Stages of Attachment + Multiple Attachments

Stages of Attachment + Multiple Attachments

1. Stages of Attachment

   • asocial stage (0-6 weeks)
     • produce similar responses to objects and people
     • discriminate from familiar and unfamiliar people by smell and voice
   • Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks-6 months)
     • prefer to be in human company
     • easily comforted by anyone, do not show fear of strangers
   • Specific attachments (7 months+)
     • begin to show separation anxiety
     • show fear of strangers, protest when primary figure leaves the,
   • Multiple attachments (10-11 months+)
     • shows attachment behaviours towards several different people

2. stages of attachment research - Schaffer (1964)

   • investigated whether there was a pattern of attachment formation that was common to all infants
   • longitudinal study using 60 new-borns and their mothers from a working-class area of Glasgow
   • studied each month for the first year and again at 18 months
   • attachment was measured in 2 ways
     • separation protest - assessed through everyday situations eg. left alone in a room, with others, left in cot at night
     • stranger anxiety - assessed by monitoring the infants response to the researcher in their home
   • attachment behaviours were loosely linked to age: most shown separation anxiety around 6-8 months suggesting that an attachment had been formed, fear of strangers follows about a month later
   • 65% of babies formed their first attachment to the mother, only 3% was to fathers
   • most went on to form multiple attachments after the first attachment

3. multiple attachments research

   • Rutter (1995)
     • proposed a model of multiple attachments that saw all attachments as of equal importance, combining to form a child's internal working model
   • Schaffer & Emerson (1964)
     • babies form multiple attachments around the age of 10-11 months
     • at 18 months, 13% had a single attachment and 31% had 5 or more attachments
     • in ⅓ of infants, the father was the first joint attachment. now fathers are more involved eg. being present at birth, feeding

4. evaluation of research

   • praised for mundane realism eg. natural environment so high external validity
   • criticised for method of data collection eg. direct observation (bias) so lacks internal validity
   • criticised for sample eg. working class so lacks population validity
   • individual differences eg. some varied from the pattern of attachment so other factors may be involved
   • criticised for age eg. 1964 - parental care has changed considerably so lacks historical validity