Stages of Attachment

Question 1

what are the 4 stages

Answer 1

1. asocial
2. indiscrimate attachment
3. specific attachment
4. multiple attachments

Question 2

explain the following attacment stage and when it occurs

stage 1

Answer 2

asocial stage

• babies first few weeks of life
• behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is similiar
• baby is forming bonds with certain people which forms the basis of later attachments

Question 3

explain the following attacment stage and when it occurs

stage 2

Answer 3

indiscriminate attachment

• 2 to 7 months
• babies display more obvious social behaviours
• they show a clear preference for being with humans
• they prefer the copany of familiar people
• however, at this stage babies accept cuddles and comfort from any person

Question 4

explain the following attacment stage and when it occurs

stage 3

Answer 4

specific attachment

• around 7 months
• start to display attachment towards one persom
• this includes anxiety towards strangers and anxiety when seperated from attachment figure
• the person with whom the attachment is formed is called the primary caregiver
• this is the babys mother in 65% of cases

Question 5

explain the following attacment stage and when it occurs

stage 4

Answer 5

multiple attachments

• by the age of 1
• they go from an attachment with one person to multiple people who they spend time with
• these are called secondary attachments

Question 6

strength

evaluate schaffers stages of attachment

Answer 6

• P - high ecolkogical validity
• Eg - the study took place in the homes of 60 infants with mothers recording observations
• Ex - behavuiours were more likelt to be natural
• L - findings are more generalisable
• H - relying on the mother may lead to bias, reducing reliability

Question 7

limitation

evaluate schaffers stages of attachment

Answer 7

• P - low population validity
• Eg - used a sample of working class families from 1960S
• Ex - parenting styles and attchment patterns may differ accross cultures and tikme periods
• L - hard to generalise all stages to all bbaies
• H - similiar patterns have ben found, suggesting stages may still be applicable