Stages of attachment

Schaffer's stages of attachments and multiple attachments

Schaffer and Emerson: Procedure

* Longitudinal study
* 60 Glasgow infants from working class families studied in own homes
* Monthly intervals for the first 18 months of their lives
* Mothers were interviewed and interactions observed to measure attachment

Mothers asked to keep a diary of:

* Left alone in a room
* Left with other people
* Left in their pram outside the house
* Left in their pram outside the shops
* Left in their cot at night
* Put down after being held by an adult
* Passed by while sitting in their cot or chair

Findings and conclusions (also when approached by stranger)

* ^^6-8 months about 50%^^ of babies showed signs of SA towards a particular adult
* Attachment tended to be with most sensitive and interactive caregiver==- not necessarily the caregiver the infant spent most time with==
* In the 18th month follow up ^^87% had developed multiple attachments^^
* Suggests the ==quality of interaction has a direct impact== on the strength of attachment

Four stages of attachment

* ==Asocial stage:== No discrimination between humans and inanimate objects (first few weeks)
* ==Indiscriminate attachment:== Preference for adults but attachment is the same for all (2-7 months)
* ==Specific attachment==: Stranger + separation anxiety. Formed specific attachment with most sensitive adult (around 7 months)
* ==Multiple attachments==: Develop secondary attachments with other adults (by 1 years)

AO3: Strength- External validity

* ==Has external validity== (generalise findings to other settings)
* Most observations were made by parents during daily activities and then reported to researchers
* Therefore ==behaviour of infants was unlikely to be affected== by presence of observers
* Means it is ==highly likely that participants behaved naturally== while being observed

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AO3: Limitation- Counter to external validity

* Issues with asking mothers to be ‘observers’ as ==they were unlikely objective==
* May be biased in terms of what they noticed + reported, e.g. not noticed baby showing anxiety or misremembered
* This means that even if the babies were behaving naturally it ==may not have been accurately recorded==
* Therefore weakens validity of the study

AO3: Limitation- Cultural bias

* These stages apply to individualist cultures where personal concerns are important
* ==Make sense for babies to form a single attachment before forming multiple==
* In collectivist cultures ==focus on the group and so there is no single caregiver==
* Kibbutz children cared for by many and so didn’t form as close of an attachment with the mother
* Therefore ==the findings relating to stages of attachment may not be relevant to all cultures==
* This means findings cant be generalised