Evaluation of Schaffer's Stages of Attachment

Good external validity

• Strength

• Most of the observations (apart from stranger anxiety) were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to researchers

• Meaning babies weren’t distracted from researchers reporting live observations

• Means that it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally whilst being observed

Counterpoint to external validity

• Issues surrounding the mothers being ‘observers’

• They were unlikely to be objective observers

• Might have been biased in what they noticed / reported

• I.e not noticing when their baby was showing anxiety

• Means that even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded

Poor evidence for the asocial stage

• Limitation

• Lack of validity in the measuring of attachment in the asocial stage

• Young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile

• Babies less than two months old may be displaying subtle anxiety or hard to observe

• Made it difficult for mothers to observe and report on signs of anxiety / attachment in this age group

• Means that the babies may actually be quite social but because of flawed methods, appear to be asocial

Real-world application

• Strength

• Practical application in day care

• In asocial and discriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward and can be comforted by anyone

• However, Schaffer and Emerson’s research tells us day care may be problematic during the specific attachment stage

• This means that parents’ use of day care can be planned using the stages of attachment

Generalisability

• Only looked at one sample which had unique features in social and historical context (1960s working-class Glasgow)

• Hard to generalise as in other cultures, such as collectivist cultures, multiple attachments form from a very early (van Ijzendoorm 1993)