SCHAFFER AND EMMERSON (1964) - STAGES OF ATTACHMENT

AIM:

PROCEDURE:

60 babies (31 boys & 29 girls) from skilled working-class families in Glasgow
Visited babies and mothers every month for the first year, and again at 18 months (e.g. mother leaving the room (separation anxiety) and stranger anxiety)

RESULTS:

Identified 4 distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour which make up their stage theory: Asocial Stage, Indiscriminate Attachment, Specific Attachment, Multiple Attachment

STAGE 1 - ASOCIAL STAGE

Observable behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar
Schaffer and Emerson didn’t believe that it is entirely asocial because even at this stage babies show preference to be with other people
Baby shows preference to be in familiar company
Baby forms bonds with certain people

STAGE 2 - INDISCRIMINATE ATTACHMENT

At 2-7 months babies display more obvious and observable behaviour
They show a clear preference for being with humans rather than inanimate objects
They recognise and prefer the company of familiar people, however they accept comfort and cuddles from any person
They do not usually show separation anxiety or stranger anxiety

STAGE 3 - SPECIFIC ATTACHMENT

From around 7 months, the majority of babies start to display signs of attachment towards one particular person (separation anxiety)
The person in which the baby has formed a specific attachment with is called the ‘primary attachment figure’ - this is the mother in 65% of cases

STAGE 4 - MULTIPLE ATTACHMENT

They extend their behaviour to multiple attachments with other people whom they regularly spend time with - these relationships are called ‘secondary attachments’
Schaffer and Emerson observed that 29% of the children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming a primary (specific) attachment
By the age of 1, babies have often formed multiple attachments

EVALUATION

Research Support

→ GOOD EXTERNAL VALIDITY

One strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s research is that it has good external validity.
Most of the observations were made by parents during ordinary activities and reported to the researchers.
The alternative would have been to have researchers present to record observations, which may have distracted the babies or made them anxious
This means it was highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed.
HOWEVER, there are issues with asking mothers to be the ‘observers’.
They were unlikely to be objective observers, meaning they may have been biased in terms of what they noticed and what they reported.
Furthermore, they may have misremembered certain behaviours or signs of distress.
This means that even if babies behaved naturally, their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded.

→ REAL-WORLD APPLICATION

Another strength of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages is that they have practical application in day care.
In the asocial and indiscriminate stages, day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult.
However, the research tells us that day care, especially starting day care with an unfamiliar adult, may be problematic during the specific attachment stage.
This means that parents’ use of day care can be planned using the stages of attachment.

Conflicting Evidence

→ POOR EVIDENCE FOR THE ASOCIAL STAGE

One limitation of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages is the validity of the measures they used to assess attachment in the asocial stage.
Young babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile. Any anxiety felt by the babies may have been displayed in quite subtle, hard-to-observe ways.
This made it difficult for mothers to observe and report back on signs of anxiety and attachment in this age group.
This means that the babies may actually be quite social but, because of flawed methods, they appear to be asocial.