STAGES OF ATTACHMENT

AO1:
Research from Schaffer and Emerson:

Method
 Studied 60 babies from Glasgow and the majority were from working class families
 The babies and their mothers were visited every month for a year and again at 18 months. The mothers were asked questions about the child’s response
in everyday separation and anxiety related situations

Findings
 Between 25 to 35 weeks of age, 50% of the babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards an adult – usually the mother
 An attachment was formed with the person who was the most sensitive to infant signals and expressions, not the person who spent the most time with
them
 By the age of 40 weeks, although most of the babies had a specific attachment to an adult, nearly 30% displayed multiple attachments
STAGES OF ATTACHMENT
STAGE 1 – Asocial stage (0 to 6 weeks): STAGE 2 – Indiscriminate attachment (6 weeks – 6 months):
 The infant begins to form a bond with their caregiver  Show a clear preference for people and objects as well as recognising
familiar adults
 The infant’s behaviour towards non-human objects and humans are
similar  The babies accept comfort from adults and do not usually show
separation or stranger anxiety
 Babies show a preference for familiar adults as they are more easily
soothed by them  Attachment is not directed to a specific one person
STAGE 3 – Specific attachment (7 months onwards): STAGE 4 – Multiple attachments (11 months onwards):
 Majority of babies start to display separation and stranger anxiety  Once a specific attachment has formed, attachment behaviour extends to
multiple adults with whom they spend the most time with, known as
 A specific attachment is formed and the adult is the primary attachment secondary attachments
figure – it is not the person who spends the most time with them but who
responds to their social releasers the most  Multiple attachments develop by the age of one

AO2/AO3:
 Longitudinal design ー Biased sample ー Problems studying asocial stage ー Refuting evidence on multiple
attachment
P A strength of the theory is that it P A weakness of Schaffer and P A limitation of the stages of P A limitation of the stages of
is supported by a study, which Emerson’s research is that the attachment is that it relies on attachment is that there is
was longitudinal in design sample was biased in a number of evidence that is difficult to refuting evidence on when
E For example, Schaffer and ways interpret multiple attachments are formed
Emerson’s study observed infants E Firstly, the sample was from the E For example, babies that are very E For example, researchers working
and their Mothers regularly – 1960s and parental care has young have poor co-ordination in cultural contexts where
every month for a year and then changed since then. Parents now and are generally immobile, multiple caregivers are the norm,
again at 18 months are more likely to place their therefore it is very difficult to believe that babies form multiple
E This is a strength as this allows child in day care if they both work make any judgements about attachments from birth i.e. Van
for rich, in-depth data on the and are no longer likely to have them based on observations of Ijzendoorn et al. Such collectivist
participants and provides better one parent dedicate their time to their behaviour cultures have an emphasis on the
opportunities to compare their them. Furthermore, all the E This is an issue as observations children being raised in groups
attachment over time. It provides families were also from Glasgow from this period of development with the families sharing
more internal validity than a one- and this does not tell us much are then heavily reliant on childrearing responsibilities
off observations which provides about how children from other researcher interpretation, E This is a problem as the theory
only a snapshot of the type of cultures form attachments meaning they lack objectivity and does not take into account such
attachments that children have E This is a problem as the findings possibly can’t be relied upon cultures where the community is
and would compare different from the study may therefore be L Therefore, limiting the validity of responsible for looking after the
children at different ages era-dependent and lack temporal the research used to support children and they have multiple
L This adds to the validity of the validity stages of attachment attachments from a young age
theory, as it is based on evidence, L Therefore, since the study was e.g. Kibbutz communities in Israel
which has high validity biased we cannot be sure if the where children in community are
assertions of the theory can apply taken care of by carers instead of
to a wider population either, their mothers. The forming of
limiting its validity multiple attachments would
happen far earlier than suggested
by Schaffer
L Therefore, it may be considered
an incomplete explanation of
how multiple attachments
develop

NOTE: Only select the relevant AO1s (e.g. 2/3 points) and four evaluation points (AO2/AO3)