Attachments

Attachments

1. Schaffer and Emerson

   • Method
     • 60 babies: 29 female and 31 male all were from Glasgow and the majority from skilled working class families. The babies and mothers were visited every month for the first year and the again at 18 months. The researchers asked the mothers to monitor the type of arrest the child showed in seven day separations. This was designed to measure stranger and separation anxiety.
   • Findings
     • Between 25 and 32 weeks 50% of the babies showed signs of separation anxiety towards the primary attachment figure. By the age of 40 weeks, 80% of the babies had developed a specific attachment and 30% displayed multiple attachments.
   • Using the results Schaffer and Emerson proposed that attachment developed in four stages.
     • Stage 1: Asocial Stage
       • This occurs in the first few weeks of attachment . The baby is forming bonds with its carers . However, its behaviour towards humans and in-animate objects is similar. Babies show some preference for familiar carers. The baby does not show separation or stranger anxiety.
     • Stage 2: Indiscriminate stage
       • From 2-7 months the baby shows a preference fro people rather than in-animate objects. They also recognise and prefer familiar adults. However, their behaviour is not different to one person. The babies do not usually show stranger or separation anxiety.
     • Stage 3: Specific Attachment
       • From 7 months the majority of babies start to show stranger anxiety and display separation anxiety when separated from a particular adult. This adult is called the primary attachment figure and is the person who offers the most interaction and responds to the baby's signals.
     • Stage 4: Multiple Attachments
       • After the baby forms a specific attachment with one figure they extend this attachment behaviour to multiple attachments with other people they regularly spend time with. In the Schaffer and Emerson study, by about one year the majority of infants had developed a multiple attachments.
   • Evaluation