Stages of attachment

Who proposed the stages of attachment? AO1

Schaffer & Emmerson

Schaffer & Emmerson’s method AO1

• Involved 60 babies (31 male, 29 female) all from Glasgow & majority from working-class families

• Babies & mothers were visited at home every month for a year & again at 18 months where they were asked questions about the kind of protest their baby shown in 7 separation situations eg separation anxiety & stranger anxiety

Schaffer & Emmerson’s findings AO1

• Found that attachments develop in 4 stages - asocial, indiscriminate, specific & multiple

Asocial stage AO1

• Babies show similar behaviour towards humans & inanimate objects

• Show some preference for familiar adults

Indiscriminate attachment AO1

• 2-7 months

• Show preference for humans rather than inanimate objects

• Accept comfort from any adult & don’t show separation or stranger anxiety

Specific attachment AO1

• 7 months

• Form specific attachment to primary attachment figure - not necessarily primary caregiver but the figure who offers most interaction

• Show stranger anxiety & separation anxiety when separated from primary attachment figure

Multiple attachments AO1

• Form secondary attachments to people they regularly spend time with

• 29% children form secondary attachments within a month of forming primary attachment & most formed by age 1

Stages of attachment strengths AO3

• P - longitudinal design

• E - children & mothers were followed up & observed regularly (every month for 12 months & again at 18 months). Alternative would be a cross-sectional design where children visited at each stage however this would have the confounding variable of individual differences

• T - study had high internal validity as researchers able to collect in depth, qualitative data over a long period of time which allows connections to be made more clearly & cause & effect relationships

• HOWEVER longitudinal designs are time-consuming & expensive as they’re carried out over a long period of time & require lots of follow ups - may not be most cost/time effective design

• P - study was carried out in the families’ homes

• E - babies more likely to display natural behavioural as in their home & not an unfamiliar lab setting. Observation done by parents & reported to researcher so babies unaffected by observer’s presence & less likely to display demand characteristics

• T - findings have high internal & ecological validity

• HOWEVER study relies on mother’s observations who may show observer bias/social desirability bias which affects internal validity

Stages of attachment limitations AO3

• P - conflicting evidence on when multiple attachments are formed

• E - Bowlby suggests that babies form attachments to a single primary caregiver before they form multiple attachments, supporting Schaffer & Emmerson’s view that they’re formed after the specific attachment stage. However Van Ijenzdoorn suggests that babies from collectivist cultures form multiple attachments from the onset as multiple caregivers is the norm

• T - Schaffer & Emmerson’s work could be culturally biased & ethnocentric as based on western values so not generalisable to wider pop/all cultures