Stages of Attachment

Question 1

What was Schaffer and Emerson’s method?

Answer 1

• Studied 60 babies from Glasgow majority being from working class families
• Babies and their mothers were visited every month for a year and once more at 18 months
• The mothers were asked questions about the child’s response in everyday separation anxiety related situations

Question 2

What were their findings?

Answer 2

Between 25-32 weeks of age:
- 50% of the babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards an adult, usually the mother
- attachment was formed to the person most sensitive to infant signals NOT whoever spent the most time with them

By the age of 40 weeks:
- Most babies had a specific attachment to an adult
- But nearly 30% had multiple attachments

Question 3

What is stage 1 of attchment?

Answer 3

Asocial Stage (0-6 weeks):
- infant begins to form bonds with its carers
- however, infant behaviour towards non-human objects and humans is similar
- but they show a preference for familiar adults who they are more easily soothed by

Question 4

What is Stage 2?

Answer 4

Indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks-6months):
- clear preference for people over objects
- recognise familar adults
- accept comfort from adults and typically show NO stranger/separation anxiety

Question 5

What is Stage 3?

Answer 5

Specific attachment (7 months+):
- Majority of infants now show separation/stanger anxiety
- a specific attachment is formed to whoever is most sensitive/responsive to infant signals

Question 6

What is Stage 4?

Answer 6

Multiple attachments (11 months+):
- infants now extend attachment behaviour to multiple adults
- these attachments are based on the individuals they spend the most time with
- these are called ‘secondary attachments’
- majority of infants studied developed multiple attachments by age of 1

Question 7

What is a strength?

Answer 7

• One strength of the theory is that it is supported by a longitudinal study
• Schaffer and Emerson’s study observed infants and their mothers every month for a year and then again at 18 months after the study began
• This is a strength as it allows for the gathering of rich in depth data
• This provides more validity than a one-off snapshot observation which only provide details of an individual’s attachment at a certain period of time
• Since the reasearch that the theory is based on is valid, this validity extends to the theory

Question 8

How is interpreting evidence a weakness?

Answer 8

• A weakness of the theory is that it relies on evidence that is hard to interpret
• For examples very young babies have poor co-ordination and are generally immobile (especially those at the asocial stage).
• Thus it is hard to make any judgements about their attachment based on observations of their behaviour
• This is a weakness because it means we must rely on subjective interpretations of infant behaviour made by researchers
• Thus the observations lack objectivity and decrease in validity
• As such, the theory based in these observations also decreases in validity

Question 9

How does Van Ijzendoorn weaken the theory?

Answer 9

• A weakness of the theory is that there is refuting evidence regarding when multiple attachments form
• Cross-cultural research from Van Ijzendoorn et al has shown that when multiple caregivers are the norm, babies form multiple attachments from the outset
• Collectivist cultures often have an emphasis on children being raised in groups with different families sharing child rearing responsibilities rather than just the mother e.g. Kibbutz in Israel
• This is a weakness because it shows that Schaffer and Emerson were wrong in arguing that multiple attachments only form at 11 months old and onwards
• Also, shows that they didn’t account for such cultures in their theory
• Thus the theory can be considered incomplete and so reduces in validity