Stages of Attachment

Question 1

Asocial stage

Answer 1

(birth - 2 months)
- very young infants are asocial in that many kinds of stimuli, both social and non-social, produce a favourable reaction, such as a smile.
- very few protest.

Question 2

Indiscriminate Attachment

Answer 2

(2-7 months)
Infants indiscriminately enjoy human company. They get upset when an individual ceases to interact with them. From 3 months, they smile at more familiar faces and are comforted easily by a regular caregiver. No stranger anxiety.

Question 3

Specific Attachment

Answer 3

(7 months+)
Expresses protest when separated from one particular individual. They attempt to stay close to the person, and show wariness of strangers (stranger anxiety)

Question 3

Multiple attachments

Answer 3

(By 1 year)
Children begin to attach to others. By 18 months the majority of infants have formed multiple attachments.

Question 4

The Glasgow Study - procedure

Answer 4

Schaffer and Emerson.
- Participants were 60 infants from working-class homes in Glasgow
- Beginning of study infant ages ranged from 5-23 weeks.
- They were studied for 1 year
- Mothers were visited every four weeks - they reported their infant’s response to separation in seven everyday situations e.g. being left alone in a room.
- Mother asked to describe the intensity of any protest (full-blooded cry - whimper). This was rated on a 4 point scale.
- Mother was asked to say to whom the protest was directed.
- Stranger anxiety was measure by assessing the infant’s response to the interviewer.

Question 4

The Glasgow study - findings

Answer 4

Four distinct stages were found in the development of attachment behaviour.
- By 32 weeks, 60% specific attachment formed.
- By 32 weeks, 57% formed attachment to mother.
- By 36 weeks, 73% showed fear of strangers.
- 3%, Fathers first object of attachment.

Question 4

Glasgow study Evaluation - Sample

Answer 4

Limitation - biased sample all infants are from the same city, same social class- hard to generalise.

This study only reflects the cultures where child are reared by one person (usually the mother).

In their meta analysis, Van Ijzendoorn found that in some cultures, multiple
attachments are the norm (collectivist cultures) and are formed much earlier than S&E suggested.

E.G. Uganda – most infants are cared for my several adults and form multiple attachments very young.

Question 5

Glasgow study Evaluation - Asocial Stage

Answer 5

• One Limitation of the research is the validity of the measures they used to assess attachment in the asocial stage.
• Young babies have poor co-ordination and are fairly immobile.
• If babies less than two months old felt anxiety in everyday situations they might have displayed this is quite subtle, hard to observe ways.
• This made it difficult for mothers to observe and report back to researchers 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, appear to be asocial.

Question 5

Glasgow study Evaluation - Issue/debate