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Schaffer's Stages of Attachment - Coggle Diagram
Schaffer's Stages of Attachment
Stage 1 - Asocial Stage
In a baby's first few weeks of life, its observable behaviour towards humans and inanimate objects is fairly similar however babies do show some signs that they prefer to be with other people.
Babies also tend to show a preference for being in the company of familiar people and are more easily comforted by them.
Stage 2 - Indiscriminate Attachment
They show a clear preference of being with other humans over inanimate objects.
From 2-7 months, the majority of babies start to display more obvious and observable social behaviour.
Recognise and prefer the company of familiar people but will accept cuddles / comfort from anyone at this stage.
Stage 3 - Specific Attachment
From around 7 months, the majority of babies start to display classic signs of attachment towards one particular person. These signs include stranger anxiety and separation anxiety.
The person who the baby has formed an attachment with is the primary caregiver, this is the mother in 65% of cases.
Stage 4 - Multiple Attachments
Schaffer and Emerson found 29% of children formed secondary attachments within a month of forming their primary attachment.
Shortly after babies start to show attachment behaviour to one person, they begin to form multiple attachments with other people that they regularly spend time with - these are secondary attachments.
By the age of 1, most babies had developed multiple attachments.
Schaffer and Emerson (1964)
PROCEDURE: involved 60 babies from working class families in Glasgow. Researchers visited babies and mothers in their own homes every month for the 1st year and then again at 18 months. Researchers also questioned mothers on the kind of protest their infant showed in 7 everyday separations (e.g. adult leaving the room) - designed to measure strength of attachment and anxiety.
FINDINGS: identified 4 distinct stages in the development of infant attachment behaviour.
Evaluation
External validity - highly likely that ppts behaved naturally when observed as behaviour was reported by parents during ordinary activities.
Longitudinal study - better internal validity as there are no individual differences.
Bowlby (1969) pointed out that children may be distressed when a playmate leaves the room but this doesn't mean they are attached to them. The stages may not behaviour shown between secondary attachments and playmates.
The asocial stage is hard to study as babies have poor coordination and are fairly immobile so difficult to judge based on observations.