Stages of Attachment

Question 1

Who proposed the 4 stages of attachment and what are they?

Answer 1

• Schaffer and Emerson (1964) proposed them to show how babies behaviour changes as they get older
• asocial stage, indiscriminate attachment, specific attachment and multiple attachments

Question 2

What is the asocial stage of attachment?

Answer 2

• first few weeks of life
• preference for familiar people and are more easily comforted by these people
• begins to form bonds with people

Question 3

What is the indiscriminate attachment stage?

Answer 3

• 2-7 months
• obvious and observable social behaviour
• clear preference for humans than inanimate objects
• prefer familiar people
• accepts comfort from anyone
• no stranger or separation anxiety

Question 4

What is the specific attachment stage?

Answer 4

• 7+ months
• attachment towards one particular person (primary attachment figure)
• show separation and stranger anxiety with unfamiliar people especially when primary figure is not present
• primary figure is who responds to the baby’s signals the most, this is the mother in 65% of cases

Question 5

What is the multiple attachments stage?

Answer 5

• happens shortly after primary attachment figure is made
• extend attachments to multiple people who they regularly spend time with (secondary attachments
• 29% form secondary attachments within a month of forming primary one

Question 6

What was Schaffer and Emerson’s research based on their stages of attachment theory?

Answer 6

• in 1964 they observed 60 babies from Glasgow, working-class backgrounds
  -they visited babies in their own home every month for a year and asked the mothers about their tendencies of separation and stranger anxiety
• the results allowed them to support their theory previously created

Question 7

What are 2 strengths of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment?

Answer 7

• strength of good external validity as most of the observations were made by the parents during everyday activities allowing the baby to be calm and not distracted
• strength of real-world application as it shows that in the first 2 stages, babies can be comforted by any adult making starting daycare easier at this time - applicable and reliable

Question 8

What are 2 limitations of Schaffer and Emerson’s stages of attachment?

Answer 8

• limitation that all 60 of babies that took part were from working-class, Glasgow families, results cant be generalised to collectivist cultures where multiple attachments early on is more normal
• limitation that their is poor evidence for the asocial stage due to babies poor co-ordination and subtle movements making more babies seem asocial even if they aren’t