attachm,eyts were formed 1 may be stronger than the other 2)