Stages of Attachment Flashcards
(12 cards)
Stages of attachment
Developemental theories identify a sequence of qualitattively different behaviors linked to specific ages
1. Asocial
2. indiscriminate attachment
3. Specifc attachment
4. Multiple attachment
Multiple attachments
Attachment to 2 or more people. Most appear to develop multiple attachments once they have formed one strong attachment
Stage 1: Asocial Stage
- First few weeks of life
- baby is forming bonds with certain people
- tend to show a preference for familiar people
- BUT relationship with inanimate objects + humans are similar
Stage 2: Indiscriminate attachment
- 2-7 months babies display more obeservable social behavior
- Show clear preference for people over objects + prefer familiar adults
- BUT do not show stranger or separation anxiety
Stage 3: Specific attachment
- 7 months majority of babies display stranger anxiety + separation anxiety from one particular adult (biological mother in 65% of cases)
- Attachment formed with the primary attachment figure - the one who offers the most interaction + responds to baby’s signals with most skill (doesn’t have to be the one who spends the most time with infant)
Stage 4: Multiple attachments
- Once they start to show attachment to one person it usually extends to multiple attachments
- They could be others who they regularly spend time with
- Schaffer + Emerson - 29% children formed secondary attachments within a month of primary attachment
Schaffer + Emerson (1964)
Not required to know
AO3: Good external validity
P: 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. This might have distracted the babies or made them feel more anxious. The study was also conducted in the baby’s own home rather than a lab.
L: This means it is highly likely that the participants behaved naturally while being observed.
AO3: Counter to Good external validity
P: On the other hand, there are issues with asking the mothers to observe as they were** unlikely to be objective**. What they have reported may suffer from social desirability bias. They might also have been biased in terms of what they noticed, for example they might not have noticed when their baby was showing signs of anxiety, or they may have misremembered it.
L: This means that even if babies behaved naturally their behaviour may not have been accurately recorded.
AO3: Poor evidence for the asocial stage
Another weakness of these stages of attachment is the validity of the measures they used to assess attachment in the asocial stage. Young babies in this stage have poor co-ordination and are generally immobile. It is therefore difficult to make judgment about the infants based on observations of their behaviour. If babies felt anxiety, they might have displayed this in subtle ways and are hard to observe; this means that babies might appear to be asocial when they are not. Therefore, the** evidence obtained may not be relied** upon so it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions.
AO3: Practical application in daycare
In the asocial and indiscriminate attachment stages day care is likely to be straightforward as babies can be comforted by any skilled adult. However, Schaffer’s 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 Schaffer’s stages.
AO3: Culturally relative
Van Ijezendoorn study suggets that in collectivists culture, multiple attachments form at very early age and are more the norm. WHILE schaffer + emerson’s study was conducted in a individualist culture - we cannot universally apply the stages of attachment to collectivist culture. Cannot generalise.
