3.1.3 Stages of Attachment Identified by Schaffer

Stages of forming an attachment:

1. Pre-attachment stage: 0-3 months, where babies don't show a preference for anyone
2. Indiscriminate attachment stage: 3-7 months, where babies recognise and prefer familiar people, but don't have an attachment to one person
3. Discriminate attachment stage: 7-9 months, where babies develop a strong attachment to one person. High separation and stranger anxiety.
4. Multiple attachment stage: 9 months onwards, where children are able to form attachments with several people

Stages of forming an attachment

Research support for stages of attachment:

Schaffer and Emerson (1964)

Schaffer's aim:

To investigate how babies develop attachments to their parents over time.

• Shaffer and Emerson conducted a longitudinal study, using a naturalistic observation. They followed 60 babies and their families from birth to 18 months
• Babies were observed in the presence of strangers to assess stranger anxiety and when their caregivers were removed to assess separation anxiety.

Shaffer and Emerson found:

• Evidence for the four stages of attachment

• Babies formed stronger attachments if caregivers displayed high sensitive responsiveness

• 87% of babies formed attachments with two or more caregivers (babies formed multiple attachments)

• The main attachment figure wasn't always the main caregiver Sensitive responsiveness: Refers to how sensitive a caregiver is to their baby's needs. Caregivers who have a high degree of sensitive responsiveness are sensitive to the baby's needs and respond quickly when the baby tries to interact with them

• Babies formed more attachments with those who were more sensitive to their needs, even if they spent less time with them.

Evaluation of Shaffer and Emerson's study - stages of attachment:

P: Families were observed in places where they usually interacted

E: This means results were more likely to generalise to how babies and their caregivers behave in their everyday life

E: Overall improving the ecological validity of the research

P: During interviews, families may have wanted to show themselves in a good light

E: For example, parents may have said they spent more time with their babies than they actually did

E: Therefore, participants may have demonstrated social desirability bias, decreasing the validity of the results

Additionally, because of the observational design, the research may have been prone to observer bias