stages of attachment Flashcards
Who studied the stages of attachment ?
Schaffer and Emerson
What was the procedure for the stages of attachment ?
- observational
- studied 60 working class babies
- visited every month for a year
- mothers interviewed
- wanted to find out how babies responded to seperation and at what age
What are the 4 stages of attachment ?
- asocial stage
- indiscriminate stage
- specific attachment
- multiple attachment
What is the first stage of attachment ?
Name: social stage
Age: 0-6 months
Responses: similar response
- forming bonds
- preference to facial features
What is the second stage of attachment ?
Name: indiscriminate stage
Age: 2-7 months
Responses: - obvious and observable behaviours
- prefer humans over objects
What is the third stage of attachment ?
Name: specific attachment
Age: 7 - 12 months
Responses: - signs of attachment to one person
- strangers and seperation anxiety
- there is a primary caregiver who infants interact with the most with
What is the 4th stage of attachment ?
Name: Multiple attachment
Age: 12+ months
Responses: - show attachment to multiple people
- 29% formed attachment in the same months as the primary care giver
What are the strengths of the stages of attachement theory ?
- completed in the child’s home which is a natural environment
- real-life application (in nursery there is more anxiety in the selective attachment age)
- high external validity
- longitudinal ( looked at over time)
What are the limitations of the stages of attachment theory ?
- low internal validity as there may be the mothers bias as they conduct some of the observation
- the observer may not be able to pick up all of the details and anxieties
- ethnocentric - focuses on one location and class and not multiple cultures